January 22, 2013

Accomplishing Your Goals #2: A Badge of Honor


If I have learned anything from my mother & father it is that as their child I am unconditionally loved & they will dispose of me. I shared in Accomplishing Your Goals #1 how my experiences of failure became springboards for growth because of how my father responded. Then I posed the question, if this happens naturally, how much more spiritually?

John tells us that whoever believes in Jesus becomes born of God (John 1:12). Spiritually they have the legal right to call God their Father & they have the legal right to be called a child of God; they have been adopted into His family & will never know the absence of His presence again (Romans 8:15, Matthew 28:20). As a child of God you have to know that Jesus has promised that He would not leave you as an orphan, but send His Spirit to be with you forever! (John 14:5-18).

One question that I am constantly asking myself is, “If I can try anything in the natural, fail, but still be unconditionally loved & never disposed of then why would I think my heavenly Father would stop loving me or dispose of me if I fail?” I have to constantly train my soul (mind, will, & emotions) to come in line with the reality that as a son I can never fail. My spirit is always alive in God, He calls His children more than a conquerors (Romans 8:37). I have to train my soul to come in line with the truth, with the spiritual reality every child of God should be experiencing – the conquering experience.
 
Yes, I may fail at a particular task, but I can never fail ultimately – the work that God begins in His children, He always ensures its completion (Philippians 1:6). As a son, every temporal failure is a stepping stone for greatness! As I am focusing on & pursuing the dreams that God has placed in my heart I can be fully confident that failure will never define me.

Failure will never be a label I wear with shame; rather it is going to be a badge of honor. A badge that will always remind me of the reality that as a son I can’t fail, I can only grow, learn, & overcome! When we live in the reality that we cannot fail, there is no limit to the dreams we can pursue & no fear to hold us back! Let this be a year where you dream dreams you never dared to dream & you pursue things you have never dared to pursue.
                                       
Let’s Do This Together
Where in your life have you felt like a failure? What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? How many more dreams would you pursue?

2 comments:

  1. The area of my life I have felt like a failure is in the area of Finances. I have had some really, really good opportunities in the past and blew them. I have had thousands of dollars at my disposal and can only count with one hand what I invested that money in. Thank God it's in the past, but the road to recovery just seems very long.
    If I "knew" I couldn't fail I would probably be looking for many ways to invest and hardly ever feel uneasy when things don't go as planned. Just recently I began to think of buying a second home, but the tought of "not enough" to do so and the past failures with money sort of led me down the "road of discouragement" again.
    I really need to trust God in such an important area of my life!




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  2. Wow, what an incredibly timely post. Hints of failure is something that I've been sort of getting nervous about once the sowing season starts up again for the Emmaus spring semester. There are going to be a lot of changes and areas where I'm going to have to take charge and not be afraid of failing, so this post really helped me to remember that failure is NEVER something I should be ashamed of- rather, it should be something I embrace and use as "stepping stones" for this coming season!
    Thanks again for this awesome post, PJ :)

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