How To Face My Failures

How To Face My Failures

Matthew 26:30-35

Sooner or later everyone in this sanctuary will fail at something. There are some here today who have had more failures than successes. Failure is a universal experience. If failure is such a universal experience, then I am sure you would agree that it is important for us to know how to deal with it when it comes.

In Matthew 26 Peter assured The Lord Jesus that he would not deny Him even if it ment death. Then in John 21 we find Peter going fishing which led to the others going with him, then in verse three we read these words, "that night they caught nothing."

What we find in these passages of scriptures is that the greatest of saints faced times of failure in their lives.

In one scripture we here Peter boasting about how brave he is and then failing to stand up for The Lord Jesus when the pressure is on.

Then we here Peter, say something like this, "Listen. I am going to go crazy sitting around here. I can’t keep this up. I know what I do best and that is fishing. I’m going fishing." So the other six disciples thought that was a good idea and they decided to tag along. Apparently it was not a good night for fishing. All night long they lowered their nets and pulled up their nets. They lowered them and pulled them up. All night long they struggled with those nets and caught nothing. It was a night of failure. Can you imagine the feelings brewing in that boat that night? "I thought Peter knew how to fish. Has he lost his touch? I am not sure he deserves to be our leader any longer. One thing after another goes wrong." It was a long night of failure.

I know what just crossed your mind. Someone in this sanctuary just sat back in his seat and thought, "That will never happen to me. I am too successful." Oh, yes it will. And it will happen when you least expect it. You will have a time in your life when you will fail.

Part of our problem is we live in a success driven culture. Success seems to have become our national religion. Everyone wants and expects to be successful. We are all OK as long as we feel we are successful; but our problems come when we fail. We don’t know how to handle failure. We need an understanding of what to do when we fail. It is impossible for us to be successful all the time. Therefore, I believe we need to know what the Bible tells us about failure. You see, we believe that if we serve God we never fail at anything, our lives will be a complete success. The fact is there will be times in our lives when we will fail at something. God does not abandon us when we fail in our service to him. In fact that is when God can really bless us. Many times it is only after we fail that we realize that we need God’s help to succeed. Something you need to remember is, that " your failures are not final "!!! You also need to realize that " just because you fail at something does not make you a failure " !!!

The primary problem with failure is that it takes many forms. There are many faces to failure. Sometimes failure comes to us in a disappointment. Sometimes it comes as the result of someone letting us down. It may come because a child has taken the wrong road. It may come because a mate has been unfaithful. It may come when we actually have messed up. When any of those or other things happen, we feel like we have failed. It doesn’t take much to make us feel like we are failures. There will be times in our lives when we will feel like failures. How can I face my failures and work through them? If we are going to face our failures and overcome them then we must ask ourselves three question:

I. IS GOD SURPRISED WHEN WE FAIL IN OUR SERVICE TO HIM?

No, Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him. Look at Verse 34 At what Jesus Told Peter. Jesus predicted the denial of Peter that would take place later. Now Look at Peter’s Confidence in Verse 35, Even if I have to die for you I will not deny you. Peter was to confident in himself. Peter’s confidence was in himself and not God’s strength and ability to keep him. Peter thought that he was ready for the test. But when the pressure was on he failed. What happened to Peter he relied upon the flesh.