FAILURE
LESSONS
(Not lessons that were failed to be learned,
but, rather, lessons that were learned by failure)
God can indeed work out all things for our
ultimate good, even our failures?!
1.
HUMILITY
1.1. All are sinners, even me
1.2. Drop my stones and walk away
2. DEPENDENCE
2.1. “I need thee, every hour, stay thou nearby…”
2.2. “childlikeness”?!
3. FUTILITY
3.1. Struggling alone is recipe for failure
3.2. Even Michael did not rebuke Satan
3.3. Rom.7
4. PATIENCE
4.1. Patience with self
4.2. Others “getting-there” also
5. TRUTH
5.1. Satan is a liar
5.2. The ads are wrong
5.3. Sin is sick
6. PERSEVERANCE
6.1. Get back on horse, and ride on…
6.2. “winners” get soft; losers fight for next
victory
6.3. Temptation – opportunity to say “no”; Failure
– opportunity to say “next time!”
7. GRACIOUSNESS
7.1. “poor loser”?!
7.2. Smiling recognition of common struggles
8. FORGIVENESS
8.1. Sweet place resting in forgiveness
8.2. When a wife accepts confession and apology,
and then forgets.
8.3. “cast into sea of forgetfulness…”
9. EXPECTATIONS
9.1. Recognizing ones own failure demands
acknowledgement of “failure”
9.2. No rationalization; no excuses; no
blame-casting; no scape-goating
9.3. No renaming failure as an “alternative”
10. DEAD-ENDS
10.1.The dark-side is a mirage
10.2.
“broad
way” is “Highway to Hell”
10.3.
“this is
going nowhere good…” is a detour sign that needs attention!
11. ESCAPE
11.1. Not continue in wrong direction
11.2. “godly grief produces repentance”
11.3. God gives a way of escape – before, and after
temptation encountered.
12. COUNSEL
12.1. Help next guy
12.2. School
of hard-knocks is not best education, but can teach
13. COST
13.1. Reap what we sow
13.2. “sword
departed not from David’s house…”
13.3. Disease,
divorce, death, derision, dollars…
14. PAIN
14.1. Broken bones, broken homes, broken bank
account
14.2. Embarrassment
and shame
14.3. Loneliness
and isolation
14.4. Usefulness
and position lost
14.5. Witness
lost, diminished
14.6. Physical
pain is good – hand on hot stove?
Spiritual pain?!
15. CAUTION
15.1. Wild and reckless hearts are good for some
reasons, but …
15.2. Esau vs.
Jacob
15.3. Count-the-Cost
mindset
16. WARNING ALARM
16.1. Beeping monitor on my hardhat hard to hear
above process noise.
16.2.
“…take
heed, lest he fall…”
16.3. Chest
pain? Heart?! EKG… >> Failure? Heart
problem?!
16.3.1. Divided heart.
16.3.2. Hard heart
16.3.3. Carnal heart
17. WEAKNESS (PERSONAL ARMOR CHINK)
17.1. White-hat hackers probe for program security
weakness (black-hat, in this case)
17.2. An
unlocked door that can now be locked.
17.3. My
problem may be unknown (or ignored) by myself, until I fail?
17.4. “when I
am weak, then I am strong…”?!
18.
Plan-B can be better.
18.1. NOT "... let us sin that grace may abound ..."
18.2. but, a receiver trips, a block is missed, and
the QB goes with his busted-play plan.
18.3. "contingency planning" for mill’s
maintenance major outage for unforeseen problems.
18.4. Garth Brooks’ song, “unanswered prayer…”
18.5. Solomon instead of Absalom? A lot of
sin manipulated to bring blessings?!
19.
"IGNORANCE IS BLISS"
19.1. 21st century man is so full of himself
19.2. smarter than all previous generations?!
19.3. new is better?!
19.4. old is just superstition, myth, ... ?!
19.5. technology that connects us all instantly,
with nothing really to say?!
19.6.
"secret things belong to God..."
19.7. Job put his hand over his mouth and shut up!
19.8. I do not have to drive, nor even navigate!
relax and enjoy the scenery?!
19.9. we stress over getting it all exactly
right? Spiritual-OCD?!
20.NEXT-TIME
20.1. "fool me once, shame on you; fool me
twice, shame on me?!
20.2. "insanity is doing the same thing,
repeatedly, and expecting different results"?! -- Einstein
20.3. At work, drove way-around pile of lime dust,
after dealing with sinus inflammation for a couple of weeks!
20.4. learn from experience, especially bad
experiences.
20.5. do not pet snarling dogs; they bite.
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