I will not be afraid of failure for God has promised that He will be my help. Robert H. Schuller

I’ve read Tough Minded Faith for Tender Hearted People by Robert H. Schuller more times than I can count. For many years, it sat on my nightstand and I read one page before I went to sleep. It seemed that whatever problem I was facing, he had a page that gave me just the right message to get me through the challenge at hand.

So what is faith?

To me, it’s not just a statement of blind faith. My faith is based on knowledge of God’s promises and revelations resulting from my actions.

My faith requires action.

The fear of failure is the number one reason most people fail to achieve their goals in life.

Turning this around, lack of faith is the number one reason most people fail. If you had no fear of failure, what would you have attempted to accomplish in this lifetime?

What would we want to achieve in this lifetime?

I think we would have big, unreasonable goals.

If we accept the constraints on our life that others attempt to project on us, their projections become our reality. But if we reject the negative projections of others, we take full control over our life outcomes to create the reality we want.

If you accept the limiting viewpoint of others—be they your mother, father, spouse, teacher, employer or anyone else who you may perceive to have power over your life—your life will be limited because you will have granted your power to bring forth the life you want to them.

It takes courage to act on faith.

It takes faith to take one step at a time in the face of our fears.

It takes faith to keep going in the face of apparent defeat.

It takes faith to claim the life that God has promised us.

Yesterday someone said to me, “Education is the only thing that changes a person’s reality.” We were talking about the high level of poverty in the world.

I think that’s a true statement. Knowledge of how to harness God’s power to change our day-to-day reality requires understanding that we must dare to fail to achieve greatness in this life.

Education is an important tool to address poverty in the world.

Improving education around the world has to be our collective goal.

And I mean education on many levels.

Faith requires using our intellect to discern.

I’ve often said that the only goals in life worth having are unreasonable goals, because only an unreasonable goal will allow you to see God’s magic in your life.

I put my faith into action by working on The Fifth Letter for seven years. I announced an unreasonable goal of wanting to write a New York Times Best Seller, putting all of my creative writing energy into creating the best novel I could. But the driving goal was to write a novel that would entertain and education the masses. I wanted to create food for thought.

I tried to understand multiple viewpoints.

I worked day after day. Growing everyday. Getting closer to my goal.

Then one day I realized The Fifth Letter was finished and I had to find the courage to release it into the universe for judgement.

On May 15, 2015, I will issue a press release for The Fifth Letter and begin the book launch and marketing efforts to bring my dream of creating a best selling novel to life. A novel the masses can read.

I’m a little scared, but I’m going to march forward based on faith.

Do I know everything I need to know to insure my success?

No!!!

But I’m going to march forward anyway, taking one calculated step at a time. Figuring out what I did wrong when I fall down. Then doing some more homework. Finding some more experts to give me advice. Then getting up and taking another step toward by goal.

That’s what I will be doing for the rest of this year.

Running the risk of a very public failure. But that really is the only way major goals are accomplished in life. That’s what I’ve always done.

Announce my intention. Accept the risk of failure. Work.

Then just keep on going when things aren’t working out.

Not accepting the negative assessments of others on what I can do.

Relying on God to take me to the promised land.

And that is what you should do, too.