Just as surely as success begins with an attitude, failure begins with an attitude. Failure does not begin when what we have done does not succeed. Failure begins by saying, “I quit.”
Thomas Edison tried 10,000 experiments on one idea—none of which produced the results he wanted. Yet he refused to accept failure. Edison said, “I have not failed 10,000 times, I have successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.”
When we think like that, we cannot be defeated by the devil. Instead, we will continue to press on until the promise of God becomes a reality.
A child of God is born to be a winner. Unfortunately, too many have been conditioned to lose.
For some, religion has stolen the desire to win. Others have let the hard knocks of life change them. Multitudes of others have never recovered from the broken relationships and the disappointments that have squeezed the joy and strength from them.
It seems that for some people almost anything cannot be done. They have become can’t do people.
We may be among those who feel that life has dealt an unfair blow. But we have to be careful how we react to those situations that have hurt or discouraged us. There is an enemy to our soul; his name is Satan, and he is not fair. He will use anything possible, even someone close to us, to steal our peace and confidence in God.
We cannot allow Satan to beat us. We have God dwelling within us, Who will rise up and cause us to be all He has called us to be, do all that He has called us to do, and receive all that He has declared we could receive.
We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. God’s Word will turn us into the kind of people who believe that whatever we set our hands to do can succeed and prosper.
A winner is not someone who has never suffered a setback. He is someone who knows that when the setback comes, he must get up and continue forward. If we refuse to quit, we cannot lose.
Are we can do or can’t do people? Paul was “a can do” man. Second Corinthians 4:8-9 in the J.B. Phillips paraphrase says: “We are hard-pressed on all sides, but we are never frustrated; we are puzzled, but never in despair. We are persecuted, but are never deserted: we may be knocked down but we are never knocked out!”
Think about it—the most natural thing to do when we have fallen down or been knocked down is to get up. We would not just lie on the ground. We jump up as quickly as possible and hope no one saw us fall. So what should we do if something in life knocks us down? Refuse to stay there. Get up! That’s the natural thing to do. It’s the attitude every winner must maintain in life.
