Overcoming The Threat Of Failure

by HJS

Roger Bannister, the British runner who was the first to run a mile in less than four minutes, said, "Failure is as exciting to watch as success, provided the effort is absolutely genuine and complete. But the spectators fail to understand - and how can they know - the mental agony through which an athlete must pass before he can give his maximum effort. And how rarely, if he is built as I am, he can give it."

The path to the top is marked by pitfalls called failure. Only by facing the possibility of failure and knowing how to deal with it can you ever get to the top.

Life has a way of knocking you down, putting roadblocks in your path and confusing you so you turn aside from your goal. How do you fight back when it appears failure is looming on the horizon?

When you are confronted with a failure situation, you can quit. Most people do. They can't handle the personal rejection. The other option is to say, "OK, this didn't work. Now I have to figure out what will work."

Winston Churchill was considered too dull to study the classics so he was kept in basic English for three years, and mastered it. Later in life, his words inspired his people during World War II.

Like Churchill, you must refuse to believe people who tell you that you can't do it, and listen to your heart and to the voice of God's Spirit within saying, "Go for it!"

Struggling with rejection and roadblocks that could have stopped him, Paul wrote, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

You are your own worst enemy. The real test of your character is what it takes to stop you.

I can do everything through him who gives me strength.  PHILIPPIANS 4:13