Failure is one thing we all have in common. What does God have to say about failure? Read Isaiah 42:3 & Matthew 12:20. (A bruised reed He will not break, And a smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. - Isaiah 42:3. / A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; - Matthew 12:20). What does this tell you about God's heart towards those who mess things up and/or fail miserably? By the way, a smoking flax is a wick burning in an oil lamp with the oil run out--and it stinks up a house real quick.

 

What does Lamentations 3:21-23 tell you about God's capacity to forgive? (This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:21-23).

 

Read Romans 15:5-7. (Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, recieve on another, just as Christ also recieved us, to the glory of God. - Romans 15:5-7). Does God accept us? If so, how does this affect the way we should treat others?

 

Read Exodus 34:5-7. (Now the Lord decended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation. - Exodus 34:5-7). What is the Lord's primary reaction to our failure?

 

Look at 1 Chronicles 16:34 & 2 Chronicles 5:13. (Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! - 1 Chronicles 16:34 / indeed it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord,saying: "For He is good, for His mercy endures forever," that the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud - 2 Chronicles 5:13). How does God respond to our acknowledgement of His goodness and lovingkindness?

 

Read 2 Chronicles 30:9 & Jeremiah 3:12-15. (For if you return to the Lord your God, that fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. - 2 Chronicles 30:9 / Go and proclaim these words to the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,' says the Lord; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,' says the Lord; 'I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,' says the Lord. "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord; "for I am married to yo. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. - Jeremiah 3:12-15). What does the Lord promise to us if we return to Him?

 

Check out Jeremiah 3:22. ("Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, for You are the Lord our God." - Jeremiah 3:22). Does God have provision for us, even when we're faithless?

 

Read Jeremiah 5:6. (Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, A wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; A leaopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, Because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased. - Jeremiah 5:6). How serious is God about sin?

 

Look at Jeremiah 18:1-6. (The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying: "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying : "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the Lord. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!.." - Jeremiah 18:1-6). What can the Lord do with us when we fail? Does this verse indicate that He can still use us?

 

Read Jeremiah 31:34, Micah 7:19 and Isaiah 43:25. ("No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." - Jeremiah 31:34 / He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. - Micah 7:19 / "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." - Isaiah 43:25). What do these verses say about how long the Lord will remember our sins and hold them against us?

 

How does 2 Peter 2:20-21 encourage us not to fail? (For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them then the beginning. For it would've been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delievered to them. - 2 Peter 2:20-21).

 

Remember the story of Matthew 14:22-31? (Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. but the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid." And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said "Come." And when Peter had come down out fo the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" - Matthew 14:22-31). Notice how Peter didn't plan to fail, but when he did Jesus came walking on top of his problem. He can do the same for you.

 

Read Psalm 32:1-5. (Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deciet. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all teh day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. - Psalm 32:1-5). What happens to us when we don't confess our sin?

Read Pslam 85:2. (You have forgiven the iniquity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Selah. - Pslam 85:2). What do you think it means to "cover sin?"

 

Read Psalm 86:5. (For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You. - Psalm 86:5). Does this tell us that God is only "in the mood to forgive" only some of the time?

 

Check out Psalm 63:1-5. (O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because of Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. - Pslam 63:1-5). Would God actually consider honoring you after you've blown it? What does "renewal" mean to you? To God?

 

Look at Psalm 145:14. (The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. - Psalm 145:14). Does God still love us when we fall? What posture should our hearts take after failure?

 

Read Isaiah 1:18. ("Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. - Isaiah 1:18). What does "the washing away of our sins" mean?

 

Read Isaiah 38:17. (Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; but You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind your back. - Isaiah 38:17). Does God actually take action with our confessed sins?

 

Read Isaiah 44:22. (I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. - Isaiah 44:22). What does God want us to do after we confess our sins to Him?

Check out Isaiah 49:14-16. (But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me." "Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. - Isaiah 49: 14-16). Does the Lord ever forget us? What does this verse possibly reveal about the scars of Jesus?

 

Read Isaiah 57:15-18. (For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I haveseen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners." - Isaiah 57:15-18). When our sins break us and leave us in humble agony, does God leave us in this state forever?

 

Read Luke 15:11-32 very carefully. (Then He said: "A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.' So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he bagan to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."' And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.' Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.' But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his faterh came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you have never given me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'" - Luke 15:11-32). This is the parable of the "prodigal son." Jesus was the author of this parable, and He crafted His story exactly how He wanted to, letting us know we can extract meaning from every detail. It is one of the clearest presentations of God's grace toward us and His attitude towards us when returning to Him. Notice the difference in the attitude of worthiness of the son {(verse 19)and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants."} and the value the father attached to the son {(verses 22-24)But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.'}. Re-read verse 20 (And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.). Did the father tell the son, "You should never have gone away! Get out of here, you sinner!??" Even thought the son had squandered his entire share of the inheritance, the father gave him one of his rings, which in those days could be used like a credit card with local merchants. Re-read verses 29-32 (So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you have never given me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'). What does this tell you about the older brother's attitude towards his father and his father's acceptance? Do you have a "performance" attitude or set beliefs concerning God's acceptance of yourself?

 

Read Colossians 2:13. (And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. - Colossians 2:13). In what condition are we in when God forgives us? Can we logically believe that He won't forgive us again...and again?

 

Look at 1 John 1:9 and memorize it. (If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. - 1 John 1:9). Stand on it when you have false, accusing thoughts like, "How can God forgive me for what I've done this time?"

 

Grace is a wonderful thing. Lust Control believes we should all live under radical grace. Let's not let our fear of abusing grace lead us into a legalistic, religious death. If we do sin after being forgiven, we are nailing our Lord to a cross again. Let that realization break you--and you may realize more the height and width and breadth of the love of God. You can't get away from His love and nothing can separate you from it.

 

For further reading on grace, we recommend Spiritual Burnout by Malcolm Smith (Harrison House Publishing) and Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll (Word Publishing).