DEFYING DISCOURAGEMENT - Fighting Failure, Part 4

“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.”  2 Corinthians 1:9

DISCOURAGEMENT - a feeling we're all familiar with.  Why does God allow us to get discouraged when we're trying to serve Him and follow Him and obey His commandments?  Shouldn't God be helping to make our lives easier?  Shouldn't He be taking care of those things are causing us to be discouraged?  Or is that possible that God would allow us to be discouraged to bring about some good for us?

That's the topic of Round 4 in the Fighting Failure series.  In the message, we look at the Apostle Paul - a man of incredible faith and strength who one day found himself "despairing of life."  How could this great man of faith feel so discouraged?  And more importantly, what message was God trying to him through the discouragement?

DEALING WITH DISINTEREST - Fighting Failure, Part 3

"Why try?  You're never gonna succeed?  You might as well give up and stop fighting."  

Recognize that voice?  That's the voice that we hear during the second round of our fight with failure as we encounter the enemy of DISINTEREST (or apathy).  That's when we've failed so many times and we don't think we'll ever succeed.  So instead of fighting what we perceive as a losing battle, we throw in the towel and say "it's not that bad...I don't need to fight...I could try if I wanted but I don't really care..."

Dealing with that disinterest was the topic of Round 3 in the Fighting Failure series.  In the message, we look at King David - a giant slayer and a man after God's heart - who messed up in a royal manner (pun intended).  But once again, we see that it isn't David's failure that defines him - but rather it's his response to failure instead.

DEFEATING DOUBT - Fighting Failure, Part 2

"The only difference between a hero and a coward is where they focus their eyes."

Week 2 of the Fighting Failure series and this week we dealt with the most common attack that comes with failure...DOUBT... doubt that God is on our side... doubt that God is holding up His end of the deal... doubt that God is still with us and that we should keep fighting.

If you've ever felt like a failure because you doubted God at some point in your life, check out the message above and hopefully you'll be inspired to "look up" the next time doubt hits and to keep your eyes focused on God, not on your circumstances.

IT'S TIME TO FIGHT - Fighting Failure, Part 1

"Your problem isn’t that you aren’t worthy of God’s love. Your problem is that you don’t believe it."

Kicked off a new series yesterday about a topic that everyone can relate to...FAILURE.  Feeling like you're not good enough, or that you'll never get past your struggles, or that you've let God/others/yourself down.  We're talking about what to do with guilt and shame and doubt and despair and all the other feelings that come with failing time and time again.

The theme of the series is this: God wants to work THROUGH your mistakes and shortcomings, not IN SPITE of them.