Memorize: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief; Proverbs 24:16
Devotional Reading: Proverbs 24:1-20
Many considered Ulysses S. Grant a failure. A West Point graduate with extensive military experience, he had settled into relative obscurity in Galena, Illinois. But the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War in 1861 gave him an opportunity to begin again.
Doors opened because of his credentials, and he quickly rose in the ranks to a position of leadership of the Union army. Yet many still doubted that he ever would succeed.
In the spring of 1863, he was the commanding general of Northern troops in a battle for the strategic town of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Stating a common conclusion, one officer said that the campaign was “being badly managed.”
A newspaper editor on the scene felt so alarmed that he wrote his friend, the Secretary of the Treasury. Grant, he reported, was just “a poor drunken imbecile” who was destined to “fail miserably, hopelessly, and eternally.”
These criticisms were fueled by seven engagements around Vicksburg. The common consensus was that all were failures.
But Grant did not give up. The eighth attempt (based on revolutionary strategies) resulted in a victory which became a turning point in the war, unexpectedly, he received grace to rise. His determination had changed history. That was the hand of God’s mercy and the power of grace to rise.
Many people feel like failures, and had experienced failure, you are actually not a failure until you refuse to rise. The Bible tells us that no believer should ever give up, we are able, we are more than conqueror, even if you fall 7 times, let your enemy not rejoice over you because you will rise again according to proverbs 24:16. You should trust the merciful hand of God and His power to rise through which He will turn that failure to success.
If we fall, we need to rise and “ try again.” we must remember that God can use anyone who relies on Him. God can use even our failures to propel an invention. We must trust God totally and believe that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Philippians 4:13.
Whatever you are going through that makes you feel you have failed, remember that the merciful hand of God and His power to rise will lift you up again.
Seek God for the strength and wisdom you need, and trust his merciful hand to lift you up. As you read this devotional and exercise faith, I see God lifting you from everything that has held you bound and down in Jesus name.
Prayers point : O God of mercy, let your power and grace to rise fall on me today in Jesus name.
Key Dose: Whatever down turn or failure you might have experienced, the power and grace of God to rise will lift you up.
Pastor James Ademuyiwa
Senior Pastor
In His Presence Christ Tabernacle