Some time ago I realized my car’s gas tank was nearly empty. I spotted a convenience store and parked next to a pump. I placed the nozzle in my tank, and swiped my card, and began filling up my car. I then went into the store and bought a soda. I chatted with the store clerk. I went back to my car and washed the windshield. I was barely back on the road when I happened to look at my gas gauge. It was on empty! Knowing my attention span, I probably forgot to squeeze the lever.

I did everything except the one thing I needed to do. Have you done the same? Have you neglected the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God longs to give you his great power. Challenges come with life, but they need not define your life. Help is here.

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Jesus would not let his followers begin their ministries unless they knew the Holy Spirit. By this point the disciples had spent three years in training. They had seen the empty tomb, they had touched his resurrected body, they had spent forty days listening to the resurrected Christ teach about the kingdom. But they needed more. Jesus told them, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NKJV).

The Holy Spirit comes with power. Power to make good choices, to keep promises, to silence the inner voices of fear and failure. Power to get busy about the right things in the right way. Power. This is what Jesus promised then, and this is what Jesus promises still.

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In Luke 24:49 (TLB) Jesus said, “And now I will send the Holy Spirit upon you, just as my Father promised.” Who is the Holy Spirit? God as Father? We comprehend that image. God as Jesus, the Son? That idea is manageable as well. But God as Spirit? The word itself is mystical.

One day, I read the words Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit: comforter and friend. “I know that Person.” That was over three decades ago. I no longer think of the Holy Spirit as the Holy Who? I now call him our Heaven-Sent Helper. He is our champion, our advocate, our guide. He comforts and directs us. He indwells, transforms, sustains, and will someday deliver us into our heavenly home.

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“Along about midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer and singing a robust hymn to God…Then, without warning, a huge earthquake! The jailhouse tottered, every door flew open, all the prisoners were loose” (Acts 16:25-26 MSG).

Authorities beat Paul and Silas with rods. Soldiers then imprisoned them in the deepest part of the prison where it was damp and cold and rat-infested. Their feet were put in stocks. There they lay all afternoon and into the night, with no local advocates, their backs open to infection, surrounded by darkness, and shivering from the cold. Oh, to have heard that midnight song.

Paul and Silas were not sure of their deliverance, but they were sure of their Deliverer. You can be too. Rather than panic, you can choose to praise.

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Our stress-laden society has developed many skills for dealing with anxiety. We have breathing exercises and meditation techniques. But the person in whom the Spirit dwells has the greatest of resources. The apostle Paul said, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18-19 NIV).

The apostle contrasts two strategies for facing inner chaos: inebriation and celebration. Many people numb themselves, if not with liquor, with bouts of shopping or hours of playing. The better option: celebration. Constant worship clears the debris from our hearts. Praise is the cleansing element that flushes the trash of worry and anxiety.

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Peter discovered the wonder of God’s second chance. One day Jesus preached from Peter’s boat. Then he told Peter to take him fishing. The apostle-to-be had no interest. He was tired; he had fished all night. He was discouraged; he had caught nothing. He was dubious; what did Jesus know about catching fish? But Jesus insisted. And Peter relented. “At Your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5 NKJV).

This was a moment of truth for Peter. He was saying, “I will begin again, your way.” When he did, the catch of fish was so great the boat nearly sank. Sometimes we just need to begin again with Christ in the boat. Don’t miss your opportunity by inaction. It’s time to rise up and step out. God has not forgotten you. Keep your head up! You never know what good awaits you.

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Begin again. Fresh starts require a determined first step. You can’t change yesterday, but you can do something about tomorrow. Put God’s plan in place.

God told Joshua to revisit the place of failure. In Joshua 8:1 he said, “Arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land” (Joshua 8:1 NKJV). In essence, God told Joshua, “Let’s begin again. This time my way.”

In the first attack, Joshua consulted spies; in the second, he listened to God. In the first, he stayed home. In the second, he led the way. The first attack involved a small unit, the second involved many more men. The first attack involved no tactics, the second was strategic and sophisticated.

The point? God gave Joshua a new plan. “Begin again,” he said. “My way.” When he followed God’s strategy, victory happened. And friend, the same will happen to you.

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Everyone stumbles. The difference is in the response. Some stumble into the pit of guilt. Others tumble into the arms of God. They make a deliberate decision to stand up and lean into the grace of God.

Just like you, the prodigal son was given an inheritance; he was a member of the family. Perhaps just like you, he squandered it on wild living and bad choices. His trail dead-ended in a pigpen. He fed hogs for a living. Then he made a decision that changed his life forever. “I will arise and go to my father” (Luke 15:18 NKJV)

You can arise and go to your Father! Maybe you can’t solve all your problems or disentangle all your knots. You can’t undo all the damage you’ve done, but you can arise and go to your Father. Landing in a pigpen stinks. But friend, staying there is just plain stupid.

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One stumble does not define or break a person. Though you failed, God’s love does not. Face your failures with faith in God’s goodness. He tells you what he told Joshua: “Arise, go. You and all this people to the land which I am giving” (Joshua 1:2 NKJV). There is no condition in that covenant. God’s Promised Land offer does not depend on your perfection; it depends on his.

In God’s hands, no defeat is a crushing defeat. “The steps of good men are directed by the Lord. He delights in each step that they take. If they fall, it isn’t fatal. For the Lord holds them with his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24 TLB). Miss this truth and miss your new beginning. You must believe that God’s grace is greater than your failures.

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Failure finds us all. Failure is so universal that we must wonder why more self-help gurus don’t address it. Bookstores overflow with volumes on how to succeed, but you’ll look a long time before you find a section called “How to Succeed at Failing.”

Maybe no one knows what to say. But God does. His book is written for failures. It is full of folks who were foul-ups and flops but got a second chance. David was a moral failure, yet he became a man after God’s own heart. Jonah was in the belly of a fish when he prayed his most honest prayer and then saw revival in Nineveh.

Perfect people? No. Perfect messes? You bet. Yet God used them all. A surprising and welcome discovery of the Bible is this: God uses failures.

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