Articles by Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
5 20 2024
Does God take us back to a failure, to increase our fruitfulness?
When calling us to a place of increased fruitfulness, often God first brings us to the very place we failed. Has that ever happened to you? You come to this place, this opportunity, or this desire and you come face to face with memories of a past failure or hurtful situation that comes in like a flood. Perhaps even something that you never fully thought through or prayed through. Time had gone by, and you never came to the place of understanding of what really happened.
In my case I struggled for months, back then, to try and understand how and why this happened.
What was it God wanted me to learn? It wasn’t easy and it included eating more than a little bit of pride. I felt I learned more than a little bit about humility. And now, here I am faced with a similar situation. And as the hurt of it confronts me again, I couldn’t help but go back and rethink it.
Can I dissect and learn something new from a different point of view, perhaps being a little more mature, or at least more distant from the hurt feelings of it all?
I have been a firm believer that we get to repeat life’s challenges or mistakes again and again until we learn what he wants to teach us. I found myself asking about this similar thing that was happening.
It startled me, I certainly didn’t want a repeat of that failure. And I couldn’t help but ask if I did really learn what God wanted me to back then… or is he showcasing this memory now,
to uncover that I had not… And I still had something more to learn before moving forward with God. Sometimes in our passion to please Christ, we can still make mistakes in our zeal
to do Gods work. Sometimes we carry these past experiences forward
and they can keep us stuck from moving forward with God.
The point here is that God can bring us back to past lessons or failures before taking us to another level of fruitfulness and obedience. Will we courageously step forward into all He has for us, or will we allow past disappointments to keep us stuck?
What exactly is the price for increased intimacy with Christ? (Less of me and more of you.)
In Luke chapter 5, Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee and a crowd surrounded Him. Upon seeing Simon’s empty boat, he got in and began to teach the people from there. Verse 4 tells us, “When [Jesus] had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch” (NIV). Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. In other words, he and his partners had done everything they knew to do and had failed. They’d given it their best effort and likely had exhausted themselves . And yet, Simon responded, “But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” You remember the story, “they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.”
Jesus had called Simon right back to his place of failure. In this, the God of abundance filled his nets to overflowing—just to prove He could, so that they could follow Him without fear. And that’s precisely what occurred. Jennifer Slattery, said it so well; “You see, the power wasn’t in the miraculous number of fish but in the God who commanded them. Simon was able to shift his focus off of himself, his efforts or abilities or resources, and even God’s provision and center it firmly on Jesus, His Provider and Sustainer. That was what gave him to courage to leave his now filled nets, the equivalent of a thriving 401K, to follow however Christ led. And it all began when Simon allowed God to lead him back to the very place in which he had failed.”.
Let’s consider your next move in God! He is calling all of us into the deeper waters.
As we mature in our relationship, he keeps calling us to a deeper place of fruitfulness. Has a past failure hindered your courage to step out? When God calls you to something, do you ever hear a nagging voice that says, “Remember the last time you tried that? …”
What are some ways you gain courage to push out into the deep? Ps 145: 14 says, “The LORD upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing”. All our supplies come from God, therefore our dependence should be on Him, and our expectations from Him.
Today there are many factions that want to limit our intimacy with God.
It is a great spiritual battle.
They say remember your past…remember your failures…You can’t be doing this… What capacity, or ability do you have to qualify you. What talent do you have to do that work ? You are not fit to do any good thing. They or your thoughts will say all these things and talk ill of you and try to put you down and suppress you. But God says, that “the Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” God is listening and he is beckoning each of us to step into His deeper waters.
Dear Lord, create in me a clean and pure heart that I might glorify you in my efforts and my worship.
