Overcome Failure With Faith

Everyone experiences failure in life.  But failures are just steps along the way to learning what we need to know in order to succeed.  By walking with Jesus, we can overcome failure with faith.  Today’s devotional gives us some practical ways to do this. 

1 John 5:4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. NKJV

The Resilient Attitude

Do you know anyone who seems to be bulletproof? You know, that guy who takes failures in stride and is always smiling and moving forward in life.

How do people do that? You know they’re not immune to setbacks or hardship. They just seem to be able to bounce back quickly. Life’s inevitable difficulties don’t keep them from enjoying life.  Failure doesn’t stop them from persisting in what they set out to do.

Do you know that person can be you? Having an overcoming attitude is something that can be developed. It’s not a character trait you are born with. Every time you suffer some type of loss, setback, or failure, you have an opportunity to respond with faith, resilience, and optimism.

This resilient attitude comes from having a true understanding of who God is and of how much He loves you.  If you are a follower of Jesus, He wants to guide you each day, helping you to turn failures into accomplishments.  Latch onto the promises in His Word, believing that they are for you and that He will help you to overcome the failures.

Don’t Look at Failure As Final

Never look at a failure as the final result. Don’t let some hardship or difficulty be the final chapter in your story.

As famous author F. Scott Fitzgerald said …
“Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat.”

That is such a powerful reminder.  Your outlook is everything. People with resilience and faith choose a positive outlook. They understand that negative things are going to happen in their lives. Yet they don’t allow those to be the end of their journey. They don’t embrace any single failure or loss as the final declaration of who they are.

If you truly believe Romans 8:28, that God works everything in your life for good when you love Him and follow Him, you will look forward to seeing what great things God will do when you experience some kind of failure or difficulty in life.

When things get tough for me, I always say, “It must be that God is about to do something really good, or the enemy wouldn’t be fighting so hard right now.”

Your identity is in Christ.  With faith in Him, you can proclaim victory and not sink into playing a failure over and over in you mind, letting it define you.  If you messed up, confess that to God.  John 1:9 says, “He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

After giving the situation over to God, move forward.  Don’t dwell on the past.  Learn what you need to learn, and move on, trusting God.

See : “Get Up Out of the Mud.”

When Discouraged, Just Take One More Step

Faith results in persisting, even when things are hard and seem discouraging. You keep going. You push forward and see life’s difficulties as nothing more than challenges. You can either become stronger and more capable, or allow a defeat or failure to seem like a statement of who you are.

The truth is, sometimes a hardship we encounter in life can be truly debilitating. We simply don’t see a way out. The worst of possible things has happened, and there’s simply no way that we see any good coming from it. 

When this happens, as it inevitably will in life, just take one step forward.  Don’t worry about some big end result. You may be in a terrible situation. If you are, just make one positive movement. Pray.  Look to God to change things.  Think one positive thought. Move in the direction of a positive outcome. Even if it seems miles away, don’t worry about the end result. Just take the first step that moves you a little bit away from the difficulty you encountered.

If your trust is in Jesus, He will show you what that one step is. By taking the step He shows you, you are operating in faith.  In most cases, God doesn’t reveal all the steps and outcomes that are ahead.  He shows us just what we need to know, when we need to know it. After that one step, He will show you the next step to take.

As we obey Him, based upon operating in faith, we will advance and eventually see victory.

You Can Overcome Failure

Never let any single defeat be your final defeat.  Look ahead in faith, allowing God to work in your life, bringing about His perfect plan for you. You won’t be kept down for long, because your overcoming attitude of faith won’t allow you to be defined by defeat.

You are God’s beloved child.  Never forget that!  Just as a good parent cares for his or her child, our good Father God takes care of us.  He responds to our faith.  Let’s walk in faith, overcoming the failures and difficulties of this world, through the power of Jesus Christ.

Think about Jesus singing this to you.  With Him on your side, you can overcome failure with faith.

Leave us a comment.  How have you overcome failure?