When we have failed, what next?

"So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?"   Romans 2:3-4

God's kindness leads us to repentance.

Many are afraid to come to God with there sins and failures because they are afraid He will be angry and condemn them.

But the Bible says His kindness leads us to repentance.
 
His kindness!

No matter what you have done, there is hope in Christ Jesus. He calls you to repentance in kindness.


This booklet, 'When We Have Failed - What Next?' by K.P. Yohannan, is very short, but so profound. It shares an encouraging and Biblical way on dealing with our failures and how to move past them.

He starts the booklet with his first chapter called, 'There is Hope.'

He says here:

"I want you to know there is hope. Our failures are no surprise to God. He knows, with greater understanding than we, the creation He made. And this One, who sees our sins, also knows His purposes for us."

And he later says:

"It is never too late. God is not mad at you. He is, in fact, for you. Don't give up. Mighty to save and faithful to love is He. It is to the very ones who know the pain of personal failure that He comes and extends hope:

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”  
                                                                     Isaiah 61:1-3

But why do so many of us still mourn over our failures?

K.P. Yohannan quotes Roy Hession:

"If you are still mourning and blaming yourself it is not because God is blaming you; He has put the blame on Jesus. It can only be due to one of two things. 

Either that you have not really repented, or, more likely, you are mourning over your lost righteousness. Perhaps you feel that, having been saved for so long, you should not be failing as you are...You are in effect saying, 'Alas for my lost righteousness.' 

That is nothing but pride."

K.P. Yohannan continues on this point:

"Jesus has taken our blame, the charge against us, the sting of our failure. Then why are we so sick about our failure? Because we thought we were better."

And later he states:

"Deep inside we have the defense that we are better than the wrong we committed."

This really struck me and to be completely honest convicted me. We often think we are better than we are. But Isaiah said our righteousness is just filthy rags before God, ("And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" Isaiah 64:6) then why do we think we are better than our failures?

It's pride.


What we need is to humble ourselves before God and be found in Christ's righteousness.

Paul said:

"...I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."                                                Philippians 3:8-11

 K.P. Yohannan encourages here:

"Let us leave our rags behind and hold on to His riches."

 
Later on in the book he talks about believing God and to remember His thoughts and ways are above ours.

He says here:

"None of us can totally understand God and His ways with our limited minds. We simply aren't capable. 

But we can believe Him. 

We don't have to understand everything to accept what He says is true. If God says it, we must believe it.

Don't fall into the trap in which you will only believe God if you completely understand Him. Your unbelief will hinder the transformation He wants to bring about in your life. Please don't be a doubter. Join your heart with His and simply believe."

Finally, I'll leave you with this powerful quote from chapter six:

"Along this journey of restoration, every step requires that we believe His Word regardless of our feelings.

So - we must believe there is hope. We must believe that His best remains. We must believe that His road of humility is better than our road of pride. We must believe His restoration is more important than our reputation. We must believe He truly forgives us. And we must believe that by His blood, Satan's head was crushed.

The answer for which you are searching lies in believing God. This is a life of faith."


*This booklet is free for Kindle HERE on Amazon