When I look at my life, I see so, many failures; as a matter fact, I can say without a doubt, that I am, indeed, a failure. Even now-a-days, I look at some of the things I have said and done and realize, more and more, that without God I am an absolute worthless and hopeless individual. John 15:5 tells us:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing”.

            I have spent a great deal of my life trying to be perfect, to be the best, to perform, to impress in all I do. In the natural, I have been blessed with some God-given abilities, but they are just that, “God-given abilities.” Even when I don’t give Him the glory, to Him belongs all the glory.  We work hard to be the best, but many times, we are faced with the reality that we are not the best in all we do; at times we are not even in the first ten. Lately, I have been realizing how much of a failure I am; for all of those things I’ve done apart from giving Him glory and in my name are not even worth the dusk of our shoes in heaven.

            The “Christian life” is not about how successful we are, but about judging every possible decision we consider making, according to God’s ways and not our own. The world has a way to define, “success” that is very different from God’s. Beloved, if you are saved, pursuing the ways of the Lord and walking in His purpose, you are successful! The moment that we move away from the branches of God’s Kingdom, we are on our way to utter failure.

            The reality is that many times I don’t abide in God, but I abide in myself. I have seen how even as it seems like I am doing something; in reality, I am doing nothing. 2 Timothy 3:5 tells us:

“…having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

            Many of us are full of a form of Godliness; we know how to play the Christian role, to speak certain ways, say certain things, quote the right Scriptures, etc. But many of us deny God’s power when we turn around and insist on doing things our own ways. So, you face the temptation, you saw the escape, but you still went after the sin…it is there that the power of God is available for us, but we deny His power and go after what we want. We are then surprised that we were not able to resist! Beloved, that is the story of my life. The times that I have gone after what I liked and turned my back on God’s divine power to resist evil, I found myself failing over and over.  

            Is there, then, any hope? Yes! The hope is found in God’s love, the brutality of His discipline, His grace, His mercy, His power to restore, to break and equip us. He will get us to a point of true qualification to ministry. When you walk around with your perfect life, walk around like you are the last Coca-Cola in the desert; you are, indeed, worthless for the service of God’s people. When we get to the end of ourselves, when we get to the realization of how “nothing” we are and how “Everything” God is; we are ready to minister; to give, expecting nothing in return.

            Am I preaching a Gospel of failures? Are God’s people called to be a bunch of losers? Absolutely not! However, without God, we will experience failure after failure until we get to a point where we can surrender. The more I fail, the more I learn, the more I learn the more God works humility in me and kill my pride. The more this process happens, the more useful I become to Him as a vessel of clay. The more I learn to abide in His power and not in my abilities; the more He gets the glory, the more blessed I am and the more useful I am for the work of the ministry.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him…” (John, 3:16)

            To “believe in,” someone means to trust them. In all things, we must trust God; for mankind will always fail. Only through Jesus WILL we find true success. You may struggle and fail every day, but I urge you to trust in God in ALL things.