Friday, 28^th June 2024

Bible Reading: Philippians 3:13

Memory Verse: …But one thing indeed: Forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things ahead. Philippians 3:13 (BLB)

In this piece, Dr Strive Masiyiwa talked about failing successfully. While his focus was on entrepreneurship, its lessons cuts across all spheres of life.  Michael Jordan is not only one of the greatest athletes in the history of sport, but he was the first athlete to become a billionaire. And he did so when he retired and became a successful entrepreneur. I will never forget the first time I saw this quote by Michael Jordan on a huge billboard in New York, I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. I completely choked up and allowed the tears to run down the side of my face. It cut deep into me as it brought back floods of memories of my own failures: businesses that had collapsed; countless projects that had failed to take off; failure to raise money for things only I knew could succeed but no one else had believed in me. Failed partnerships that ended in total acrimony. Countless failures that never made headlines and the humiliation of those that did. Then there were the blatant corruptions and prejudices that had killed dream projects leaving me to pick up the pieces. Looking back on all that, I suddenly realized that I have succeeded because I trained myself to get up from failures. You will have to do the same. I understood that it is not the people with the best ideas, or the smartest, who succeed. All those things matter, but the entrepreneur has something extra. They are not afraid to fail. Imagine a great footballer whose team just lost the World Cup Final. They are initially gutted, and it seems to them like it is all over, but a few weeks later they are back in training and preparing for the next tournament. They put the failure behind them and use the lessons to prepare them for ultimate success. That MUST be you! Examples of those who once failed, but allowed their failures provoke them into dumbfounding success:

1. Michael Jordan: After being cut from his high school basketball team, he went home, locked himself in his room and cried, but he eventually became one of the greatest basketball player in history.

2. Albert Einstein: He wasn’t able to speak till he was about 4 years old and his teachers said he would ‘never amount to much’. He eventually became one of the greatest scientists of all times.

3. Walt Disney: He was fired from a newspaper for “lacking imagination” and “having no original ideas”. He eventually became one of the greatest film producer and entrepreneur.

4. Steve Jobs: At 30 years old he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started. He eventually became a world leader in telecommunication.

Quote:  You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending – C.S. Lewis

Prophetic Decree: Every curse of failure is broken in your life, in Jesus name. 

Prayer Focus

1. Thank you Father because with you I can face tomorrow.

2. Though mourning may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, in Jesus name.

3. I break the backbone of the spirit of repeated failure, in Jesus name.

4. Foundational altar of failure erected by my forefathers, be swallowed by the altar of Calvary where the Blood of Jesus speaks better words, in Jesus name.

5. Today, I decree and declare: Forward ever, Backward ever, in Jesus name. 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:  1 Kings 20-21