What Would You Do If You Couldn’t Fail?

What if God looked you in the eyes today and said:

“You are free to choose.
You have all the time, money, and education you need.
You cannot fail.”

How would you respond?

Most of us live our lives hemmed in by limitations—real or perceived. Fear of failure is a gatekeeper we rarely question. We ask, “What’s safe?” or “What will people think?” but not, “What has God placed in my heart to do?”

Years ago, I came to understand that God was less interested in my performance than in my yes. He wasn’t waiting for me to become perfect—just willing. And that willingness had to begin with honesty.

Inventorying Desire

The question isn’t just, What do I want? It’s, What desire has God placed in me that I’ve been too afraid to name out loud? Pain has a way of stripping us bare, of helping us discard false selves and surface-level ambitions. It’s in that place of broken clarity that God often whispers the truth about who we are—and what we’re called to do.

But too often, instead of listening, we reach for comfort. We play small because it feels safe. We give ourselves to busyness and call it faithfulness. We say we’re waiting on God when really, God has already spoken—we’re just afraid to act.

God’s Revolution Begins With Your Yes

In Revolution of a Broken Heart, I shared how my real journey didn’t begin until I was willing to have my heart broken—until I let the pain of the world touch me deeply enough to make me move. That’s when ministry stopped being something I did and became who I was.

And that kind of movement—the revolution Jesus invites us into—requires an answer to this question: What would I do if I knew I could not fail?

It doesn’t have to be dramatic. It might be helping a ministry to orphans (like this one). Or writing a book. Or forgiving someone who hurt you deeply. It might be saying yes to foster care or finally launching that dream God planted decades ago. It might be simply choosing to live honestly, no longer hiding behind pretense.

Listening Prayer: Ask the Question

In The Art of Listening Prayer, I encourage readers to ask God direct questions—and then wait for His answer. Here’s one to start with:

“Lord, what have You placed in me that I’ve buried in fear or forgotten in busyness?”

Quiet yourself. Listen. Write what you sense Him saying. Risk believing that it’s Him. Then take a small step of obedience.

God doesn’t give us freedom so we can remain caged. He gives us freedom so we can fly.

So I’ll ask you plainly:
If you could do anything—anything at all—and you knew you wouldn’t fail… what would you do?

And what’s stopping you?

Photo: Thanks to Armand Khoury