Thursday, October 30, 2008
Alright this part is for my 2 beautiful leaders Xt and Px, jia you for ur exams!!! focus and glorify God with your results! woo~~ XD
I was spending my devotion and this article caught my eye, I just paste some points on to here, but if u want to see the whole article, you can ask from me! =)
Failure … It is something we fear, yet we have all experienced. It is part of the human experience to take risks at times and risk implies failure. Whenever we dare to do new things, like starting a new job or falling in love or creating a new product, we risk failure. It is implicit in living and striving for success. In fact, the only way to avoid failure is to never try, and that is no way to live at all.
There is a story of one guy who came to America to learn English. He was very afraid of failing. He thought, “If I fail, these Americans will make fun of me.” He said to his English teacher, “I need to order food, so make sure that you teach me something I can use.”
The teacher said, “Say hamburger, French fries, and coke. You can get that anywhere. Go ahead, try it.”
“Hamburger, French fries, and coke.” He practiced until he got it down. He said, “Are you sure I won't fail if I say those things?”
“Guaranteed, no failure.”
Sure enough, he went into a restaurant and the waitress asked, “What would you like?”
“Hamburger, French fries, and coke.”
She brought out the order.
“Wow,” he said to himself, “this is cool.” He went back to the restaurant later on and said, “Hamburger, French fries, and coke.”
They brought out the order. No failure rate. “This is great.”
With this system, he ended up eating hamburgers, French fries, and coke for the next eight months. He finally grew tired of eating the same food, and zits were breaking out all over his face. So he said to his teacher, “Could you teach me something else because it is getting old eating hamburgers, French fries and coke for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”
“All right, I tell you what. For breakfast order eggs, toast, and juice.”
“Now, I don't want to veer out too far, because I don't want to fail.”
“No problem. Eggs, toast, juice.”
So he practiced. “Eggs, toast, juice.”
He went back to the restaurant. When the waitress came and asked him what he would like, he said, “Eggs, toast, juice.”
She asked, “How would you want your eggs? Over medium, over easy, scrambled, boiled, or poached? How about your toast? Do you want white, brown, wheat, rye, an English muffin, or a bagel? What about your juice? Do you want orange, tomato, grapefruit, guava, or passion fruit?”
He looked up at her and said, “Hamburger, French fries, and coke.”
If we are afraid of failure, we will be eating hamburgers, French fries, and coke for the rest of our lives. And a lot of us live hamburger, French fries, and coke lives because we are so afraid of failing that we never venture out.
YOU WILL REALLY NEVER PLEASE GOD BY PLAYING IT SAFE.
The fear of failure is really nothing new. In fact, Jesus told a story about it in Matthew 25. A master comes along, and he gives one man five talents. He gives another man two talents, and to a third man he gives one talent. Before the master leaves for a long journey, he says, “By the way, invest your money. Do something with it, will you?”
When the master returns, he meets with the man who was given five talents. This man says, “Master, you know the five talents you gave me? I invested it and gained five more.”
In Matthew 25:21, the master responds, “Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.”
Now the one with the two talents came to the master and said, “Lord, you gave me two talents. Look, I have gained two more. I did something with it.”
The master says, “Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23 NASB ).
Lastly, the master meets with the man who was given just one talent. Now, this guy was so afraid of failure that he buried his one talent in the ground. When the master came, he dug it up and said, “Master, do you remember that one talent you gave me? Here it is.”
“I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground; see, you have what is yours” (Matthew 25:25).
Do you know how the master responded? “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave'” (Matthew 25:26 NASB ).
Do you think that was too harsh of a reaction? You bet it is. But do you know what that says? That's exactly what God thinks of us when we play it safe. When we are so afraid of failure, we don't risk, we don't venture. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The Bible says you cannot please God by playing it safe. You will never please God by doing that because your life will end up a barren wasteland.
