Abraham and Abimelech

Abraham and Abimelech – “I don’t want to alarm you, but the Bible is full of bad people. As I begin my second journey through the Holy Scriptures in a mere ten months, I am once again astonished by how wicked the main characters are.” 

When You Feel Like a Failure

When You Feel Like a Failure – “So what can we learn from Peter’s, and our own, failures?”

Bruised But Not Broken

Bruised But Not Broken – This one is about getting back on your feet after failure.

Every Nightmare Starts As A Dream

Every Nightmare Starts As A Dream – “Over the last couple of decades of ministry, I’ve listened to people utter words like these as they suffer from the fresh and painful wounds of self-inflicted sin. Building a fulfilling life takes a million tiny decisions, but only one bad choice can wreck it.”

How to Live for God Through the Fear of Failure

How to Live for God Through the Fear of Failure – “What is success? And what is failure? Success may be defined as the fulfillment of a purpose or desire. We make a plan, the plan works, and we call that success. Failure as an experience is the opposite of success. We make a plan, the plan doesn’t work. We try something and it doesn’t work.”

The Valley of Humiliation is Green

The Valley of Humiliation is Green – “Few things strike our sensibilities quite as harshly as humiliation. To be brought low, to fall down, to struggle, to run out of answers, to become weak and poor—this is a hard place to fall into. But what if I told you the ‘valley of humiliation’ is really green?”

We are Defined Not by our Failures, but by Christ’s Victory

We are Defined Not by our Failures, but by Christ’s Victory – “Press on in faith, friends. Jesus will build his church. Our lives and our ministries will not be defined by our failures. They will be defined by Jesus’s victory.” This is a great story of early missionaries being faithful to God.

Yesterday Happened, But This is Still True

Yesterday Happened, But This is Still True – Whatever the faults and failings of yesterday, lay hold of God’s truth today.

Christians Stumble, but They Are Stumbling Forward

Christians Stumble, but They Are Stumbling Forward – “Christian, you will stumble today. So will I. And yet we can get up and continue on because of God’s grace. When we do, we will see slowly but surely God is doing something in us. He is making us more like Jesus. This is our trendline – to stumble, and yet to stumble forward.”

 

Failure Need Not Be Final

Failure Need Not Be Final – “How did Peter come to believe this grace-truth that failure isn’t final, that a failed Christian isn’t a finished Christian?”

When You Hear of a Scandal

When You Hear of a Scandal – As noted here, it is a good time to audit your own heart.

Discouragement Can Take You Deeper: Finding Christ in Our Failures

Discouragement Can Take You Deeper: Finding Christ in Our Failures – “Here are four reminders for my fellow saints as we all battle our way together through the discouragements of life, especially as regards our own failures and weaknesses.”

Insecurities, the Fear of People, Regrets, and Failure

Insecurities, the Fear of People, Regrets, and Failure – “We all have voices that tell us we are never enough. If we measure up in school, we don’t in sports or attractiveness or anything else. We always have voices, around us and in us, that assure us we are, indeed, substandard—or average, which feels just as bad.”

The Comfort of Samson

The Comfort of Samson – “Judges is one of those books of the Bible that we tend to read at a distance. … And yet it provides some exquisite comfort to sinners like you and me (not to mention, some equally exquisite conviction to boot).”

A Spirituality of Quitting

A Spirituality of Quitting – “Think about the various times in the Bible that quitting, changing plans or giving something up, was required to faithfully walk with God.”

Devastating Mercy: How Jesus Redeems Our Failures

Devastating Mercy: How Jesus Redeems Our Failures – “As the apostle Peter discovered, sometimes the mercy we most need from Jesus comes in a severe package.”

Grace at Rock Bottom

Grace at Rock Bottom – “One biblical character who ignores the warning lights is Jonah. The warning light of a life-threatening storm did not change him. It was only when he hit rock bottom that we see him start to change.”

Reckoning with Personal Failure

Reckoning with Personal Failure – “The evidence of being a Christian is not that there are no tactical defeats in the war, but that you keep fighting till the promised victory is given.”

Help! I Feel Like a Failure

Help! I Feel Like a Failure – “God is sovereign in our failures, weaving all things together according to his plan. What gets shut down by our boss or by the limitations of capacity and time, God may well work out for some greater success.”

When Christians Fail

When Christians Fail – “Perhaps the reason I am drawn to Peter’s character is because I can easily read myself into his persona. I relate too much with his many failures recorded in the scriptures.”