God Shines Through Our Failures

Failure. Who wants to fail? None of us. But the truth of the matter is, we live in a fallen world and we have a sinful nature that wars against us. There is also an Enemy agent at work against us. As humans we are fragile. We are bound to fail. I fail, you fail, we fail each other. But our God NEVER fails us.

"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love towards those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us." Psalm 103: 8-12, ESV

From everlasting to everlasting... He is God!

When you FEEL like you have failed, when you KNOW you have failed, remember this: "But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.'" Lamentations 3: 21-24, ESV

Do you cling to Him as Your portion? Then NEVER GIVE UP...NEVER!!!

A prayer of hope: We are so thankful, Lord, that even though we fail You and others, even ourselves, You never fail us. Everything you have said about yourself in Your word is true. You have given us Your gracious Holy Spirit, through our Savior, as a deposit on our hearts to mark us for the day of redemption. We wait for that with eager expectation and in the meantime, we pray that the acknowledgement of our failures and humility that comes from them, continues to reflect Your radiant glory in all Your goodness. Yes, Lord, Your mercies are new every morning! Amen

Jesus Wept

“Jesus wept.” John 11:35, ESV I was reminded of this verse today by a dear friend who also is an excellent Psychologist.

I think what is so profound about this short verse is that it shows the deep compassion and humanity of Christ for those He loves. He wept. It literally means that He shed tears and it means to weep silently or shed quiet (actual) tears. Christ wept when He heard the news of Lazarus’ death and when He witnessed those who were mourning for Lazarus. Not only did He weep, but it says He was deeply moved and His spirit was greatly troubled.

Have you wept like this? Remember “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV

And “we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;”…”For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:7-10, 17-18, ESV

Romans 12:15 says we are to weep with those who weep. When we weep, Christ weeps.