Or, Why Be a Loser?

It’s sad but true; there are many Christians living in failure.  Perhaps they are enjoying the temporary success that comes from time to time in life, but in their spiritual lives many are failing and failing badly.

1.  You should never be a failure.  Ever.

The truly devastating thing about this is that God has made no provision for failure.  When you think about it, the Christian life shouldn’t be a failure when— 

1. The Christian life is a divine life.  We are “born from above” and quickened by the Spirit.  We are partakers of the divine nature and even now enjoying everlasting life.
2. Our guide is infallible.  The unerring Word of God is applied to our hearts by the unerring Spirit of God, John 16:13.  Consider the words of Isaiah 35:8—And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. (KJV)
3. His provision is sufficient.  Why should the Christian lack anything he needs to live his life when we are promised abundant life?  Philippians 4:19 says that God will supply all our needs!
4. Help is promised to us.  Temptations will come our way as surely as Christ faced them, but just like Jesus; we may overcome by the Word of God.  Hebrews 12:18 says:  [H]e is able to help those who are being tempted.
5. Power is promised to us.  Jude 24 declares that He is able to keep us from falling, and fills us with enough power to resist the Devil and to enable us to live a life that will be a witness to His glory.
6. We can expect victory.  God has made provision that every single believer should be more than a conqueror, Romans 8:37.  And 1 Corinthians 15:57 and 58 tells us the victory comes from Christ.

2.  You become a failure when we— 

1. Forsake God.  When we take our eyes of God and attempt to do things our own way.
2. Are stubborn.  Beware of having to have things our own way.  We are stubborn when we prefer our own wisdom to the wisdom that comes from above.
3. Fear man.  Proverbs 29:25 puts it bluntly: The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
4. We are worldly.  The love of the world leads to mingling with it, and that leads to the choking of the Word of God.  To choke out the Word from our lives is to choke out our spiritual lives, Matthew 13:22.
5. Are disobedient, Psalm 106:34.  Relying on your own feelings and comfort and “peace” and forgetting God’s plain Word is to be disobedient.  We are to “walk by faith, not by sight,” 2 Corinthians 16:7.
6. Rely more on man then on God.  Trusting the word of man instead of God is to dishonor God and will end only in disappointment, 2 Chronicles 16:7.
7. Have pride, Joshua 9:14.  Joshua thought he was more than capable to discerning the Gibeonites, yet he failed miserably.  We are not to “lean on our own understanding “ (Proverbs 3:5).
8. Neglect the little things, Song of Solomon 2:15.  Little sins unconfessed or little habits not dealt with will grow and grow.
9. Don’t trust God’s provision, Psalm 78:19—41.  We must believe that God is sufficient for every situation in life.

3.  Failure always leads to— 

1. Disappointment, Jeremiah 2:13.  Nothing can satisfy like God’s provision.
2. Discouragement, Deuteronomy 1:28.  The failure of one believer can discourage and hinder the prayers and walk of many others.
3. A selfish life, Hosea 10:1.  The conceited ego within seeks all the honor and comforts for itself.  The self-confident can never enter into the fullness of blessing.
4. Unfruitfulness, Matthew 13:22.  When you are out of fellowship with Christ, your life becomes barren because you hinder the Holy Spirit.
5. Lukewarmness, Revelation 2:4; 3:16.  This is a sickening condition to God.
6. Defeat, Joshua 7:13.  There can be no victory when the Captain of the host is ignored (Joshua 5:13—14).
7. Dishonor.  Every failure dishonors the Lord, who gave us the “victory through our Lord Jesus Christ,” 1 Corinthians 15:57.

4.  The cure for failure involves— 

1. Confession of sin.  1 John 1:7.  Any time we fail to appropriate what Christ has done for us, we sin and we must confess that sin to God.  But God is faithful and just and will forgive us.
2. Surrendering our will, Hosea 14:1—4.  When we fail and go our own ways, we must make a conscious effort to return to God.  That’s what repentance is:  turning from our ways—surrendering our wills—and returning to God and making a concerted effort not to stray again.
3. Dedicating our lives to Christ, Romans 12:1—2.  When we ask Christ to become Lord of our lives, He takes up residence in our hearts and desires to work out His will through us.  That means that we must dedicate ourselves to Him, allowing Him to use us to glorify the Father. 
4. Laying aside every weight, Hebrews 12:1.  We must make a conscious effort to rid our lives of things that could cause us to stumble.  What may not be a sin on our conscious may be a weight on our life.
5. Receiving God’s promises, 1 Peter 1:4—8.  By these rich promises, we are made partakers of the divine nature and enabled to add to faith, virtue, and so on, that we may be fruitful servants of God.
6. Abiding in Christ, John 16:1—5.  We do this by trusting in Him and obeying His Word.
7. Walking humbly before Him, Malachi 2:6.  The purpose of the candlestick was to shine before the Lord.  Is this the purpose of your life today?