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“In God’s hands no defeat is a crushing defeat.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2015-09-15) from his book, Glory Days: Living Your Promised Land Life Now (p. 110). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Maybe you need this today.  Maybe you feel like one big failure.

Max says, “His (God’s) book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops. David was a moral failure, yet God used him. Elijah was an emotional train wreck after Mount Carmel, but God blessed him. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer, and God heard it. Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.”

The Bible says, “The steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step they take. If they fall, it isn’t fatal, for the Lord holds them with his hand” (Ps. 37:23–24 TLB).

Max says, “How essential it is that you understand this. Miss this truth and miss your Glory Days. You must believe that God’s grace is greater than your failures. Pitch your tent on promises like this one: ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus . . . who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit’ (Rom. 8:1, 4 NASB). Everyone stumbles. The difference is in the response. Some stumble into the pit of guilt. Others tumble into the arms of God. Those who find grace do so because they ‘walk according . . . to the Spirit.’ They hear God’s voice. They make a deliberate decision to stand up and lean into God’s grace.  As God told Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid, nor . . . dismayed; . . . arise, go...’”

As Max says, “Rise up and step out. Even the apostle Paul had to make this choice. ‘I leave the past behind and with hands outstretched to whatever lies ahead I go straight for the goal’ (Phil. 3:13–14 PHILLIPS). There ain’t no future in the past. You can’t change yesterday, but you can do something about tomorrow. Put God’s plan in place.”


So was this thought for you or someone you know?

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