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The Bible in the Book of Romans 3:23 reminds us that, “… everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Here the Bible was just reminding us that no one is perfect except God Himself. We’ve all made wrong choices and done things that we knew were not the best. Have you ever made a poor choice at work or even at home, or done something you knew was wrong, and now you are suffering the consequences?
God knew that we would mess up before He called you In short, he knew your mistakes. He knew we would get off course at times given to temptation. Remember that God can turn the biggest mistakes of your life into the greatest miracles—no matter how impossible your situation may seem.
That is why the Bible in the Book of Jeremiah 18:3-6 used the illustration of how “Jeremiah went to the potter’s house, and he was working there at his wheel. Whenever a clay pot he was working on was ruined, he would rework it into a new clay pot the way he wanted to make it. The LORD spoke his word to me. The LORD asked, “Nation of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter does with clay? Nation of Israel, you are like the clay in the potter’s hands.”
This illustration was to show us how people do not like to associate themselves with losers. They do not like identifying with anything that looks like a mess. They just want to appear prefect and “never-did-wrong” in the eyes of people.
Think about the fact that God said Jeremiah should go to the Potter’s House to see what was happening there. He knew that Jeremiah and the people only see beautiful, gorgeous, and colorful vessels in the market; and they just buy without asking for the process that produced the vessels. They do not know what transpires in the Potter’s House! So he told Jeremiah to pay them a visit. Jeremiah saw that the vessel the Potter was working upon got spoiled right in his hands.
The Potter did not cry or curse the clay, he simply remoulded it into something else that he desired! And God identified Himself with that Potter. He said; ‘you are the clay in my hands. If you got spoiled or got messed-up while I am working on you, right in my hands, I can also {like that Potter} redesign you into something else that I choose. I can even make you bigger than what I initially had in mind!’
Beloved, do not resign because you messed-up your design. Do not quit because you fell once after all, “…righteous falls seven times and rises again…” (Proverbs 24:16). If you got messed-up, God can set you up again! Your present form is not all God can do with you; He can remould you into something else. Actually, He can remake you into something far more beautiful, better and bigger than what you were before you got messed-up!
According to Judges 13:24-25 Samson was born righteous but along the way he mixed with prostitutes (Judges 16:1-3) but still God forgave him Judges 16:28-29. But why did God allow this?(Romans 11:29)
The best example we see in the Bible in the book of Genesis 21:1-3 is that of Abraham and Sarah who despite God had promise to give them a son, but they took matters into their own hands, and Abraham had a baby with Hagar, Sarah’s maid. So, we can clearly say that Ishmael was a mistake due to lack of patience on their part.
Waiting Is Never Wasted Time. Time is the Bridge between Seed and Harvest. It is natural to want an instant change in your circumstances. Take for instance, the emotional cycle following a divorce, often creates loneliness, anger, guilt, bitterness, frustration, emptiness, depression and past memories. How do you cope with it? Healing takes time.
Yet, God still spoke to Abraham that even though it was a terrible mess. God said in the Book of Genesis 17:20, “As for Ishmael…I will make him extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants… I will make him a great nation.”
God made Ishmael great and amazingly, according to Genesis 37:27, because it was the descendants of Ishmael who came along at precisely the right moment and kept Joseph, Abraham’s great grandson, from dying in the pit when his brothers betrayed him. Here you see that the mistake of Abraham became the miracle of Joseph, who helped save the rest of their family according to Genesis 45:7.
That’s how amazing God is. After all, “This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans…” (1 Corinthians 1:25). God knows how to bring good even when we fail and make a mess. God doesn’t turn His back when we make mistakes, God does not only help us clean up the mess we made, but He take it one step further and make miracles out of Your mistakes.
Afterall, “… we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28). Though some of your mistakes can be devastating, the majority of your mistakes can be turned around for our own good! Always remember that yesterday’s failure can become today’s success.
Tragedies can become triumphs. YOU can also step OUT of failure into a victorious and successful life. God who caused you to make a mistake has laid out a PLAN for turning your mistakes into miracles!! Your response to your mistakes determines your success.
God anticipated your weaknesses. “As a father is kind to his children, so the LORD is kind to those who honor him. He certainly knows what we are made of. He bears in mind that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14).
Proverbs 19:18, “Discipline your children while they are young enough to learn. If you don’t, you are helping them destroy themselves.”
Learn From The School of Pain.
One person who learned his lesson was the prodigal son. The tears of his father did not affect him. The goodness of his father did not activate him to return. The stench of the pig pen birthed the desire for change. God uses two basic motivators in your life: People and Pain. Don’t Stop The Divine Cycle.
There are times God wants us to feel the loss from our wrong choices. In Luke 15:17, the prodigal son “came to his senses” when he became hungry. “The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.” (verse 16). Pain can motivate you to change. God may allow you to crash! because If He cushioned every fall, you would never grow.
However, I assure you, your Father will not allow the suffering and ache to become a permanent feeling. He will use it to develop a humility, a compassion for others and a reminder of why Jesus Christ died on Calvary for the sins of the world: “Yet God knows every step I take; if he tests me, he will find me pure as gold.” (Job 23:10). The Psalmist said: “It was good that I had to suffer in order to learn your laws.” (Psalm 119:71).
