Don't despair. This is not the end of your world. Failure is certainly not final. Your failure can be your success! Don't look around you or in you, but look up! There is One who is genuinely and deeply interested in you. His compassion, care and steadfast love will never cease. He is your Creator God and His great heart of love yearns for you and for your eternal welfare. "I have loved you with an everlasting love," He assures you and me, "therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you"(Jer.31:3).

Think of the large company of people who were failures, but who later became world renowned men and women:
Napoleon was 42nd in his military academy class! Albert Einstein, world renowned Scientist, was unable to speak until he was four and unable to read until he was seven years old. Isaac Newton did poorly at school. Winston Churchill failed his sixth grade at school, but later became war-time Prime Minister of Britain. Thomas Edison was told by his teachers that he was too stupid! Abraham Lincoln suffered series of failures.

Many prospective writers were sorely disappointed and dejected by the 'rejection' slips they received from editors of magazines and publishers. But, in the process of time, they proved to be outstanding, creative writers of best sellers.
Col. Sanders' recipe was rejected no fewer than 1,000 times! Yet his Kentucky Fried Chicken became "finger lickin' good" to millions of people around the world.
Joy Ridderholf returned to the USA from the mission field devastated because she could not succeed as a missionary due to ill health. But later she founded the Gospel Recording Inc. through which millions of people are now able to hear the gospel in their own languages.
William Carey was rejected as a missionary by the Baptist Board in England. "Sit down young man!" Carey was bluntly told. "If God wants to evangelize the heathen, he would not need your help!" Carey went to India as a missionary against great odds and did a phenomenal task: he translated the Bible into some 30 Indian languages and was hailed as the "Father of modern missions."

From the world's perspective, our Lord Jesus Christ's mission on earth was a dismal failure. ln the prime of his youth, he suffered an ignominious death of excruciating pain. This apparent failure turned out to be a glorious success. The twelve disciples whom the Lord left behind were also apparent failures. Out of the twelve, eleven were martyred. These men did not leave behind an organization, wealth, or monuments. But their ministry later became a grand success. They turned the world upside down', so to speak.
What is the secret of transforming your daunting failure to a daring success?

1. Get Your Priorities Right
"Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness", our Lord declared, "and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

You and I were made "in the image of God" (Gen. 1:27), and we cannot possibly live without God. "0 God!" groaned St. Augustine, "You made me for yourself, and my soul is restless until it finds rest in you." There is an inner longing for God in every person. That is the reason why a monkey or a pig does not attend a temple, synagogue, mosque, or a church! Men and women without God are lost and empty.They have a God-shaped vacuum in their lives which can never be filled by anything else in the world - education, wealth, name and fame.

All religions are man's way to approach God as the word 'marga' suggests - "a way". In the Bible alone we are told that God took the initiative to seek and to save mankind. The singular purpose of Jesus Christ coming into the world was to save us sinners spiritually polluted and estranged from a Holy God. In order to save us from eternal separation and damnation, Jesus died on the cross in our stead and rose again on the third day.

"I am the Good Shepherd," Jesus Christ claimed. "The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep" (John 10:11).This is the reason why Jesus Christ said unequivocally, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (God) except through me" (John 14:6).Turn away from your old rebellious ways and yield yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This opens the communication line to the Holy God, your Maker. Then the Holy Spirit of God will govern, guard and guide you every day and each step of the way. The conscious experience of this wonderful relationship with a living, loving God is the greatest success in life.

2. Don't Accept Defeat
As someone has aptly said, "If you don't make a mistake, you don't make anything!"

Don't accept failure as final. Remember that God, who is greater than all failures and defeats, has a Master Plan for your life. God can make your very failure as a stepping stone to success. Your problems can be turned into possibilities; your pain can be turned into gain; your sighing into singing because with God all things are possible. Let go and let God take over every situation in which you may find yourself.

3. Don't be influenced by the Opinions of Other People
The opinions of other people are not always correct; they are changing and changeable. So do not worry about what other people think of you or say about you. What God thinks of you is most important. In God's viewpoint, you are more valuable than the entire world (cf: Mark 8:36). You are precious. You are loved. You are special (cf: I John 3:1-2). You have potential to do great and mighty things for God.

My friend, Augustine Salins, failed his school final examination as a teenager. On the same night he overheard a conversation between his father and mother who thought that he was fast asleep. "What shall we do with this good-for-nothing son?" Augustine's father asked his mother in anger and disappointment. Augustine was so deeply hurt that he was in tears the whole night. The following day Augustine went far away from his home to an open rice field and, with bittertears, abandoned himself to God. "0, Lord", he cried with deep emotion, "my father said that I am good-for-nothing. Please Lord, take this good-for-nothing life of mine and use me in whateverway you please."Later, Augustine sat for his examination and passed. He successfully pursued further studies and became a well-known Bible teacher and evangelist. Sometimes called "the weeping prophet of India", he was mightily used by God in India, South East Asia, Europe, America, Australia, Fiji and elsewhere for the blessing of thousands of people.

4. Have a Biblical Perspective of Material Things
The Word of God is explicit in its warning about greed, dissatisfaction and selfishness. "Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you'" (Hebrews 13:5).

The economy of the world is structured on selfish gain, discontentment and greed. As Christians, we should keep clear of this disastrous philosophy and follow our Master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the words of the apostle Paul, "For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out" (1 Timothy 6:7). "Naked I came from my mother's womb," Job, the man of God confessed, "and naked shall I return there" (Job 1:21). Another Scriptural injunction is, "set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).

A man can become so successful as to make billions of dollars and yet, if his soul is not saved, he will lose everything. Our Lord Jesus asked these personal and pertinent questions, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Mark 8:36-37).

In view of this, do make sure that your soul is saved for all eternity.

5. Press Forward to New Goals
Don't indulge in self-pity over past failures, but look ahead for new adventures. The apostle Paul determined to forget what was behind and pressed forward. "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13-14).

This is the right attitude to develop.

As we press forward to new adventures, we are not to depend on our own strength but on the almighty power and unfailing resources of Christ. Paul has shown us a sterling example of this when he affirmed his faith in Christ. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13).

Millions upon millions of people who have put their implicit faith in Christ have never been disappointed. And you will not be let down by the living and loving Lord Jesus, either.