This Time You Win!
Proverbs 24:16 “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.”
Have you ever received an “F” on an exam, quiz, test or homework assignment? Have you ever attempted to do something that did not bring about the success you desired? Whatever the thing you attempted and whatever the outcome you desired, if you did not achieve what you set out to achieve, I’ve got some news that may shock you: You did not fail!
Now how can I tell you that the “F” you got on your report card doesn’t stand for “Failure?” — Through experience! That “F” doesn’t stand for “Failure;” it stands for “Fallen.” The beauty in this week’s text is that even it tells us that a just man/woman can fall, the thing that makes him/her just, as Donnie McClurkin says, is that he/she gets back up. You must understand that failure only occurs when you stop getting up. As long as you get up, your status can only be “Fallen,” not “Failed.” Remember the commercial — “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” Well, once we’ve reached that point, it is then that we can give ourselves the status of failure.
I believe that God put within you a tenacity that even a bulldog can’t compete with. I believe He put something inside the city of your soul that would not let go that dream you have until you see it come to pass. I believe that the vision He gave you years ago — the one you abandoned, talked yourself out of, and stopped hoping upon — will come forth and prove that God was in it from the beginning. I believe that the hunger and desire of God for the vision will overtake you once again, and you won’t be able to rest until you see it, smell it, touch it, taste it, hear it, and experience it the way God meant for you to.
Sure, I know that you got cut up, shot up, bruised up, and beaten up the first time when you were trying to put “legs to the vision,” but now it’s time for you to get up to reach that dream, job, relationship, home, health, wealth, and peace again. Look at this text for a moment….
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
As I looked at this scripture in an entirely new context, what I saw was this: “I can get back up one more time through Christ who strengtheneth me. I can pick myself up one more time through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can prime the pump for this vision one more time through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can dream dreams and see myself prosperous once again through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
You can do all things through Christ! It’s time you stopped looking at yourself as a failure. Remember it’s all about the status you choose to be in. No matter how many times you have fallen — through Christ you have one more try left in you. Make the most of it because the blessing of God is upon you to make you rich and to bring no sorrow with it. All you need to do is to be willing to continually get up one more time. Knockdowns can’t keep you down. Only you can keep yourself down. Sure, the devil may score an occasional knockdown, but the knockout belongs to you because the devil doesn’t have enough to knock you out. He won’t win and can’t win the ultimate fight unless you give up and give in.
I see God’s champion, you, getting back up to fight once again. I see you victorious over the devil and every obstacle that could ever stand in your way. I see you overcoming whatever hell has put in your way all because you got up one more time. It doesn’t matter how long you were down or how often you were down, by the word of God and the power of His spirit, you shall rise again to do one thing and one thing only — Win.
It’s not too late for your vision, dream, or desire to manifest itself. You are not too old (or too young) to make happen that thing that God placed deep inside your bosom. Your time is here! The hour is nigh! It is now your time for you rise up to fight the good fight of faith one more time against the enemy of your destiny, and this time — “YOU WILL WIN!”