Join CDF Capital in Prayer for A Pathway to Success
Failure is something many of us try to avoid—leaders especially. Ministers, pastors, and other churches leaders calculate the necessary steps needed in order to succeed at a task. They count the costs. They even refrain from taking risks if it means the likelihood of failure is inevitable.
What ought to be remembered, instead, is failure will always be a part of life this side of heaven and failure will be experienced more often than not.
Rather than running from failure, we should embrace it.
It was basketball legend, Michael Jordan, who once said, “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
Failure is a pathway to success. Failure shapes our ministers. It helps them become better leaders. It keeps them going. It gives way to perseverance.
Failure from a godly perspective is actually a process toward becoming more holy and righteous.
Jesus, in John 15:1-2 says, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”
What many consider failure is, perhaps, God’s way of pruning. According to Jesus, branches that are not producing fruit will be cut off. This might be horrifying and even painful. It might feel like failure. It might feel like loss. But the pruning process is part of God's plan to make us more beautiful and more fruitful.
Pruning helps to shape ministers into becoming the leaders they were meant to be.
When we realize that failure is godlier than we realize, then the doors to success are flung wide open. Embrace moments of failure, learn from mistakes of the past, and move forward knowing God will guide our persevering steps.
“Dear God, help our leaders embrace their failures. Help them see failure as You are pruning them toward becoming stronger and becoming more fruitful. May they welcome the process of succeeding.”
Let us intercede for our pastors and leaders this week.