Phi 3:13 The Doctrine of Failure — Failure often can be a backdoor to success

The TREE OF LIFE is a weekly teaching summary. The Tree of Life for the week ending 07-16-00

The Doctrine of Failure

Failure can be a backdoor to sucess

PHI 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained it [the resurrection life or the ultra-supergrace status], or have already reached the objective, but I continue pressing on that I may attain that [or overtake that, or gain that, arrive at the objective] on account of which I was overtaken by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

We are going to learn from the apostle Paul that failure can be a door to success. Many believers wonder not only why they have failed, but why they continue to fail? In Psalm 103 we find information about growing through our failures and mistakes. There are some encouraging details to help prepare us for something that is very vital to understand in your relationship with God; how to handle failure.

In Psa 103, we see that you need to look at your failures as an opportunity for growth rather than a time to backslide or fall away from God and His plan for your life. The background to this Psalm is that it was written at a low time in David's life. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;" Remember again, this was written at a time when David had personally failed in a huge way......but he still did not quit nor blame others for his predicament.

Is it any wonder why ACT 13:22 says "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will."

The first principle to remember when it comes to our failures is that our response to our failures is our personal responsibility. It's not the responsibility nor is it the business of anyone else. In the Psalm David is saying to himself "listen up, and get your eyes on the Lord and don't forget His benefits."

That's grace orientation toward self and applying spiritual self-esteem. Ater failure we are to get our eyes on the Lord, if you reach out for anyone else, you're on your way down, it's only a matter of time. If you blame others and do not take responsibility for your actions, you'll never experience victory.

Look how David dealt with this principle of failure in PSA 51:2-4 after Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba, after he had totally failed: "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, And done what is evil in Thy sight, So that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, And blameless when Thou dost judge."

After failure we need to do as David did and speak to ourself and say; "Soul you have a choice of being bitter, moody, unhappy, or blaming somebody or you can say Lord, I'm counting your benefits."

This is another way of being occupied with Christ. This is why when you fail, as PSA 37:23 and 24 says you will, you do not dwell on negative thoughts because that only makes your life worse. That's why Occupation with the Person of Christ and having the proper focus is so important. PSA 103:3-12. Understanding these verses stops you from blaming others and looking unto the grace of God. Replacing blaming others with claiming God's grace.

Look at some of the benefits David says for us to remember, in times of failure., he said in PSA 103:2 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;" What are some of the benefits that David has noticed?

In verse 3, "Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases;"

Even the iniquities that led to your failure! He pardons them.

Also, He heals all your diseases, all of them, David says so. Maybe not in your timing but in His!

God wipes away your faults as easily as an earthly father wipes mud off a child's face. This is why the worst thing you can do is to doubt God's love toward you.

God knows your heart and sees that most of the time you wished you hadn't done it. Now, it's all right to see how weak and helpless you are, but that is no place to stop or stay. Look at your God! When you see how strong and how able God is, then seeing how weak and unable you are, is not difficult to accept. Do not torment yourself because you do not always feel that you have been trusting Him or feel His presence with you. Walk by faith and not by sight or by your own expectations.

In PSA 103:4, "He redeems your life from the pit;"

We go to the pit but He says, "I am faithful, I will redeem your life from the pit!"

PSA 103:4 "He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;"

This is His attitude toward you in spite of how often you have failed, whether it's overtly, or the sins of the tongue, or the worse sins, mental attitude sins.

He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

True, we are full of weakness and sin, but it pleases God to transform us into the image of His Son, and make us one with Himself, and He will change us into the likeness of Christ.

Therefore, He loves us in our weakness and failures and sins.

PSA 103:5 "Who satisfies your years with good things, {So that} your youth is renewed like the eagle."

Focus on those good things, that the Lord provides. This is what to focus in on in times of failure or when you're dealing with past failures, the faithfulness of God.

Many times failure doesn't seem like progress, but it can be. And by progress I mean not going further up but further down. As when a ship is loaded, the more cargo put into it, the lower it goes into the waters; so the more of the nature and love of God you have within you, the lower your old sin nature sinks. Satan, the accuser of the brethren, doesn't want that to happen.

Even in your personal failures, allow yourself to sink down under the weight of the Cross and be ready to bear the humiliation and suffering which are necessary to purify you. By allowing yourself to be pressed down, you will find that this truly raises you up.

PSA 103:6 "The Lord performs righteous deeds, And judgments for all who are oppressed."

This even means revealing our helplessness even in our personal times of personal failure.

PSA 103:7 "He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel."

PSA 103:8 "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness."

PSA 103:9 "He will not always strive {with us}; Nor will He keep {His anger} forever."

