Failure with God Never Has to be Final

It seems like many Christians today have faith in anything and everything but the Cross of Christ. Some claim to have faith in God’s Word, but they fail to realize that anything that’s not faith in the Cross is not faith in His Word either. Faith and the Word of God are simply one and the same thing. If the total object of our belief isn’t the Cross—then there’s no spiritual life in us. The Word of God never fails—we’re the ones who do. But failure with God never has to be final.

Sin Denies Christ’s Authority

There’s only one thing that can separate a soul from God, and that’s sin. Anyone who’s a slave to sin is a living a terrible existence that can never bring any peace at all. It can only bring suffering and failure. Many have tried to overcome their sinfulness on their own, yet all who’ve tried to have failed. We simply can’t do it alone. We need to realize that all sin really amounts to a denial of Christ’s authority over us.

Every weak point, failure or sin we could ever imagine having was covered under the finished work of Christ when He died on the Cross for us.

Sin and Failure

What has plunged this world into the predicament of sin? It isn’t God’s fault—it’s the outcome of man’s failure and rebellion against the Lord. No one can get by with sin or failure forever. But they don’t have to define who we are. Every weak point, failure or sin we could ever imagine having was covered under the finished work of Christ when He died on the Cross for us. Christ is the only one who never sinned or failed even one time in word, deed or thought. There is no one else.

Confess Our Sin and Failures to God

If we fail to confess our sin to the Lord, then He can’t forgive it. But if we’re willing to acknowledge our failures, sins, and wrongdoings to Him, God’s willing to forgive us. Then He’ll no longer remember them. We therefore need to be sure that we confess our sin to Him without fail. We can’t simply wipe out sin by any excellence we might have in ourself. All we can do is ask for pardon for our sins through prayer in a way that God will accept.

A man under stress and possibly failure with a computer terminal in the background — Image by andreas160578 from Pixabay

When We Fail, God Doesn’t Give Up on Us

“…the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). Simon Peter failed, but God didn’t leave him. When we fail, God doesn’t see us the same way that we see ourself. He’s promised that He’ll never fail or forsake all who remain loyal to His Son and want to follow Him on the path of faith.

Jesus Never Failed

Christ never had even one indication of sin in His life. He never failed His Father in any way. We have no good reason to fail Him in our life either. Failure with God never has to be final. Therefore, it’s never too late for us to turn to God and to trust Him, unless we fail to believe.

Jesus Christ pleased His Heavenly Father without fail. No other human being can truly say the same. “And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me, and concerning righteousness, because I am going away to the Father and you will see Me no more, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned” (John 16:8-11).

Our own way will never work, as history has proven over and over. Yet continual failure has never stopped mankind from trying!

Left to Solve Our Problems

Our remedy for failure is God’s Word. It never did and never will fail. But if we slip away from or reject His Word, there’s nothing left to turn to but our own unreasonable ways and means to work our problems out. “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Our own way will never work, as history has proven over and over. Yet continual failure has never stopped mankind from trying!

Trusting the Devil or God

Just think—if the devil can succeed in making even one word of the Word of God fail, then he triumphs! But he’s never succeeded in the past, nor will he be able to succeed in the future. Many people will put their trust in the Antichrist in the future when he comes on the world scene, but in the end, he will turn on them. Only those who have put their trust in God will be able to be with Him forever.

Maybe the devil has told you that God’s will isn’t for you to be saved. He has tried to convince you that it’s hopeless. He wants you to believe that God has failed you, or that you’ve failed Him. But the devil lies! The Lord will put us to the test so we can be victorious, but all the devil can do is to tempt us so we’ll fail. Stand firm on the Word of God, and then you can take back everything that the devil’s stolen from you!

In All Times of Failure, Run to God

How often have we failed and run and hid from God, when what we should have done was to run home to Him! He’s always willing to give us another opportunity. King David failed at times, but he only blamed himself. He would run to the Lord in his times of failure, not away from Him. Have you also sinned and failed God? Don’t run away from Him! You need to run to Him! This is the only answer that will work. God is willing to use us again after we fail, but only if we make Him our Protector. And if He’s really our Protector, then we need to come into His presence.

God Still Loves Us Even When We Fail

If we could only understand how great the mercy of our Heavenly Father is toward us, we’d know that, even when we’ve failed, He still loves us. If we become discouraged over our sin, maybe we aren’t trusting in God’s love for us during our times of failure. But He’ll continue to love us, despite our failures and problems. If we fail to be motivated by His love, it’ll bring defeat into our personal life. Gossip loves to reveal someone’s failure and talk about it, to keep the failure alive. But love never fails because true love can’t fail, and is willing to overlook failure in others.

We need to take our eyes off our failures and weaknesses, and to focus them on God’s faithfulness to us instead.

