By Rev. Michael Mwangi
Senior Pastor, Fedha Church KAG
2 Chronicles 33:9-18
2 Kings 2 (Manasseh failures and wickedness)
•During this season of COVID, most of the support systems are absent due to closure of churches and pressure of life. Most people may find themselves making great mistakes and failures.
Everyone wants to succeed and so they prepare for it but rarely do prepare for failure or mistakes.
•The truth of the matter is, we all fail or make terrible mistakes. The difference lies in how we handle failures and mistakes. They either make us or break us.
•Depending on how they handle it, it may work for them or against them. They will die or rise to greatness. The Scriptures are full of people who experienced failure at one time or another, yet those failures did not keep them from effective service for God.
•Look at Abraham, Moses, Elijah, David, and Peter. They all failed at some point, in big ways but they not only recovered from their failure, but they used it as a tool of growth- they learned from their failure, confessed it to God, and were often able to be used in even mightier ways.
•We should not allow a single instance of failure to determine our worth.
•History shows us, men, who failed at some point, but who refused to continue lying in the dust. Their very failure and repentance secured for them a better understanding of the grace of God.
•They learned to know Him as the God of the second chance to His children who had failed Him and third chance, too.
Most people are not able to cope or live with their failures and mistakes because.
1. They don’t understand the nature of God (merciful loving forgiving and gracious)
Exodus 34:6-7
2. They don’t understand that forgiveness does not necessarily take away consequences.
3. They are very unforgiving even to themselves( unforgiving nature)
4. People are unforgiving. People will always remember your failures and mistakes and even remind you
It is worth noting these wise quotes
Mistakes have the power to turn you into something better than you were before.”
b.“Mistakes are meant for learning not repeating.”
c. “Remember that life’s greatest lessons are usually learned at the worst times and from the worst mistakes.”
How do you deal with failure and mistakes?
Altitude
- Have the right attitude towards failure.
- We see failure as the worst thing that could happen to us. To others, it is a death sentence.
- Failure and mistakes are part of life and growth.
- Failure and mistakes are part of the process of growth and not destiny.
- Failing does not make you a failure but staying in that status is what make you a failure.
- If you do nothing about your failures, that's what makes you a failure. No matter how many mistakes you do, you can always redeem yourself by rising up and correcting the failure.
Proverbs 24:16 for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.
Don't fear to fail or do mistakes
•People often will refuse to tackle a job or take on responsibility for fear of failure because they believe if they fail they are no good.
•They think failure means you are a bad person and you are a failure. Yet as we have seen most of the great leaders in Scripture at some time in their careers experienced some sort of failure. If you don't want to fail, just do nothing.
God could be in it
•Sometimes God may cause a failure in our lives.
It is not to make excuses for sin or our mistakes and failures. But can use our failures to prepare us for our success.
•This does not mean that a person must fail before they can be a success, but our failures, whether in the form of rebellion or just foolish mistakes, can become tools of learning and stepping stones to success.
•The point is, we should never allow our fear of failure to paralyze us from tackling a job or trying something that challenges our comfort zone
Never allow your failures from to keep you fro moving on
•We should not allow past failures to keep us down or keep us from recovering and moving on in the lives or ministry.
•This means we should never allow failure to make us think we are a failure or that we can never change or that we can never again count or that God can’t do anything with us because we have failed in some way. We are all sinners and prone to failure, but in Christ, we can become overcomers.
Philippians 3:13 Brothers and sisters, I know that I still have a long way to go. But there is one thing I do: I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me.
learn from your failures and grow up
• Use failure and mistakes as lessons for growth learn from your mistakes and not the mistakes
Mature believers will act on two principles:
(a) Failures become a reminder of the consequences of our decisions. We reap what we sow
This is the law of the harvest. Failures remind us of what can happen, they can make us careful, but they should not be allowed to paralyze us.
(b) We recognize that our failures show us what we should and should not do; they become lessons in where we went wrong and why. It can help us avoid the same mistake twice if we will learn from our mistakes
When you have failed
Acknowledge your failures and refuse to hide behind any lame excuses.
saul, the people made me do it.
1 Samuel 15:21
[21]The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
2 Samuel 12:13
[13]Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
Confess any sin to God when sin is involved in the failure.
James 5:16
[16]Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Proverbs 28:13
[13]Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
- Study or examine what happened so they can learn from the failure.
Proverbs 26:11-12 Like a dog that returns to its vomit, a fool does the same foolish things again and again.
- Accept God’s forgiveness and put your failures behind you and move on
1 John 1:9
[9]If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
- Being assured of God’s forgiveness, we are to put our failures behind us, count on and rest in His forgiveness, and refuse to use them as an excuse for introspection, pessimism, self-pity, depression, and fear of moving on for the Lord.
Isaiah 43:18-19: Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness.
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