Failure or Finish (Part 5)

 After you have taken these steps, put your failure behind you and go on to success.  Jonah put his failure behind Him.  The Lord spoke unto him a second time and said, "Arise, and go to Ninevah" in Jonah 3.  This time he quickly obeyed.  In Ninevah, Jonah led one of the greatest revivals in history.  The whole city repented. By following the steps of revealing, repenting, returning, and restoring, his failure was turned to success.

The Bible contains many stories of men like Jonah.  These men failed but admitted their failure and asked forgiveness of God.  When they did, God never failed to forgive and provide new direction.  This is the Biblical pattern for turning failure into success. 

God can do the same for you!  He is not looking at your past failures.  He is not looking at you as you are today.  He is seeing the man or woman...the leader you can be if you only walk in obedience to Him.

 Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10:

"For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in the God which raiseth the dead;  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we trust  that He will yet deliver us." 

Paul explained that problems in Asia taught him an important  lesson..."we should not trust in ourselves, but in God."  This is a great lesson to learn from failure.  You cannot trust in yourself.  Your power, your authority, your success as a leader is assured only in Christ Jesus.  Paul looked beyond the natural world to see the spiritual benefits of problems, temptations, trials, and failures:

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "For which cause we faint not: but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things, which are not seen:  for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Paul had learned that even though  the outward man perished, the inward man was being renewed.  Instead of giving up, Paul learned from failure and went on to success.  In 2 Corinthians 1:10 he indicated that God: 

 1. "Delivered"   (In the past)  "Does deliver"   (In the present)  "Will yet deliver"  (In the future)

.2...us from all of our problems, trials, temptations, and failures.  He said we were..

3. Troubled....BUT NOT DISTRESSED.  Perplexed...BUT NOT IN DESPAIR.  Persecuted...BUT NOT FORSAKEN.  Cast down...BUT NOT DESTROYED! in 2 Corinthians 4:8, 9. 

In spite of all the perplexities, persecution, trouble, and despair, Paul was able to say in the closing days of his life:

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." You must make the choice-fail or finish. It's all up to you!