You want to move forward, but you can’t seem to get over your past failures. But God says that it is time to leave your failures behind and move forward with Him. No matter what those failures are, it’s time to trust God and fulfill your destiny in Him.
Let’s talk about some common failures people make, hold them up to the light of the Word and see if we can move past the pain of them and into something better.
Your business has failed and it has caused a real financial mess, and great stress upon you, your marriage, and upon your family. Do you give up on your dream? Let’s look at Edison and all the times he failed before he had success. Edison and his team of researchers designed and tested more than 3,000 models of bulbs between 1878 and 1880. In November 1879, Edison filed a patent for an electric lamp with a carbon filament. It took him 3,000 tries at a dream before it came to pass. Do we remember him as a man who failed 2,999 times or for the 3,000th time, when he succeeded?
God says in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
How many times a day does a toddler fall and get back up? Because he or she falls, do we call this child a failure? No, it’s the normal process to learn how to stand up and walk.
The word of the Lord tells us in Psalm 37:23-24 that “The steps of a man are made firm by the Lord; He delights in his way. Though he falls, he will not be hurled down, for the Lord supports him with His hand.”
You’re discouraged because you have tried over and over again to break a terrible habit, and when you fail, you feel guilt-ridden. But even though it hurts to fail, should you allow the enemy, the devil and his demons, yourself or misunderstanding people to beat you up for your past or present failures?
“He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God; many will see it, and fear, and will trust in the Lord” (Ps. 40:2-3).
I thank the Lord many times that He pulled me up and out of the pit of the world. Foolishly, I got caught up in the ways of the world, not because I wanted to, but because I was naive and did not understand the dangers this world had to offer. I was 18 years old, and my brother’s Christian seminary friends told him to stop praying for his baby sister because she was too far into the world and would never turn to the Lord. Praise the Lord, he did not heed their ungodly counsel. I actually came into the divine presence of the Lord, and my life was forever changed just months after my brother was told to give up all hope for me.
A woman is newly married for the second or third time, should we join ranks with the enemy and beat on her with our judgmental words and negative actions? Where is the compassion of the Lord in our lives? Do we really know all the facts behind the situation? Or should we be supportive of the positive changes she has made in life and let her move forward with God?
Your teenage son has wreaked havoc on your family with his rebellion. Does this mean you give up on him? Or should you seek the Lord more on his behalf? If you were him what would you desire for your parents to do for you? Is it time to seek outside help for him?
Your wayward daughter has brought disgrace upon your name. What do you do? Do you verbally beat her up daily? Is this going to woo her back into the loving arms of the Father? Or do you need to seek the Lord and find the spiritual key to open up her heart towards you again to lead her back to God?
A pastor or elder of the church falls into sin, sins that many of you are secretly caught up in. It’s not right; and yes, there are consequences to pay, but when is the person released from our unforgiveness and vengeance? When do we allow them to leave their failures behind and begin their walk with the Lord again?
God doesn’t desire that we do wrong. Sin separates us from Him—this is truth, but the greatest truth of all is that “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Who is the author of the book of Romans? The Apostle Paul is. He wrote at least 13 books of the New Testament. And how rich in godly wisdom are these 13 letters penned by the Holy Spirit through a man that has a past filled with great failures against God and the church? But did he allow his wicked past to prevent him from moving forward with the power of the Spirit? No. Do you think he had to overcome his thoughts and the judgmental opinions of others to move forward? Yes, he did. Do you think the enemy left this ex-terrorist alone? No, he had a thorn in the flesh, a demon that was sent to buffet and beat him up (see 2 Cor. 12:7).
In all of life’s failures, you are not to give up on life, or on yourself, or your loved ones, but Philippians 3:13-14 does tell us what we are to do, “Brothers, I do not count myself to have attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” {eoa}
Becky Dvorak is a prophetic healing evangelist and the author of DARE to Believe, Greater Than Magic and The Healing Creed. Visit her at authorbeckydvorak.com.
This article originally appeared at authorbeckydvorak.com.
Janet Perez Eckles 
Shawn Akers 
Abby Trivett