Failure is Our Friend

The Holy Spirit teaches us in every way possible, and one of His biggest tools for that is through our failures.  For example, yesterday I had planned to spend the first few hours listening to my Bible and praying, and then going out after lunch to witness.

At three forty-five in the morning Lucas woke up for his bottle.  That is normal, nothing particularly spiritual about waking up super early to get a bottle ready.  But usually as soon as he has had his bottle, and falls back asleep, I am out like a five year old's birthday candles.  That didn't happen though.  I lay down, closed my eyes, and tried and tried to sleep.  For the longest time I tossed and turned, it just wasn't happening, sleep ran from me!

I can be pretty hard-headed with God sometimes.  He tries talking to us in that still small voice, and we just don't get it.  We think something natural is happening, when really it is supernatural.  Those of you who have experienced miracles will know what I mean when I say the supernatural is often surprisingly natural.  That's why Samson didn't even realize it when the Spirit of God left him (Judges 16:20).  He is always there, but sometimes his presence is so organic, we just meld into it and it gets lost in our routine.  So he talks to us, and we don't even notice it!

That's what was going on here.  God was trying to get my attention so I would have my quiet time then, because he knew what the day was going to hold.  I didn't quite get it.  Simply because I couldn't sleep, I grabbed my mp3 player and listened to my Bible for forty-five minutes or so, but once I felt like I could get back to sleep, I turned it off and went back to bed.

What My Bed Felt Like.

Then came the morning, and my plans got all scrambled.  I tell you, from the moment my eyes popped open until late that night I was running full steam.  First Karmy wasn't feeling well, so I had to go to the store, then I had to take care of Lucas for an hour.  Then my brother in law called and needed me to pick him up with a couple other missionaries in Potrerillos, a two hour drive round trip.  It went on and on and on, and I never got another chance until I went to bed that night to be by myself.  

I felt bad about it all day long, it just ate at me with every new event that came up.  All day I tried to find a time, but it just didn't happen.  Now you may say, "But you spent forty-five minutes with the Word, that is a great quiet time!"  The problem is that only in today's modern Christianity do believers think that fifteen minutes with Jesus in the morning is enough.  That is like thinking one bite of food in the morning is enough to sustain your physical body all day!  You could live for a bit on that, but pretty soon you would starve to death!

The Result of Inadequate Spiritual Food

Leonard Ravenhill said, "Any minister who doesn't spend at least two hours a day in prayer isn't worth a dime a dozen."  Martin Luther would spend a minimum of two hours a day in prayer, and more if he had a particularly busy schedule.  Evan Roberts spent four hours a day in prayer.  Jesus woke up early to pray, and often spent whole nights in prayer.  Daniel prayed three times a day.  1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, "Pray without ceasing."  Every believer, especially ministers should follow these examples and the countless others who did the same, and I do my best to do so as well.

That night, I went to bed, and this morning yet again my eyes were wide open, this time at five thirty, and I could not get back to sleep.  Again I thought for sure today I would have all morning to pray, but by now I had understood the message of the Holy Spirit, so I scraped myself out of bed, fired up my Bible, and listened to the entire book of Second Kings, (You can read the entire Bible in only about 80 hours.)  

My thought was, "Well, if I get to spend the morning the way I want, that just gives me more time to study and worship."  But wouldn't you know it, my brother in law was here early and needed me to run around with him to do so errands.  Then, when those were done and I got home, there was no electricity until the late afternoon!  But this time I had no guilt to deal with, because I had paid attention to that still small voice, and had a great time with God this morning.  

Not only that, but now I know not to make the same mistake again, and that is the important thing of failure.  Don't dwell on it, learn from it and you will grow instead of fall into guilt and backsliding.

The spiritual result of not learning from failure.