Do you feel like you are a failure and that you can’t come back? See Luke 5. It is our defeats which educate us. The trains of failure usually run on the tracks of laziness. You can make a comeback. You can get back up. You can restore things. You can reach your potential. You can’t do it so long as you are sitting down thinking you are messed up and can’t get up. Jesus can turn your mess ups into come backs. There are seven things that you need to do:-

1 – Appropriate the presence of God in your life (vs. 3)

They allowed Jesus into their business. This makes a difference in our lives. When Jesus comes on the scene, everything changes. They had tried all night and caught nothing. They go at the wrong time and they catch everything! You need to realise that the Lord will make the difference in your life.

• Reject rejection – There is no need to feel rejection. God is able and He will not fail you.
• See failure as something that is temporary – When Jesus comes into ship things will change. Failure is not permanent. It is temporary. It always is. Jesus adds a dimension that we cannot understand.
• Focus on your strengths – There are things that you can do well. These are your strengths. There is no point in worrying about what you cannot control. We can’t control the weather, the economy, etc.=
• They can bounce back. No matter what caused the failure you can bounce back. You are wrong to think otherwise. The Lord makes the difference. Get away from negative thinking.

2 – Appreciate God’s plan (vs. 4-5)

Peter gets a plan from the Lord. Peter was an experienced fisherman yet he doesn’t argue with the Lord. What would you have done? Would you have argued!? They had tried all night and Jesus tells them to go back out with him in the boat. The problem with us is that we are often too scared to try again. Failure is not those who fail but those who stay down. You have to follow the Lord because He knows where the fish are! What stops us?

• Watch out for the paralysis of analysis. You can over think things. You have to eventually do something!
• Procrastination – How long have you been putting things off? What are you waiting on? God is trying to nudge you to go out again. Do you have “some day” sickness? You plan to do it someday. It will only stop when you are dead! Get up and get going!
• Purposelessness – Why get up when you don’t know where you are going? You need to have a purpose. You need to have goals.

3 – Anticipate God’s promise (vs. 6-7)

Did they catch any fish? They caught so many that their net broke! The partner boat got involved and there so much fish that both ships began to sink! What would have happened if Peter had decided to stay on shore and not bother? Jesus looked at every fish and told them to get into the net! When the Lord says He is going to bless you, then you need to get into the boat. You won’t catch anything on the shore. We are not to give up. God wants to bless you but you need to get on the boat! Your potential can be wasted otherwise. If you failed in life then try again with resilience in life – You gain this by going through trials with Christ. You are not a failure if Christ is in the boat. We are to learn from our failures in life. God will keep His promises. Adversity can teach us many things:-

• Maturity in life – You grow in a storm that you can’t learn any other way. The storms of life can bring together relationships that any easy path will never do.
• It can motivate you – Adversity can either fire you or fire you up. It can motivate it to do even better! You know you can make it if you just try a little harder.

4 – How to turn your life around

Here are some things that you can do if you decide you want to turn your life around.

• Finalise your goal – Put it right in front of you.
• Order your plans – Put your plans in order to get to your goal.
• Risk some failure by taking action – Do something. The plan is only successful if you do what it down on the plan!
• Welcome the mistakes that are going to happen – It is part of the success.
• Advance based on your character – As you learn from your mistakes you develop character and advance on that basis.
• Re-evaluate your goal and plan as you go along. You need to see how you are doing. Are you getting closer your goal?
• Develop new strategies in order to succeed. You may need to change to reach your goal. Are you ready to be more than what you imagined to reach your goal?

In Christ we can do amazing things. God wants the caterpillars to fly. Are you still crawling around and afraid to fly? God has a plan for you. He has a beautiful plan to bring you from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Satan wants you to stay where you are. Do you believe you can fly?

Categories: Luke