2. Realize that failure is not final. Failure is neither fatal nor final. In fact, the fear of failure is often worse than the experience itself. I go to dentists but for some reason I am always scared stiff. I'm a grown man, but I stay up nights before the dental appointment. I make every excuse I can to postpone or change the appointment. I will call the receptionist and say, “If there is anyone else that needs their teeth fixed, please let them have my place. I'll come at another time.”
I can't believe I fight this fear because, thanks to advanced technology today in dentistry, I usually don't feel a thing. I have my mouth open for a while, not even thinking they've begun, and then they tell me they are finished already. It's amazing! But looking down at my hands, I can see that they are tight. They are holding on to each other for dear life. They are perspiring, and my buns are like rocks. That is how I get my “buns of steel.” I go to the dentist.
Often, the fear of failure is worse than the experience itself.
Proverbs 24:16 says,
“A righteous man falls seven times, and rises again.” Even good guys stumble. The righteous man falls seven times. Not once, not twice, but seven times and… he rises again. Do you think he camps around the fire of failure? No, the righteous man falls and gets up seven times. He just rises again. It's okay.
But, what if you're stumbling because you are rejecting God and being foolish? What if you're denying God and not cooperating with Him? What about making mistakes when you do that? Then what is that called? It is called being foolish, disobeying God, and rejecting God. That's what it is called. Repent!
But what if you have received Christ and you are trying your best to serve and love Him, but you still stumble and run into walls?
The Bible says don't worry because
“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
If I'm trying my best to walk according to God's will and God's way, and yet I stumble, God says, “Don't you worry about it in the least.” In fact, He says, “I will work those mistakes around for good, and I will turn them into a blessing for you. Just don't give up. Because when you are following Me, you are in a win-win situation. When you do right, you get blessed. When you don't, you mess up. But if you are trying to follow Me, I will turn it around and make it for the right.”
Isn't that great?
Learn From Your Failure
The message here is simple:
If you are erring on the side of unrighteousness, repent right away. Ask the Lord for forgiveness. But if you are erring on the side of righteousness and you make a mistake, pick yourself up and keep right on going . Learn from your failure, and move on. Don't camp around the fires of guilt and failure.
Did you know that George Washington lost two-thirds of the battles in the American Revolution before he finally won the war and became the first president of the United States of America? Two-thirds of the battles.
I also did some research on Napoleon. Napoleon graduated forty-second in a class of 43 students. And then he went on to conquer Europe.
For many years Babe Ruth held the world record in home runs. He was the first to be called the Home Run King. But did you know that, not only did he hit 714 home runs, he struck out 1336 times? And yet he was not known as the Strike Out King. Why? Because he didn't give up.
Failure is not final. Galatians 6:9 says this,
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary.” You will reap. Just don't give up. Most people give up far too soon. When you learn through failure, you become a success through failure. Falling down is part of the pathway to success, and when you stumble and fumble, God will use your time on the ground to build you up.
Think of a baby. How does a child learn to walk? By falling. Wouldn't it be crazy if the child starts to walk and the parents say, “Come on, come on, baby, walk.”
Foomp! He falls down and the parents say, “That's it. He fell. He cannot walk ever again.” No, you learn through failure.
Listen to this man's story: At age seven, his parents were evicted from their home because they could not make the payments. Then two years later, at age nine, his mother died. He had to go to work early to help support the family. When he was 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He wanted to go to school, but his education wasn't good enough. At 23, he went into debt to become a partner in a store. Three years later his partner died, leaving all their joint debt to him. At 28, he proposed to a lady, but she rejected him. At 37, he tried to get into congress but failed. Two years later, he tried again and failed. He later had a nervous breakdown. Then at 41, after being married, his son died. The following year, he ran for land officer and lost. At 45, he ran for the senate and lost. Two years later, he ran for vice president and lost. He tried the senate again and lost. Then, at age 51, he was elected the sixteenth president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln is remembered in history as one of America's greatest leaders.
His life was one constant failure, but he kept going. Most of us drop out far too soon. Thank God he didn't drop out.
Sometimes the pathway to God's greatest desire for your life will be riddled with failure. Don't drop out. It's a part of life. Don't make failure into such a big deal that you sabotage your own future.
