Total failure

'Against you only have I sinned.' Ask the Lord to show you your sin. Confess it and receive his forgiveness.

Mark 14:71 He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, 'I don't know this man you're talking about.'

In Peter's downfall we see echoes of our own. His journey from self-confidence and self-belief to true self-awareness is one we all take.

Peter had a flash of self-knowing when he first understood the power of Jesus
Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw what happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, "Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!"

But over the years with Jesus, sharing in his ministry, his self-confidence ad self-belief had grown

Mark 14: 31 Peter answered even more strongly, "I willnevr say that, even if I have to die with you!"
Jesus had warned him

Mark 14:30 Jesus said to Peter, "I tell yo that before the cock crows twice tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me."

Mark 14:38 And he said to them, "Keep watch, and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

but Peter had not acted.

Mark 14:40 Then he came back to the disciples and found them asleep; they could not keep their eyes open, And they did not know what to say to him.

Are you and I vigilant and prayerful about our spiritual state?
Are we quick to act on the warnings the Lord gives us through his Word or by his Spirit through another Christian?

Maybe, like Peter we only remember when it s too late.

Mark 14:72 Just then a cock crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will say three times that you do not know me." And he broke down and cried.

 Realising that we have failed the Lord, especially when we have known him for a long time, cuts us to the core. Peter did not realise that his moral failure would be paid for in full by Jesus himself. We do know that Jesus went to the cross, willingly.

As weep for our sinful state, our tears should be mingled with tears of gratitude for all that he has done

Lord, forgive me for I am a bitterfull utterlly awful sinner in your eyes. In everything I do, I realise that it is you that brings out the person I am, it is you that I completes me. Without you, I am nothing but a speck of dust on the ground. You are my all and I surrender my whole self to you. Teach me, guide me and lead me everyday and every moment in my life and let me be a testimony to other people, to live a Christlike living in everything that I do. Amen.

**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**