RUSSELL SANDERS
8-6-2022
DO NOT LET FAILURES DEFINE YOU
Some people have thought “I have messed up in life so badly, how could God ever use me?” Or “How could God get any glory from my life?”
Friend, when you come to God in repentance, He discharges all offenses of the past. When you accept Jesus personally as your savior, all of your past was wiped clean in God’s eyes. Even sins committed after salvation are forgiven when you repent. 1 John 1:9 was written to the saved ones, not to the lost. It says that “If we (the believer) confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Your destiny is already sealed in the books of heaven in the Book of Life.
Some of the greatest characters in the Bible had failed miserably, yet God brought them forth into a great destiny. Let us look at some of them.
King David committed adultery with a married woman, Bathsheba. Then he arranged to have her husband killed when she became pregnant with David’s child. David repented deeply with tears before God and his legacy is that he was “a man after God’s own heart.”
Abraham was dishonest with Pharaoh concerning Sarah his wife, claiming that she was his sister. Because of this Pharaoh took Sarah as his wife into his harem. Yet, in spite of this failure, Abraham is honored in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 and God made him the Father of many nations.
Moses committed murder in Egypt but forty years later was chosen by God to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery.
Samson broke his Nazarite vow to God, yet his last act in life brought his greatest victory.
Peter denied knowing Jesus three times at Pilate’s judgment hall, yet he was chosen and anointed by Jesus as head of the early church.
Do not let your past hinder you from pursuing God’s best for your life. He has a good destiny planned for you. God said so Himself when he said in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts (plan) that I think toward you, thoughts of peace (shalom), and not of evil, to give you an expected end (future).” This is further verified in Psalm 139:17 where David said, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God; how great is the sum of them.”
God sees the finished work in you, so keep your “eyes on the prize” of spending eternity with Him. Do not allow your failures to get you off track. Repent, and He will sustain you.
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