Success and Failure Blog

What does it take to stand firm on the word of God?

Refuse to decompress or deflate. When someone punches the breath out of you, inhale. Let God’s spirit breathe new hope and life into you. Believe who He says you are, not what others say to defame and degrade you. You are a child of the King, bow to no negative circumstance or critical diatribe, stand up!”

Steps to Stand Up

• Believe who God says you are, not what detractors label you.
• Stand up with stand up people; stop sitting down with negative, “ain’t it awful” folks.
• Leave the sitting chair of your past behind; decide your future…
• When you get “sick and tired of being sick and tired,” don’t give up…stand up!

Click for  more information about Dr Suzan Johnson Cook

This is advice given by Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook, in her book,  Moving Up! Dr. Sujay’s Ten Steps to Turning Your Life Around and Getting to the Top!

Now let’s see what the bible says on the same subject:

Colossians 2:5-7 (niv)

For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Paul tells the Colossians to be firmly rooted, built up, and established in their faith, just as they were instructed. When we have a firm foundation in our faith, we can withstand any attacks. Jesus said, Matt. 7:24-25 “…Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and {yet} it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock.”

The danger that Jesus warned us against when we don’t have firm roots is that we will burn out. He said that the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy… Matt. 13:21 yet he has no {firm} root in himself, but is {only} temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.  Without firm roots, the heat of difficulty will cause us to fall away.

Paul knew the importance of believers getting built up, firmly rooted, and established in their faith. This would equip them to withstand the heat and storms of life.  It would also protect them from something that the Colossians were battling at that very time: those who were trying to delude them with persuasive arguments.

Bible study notes taken from rondaniel.com (click the link for more information)

2 thessalonians 2:14-17

He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

What is believing to you?

In the Christian faith we have a statement of belief called the…Apostle’s Creed:

I believe in God the Father, Almighty.  Maker of heaven and earth.  And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.  Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mar,: suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried.  The third day he rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Church Universal, : the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen

My Hope is Built

words by Edward Mote, 1834; music by William B. Bradbury, 1863

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain

The gospel song “Stand” as sung by Donnie McClurking also admonishes us that when all of our other struggles and trials get to us, we can always turtn to the Lord and just STAND!

“Stand” sung by Donnie McClurkin

Have you ever stood up for what you believed in, even when it was very hard?

The easiest thing for us to do as Christians should be to stand on the promises of God, as demonstrated in this wonderful hymn of the church.

Standing on the Promises of God

Words & Music by R. Kel­so Car­ter

1
Standing on the promises
of Christ my King,
Thru eternal ages
let His praises ring;
Glory in the highest
I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain
Standing, standing,
Standing on the promises
of God my Savior;
Standing,standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.

2
Standing on the promises
that cannot fail,
When the howling storms
of doubt and fear assail,
By the living word of
God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

3
Standing on the promises
of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally
by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with
the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

4
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.

Refrain

“The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.”  –Elbert Hubbard, American writer

Failure is not always a bad or a negative experience.  Some people use failure as an excuse to stop striving for what they really want or need.  The Bible says in Proverbs 24:16,  “for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…” According to Charles C. Manz, in his book, The Power of Failure: 27 Ways to Turn Life’s Setbacks into Success, “Sometimes failure is failure, at least in the short run.  If we can learn to accept failure as a necessary part of life and then take from it the valuable lessons it offers, we can transcend it.  Sometimes it’s best to not try to deny or redefine failure but to effectively cope and cooperate with it for future success.”

We may experience setbacks in life, but if we continue to rise again, the very next time may be the push we need to make it to our reward.  As Donnie McClurkin says in his popular gospel song, “We fall down, but we get up…”  The only way to accomplish what God is calling you to do is to have faith that God will be with you through it all.  “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13)  As long as we are obedient, God will even supply the faith, “… think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3)

“Most people search high and wide for the key to success. If they only knew, the key to their dreams lies within.”  – George Washington Carver. American inventor