The God of the Second Chance

As we begin the new year, have you stopped making resolutions because of repeated failure to keep the old ones? Do your past failures discourage you in the present and paralyze you for the future?

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.


The God of the Second Chance. Daily Devotional by Anne Graham Lotz

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13–14

I once heard a speaker ask what we thought God expected of us. Mentally I answered, “Righteousness, holiness, love for God and my neighbor.”

He repeated his question, so I continued my list, “Bible reading, prayer, obedience, service.”

But then he stated, to my stunned amazement, “All God ever expects of you is failure.”

I had to resist the temptation to raise my hand, wave it wildly, and exclaim, “I can do that! I can live up to God’s expectations! I know I can fail!”

But before I could blurt it out, the speaker said, “But He has given you the Holy Spirit so that you need never fail.”


As we begin the new year, have you stopped making resolutions because of repeated failure to keep the old ones? Do your past failures discourage you in the present and paralyze you for the future?

Then join me in praising the God who expects us in our flesh to fail, but who is also the God of the second chance!

Image of Anne Graham Lotz

Called “the best preacher in the family” by her father, Billy Graham, Anne Graham Lotz speaks around the globe with the wisdom and authority of years spent studying God’s Word. The New York Times named Anne one of the five most influential evangelists of her generation.