Failure Can't Keep Us From Him

Isn't it incredible how one day we can be so on fire, so in love with the Lord, that we can almost see ourselves soaring in His Spirit, and we have the faith to see far into eternity? However, the next day we go splat? When this happened to me, I would get so depressed. I would look around at the world; I'd look around my home; I would try to search my heart. Everywhere I looked I would only find loneliness, darkness and an emptiness I could not explain. There were times I spent days, even months in this pit. I even mastered putting on the "happy face." There was no way I wanted others to see me as I saw myself. They just could not see the failure I saw! I would ask myself, what is wrong with me? I just knew that this only happened to me! This is what I knew.

In Mark 9:2, Jesus reveals Himself to Peter, James and John. At first they see His awesome glory when He shows Himself to them as they have never seen. He is transfigured into something different than they had ever seen Him. It had to be beautiful and completely amazing to them. I can picture them falling to their knees, their mouths wide open with sort of a dumb struck look of astonishment. What a wonder that had to be for them! They were totally on fire for Christ!

A short time later, Jesus reveals himself in yet another way to the disciples. He showed them how deeply distressed and troubled He was. After this, the disciples all hit rock bottom. Their spiritual flames had sizzled out; their spiritual get-up-and-go had got up and left!

What I know now...

We often rise to some new level of spirituality and commit ourselves to a fresh allegiance with our Savior. Then we are bewildered at the depths to which we fall almost the next day. We cannot allow satan to lead us into darkness. We must do whatever it takes to keep our spiritual flame burning! But we also must know, we are not the only ones who fall into these pits. When we do, we just have to look for His hand stretched out, waiting to pull us out of it!!

Therefore we do not lose heart.

Though outwardly we are wasting away,yet inwardly we are

 being renewed day by day. 
  For our light and momentary troubles                            

are achieving for us
an eternal glory that
far outweighs them all.

So we fix our eyes

not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

For what is seen is temporary,
               but what is unseen is eternal.

                                                                    
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Written by Terri Baker