If at first you don't succeed... Run for the hills or try, try again?

In fact, to be distressed in a godly way causes people to change the way they think and act and leads them to be saved. No one can regret that. But the distress that the world causes brings only death - 2 Corinthians 7:10


Ever hear "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again?"  Of course you have... Well let me ask you this, why do we not apply that saying to life issues past grade school?  Why do we just give up when things get rough?  Why do we walk away if we have failed? Why do we allow embarrassment of a fall to make us back up completely?

I'm one of those people... You know the type... We feel so bad about a mistake we've made or have embarrassed ourselves so terribly that we just want to quit! Whatever the "easies way out of embarrassment or guilt is, that's the way I am inclined to go.  That kind of guilt and embarrassment has caused me to lose many battles in life... It's caused me to step out of my rightful place in ministry and authority more times that I would like to give count to. Thankfully, I was raised to be embarrassed to quit all together.

Last night listening to my pastors son speak this scripture finally made an impact on my heart and now I'm sharing it with you, giving you that same liberty God's word is working in me!  I've read these words many times and understood the meaning but I don't think my heart absorbed all that God intended out of them... Maybe that's happened to you as well? Here's the part I've missed so many times before: sometimes we feel our conscience speak in our mind when we are about to do or say something we aren't really sure about... Sometimes nothing is felt until after we've already taken the step. Next time you've taken something one step too far and you're feeling guilty, defeated or embarrassed, take a step back and ask what that feeling is producing in you?  If you can figure out the answer to that one question you will know where the feeling is coming from.

Is it making you want to run to God in repentance and ask for his forgiveness and strength to overcome and move forward with Him?  If so, that kind of sadness, guilt or embarrassment is sent by God and it's great that you feel it!  If you are experiencing that kind of "negative feeling" over something you would have done and not thought twice about before your love for God and relationship with Him then see that "negative feeling" as a "positive sign" of your growth!  You're wanting to please God on a deeper level and you are beginning to recognize the things He is looking for without having someone else tell you what is or is not acceptable and that means you are getting to know Him, you're getting close to His heart!

But the type of guilt, embarrassment, shame, fear to try again, lack of confidence in our future I described in my first paragraph is the problem... That's the kind of "negative feeling" I'm about to take down!  Some "negative feelings" are God given, and to reiterate, those "negative feelings" will cause you to move toward God and to move forward with Him! Other "negative feelings" come with depression, they will make you just want to give up on someone or something you once felt was God given, you'll want to walk away because it "should be easier" if it's really God's will or because you just can't face "those people" again...  Those "negative feelings" ARE NOT, I repeat, ARE NOT God given!  If you listen to that type of "negative feeling" you will walk away not only from that one situation causing you pain at the moment but you will develop a pattern of walking away.  Eventually you will look back and God will have become so small in your vision you will be overcome and without even realizing it.  Please remember, it is not that God has stopped walking with you but you've started walking in the opposite direction: He's just not going to walk down the path of destruction and if you are walking that way the distance changes your perspective... God gets small in your eyes, not because his power changes but because you're so far away you've forgotten His strength and love for you! You will feel scared, abandoned, lost and possibly angry God has left you but He hasn't left you, you have left Him.  If you are there at this very moment: stop walking, turn around and call out His name then start walking toward where you left Him, He will move heaven and earth to get back to you!

The good thing is once you know the words written in 2 Corinthians 7:10 you are able to recognize where your feelings are coming from in advance of being far from God... If the "negative feeling" you're experiencing is from God then listen, allow those feelings to set up repentance in your life and build an alter there (a memory, a boundary) to keep you walking in the right direction next time!  If they are not from God and you're feeling like walking away make a declaration to yourself and the situation you are in that you will not walk away because you are walking with God through it, you're moving forward!  Don't just accept a feeling as a rule, instead use the words of God to determine your next step and fight through it with God on your side! And, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try AGAIN!"


For we walk by faith we regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man's relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk not by sight or appearance. - 2 Corinthians 5:7


For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. - 2 Timothy 1:7



I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me]. Philippians 4:13