The Day of New Beginnings
Failures
We must be able to recognize our own inadequacies and shortcomings. We must be able to acknowledge them to ourselves and to the Lord. Until a man sees that he is a failure, he cannot walk in the Kingdom realm that is opening to us. This is a painful revelation to our flesh natures. No one wants to be a failure. But our acknowledgement as a failure is the beginning of our function in the Kingdom of God.
When we realize that we are failures something of the Lord’s sovereignty and grace takes over in our lives. As long as we think we can produce something in God, we are limiting Him. It’s going to take a kingdom of failures for the Lord to be glorified through a people. There’s a humility that is basic to the Kingdom of God that is created in our spirits when we acknowledge we are failures.
The following Scriptures all bear witness to this truth. It’s as John the Baptist said, the more we decrease, the more He increases. We decrease, not by self abasement, but by simply realizing what we really are.
Micah 4:
6 "In that day," declares the LORD, "I will assemble the lame And gather the outcasts, Even those whom I have afflicted.
7 "I will make the lame a remnant And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever.
8 ¶ "As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come--Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.
Zep 3:19:
"Behold, I am going to deal at that time With all your oppressors, I will save the lame And gather the outcast, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth.
Isa 33:23:
Your tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; The lame will take the plunder.
Jer 31:8:
"Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together; A great company, they will return here.
1st Cor. 1:
26* For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;
27* but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,
28* and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are,
29* so that no man may boast before God.
30* But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31* so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."
The realization that we are failures begins with a revelation of what we are in our Adamic natures. In the Scriptures the phrase “Gentile” speaks mystically of that realm within each of us that is half breed and despised of the Lord. Yet it is to that realm that the Lord comes to redeem and possess as His own. The phrase “Jew”, which also mystically resides in us, is the religious aspect of our natures, and God rejects that realm. He will not minister to the “Jew” within us, for that realm constantly seeks to justify itself and appear “spiritual” before God. It is also the realm described by the Scriptures as stiff necked, stubborn and rebellious.
It is a people who well know their shortcomings that the Lord raises up. Notice that it was when Jesus came into the region of Galilee of the Gentiles that His ministry began.
Mat. 4:
12 ¶ Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee;
13* and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali.
14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:
15* "THE LAND OF ZEBULUN AND THE LAND OF NAPHTALI, BY THE WAY OF THE SEA, BEYOND THE JORDAN, GALILEE OF THE GENTILES--
16* "THE PEOPLE WHO WERE SITTING IN DARKNESS SAW A GREAT LIGHT, AND THOSE WHO WERE SITTING IN THE LAND AND SHADOW OF DEATH, UPON THEM A LIGHT DAWNED."
17* From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Jesus coming to Galilee of the Gentiles speaks mystically of Him coming to each of us to reveal what we are and to subsequently save us from ourselves. His love and compassion are manifested in a humble people who know the pit from which they were dug (Isa. 51:1).