God Works Through Weakness and Failure

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God has promised to be faithful to you so there is no need to fear failure. The reason we don’t need to be afraid of failure is because our sovereign God has promised to be faithful to us. Look at how God addresses our fear. He says in Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” He says in Lamentations 3:22-23, “Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” And in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 God says, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful” (emphasis mine).

By grace, God uses us in spite of our failures, not because we are free from failures. We need to understand that God sovereignly works through our weaknesses and even our helplessness to accomplish the work He has given us to do.

God is not expecting us to do, or become, or save in our own strength. God assures us that no matter how big the task, how bleak the circumstances, or how useless we feel, the Holy Spirit is going to work through us so that we will do everything the Father has planned for us to do. Our confidence comes from God’s abilities, God’s resources, and God’s strength, not ours.

God wants you to know that you don’t have to be afraid of failing at what God wants you to do. He has promised to be with you wherever you go. God is never going to leave you. He is never going to forsake you. He is always going to be with you wherever you go. We don’t need to worry about failing because God has promised to give us everything we need and to do all that needs doing so that He will accomplish His work through us.

16 Comments

  1. Excellent, my friend! The enemy works hard to convince us we are failing. We all need reassurances like this one once in a while to strengthen our faith. Thanks for a very timely post, at least for me!

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  2. “…how useless we feel…” This is one of the temptations that I deal with constantly. I keep having to remind myself that I don’t necessarily see the fruits of anything I do. Thanks for this morning’s thoughts and the strength they’ve given me to face the day!

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  3. Amen. One of my favorite sayings is “fail faster” because it leads to good things. Our perceptions of success and failure are worldly and human, meaning we can’t always tell the two apart. There are such things as happy accidents, great things born of failure. Columbus was actually looking for India. Epic fail there.

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    1. “Fail faster,” I like that. Very true IB. When we picture biblical heroes like David, Joseph, and Abraham we often think of them apart from their failings. One of my favorite book titles is Failing Forward by John Maxwell.

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  5. Boy, I needed to read this today. All day I have felt so inadequate before God. It has felt kind of paralyzing. Reminds me my place to start is in the Bible. Scripture is one way God speaks to us.

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  6. Pingback: God Works Through Weakness and Failure — Learning To Be Full Of Grace And Truth. – The Crusty Old Sailor Speaks

  8. Your words have been used by God today. I have been absolutely beating myself up, for as long as I can remember, over my shortcomings and weak areas. I’ve always known God uses the weak ones in his own strength. But for some reason, I’ve never connected these two realities until today. I have both his love and his competence because of Jesus. I want to melt into the floor. This will be the start of a new day for me. Thank you so much.

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