When you feel like a failure
1. Rest in God’s sufficiency.
But he said to me,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2 Corinthians 12:9–10)
2. Trust that this is working for something greater.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the
testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
(James 1:2–4)
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,
STAND FIRM.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that
your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
(1 Corinthians 15:58)
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, we also glory in our sufferings, because know that
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope.
And hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
(Romans 5: 1–5)
3. Make the joy of the Lord your strength.
“Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10)
4. Trust that God is there to help and guide you.
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.
5. God listens to your cries. Truly, He listens!
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek with all your heart.
“I will be found by you,”
declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
(Jeremiah 29:11–14)
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
(James 4:8)
6. Hope, so others can hope too.
If you don’t rely on God, you are helpless to help anyone. If you want other people to hope and dream, you have to as well! Not by your own strength but God’s!
7. As for the Lord
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
(Colossians 3:17)
Obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
Whatever you do,
work at it will all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
for you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord you are serving.
(Colossians 3:22–23)
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31)
