When Jesus, God’s perfect Son, became human, he experienced much of our human pain. He felt grief, physical suffering, and even loneliness when he was separated from God the Father. But one thing he never experienced was defeat. I want to strengthen my fellow believers who are reading this: You will never experience defeat either. You may be asking “does God want me to fail?” God has equipped his children to overcome life’s hardships.
“I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Those are the words of Galatians 2:20, written by Paul, one of the forerunners of the Christian faith. Christ lives in us, and he has never once been defeated. Even when he died, he came back to life because death did not have victory over him. There is no possibility that we will ever be defeated in this life – even situations that look like defeat are hidden victories for Jesus. “God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth.” (Philippians 2:9-10). How could anything be more powerful than Jesus? He will never be defeated, and he lives in you – so let’s talk about how to change our perspective when life is challenging. Does God want me to fail. Absolutely not, but in our weakness he is strong. Lean on him – the powerful one who lives within you.
Please watch the GREAT NEWS FOR YOU Video to find out how to invite Jesus Christ into your life as Lord and Savior. You new life can begin today!
How to Trust God in Difficult Times
The Bible encourages us to “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance” (James 1:2-3). Notice that this verse is not telling us to have joy when we are defeated! Instead, it describes hardships as trials that test our faith. So let’s break this verse down, because it contains keys to overcoming hardship. We can have joy in our lives!
What is Faith?
“The testing of our faith” leads to “perseverance” which leads to “pure joy.” Let’s start with faith – what is faith? It’s not simply resisting doubt or believing blindly, although those things may be involved. The Bible defines faith as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is seeing things that aren’t in front of our eyes! We use faith to believe that what God promises will come to pass. In fact, in Hebrews 11:3 it says that God used Faith to create the universe. He created everything from nothing using faith. In the same way, the author of Hebrews encourages us to have faith when we only see nothing, because in the same way, faith allows us to receive what we hope for.
When we believe that what we hope for will come to pass – when we believe it so earnestly that we are sure of it, even though we don’t see it – our faith is tested and proven strong. Perseverance then comes naturally. We are encouraged that our faith has not been shaken, and we start to see the things we hope for instead of the challenges we are facing in the moment. And when you are able to persevere through hardship, instead of wondering whether or not you will make it, this leads to pure joy.
How to Overcome with Faith
To illustrate how faith produces perseverance, which produces joy, I have a testimony from my own life. God has been giving me countless creative ideas on my 30-minute drives to and from work each day. Most of these ideas revolve around videography and filmmaking, but they seemed impossible at first, because my current camera equipment couldn’t accomplish these dreams. I needed a better camera setup and I also needed people to train me on how to turn my ideas into reality. Well, I didn’t really have enough money to afford new equipment. But that didn’t stop me from believing.
I was confident in what I hoped for and I was sure of what I did not yet see. I asked God to provide for this dream that he had given me. Before long, several thousand dollars showed up from a place I didn’t expect, and I was contacted by somebody who had the expertise I needed and wanted to collaborate. Can you believe that?! It’s hard to believe in things before they happen, but once you start to see these things happen regularly in your life, you will be filled with joy. Continue reading Does God Want Me to Fail.
God Isn’t Answering My Prayer
So what happens when I believe, but I don’t see it come to pass? Isn’t that defeat? Does God want me to fail? Don’t lose hope. You have not been defeated – Romans 8:37 says that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” so if our disappointment is not defeat, then what is it? We must see it as God taking us on a different path than the one we imagined.
He will give you what you desire and what you ask for, as long as it is the absolute best thing he could give you. He loves you infinitely and he has no reason to withhold any good thing from you. “ If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Faith sometimes means that when we don’t see our answer come in the way we expect it to, we trust that God will satisfy that desire in another, more perfect way.
Allow me to give you yet another example from my own life.
These concepts might be hard to grasp, so I want to put my money where my mouth is and show you what it has looked like for me. I enrolled in a Bible School hoping that I would make lifelong friends. My prayer was simple: I wanted people whom I could trust and walk through life with. I was confused when I spent a whole semester at that school and didn’t feel any closer to any of the students. Did God not want me to have close, encouraging friends? Why would he say no to that desire? I had moved out of state to attend this Bible School, and now I felt disappointed and hopeless. But that passage in Hebrews told me to continue believing, so that’s what I did.
God ended up giving me those lifelong relationships, but not at the Bible School. I found those friends at a nearby Church oh, and God has blessed me abundantly through them. But he allowed me to experience a season of not seeing the answer to my prayer, and in fact wondering if he would answer that prayer at all. Through that time he and I grew closer as my faith was tested. I persevered, and God granted me the desire of my heart in a way that I didn’t expect. It turned out to be far better than it would have been if I had simply befriended the students at the Bible School.
Will God Answer My Prayers?
Your prayer may not be answered in a few months – but remember that God is not slow in keeping his promise. He has a better understanding of time than we do, because he created time! He knows exactly how to use time as a tool. He takes as long as he needs to love you perfectly in the process of answering your prayer. But does God want me to fail?
Victory in Jesus Christ
We will go through many difficult things in this life, but none of them can be called defeat. Jesus lives in us and he is victorious over everything. We are more than conquerors of all things that try to separate us from Him. Take heart in this fundamental truth. When we allow it to sink in, it can reframe everything we experience. Do you want to be powerful in your life and overcome? All it takes is faith that your God is good and he is stronger than anything that threatens to destroy you. Does God want me to fail? God does not want you to fail. He wants to show you the way to your best life.
