It's Not the End!

By Carl Kimbro, Fellowship Bible Church CR Devotional team member 5/9/2018

As it happens so often in our lives, we are moving along in a close relationship with God,
serving Him, praising Him, living for Him. Things seem so good, and then suddenly it
happens. We may relapse, we may stumble in our walk, we may get caught up in circumstances around us and fall flat on our face. We may tell ourselves “this has happened too many times. I just can’t do this anymore. It’s impossible for me to get past my hurts, habits, and hang-ups. They own me now and they always will.” Doubt creeps in and we wonder if we are really a child of God. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. We all go through this. In our shame, failure can seem like the end, but is it?

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 73:26;
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the
strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

We don’t have to fear failure because failure is NEVER final. God is our strength, not us. God will pick us back up and forgive us. God will help us overcome because we can’t do it alone. When we put our trust in God, when we take our eyes off of ourselves and look to God for our strength, we can
put our failures behind us. When we stop trying to do it ourselves, God becomes our
portion and our delivery. Failure becomes less likely and a strong relationship with God
becomes more likely.  We have all suffered as a result of our sins. God promises us forgiveness and a
restored relationship with Him.

1st John 1:9 tells us “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Our sins were forgiven at the cross. Our acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior made us
a forgiven child of God. When we acknowledge our sins we are humbling
ourselves before God and admitting we have not lived in a manner that pleases Him.
God, in turn, shows his mercy and love by cleansing us of unrighteousness. God doesn’t
give us what we deserve when we sin, but instead gives us forgiveness because of the
shed blood of Jesus.

God loves us and failure is not the end of our story or our relationship with Him. When
we feel like failures because of sin, remember that no one is a failure who has put his
trust in Christ Jesus. We are a forgiven child of God.

Click HERE to listen to "Forgiven" by Crowder

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