No matter how hard you try, sometimes failure is still part of your journey. Why is that? Why do good people who love Jesus still fail? Why do we struggle? Why do things fall apart? Why does faith and our best effort still sometimes result in failure?

My guess is, you’re either in the middle of a failed plan, coming out of one, or girl you’re blissfully unaware of the pending failure just ahead. It happens to all of us. How do we gracefully handle this inevitable temporary fate, and see it for what it’s worth? How do we get better, find strength, and see what God is doing here?

Remember the story of the two fisherman who had fished all night and had failed? No matter what they tried, they put no fish in the boat. They were professionals. They knew what they were doing, yet they still failed. In Luke 5: 4-7 Jesus shows up on the scene, climbs in their boat and says “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything (failure). But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.”

Here’s what you need to know … SOMETIMES THE FAILURE IS THE GOAL. It’s part of the plan. It’s the open invitation for Jesus to show up on the scene and make something happen for you. But if you don’t fail first, you’ll think it’s all you.

Oh, we don’t like to admit it, but dang we get all puffed up with our own greatness sometimes. Look at me leveling up in life. Look at all my success. Look at my ab! Look at it, there’s an ab poking out on my stomach! Look at my medals, my achievements and my accolades. Look at my house, my car, my shoes and my purse! Look at all my followers. It makes me throw up in my mouth a little. And I’m sure it makes God just gag!

ENTER FAILURE!

We can’t be trusted with success. We can’t be humble on these new levels. We can’t be blessed with all God would willingly give to us because we become self-righteous. So, we fail. And that humbling failure allows us to see Jesus.

Jesus didn’t show up after a good night of fishing, he showed up after a long hard night of nothing working. He showed up when these two fishermen had done everything they knew to do with no success.

Now, why do you think that is? Could it be because our own success keeps us so busy we would never pay attention to the guy on the shore giving us instructions? Could it be when our boats are already full, we don’t have room for some guy to climb in with us?

Failure opened a space for Jesus. The absence of a catch created the perfect position for Jesus on the boat. And y’all, when Jesus gets in your boat, things are about to change.

Could the failure you’ve been experiencing be for the sole purpose of making a space for Jesus? Could it be a clearing for Christ? Oh, ABSOLUTELY YES!!!!!!

Looking back at every personal failure I’ve experienced, and every failure my family has faced on our journey, I now realize it became an opening for Jesus. A way for him to get in. A space for him to fill. An opportunity for him to do the impossible on our behalf.

Yes, sometimes the failure is the goal. Don’t leave that out.

It’s interesting how 2 other gospels tell the story of Jesus meeting these fishermen, but leave out the detail of their failed night of fishing first. Matthew and Mark both just tell of Jesus walking by the sea, he sees two fishermen, he says “come follow me” and they drop their nets and go. But Luke tells us the full story. He doesn’t leave the failure out.

We too are tempted to skip the bad parts and just rush to the high points of our own stories. But my sister, if you don’t remember the struggle, then you miss the point. Don’t leave out how you failed. Don’t skip the struggle. If you do, you’ll forget how God showed up for you. Because Matthew and Mark leave out the struggle, they also leave out the miracle. There’s no mention of the catch so large the nets began to break, and the boats that began to sink from the blessing.

Your failures are just as important in your journey as your successes. Why? Because they show where Jesus showed up.

Now, here’s what’s really interesting about this story … Jesus shows up after their failure, blesses them with this huge catch, but then asks them to leave it all to follow him. Would you be willing to give up the blessing you were just given? Can you be trusted to follow Jesus more than you follow your blessings?

What God ultimately had for them was so much greater than a boat full of fish. However, to step into that destiny, they had to leave behind the blessing they had just hauled in.

Sometimes our blessings block us from stepping fully into all God has for us. We’re so enamored by our boat full of fish that we miss the invitation for something so much greater with Jesus.

But in listening to an old lesson from Elevation Church, I finally see, sometimes the BLESSING IS BAIT.

Yes, the blessing God gives us is bait to get us to follow him somewhere greater. Will you? Will you be willing to continually follow God through both failure and blessing? Failure creates space, and Jesus shows up to fill that space. Blessing nearly sinks the boat with abundance, and God says trust me enough to walk away from that and follow me to greater things.

Maybe you’re stuck in failure right now, or you’re caught up in your blessings … either way, know that Jesus is personally attending to you. He’s filling that space. He’s preparing a blessing. He’s baiting you to follow him to what he has for you next.

Failure … yip, it’s part of the plan.
Blessings … yip, they’re bait to get you to follow him in the next part of the plan.