Facing Failure

A close friend of mine bought me a devotional book by Henry and Richard Blackaby and it has been a huge blessing in my life. I wake up every morning excited to see what the Lord has to say to me through this devotional and let me tell you, I am never disappointed. I want to share the one from yesterday with you. It was titled, Facing Failure and the Scripture reference was Mark 14:27...

"Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written....." The devotional talked about how there are certain situations that happen in our lives that cause us to stumble in our relationship with the Lord. Whether our intentions were good or bad, the end result is the same.....we miss the mark.

There's no one that knows more about missing the mark than Peter. He boasted about how he would never forsake the Lord, but yet he denied Him not once....not twice, but three times. I would like to say that I can't imagine how Peter felt, but actually I do. I am very familiar with the heartache that comes from disappointing the Lord and it always amazes me of how loving and forgiving our Father is. Peter felt the depth of the Lord's love and forgiveness in John 21:15-17. The Lord has risen from the dead and when He first encountered Peter, He could have asked him for a confession of his sin, but instead He asked him for a confession of his love.

Wow.

You may be hurting because you feel that you have failed the Lord. You have fallen short in an area or been disobedient about something that He has asked you to do and you feel horrible. Pick your head up my friend and know that the Lord is never surprised by our failures. In fact, He has already made provisions for all of our shortcomings and all He wants to know is that we love Him, are willing to obey Him and follow Him.

I don't know about y'all, but that (in the words of Priscilla) was a blessing to my soul! The name of this particular devotional book is called, Experiencing God Day-By-Day. Any devotional books that you are absolutely loving right now? Please share!

Until next time,
Antrenette