Let’s Take Our Eyes Off Our Failures

Many people make huge mistakes when they have enthusiasm but not correct knowledge, and they fail to properly divide God’s Word. Faith in God is the true way to knowledge and a more accurate view of Him, rather than the undependable picture we get from our own angle. When we receive this as an act of faith, it’ll mentally open our eyes to let more light pour in to help us understand. We need to take our eyes off our failures and weaknesses, and to focus them on God’s faithfulness to us instead. Remember that failure with God never has to be final.

Faith in Christ and His Finished Work

At the Cross, Jesus paid all the debt people owed for their sins. If we’ll place our faith in Him and His finished work on the Cross, the Holy Spirit will be able to work within our hearts and lives. This is what leads to Christlikeness. Only He can bring the kind of improvement of self that is God’s prescribed order of victory. He has no other, because there’s no need for it! But something that’s already done and only requires our faith doesn’t appeal much to man’s flesh.

Living for God by a System of Laws

If we believe in Christ and try to live for Him by following the Law of Moses in the Old Testament, only sin and failure can be the outcome. Man has attempted all kinds of ways to live for the Lord by keeping the Law, but he’s always failed, and so will we! “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5).

We can’t follow a system of laws to live for God. This way can only fail, because the Holy Spirit won’t operate like that. We’ll always fail whenever we attempt to live for God according to our own ability and intellect. But God won’t toss us away, even when we do fail. It makes no difference how great our failure is—God’s grace will always be available for us if we’ll turn to Him.

Being A Witness to the Truth

The only way the Heavenly Father is able to deal with man is by the witness and testimony of His Son’s blood shed on the Cross. But if we say things that aren’t true, or talk harshly to people, we’ll fail in our Christian witness to others. And if we continue to maintain a close relationship with people who deny or distort the truth, we’re silently giving our approval to what they teach or believe by default. Then we fail to be a witness to the truth for them.

Mercy is God’s faithfulness to people in spite of their failure or lack of perfection.

Mercy and Truth Will Purge Iniquity

“By mercy and truth iniquity [wrongdoing] is purged [covered, atoned for] and by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Proverbs 16:6). Mercy is God’s faithfulness to people in spite of their failure or lack of perfection. It’s love and kindness shown to those really deserving something less. Having mercy on wrongdoers leads them to fear God and depart from evil. “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth” (Psalm 86:15). God’s mercy and compassion never fail to be shown and declared in lives of those who’re truly His people. It was mercy and truth that paid the entire price for man’s wrongdoing at the Cross.

If Faith Fails, Everything Fails

Satan always make attacks against godly faith, because if that fails, everything fails. Failure is really connected to a wrong object of faith. But if our faith in God is right, then we aren’t a failure. It’s true that we all fail the Lord at times—no member of the body of Christ is perfect. But Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith in Him wouldn’t fail, and it didn’t. And He prays the same for us.

The element of union between people and Christ is faith. Christians today tend to have faith in just about everything but the Cross. They claim that they have faith in the Word of God. But they fail to understand that, if what they have isn’t faith in the Cross of Christ, then it’s not faith in God’s Word either. And if the Cross isn’t the total object of our belief, then we don’t have true life in us. Yet how often do we fail in our faith because of our ignorance and continual sin? The only answer for sin is to have faith in what Christ did for us on the Cross.

The Covenant That Cannot Fail

Are you discouraged? In danger of failing? Depending basically on yourself? Then your time has come to focus primarily on the God Who saved you, and on the covenant promises He gave you. Whenever we’re taught to depend on self, we’re sure to fail. But the New Covenant doesn’t depend so much on man as on the Man Christ Jesus instead. That’s the Covenant which cannot fail. It’s a great sin to fail to depend on what Christ did for us at Calvary. If we fail to maintain total dependence on Him and what He did on the Cross, we’ll be pulled into unbelief, and therefore be lost for all eternity.

What about you—are you discouraged, depending primarily on yourself, or failing? It’s time for you to focus on the God Who saved you, and on the covenant promises you have in Him. It is a great transgression to fail to depend on what Christ did for us at Calvary.

Trusting in God or Ourself

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face” (Psalm 89:14). God’s still on the throne! He tells us to trust in Him and He won’t fail us. As a result, we’re able to develop our faithfulness to Him. But if we trust in ourself instead, we put ourself in position to fail. Our failures all come from not trusting God the way we should. But we can be certain that His plan will not fail! Let’s not allow ourselves to forget that failure with God never has to be final.

Christ is the advocate of His people. The Heavenly Father always hears His prayers when He intercedes for us. Christ prays that His people will have faith in Him and continue to make use of it. He also prays that our faith won’t fail, no matter what may come against us.

…God can still work with you, despite your failures. But if you stop believing in Him, then He’ll no longer be able to work in your life like He wants to.