Hebrews 5:8 says: “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” The Quickest Cure For Ingratitude Is Loss. Don’t leave the scene of pain too quickly. The exposure to pain can create a worthy memory…that protects you for years later. Those who learn from the pain will succeed beyond their dreams.
Learn your lessons (Prov 13:21, Psalms 119:71): The prodigal son eventually came to himself. He learnt his lessons. God sometimes allows things to happen to us so that we can learn our lessons. Yours could be anger, impatience, excessive talking, prayerlessness, looseness. The question is, have you learnt your lesson? Learn your lesson. The school of life will keep repeating your mistakes to you until you have learnt those lessons. It will make you to keep repeating the class until you have learnt your lesson.
Obviously, you made a wrong move. What were the options at the time? Could you have done it diferently? Did you do your very best? “If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job.” (Luke 14:28). Sometimes what appears to be a mistake was the only possible decision at the time!
Don’t waste valuable time on unavoidable circumstances. Perhaps a mistake wasn’t made at all! By carefully Evaluating the past, you avoid making the same mistake again. Your dreams and goals can be destroyed by listening to the wrong advice. Even sickness can greatly affect your decision-making. A frustrated friend may be creating a climate of discontent for you. “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” (Proverbs 13:20).
Whose Counsel Do You Treasure Most? Whose Advice Do You Consistently Ignore? Whose Success Do You Most Admire?Whose Wisdom Do You Aggressively Pursue? Who Are The Top 7 People In Your Circle of Counsel And Why Have You Chosen Them?
If You Are Learning, You Are Not Losing. Take a sheet of paper. List lessons learned. “…write the vision, and make it plain, ” (Habakkuk 2:2). Ask yourself these questions. What weaknesses in yourself does your mistakes reveal? What have I learned about others during this time? What do the Scriptures teach in regard to your mistakes? Take time to think and to hear with your heart what you can understand through this time of learning. Study the lives of people who made the same mistake and recovered. Focus on what you can do now. Document secrets learned in your Personal Wisdom Journal.
Ways To Convert Your Mistakes To Miracles
1. Recognize And Admit Your Mistakes…To Yourself. You cannot correct what you are unwilling to confront.
Do not justify your sin. Do not lie to yourself. The Scriptures say: “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.” (Proverbs 28:13).
Many people are looking for those who will pamper them. They are not happy when they see somebody who will lash out at them or correct them. They like people who pamper their errors and mistakes and tell them to go on. People who pamper you when you make your mistakes are destiny killers.
This is why God had to remove Joseph from under his father Jacob because Jacob loved him too much. He was spoiling him by sewing clothes for him. He would not have been able to do anything with his life. The father would have kept pampering him.
2. Confess Your Mistakes To God. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all sins.” (1 John 1:9).
3. Confess The Mistakes To Others Who Were Damaged By Your Mistakes. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses, ” (Mark 11:25).
4. Do Not Confess Your Mistakes To Anyone Desiring To Use It As A Weapon To Destroy You Or Others. When your confession would destroy a marriage or home, confess to God alone. “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise, ” (Proverbs 10:19).
Stop Displaying Your Weaknesses Unnecessarily. It magnifies your mistakes. It becomes ammunition in the hands of your enemies. “I am learning, not losing.” Talk to yourself. “He that hath knowledge spareth his words…Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning, ” (Proverbs 17:27; 9:9).
5. Express Your Plan For Restitution And Compensation To Those Who Experienced Losses Through Your Mistakes. Who have you damaged? Whose life or income did your mistakes hurt? Present your plan for restoring what you have taken. The Zacchaeus Principle is very important. Return four times what you have taken. The Proof of Repentance Is Restitution.
Restitution is a faith-releasing principle that purifies your conscience. It unties the hands of God to work freely in your behalf. “If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep, ” (Exodus 22:1). “And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold, ” (Luke 19:8).
You Become What You Think. So, start hanging “Success Photographs” on the walls of your own mind! Picture Health. Picture Prosperity. Picture a Happy Marriage. Picture Overcoming. Picture Power. When You Control Your Thoughts, You Control Your Life: “Whatsoever things are true…honest…just…pure… lovely…of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things, ” (Philippians 4:8). Visualize What You Want To Materialize!
Will You Accept Jesus As Your Personal Savior Today?
The Bible says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, ” (Romans 10:9). Pray this prayer from your heart today! “
Dear Jesus, I believe that You died for me and rose again on the third day. I confess I am a sinner…I need Your love and forgiveness…Come into my heart. Forgive my sins. I receive Your eternal life. Confirm Your love by giving me peace, joy and supernatural love for others. Amen.”
Stretch your hands up now and talk to the Potter of Potters. Tell Him to remold you, if you think you have been damaged. Tell Him to recreate you if you think you have been destroyed. With Him, all things are possible! He can turn your trials into testimonies …and your blunders, He can turn into blessings! Talk to Him now!
Pastor Nathaniel.
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