Failure educates us. Thomas Edison had 10,000 failures before he perfected the incandescent lightbulb. At 10,000 failures someone asked him, “Aren't you discouraged? Don't you feel like a failure?”
Do you know what Thomas Edison's reply was? “I don't call it a failure,” he said. “I call it an education. Now I know 10,000 things that do not work very well.”
4. Redefine failure. Some people say, “I failed.” Why? “Because I lost this job, or I didn't meet this assignment, or I didn't make that money, or I didn't make that sale.”
Let's redefine failure. Failure is not that you didn't arrive at your goal; failure is not even making the effort.
How often, when we fall down, do we refuse to set any more goals because the locusts might come? The boll weevils might come, and so we leave our land desolate.
Failure is not when I stumble in my walk with Jesus. Failure is if I never intend to have a good walk with Jesus. We have to redefine failure. Someone said it this way, “I would rather attempt to do something great for God and fail, than to plan to do nothing and succeed.” Redefine failure.
“I realized that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive” (Ecclesiastes 3:12 tev).
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7 NASB ).
God says, “Do not drop out.” God did not say to come in first. He says, “Run.” He did not say, “I want you to be the best.” He says, “I want you to do your best.”
God is not looking for people who want to be famous. He is looking for people who would be faithful. I define failure as giving up too soon.
Never give up! Don't do it. If Abraham Lincoln had done so, we would be short a great president. Do not give up too soon. You might say, “What if I keep making mistakes?” I will tell you a foolproof way to guard your heart. First Corinthians 13:8 says this:
“Love never fails.” The foolproof way to overcome and override failure is to make the motivation for everything you are doing—love. FAILURE IS NOT THAT YOU DIDN'T ARRIVE AT YOUR GOAL. FAILURE IS NOT MAKING THE EFFORT.
If you love your family and you love God and you come up short, God says, “I will turn that around for good.” Why? Because love never fails.
If I am doing anything out of selfishness and I mess up, good for me! But if I love my family and I love God, and I stumble and fumble and fall while trying my best, don't worry. God says that's good, because you know what? He will turn it around for blessings. God will use everything you try and attempt, mistakes or otherwise, and turn them all around until they all come up blessings. Isn't that wonderful? That is the kind of God we serve.
He is saying, “Go for it. Do not be afraid of failure.
You just go for it. But if you err, err on the side of righteousness, not on the side of unrighteousness.” Martin Luther was the founder of the Reformation Age and a great man of God. He understood failure, and he was not afraid to fail in the course of serving the Lord. Listen carefully because this will sound wrong at first, but let me explain it to you. Martin Luther said it this way: Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love God and then sin boldly.
What was he saying? Even if you love God and your course is steering toward Him, you are still going to sin. But Martin Luther did not say reject Christ and not love Him. If you really love Him, you are serving Him. You desire to be righteous, and he says, “Just go for it! Try it! If it doesn't work, scratch it, and try something else. Sin boldly!” Why? Because God looks at your heart. He does not look at your performance. Now remember that is all on the side of righteousness. That is what he was saying. If you miss the mark, don't worry about it. Just go for it because God is looking at your heart.
Proverbs 14:4 is one of my favorite Scriptures:
“Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox.”
What this verse is saying is if your whole goal in life is to keep a clean floor, then just make sure there is nothing there. If your whole goal is just to keep a clean manger, then you will get nothing done. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. But if you want to make something of your life, you are going to have to deal with some “doo-doo.”
Do not be afraid of doo-doo because if at least there is doo-doo on the floor, it tells you that something is alive.
Do not be afraid. Just make certain that you have goals and that
your motivation is love.
When you do what you do out of love, you never fail because love never fails.Let me let you in on a secret. Count on it, you will blow it. We all sin. We all mess up. But God is looking at our hearts. Keep your heart right. Place it before the Lord. Set it on God. And you will watch that giant—your fear of failure—fumble and fall and not rise again.
