Flops into Flourishes

It’s one thing when others do us wrong; we can have faith that God will restore us, but when we bring the trouble on ourselves, we live in regret and pain, thinking that God will not help us since we made the mess ourselves. 

Our Merciful Heavenly Father has, in His infinite wisdom, foreseen our frailties and weaknesses and has devised a strategy for transforming our failures into miracles! God did not plan only for the good times; God has a plan even when we have messed up. God is not surprised by our mistakes. 

Jeremiah 29:11 AMPC says, “For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.” Notice God does not only have ‘a plan’, but he has ‘plans’ for us. No matter the amount of mistakes we make, He always has a plan for us. As I mentioned earlier, God was aware of our frailties beforehand.

¹³ As a father loves and pities his children, so the Lord loves and pities those who fear Him [with reverence, worship, and awe]. ¹⁴ For He knows our frame, He [earnestly] remembers and imprints [on His heart] that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13-14 AMPC)

The Lord is aware that we can fall into temptation, get offended, and use a wrong word here and there; He knows our frame.

There was this lady who was married to this wonderful man but, in a moment of weakness, got emotionally entangled with someone at her workplace. Of course, she repented of that and even told her husband, who graciously forgave her and accepted her. However, this kept eating her on the inside. Whenever she was all by herself, she started hearing voices. These voices would tell her, “jump out of the train.” One day she even came close to the footboard of the train and tried throwing herself out of the train into the creek, but by God’s grace, someone held her arm. 

Some of you must be hearing voices telling you that you are a failure; nothing good is going to happen in your life; you have messed up so badly that there is no way out of it. I want to encourage you. 

Do you know how Lord Jesus introduced Himself? He did not say; I am a teacher; I am a miracle worker. Search your history books and see for yourself. Many said, “this is the way, go this way”, and so forth. Only Lord Jesus called Himself the way. (John 14:6) He will make a way for you out of all your mistakes, out of all your mess. This is why you must trust Him!

There was another woman who, due to some petty issues, left her husband’s home and started staying at her mother’s place. Now you know there will always be people in your life who add fuel to the fire. Her friends told her, “You are right on your part; don’t budge.” She loved her husband, but because of all the fuel added to the fire, she continued to stay at her mom’s place for three weeks. On the other side, too, there were people who were adding fuel to the fire. Rumours started circulating, “She must be having someone, and that is the reason she is not coming back home.” Her in-laws were pressurizing her husband to leave her, and soon, the divorce notice came to her. She came to one of our services with tears, saying, “Pastor can God redeem my marriage?” So you see how little things can snowball into big things. 

If you read Luke 15, there was this son who comes to his father and says, “ I know you are alive, but for me you are dead; give me my inheritance.” In those days, an inheritance was transferred to the son only when the father died. The father, without any arguments but surely pained, gives his son the inheritance. The Bible says in Proverbs 20:21, “An inheritance gained hastily will not be blessed in the end.” That’s exactly what happened to the son. 

Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money on wild living. (Luke 15:13 CEV)

After he has spent everything, a famine arises and to survive, he works at a pig farm. At one time, this son was fellowshipping with princes, and now he is eating with the pigs. One day, he comes to his senses and decides I will return to my father’s house.

The first thing in experiencing a turnaround in your mistakes, in your mess, is knowing that your father is merciful. Your neighbour and your relatives must not have shown you mercy, but your Heavenly Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36) God is merciful and forgiving! He doesn't give us what we deserve. Don’t hide from God; turn to Him.

So he (the prodigal son) got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently]. (Luke 15:20 AMPC)

The very fact that his father saw him even while he was still a long way off meant that his father was looking out for him every day, thinking one day, my son will turn and come back home. Our Heavenly Father, too, looks out for us in the same way, eagerly waiting for us to turn to Him. 

Scripture says the father ran towards the son. In the Middle Eastern culture of those times, for an honourable man to pull up his robes and run was considered shameful. But the father knew that if someone else were to meet the prodigal son first, they might beat him, send him away, or publicly humiliate him for shaming the family. The community had nothing but disgust for such a scoundrel. Hence the father ran towards his son, taking the shame of the community upon himself.

Here is the picture of salvation: God – running towards mankind, with arms outstretched, not only to embrace us but to take the nails reserved for our punishment.

A person fellowshipping with pigs does not really smell good, and yet the father not only ran towards his son but also embraced him and kissed him fervently. The father did not say, “first, you take a bath and then I will embrace you and kiss you.” He accepted his son the way he was. This is the heart of God. He will run towards you; He will embrace you and kiss you right in the mess that you are in. All He wants is for you to turn towards Him. 

Revelation 1:5 says, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood” Notice the order of the words: first loved and then washed. It wasn’t that God washed us out of some sense of duty and then loved us because we were then clean. He loved us while we were dirty, but then He washed us.

You might be crying, “Pastor, my marriage is a flop; my business is a flop.” God is the Master at turning flops into flourishes and transforming your missteps into marvels. Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” “All things work together for our good” All things include even our mistakes. 

God had promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a baby. Years went by, and nothing really happened. This was when they decided to take matters into their own hands and help God. Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maid Hagar, and they had a son called Ishamael. All things looked as if God had answered His promise. But the truth was that Ishmael was not the promised child. Ishmael was a huge mistake that brought fights and confusion into the household of Abraham. 

Abraham went to the Lord and spoke about this situation. Another key here is “tell the Lord your mistakes.” The problem is we tell everyone under the sun about our mistakes, but we never tell the Lord. 

And God spoke to Abraham that even though it was a terrible mess, "I will make Ishmael extremely fruitful and multiply his descendants. I will make him a great nation" (Genesis 17:20 NLT ). Years later, in Genesis 37, we see Joseph’s brothers, out of jealousy, sell him off to the Ishmaelites, who then sell him into Egypt. You know the rest of the story. Joseph became the governor of Egypt and was the very reason the twelve tribes of Israel were saved from perishing in the famine. 

Amazingly, it was the descendants of Ishmael who came along at the right moment and kept Joseph, Abraham's great-grandson, from dying in the pit when his brothers betrayed him (see Gen. 37). 

What am I saying? The mistake of Abraham became the miracle of Joseph, who helped save the rest of their family. That's how amazing God is. He knows how to bring good even when we fail.

We all have some Ishmaels. We all have times when we blew it, got involved in things that we shouldn't have, and made a mess. The accuser constantly whispers, "You're a shameful failure. God's never going help you." Don't believe those lies. God is full of mercy. He doesn't turn His back when you make mistakes.

Prayer Missiles
1. I silence every evil voice of defeat, guilt and self-condemnation as a result of my past mistakes, in Jesus' name.

2. My Father, in the name of Jesus, give me a fresh start. 

3. Those that heard of my defeat and failure shall turn around to celebrate my success, in Jesus' name.

4. Every voice of condemnation and pain dragging me back to my past be silenced in Jesus' name.

5. I receive the spirit of courage and boldness to enter into my beautiful future, in Jesus' name.

6. I am not a defeat. I am not a failure. I am fruitful and successful, in Jesus' mighty name.