I receive a daily devotional from David Wilkerson’s ministry World Challenge. God has taught me much from this wise man who has since gone to glory. But I wanted to share today’s with you at the end of my post as it has pierced my heart regarding failures and disappointments. It has also reminded me to be grateful for the rain…for God always has something profound to say in the midst of a rain storm. At times we do not see it until the storm has passed…but some times we hear Him speaking even during the downpour.

There have been many times over the years I have failed. I have failed as a wife, a mother, a friend, and as a minister of the gospel. Yet each failure and disappointment God has ultimately used as a teachable moment which has gone on to help others see Him more clearly. I have feverishly dug deep into the scriptures after great disappointments and failures. Searching for His word, His peace, His direction. This helps me and you to begin to see a God who uses those who never receive another thought from the world. Those thought to be failures by others or simply feel like failures themselves. Those who are always picked last, picked over, and picked on. He used ordinary fishermen to labor beside Him and He called women in a culture who thought less of them to profound callings where He gave them enormous responsibility in sharing the gospel. They even went from town to town with Him. God used all their failures, their disappointments, and lack of worldly standing for good in His time. So, hey praise Him for your failures and your disappointments …it will become exactly what God uses to take you deeper with Him. If we never failed..then I would say..we have never even tried. If we have never experienced disappointment we would never cry out in anguish in the secret place for the only one who brings lasting comfort and relief. Reminds me of the man who buried his talent. Sometimes you simply have to risk failure and disappointment…maybe even embrace it…to gain wisdom, grace, discernment, and perseverance.

There are times we always look for the “shiny jewels”, the popular, the famous, the wealthy, and the well rehearsed. We even long to be them when it seems “success” mandates it. Yet God never called these. He took the ordinary and showed them how extraordinary they were through Him. For success and anointing are a supernatural thing placed upon us by Him alone..not the world.So this especially touched my heart today as I recall the many who feel unworthy, ordinary, or overlooked. This will continue to be a message as always to myself first. To remember who I am through Christ and that in order to be secure in Him..I need to trust His plan…even when it requires failure, disappointment, and loss.

Sisters! God has called YOU! Our Latter will be GREATER if we walk in His Word and commandments. I also wanted to include a song that God has been using in my prayer closet to tenderly speak to me and remind me that He is for me and that failures and disappointments regardless how painful can be viewed as Blessings in disguise….

Love MUCH!

Shelly Wilson

 

 

 

[divider]

David Wilkerson Today

A Ministry of World Challenge
TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2013

RECEIVING THE BLESSING OF THE CROSS

by David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

God delights in using failures—men and women who think they can do almost

nothing right. A woman wrote to me recently saying, “My marriage is failing. I

seem to do everything wrong in raising my children. I feel like I’m not worth

anything to anybody. I’ve not been a very good wife, mother or Christian. I’ve

got to be the world’s worst failure.”

She is just the kind of person the Lord is looking for—people who know that

if anything good happens through them, it must be because of God. All the

hotshot Christians who go about bowling people over with their great abilities

never impress God. God looked down on a scheming, base, weakling of a man

called Jacob and said, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob . . . I will help thee . . .

behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth . . .

thou shalt rejoice in the Lord” (Isaiah 41:14–16).

Men often use God to achieve fortune, fame, honor and respect. Talent,

personality and cleverness are used to advance God’s kingdom, but He is not

impressed. His strength is perfected in our weakness, our inability to obey His

commandments in our own strength.

God calls us to a life of holiness and separation. He tells us we can be free

from the bondage of sin. His Word comes to us with some impossible challenges:

“Resist the devil. Walk in the Spirit. Come out from among them. Love your

enemies. Leave behind all your fears. Put down your lustful desires. Let no sin

have dominion over you.”

When you think honestly about how little you can do on your own to fulfill

these challenges, you realize how very weak you are. Your heart begins to cry,

“Lord, how can we do such great, holy things?” That is when our Lord takes

over! He comes with such a comforting message: “Lay down your weapons. Quit

trying to be so self–sufficient and strong. I am your weapon and your

strength. Let Me do what you never can do. I will give you My righteousness, My

holiness, My rest, My strength. You cannot save yourself or please Me in any way

other than by receiving the blessings of the cross by faith. Let Me be in charge

of your growth in holiness.”

Read this devotion online: http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22537?src=devo-email

Pulpit Series Newsletters

================================================================================
The Future, 04.01.13

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/coverletter/2013/the-future?src=devo-email

Lose the Ship, Save the People, 03.11.13

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/22126?src=devo-email

A Perfect Heart, 02.18.13

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/coverletter/2013/a-perfect-heart?src=devo-email

Sermons By David Wilkerson

================================================================================

Running the Right Race, 08.01.04

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/2389?src=devo-email

Living Without Fear, 01.25.08

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/2640?src=devo-email

A Christian’s Response to Calamities, 10.23.05

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/2404?src=devo-email

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more sermons by David Wilkerson visit our Pulpit Series Newsletters

[http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/pulpit_series_newsletters?src=devo-email] and

Sermon Center [http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/sermons?src=devo-email]

Audio sermons by David and Gary Wilkerson are also available via our audio

podcast in iTunes [http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=294033386]

Connect with World Challenge [http://twitter.com/world_challenge] and Gary

Wilkerson [http://twitter.com/garywilkerson]

Connect with World Challenge

[http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lindale-TX/World-Challenge-Inc/35064056893] and

Gary Wilkerson [https://www.facebook.com/pastorgarywilkerson]

(c)2013 World Challenge, Inc.

You are welcome to make copies for FREE distribution or retransmit the

devotional via e-mail, but all devotionals must be copied or retransmitted in

their entirety. However, devotionals may not be posted on any website, printed,

or used in any media without written permission from World Challenge, Inc. Each

request is considered on a case-by-case basis. Please contact World Challenge,

Inc. using our online contact form

[http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/contact?src=devo-email] or by calling (903)

963-8626

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To receive the HTML version of this newsletter send a blank email to

sympa@lists.worldchallenge.org with the subject “set devotions-en html”. Do

not include the quotes.

To receive the multipart (text & HTML) version of this newsletter send a blank

email to sympa@lists.worldchallenge.org with the subject “set devotions-en

mail”. Do not include the quotes.

To unsubscribe from this mailing list send a blank email to

devotions-en-unsubscribe@lists.worldchallenge.org or unsubscribe online

[http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/wc/mailing_list/unsubscribe?src=devo-email].

To subscribe to this mailing list visit our online subscription screen

[http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/wc/mailing_list/subscribe?src=devo-email].