Failure doesn't mean we won't succeed; it just means success may take a bit longer to achieve. John Wayne spoke a great line in the movie The Train Robbers: 'You're going to spend the rest of your life getting up one more time than you're knocked down, so you'd better start getting used to it.' That's what success is - getting up one time more than we were knocked down. We have no idea how close we may be to what we want to achieve. But if we give up, we'll never know - plus, we'll never actually get there. Author Ben Stein said, 'The human spirit is never finished when it is defeated. It is finished when it surrenders.'

Time magazine conducted a survey among people who had lost their jobs. The survey showed that people who had lost jobs and found new ones were better prepared to deal with adversity than those who had been with the same company for years without ever needing to face and deal with unemployment.

When we've experienced failure, we're actually in a better position to achieve success than people who haven't. When we fail and fail again - and keep bouncing back and learning from our failures - we're building character, strength, tenacity, experience and wisdom. And people who develop these qualities are capable of sustaining their successes, unlike those who gained good things too early or too easily.

So what now? As long as you don't give up, you're in a good position. So today, remember - 'Stand firm. Let nothing move you' (1 Corinthians 15:58 NIV).

The apostles Paul and Silas had their feet locked in stocks, their backs lacerated with whips and the contempt of society heaped upon them, but the Bible says, 'At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God' (Acts 16:25 NKJV). They decided to stop focusing on their circumstances and instead focus on the goodness of God. They could have complained, but they made a choice to worship God despite their imprisonment. And that's often the most challenging and crucial choice we can make.

The sacrifice of praise is similar to hitting the refresh key on the computer; it restores the joy of our salvation, recalibrates our spirit and renews our mind. And it empowers us to discover something good to praise God about, even when things are going wrong. It isn't easy. But one of the purest forms of worship is praising God when we don't want to. 'Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name' (Hebrews 13:15 NKJV). Notice the words 'sacrifice of praise'.

It's sacrifice - in this case, praise - that moves God and brings results: 'Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed' (Acts 16:26 NKJV).

So what now? When you're in a situation with no way out, praise opens doors. When you're shackled by lack and limitation, praise breaks chains. So, worship your way through it.

Our God says to us: 'I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters' (2 Corinthians 6:18 NIV). Maybe we've had a great relationship with our own father, which gives us some idea of the immense love God has for us when he calls us his sons and daughters. But, possibly our relationship with our father hasn't been a good one, and the idea of seeing God as father is difficult for us.

Wherever we are in our relationship with our earthly father, we catch a glimpse of God as a perfect father from the story in Mark's Gospel, when Jesus healed a paralysed man. When the man was brought to Jesus for healing, before Jesus forgave and healed him, he called him 'son'. That word 'son' was Jesus' way of telling the man that he was precious and accepted. There were no conditions to fulfil before Jesus would help him.

Jesus didn't say, 'You've got to clean up your act,' or 'You must do things my way.' Instead, He established a relationship with the man by showing him love, compassion and acceptance. That's what our heavenly Father wants to do with us.

So what now? Your heavenly Father wants to invite you into a relationship where you're loved unconditionally, where you're accepted and valued, and don't need to be afraid to come to him just as you are, with all your flaws and weaknesses. When God calls you his son or his daughter, you're being welcomed with open arms into his family.

In Scripture, the word confession is made up of two Greek words: homo, meaning 'the same', and logeo, meaning 'to speak'. Therefore, confessing our sins to God means saying the same thing about it as he does. It means calling a spade a spade - not a gardening tool! Nowhere does the Bible refer to our sins as mistakes, bad judgements or slips. However, it clearly says God forgives our sin: 'I am the one who erases all your sins, for my sake; I will not remember your sins' (Isaiah 43:25 NCV).

Let's be clear: (1) Confessing isn't about apologising. Saying sorry is appropriate and necessary at times. Confessing is agreeing with God about the nature, extent and offensiveness of our sins; (2) Confessing isn't about feelings. We may plunge into remorse, guilt and sadness over our sins. When these feelings lead to confession, they're useful. But even when we don't feel these emotions, our confession is just as genuine and effective; (3) Confessing isn't complaining. Making a list of our sins and telling God how terrible we are is more like complaining than confessing. Coming clean with God and agreeing with his evaluation of our sins is what he wants us to do. Then, like David, we can say, 'I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt...And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone' (Psalm 32:5 NLT).

So what now? Confess your sins to God - then be confident that you've been forgiven! He longs for you to live forgiven and free.

This passage of Scripture is one our loving God can use to turn our lives around: (1) 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings' (1 Peter 5:6-9 NIV).

Here's the result God promises when we walk in the truth of this Scripture: 'And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast' (1 Peter 5:10 NIV).

There are two important phrases here: 'The God of all grace.' Whatever we fear and whatever we have to face, God will give us the grace to handle it. 'After you have suffered a little while, [God] will himself restore you and make you strong.' If we're going through a season of stress, be encouraged...God has promised that it'll lead to a season of strengthening.

So what now? When you pray, 'Lord, take me out of this,' he may do so. Or he may answer, 'No, I will take you through it and make you "firm and steadfast".' Either way he chooses is the best way.

There's bad news, and good news. The bad news is, when David tried to hide his sin, God exposed it to the entire nation. The good news is, when he repented of his sin, God forgave him and wiped his record clean.

What God did for David, he'll do for us. All we have to do is pray, 'Cleanse me from my sin...Create in me a clean heart, O God' (Psalm 51:2, 10 NKJV). How does God respond to a prayer like this? Here's what he said to Solomon, David's son: 'If you walk before me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and my judgements, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, "You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel"' (1 Kings 9:4-5 NKJV).

We may feel that because of our sin we're beyond hope and redemption, that we've given up the opportunity to be useful to God and to fulfil our destiny. But this isn't true! We can recover. We can be restored. We can be forgiven. We can regain our integrity. We can be healed and become whole again.

So what now? Today, know that God can forgive and restore you, no matter your past. All you have to do is ask him. It's his heart's desire to do so.