PSA 103:10 "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

Doubting the fact that God loves us is the worst thing we can allow to happen! When we understanding this principle God's love can truly be revealed, the very heart of God is expressed toward His own people after they have failed not because they have not failed.

Remember the One who humbled Himself for us did so on account of His love for us.

ROM 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

This type of love is missing so much in the church today.

1JO 3:16-18 "We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."

Think of what a heavy weight God's love is, it fell so far: from heaven to earth, from God to man. This is why Jude says in Jude1:21 "keep yourselves in the love of God,"

And when you experience God's love like this, you understand the mutual secrets that exists between God and you, the Lover and the one being loved. Who can question it?

PSA 25:14 "The secret of the Lord is for those who respect Him, And He will make them know His covenant."

Just like in life there are mutual secrets that true lovers share and only they share in those secrets......the same thing is true in the spiritual life.

This is one of the reasons why REV 19:12 says concerning our Lord and Savior, "And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself."

The new name reveals the intimacy that the humanity of Christ has with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Then back in REV 2:17 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it."

The new name reveals the intimacy that the winner believer experienced in time with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

When you experience God's love like this, you understand the mutual secrets that exists between God and man. Just like in life there are mutual secrets that true lovers share and only they share in those secrets......the same thing is true in the spiritual life.

In PSA 103:10 "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

That tells us that God does not treat us the way as most people do and He does not love us as most people do, conditionally.

It's not, "If you do this, then I will do that."

"If you produce here then I'll love you, I'll support you!"

That's man's ways.

It says, "He doesn't deal with us according to our sins, nor reward us according to our iniquities."

I wonder how many of you can say that you have people in your life that you are confident with the fact that if you truly fail and are truly guilty, they would not deal with you according to your sins, nor reward you according to your iniquities."

PSA 103:11-12 "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness [grace and mercy] toward those who respect Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."

God is the ultimate One to whom you can turn to when everyone else turns against you...., if that ever happens.

How often you can come to Him, anytime of the day, without ever interrupting Him, and say to Him; "Here I am again, with the same stupid decisions and the same wounds"

And you will hear Him say, Here is My compassion again, here is My love again.

Look at what verse 12 says about our sins "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."

What a load to move, and yet it is removed so far that the distance is measureless. Fly as far as east as your imagination can bear and If sin be removed so far, then we may be sure that the scent, the trace, the very memory of it must be entirely gone.

The distance of this removal ensures its never being brought back again; even Satan himself could not achieve such a task.

So far were our sins carried by away by the work on the Cross that now if they were sought for, they shall not be found.

Therefore, how often you can come to Him, anytime of the day, without ever interrupting Him, and say to Him; "Here I am again, with the same stupid decisions and the same wounds."

And you will hear Him say, Here is My compassion again, here is My love again.

He is ready to hear you because He is filled with compassion.

He has a lovingkindness that never fails, and if you haven't learned it yet, you'll appreciate the experience of it when it does come.

You see, when we fail, there are some areas of our life that usually are affected.

First of all, failure affects our security, it affects our focus, this is why most people when they fail look for somebody else to blame. This is why we need to accept the responsibility for our own failures and stop blaming others.

In PSA 103:13-14 we see what our focus should be. "Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who respect Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust."

During times of failure we count on the Lord's constant acceptance and understanding.

You'll never get that from people.

You'll always get that from the Lord.

People will look for achievement and then base their acceptance of you on the basis of that achievement, or accomplishment, or attainment, the Lord doesn't look for that achievement.

The Lord knows our frame, He remembers that we are but dust!

People look at the externals all the time, and they gauge your life on the basis of the externals, but God has the ultimate x-ray machine. He even sees more than our frame; He sees what you cannot x-ray, He sees your motive.

He sees deep down inside as to why you do what you do.

HEB 4:13, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

If you really believe that there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, then why try to hide things from God?

Why not just admit what needs to be admitted?

Remember Psa 103?

He pardons all your iniquities.

He redeems your life from the pit;

He crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

He is compassionate and gracious.

He does not deal with us according to our sins nor reward us according to our iniquities.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

If you really believe all of those verses from Psa 103, then why and try to hide your failures from God?

Why not just admit what needs to be admitted?

HEB 4:14 "Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

Much of our problem with failure comes from the fact that we focus on people, we look for security then from there we look acceptance and all the while we don't gain it.

You cannot afford to focus in on people and look for security from their acceptance of you. Man is too unstable and precarious.

Those who do are under a curse from God: JER 17:5 "Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord."

When we can look up to Him and our focus is right, we will find security by the tons, because He sees us as dust and He accepts us as we are.