How to handle Failure

Just wanna share this one today.......

How to Handle Failure
by Rick Warren

Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways. Proverbs 20:30 (GNT)
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No one’s life is an unbroken chain of victories. We all experience setbacks, defeats, losses, and failures. Nobody bats a thousand. We all make mistakes.
Since failure is common to all of us, one of the most important life-skills you can learn is how to respond to it. Mature people know how to turn every failure into a learning experience, a stepping stone for future success.

The first thing to do is to analyze why you experienced failure. Although there may be a variety of reasons – many out of your control – here are five common causes of failure:

• When we don’t plan ahead – As the old saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” Proverbs 27:12 (LB) says, “A sensible man watches for problems ahead and prepares to meet them.” Remember, Noah had to start building the ark long before it started raining!

• When we think we’ve “arrived” – Remember the lesson of the whale: just when you get to the top, and you start to blow– that’s when you get harpooned! Proverbs 16:18 (GNT) says, “Pride leads to destruction, and arrogance leads to downfall.” In other words, the man who gets too big for his britches will be exposed in the end.

• When we’re afraid to take necessary risks – The fear of failure can cause failure. We worry about what others will think of us if we fail, so we don’t even try. Former U.S. football player Fran Tarkenton says, “Fear sets you up to be a loser.” We fail to take advantage of golden opportunities. “Fear of man is a dangerous trap” (Proverbs 29:25 LB).

• When we give up too soon – Many times, success is just around the corner. Remember, the game is often won in the final seconds. If at first you don’t succeed … you’re normal! Keep on keeping on! The value of a postage stamp is found in its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there. “A lazy fellow has trouble all through life” (Proverbs 15:19 LB).

• When we ignore God’s advice – The Bible is our owner’s manual for life. It is filled with practical instructions and guidelines for work, home, finances, relationships, and health. When we fail to follow these, we’re asking for trouble. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12 NIV).

But remember failure is never final unless you let it be!

If you’ve experienced failure, here are some steps for starting over:

• Accept responsibility for your own failure – If you’ve made a mistake, admit it! Welcome to the human race. Don’t blame others. “A man who refuses to admit his mistakes can never be successful. But if he confesses and forsakes them, he gets another chance” (Proverbs 28:13 LB).

• Recognize the benefits of failure – For instance, it shows you what doesn’t work. The great inventor Thomas Edison said, “Don’t call it a failure. Call it an education!” Failure forces you to be more creative.

• Failure prevents arrogance and egotism – If everything you did was a stunning success, no one could live with you! It causes you to re-evaluate what’s important in life. Failure is one way God gets us to reflect on the direction of our lives. “Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways” (Proverbs 20:30 GNT).

• Ask God for wisdom to understand the cause for the failure – Ask, “Why did I fail? Is there any reason I might have set myself up to fail?”

• Forget the past and focus on the future – Your past is past! It’s water under the bridge. You can’t change it so you may as well stop worrying about it.

Brothers and sisters, I can’t consider myself a winner yet. This is what I do: I don’t look back, I lengthen my stride, and I run straight toward the goal to win the prize that God’s heavenly call offers in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 (GWT)

Be encouraged!
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

A UNIQUE ROLE

This is what I have read early this morning and I just needed to blog this..I think God is really telling me something :) and I hope I could hear HIM aloud.

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Believing Your Uniqueness

by Jon Walker

“The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me – to tell people the Good News about God's grace.” (Acts 20:24 NCV)

God gave you a unique role to play in his Kingdom.

You’re the only person in the world who can live your particular life for the glory of God. There is no one else in the world with your unique mix of spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, personality, and experiences. God shaped you for a very specific ministry, and no one else can fulfill your mission.

Paul writes: “The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me – to tell people the Good News about God's grace” (Acts 20:24 NCV). God doesn’t want us to waste a precious minute of our lives doing things that don’t matter – if the most important thing we can do is left undone.

It’s never too late to move faithfully into your mission for God. You may think you don’t have any skills God can use, but the truth is God would never send you on a mission without making sure you had everything you needed – including your unique S.H.A.P.E.

He sends you with his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, inside you to guide you.
What does this mean?

· Let’s not waste God’s grace – The apostle Paul writes, “But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it.” (1 Corinthians 15:10 MSG)

· What if it’s true? – How would you live differently if you really believed God had created you for a unique mission, one that only you could accomplish?

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Pastor Jon Walker is a writer for www.GraceCreates.com.

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ANGER MANAGEMENT

I'm sharing this devotional from Purpose Driven Life...it's really amazing how God send us what we need at the right time..Alam ni Lord I need to do something about the anger inside me..so He send me this one just this morning..

The concert will be tonight na..and I think Rudolf is not yet okay, he still look sad this morning, I hope he'll give it all to the Lord bago sila tumugtog..

Anger Management
by Jon Walker

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. (James 1:19-20 NLT)

The slammed door, the “looks could kill” stare, the menacing tone, the threatening language. The silence, the cold shoulder, the eyes that flash, the pointed finger, the blaming phrase.
These behaviors all emerge from our anger. They’re weapons of the flesh that we employ, faithless in the belief that God can and will handle the situations we face.

As knights of old drew their swords, we pull out these weapons when we believe we’ve been wronged or when we see something wrong.

In and of itself, anger is not a sin. It’s an emotion, and our capacity for emotions comes from God. It’s what we do with anger that becomes a sin. The Gospels report the righteous anger of Jesus as he cleared the temple.

We often see our anger as justified when, in fact, it is self-righteous. Or anger may be an appropriate emotion for the moment, but instead of relying on God’s weapons of the spirit, we instead grab for the nearest weapon of the flesh.

God’s anger management techniques are extraordinarily simple and practical (which doesn’t mean they’re easy). He says the first thing you need to understand is that he’s in control. Your anger will not bring about the right things of God. In fact, your anger may push you into decisions and actions that are independent of God, perhaps even counter-productive to God.
It’s God’s job to change people, to get them to do the right thing. It’s not your responsibility to change your wife or husband, your friend or next-door-neighbor. That’s God’s job, and you are his ambassador, not his Mafia muscle.

What now?

· Slow to anger – Your anger will not bring about God’s plans. Give your anger to God, rather than “giving it” to someone else. It requires faith to believe God is handling an aggravating or egregious situation. “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

· Slow to speak – You may have been taught to count to ten when you’re angry so you won’t rush into saying or doing something you later regret. One thing to remember as you count: The person you’re angry at is a fallen child of God, and God can take care of his own children. Besides that, if that person is a Christian, then the same Spirit that works within you also is working within your adversary. It may not appear to be so, but God has access to you both!

· Quick to listen – That means you’re trying to understand the other person. Maybe the conflict isn’t one of the heart, but one of the head – that is, you’re in agreement, but you’re going about it in different ways. Being a peacemaker doesn’t mean you agree to anything just to keep the peace. As an ambassador of Christ, you’re called to initiate the peace process – just as God initiated the process of peace with us, even when we were still sinners.