To Reduce Your Fear of Failure, Redefine It

CURRENT TEACHING SERIES Good News About Grace

To Reduce Your Fear of Failure, Redefine It By Rick Warren — Mar 13, 2016 “No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again.” (Proverbs 24:16a TEV) Never forget this truth: Failure probably won’t kill you. We vastly exaggerate the effects of failure. We blow the prospects of failing all out of proportion. Failing is not the end of the world. The fear of failure is far more damaging than failure. Proverbs 24:16 says, “No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again” (TEV). Even good guys stumble. They make mistakes, blow it, and stub their toes. Successful people are not people who never fail. They’re people who get up again and keep going. Successful people just don’t know how to quit. Ever heard of these famous failures? George Washington lost two-thirds of all the battles he fought. But he won the Revolutionary War and later became the first U.S. president. Napoleon graduated 42nd in a class of 43. Then he went out and conquered Europe! In 21 years Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, but he struck out 1,330 times. He struck out nearly twice as often as he hit a home run. The famous novelist John Creasey received 753 rejection slips before he published 564 books. Rowland Hussey Macy failed seven times at retailing before starting Macy’s department store. Great people are simply ordinary people who have an extraordinary amount of determination. They just keep on going. They realize they’re never a failure until they quit. That’s how you reduce your fear of failure. You redefine it. You don’t fail by not reaching a specific goal. Instead, failure is not having a goal. Failure is refusing to get back up again once you fall. It’s refusing to try. On the first day of kindergarten, I got in the wrong line and then into the wrong classroom. Can you imagine me going home to my mom and dad and saying, “I’m a failure at education! This school thing just doesn’t work”? Of course not. You keep going. If at first you don’t succeed, it’s no big deal. You’re never a failure until you give up. PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >> Talk It Over Who is someone you admire because of how he or she has dealt with failure? What makes that person admirable? What’s the greatest failure you’ve ever endured? What did that failure teach you? What helps you and motivates you to keep going when you face possible failure? Our Gift: Choose Joy Devotional Book The secret to being happy no matter what is looking at every experience and circumstance you face from God’s viewpoint. When you go through difficult times joy becomes a choice you make minute by minute. Written by Pastor Rick’s wife, Kay Warren, this Devotional book is the perfect tool to help you stay focused on God’s word and see things from His perspective. LEARN MORE Complete Audio Series (Purchase) Includes all complete sermons from the Rick Warren The Good News About Grace teaching series. LEARN MORE Series Summary Message 1: Saving Grace Message 2: ​​​​​​Sustaining Grace Message 3: ​​Liberating Grace Message 4: ​​Offering Grace Message 5: ​​Restoring Grace Message 6: ​​Amazing Grace PLAY TODAY'S BROADCAST

Pastor Rick Warren

Enjoy today's Devotional? Listen instantly to the full radio message at Daily Hope Radio. Did someone forward this devotional to you? Subscribe to Pastor Rick Warren's Daily Devotional. This devotional is based on the current Daily Hope radio series at rickwarren.org. Rick Warren has helped people live with hope and on purpose for more than 40 years. He’s the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of several books, including "The Purpose Driven Church" and "The Purpose Driven Life," read by more than 100 million people in 137 languages. He created the PEACE Plan (plant churches of reconciliation, equip servant leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, educate the next generation), which is used by churches in 196 countries. His radio teaching and daily devotional, Daily Hope, is offered across America. This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission. You can unsubscribe at any time by changing your e-mail preferences. Update your preferences  |  Unsubscribe