Walking In Victory

I was just getting ready to do some writing and Joyce Meyer was on TV. Now I'm not a huge fan, but I was listening as I got my computer situated and checked Facebook and email. She said something just as I was about to push the mute button that stopped me cold. She said, "Most Christians want enough of Jesus to stay out of hell but not enough to walk in victory." Take a moment and just think about that...

Victory wasn't a word I heard much in church growing up. I heard a lot about hell and sin and service, but not so much about victory. In fact, for most of my life, although I considered myself to be a mature believer and was pastoring churches, if you had asked me when we were supposed to have victory I would have told you, "When Christ comes back, everything will be made right and we'll walk in victory with him." If you are sighing because that is so sad, just go right ahead. I was convinced that we weren't promised victory. And in a way, we're not. Yes, Christ has won the victory, defeated sin and death, put Satan under his feet. Jesus himself said that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him and that he will never leave us. But the Bible also says, "to those who overcome...", in other words, not everyone walks in victory even though the victory is ours.

Many of us fall into the trap that Satan has laid out. He comes along into the life of the young believer and temps a little, lies a little, twists the truth a little and before long we believe that we can't change, that we're supposed to fail and that all God's promises are for the next life. In the mean time we just keep walking in defeat, with our head down and our hearts wounded or lost. Even believers get depressed. Even Christians believe lies. Unfortunately we all feel that way sooner or later, some of us feel that way more often than not. So how do we walk in victory? How do we live our lives to the fullest, till life is overflowing? It starts with knowing who we are.

I'm an expert at trying to live up to other people's expectations. I grew up being taught to take responsibility for my actions until I took responsibility for everything around me, whether it was my fault or not. People would say something terrible about me and I would think, well they probably think that because of this, I guess they're right if you look at this way. I still struggle not to do that. I spent 33 years trying to be what I thought my parents wanted me to be, what I thought my friends wanted me to be, what I thought my wife and kids wanted me to be and what I thought my church wanted me to be. All I knew was misery because none of the things I thought people wanted me to be, was me.

We can't walk in victory until we know who we are because victory is personal. The world wasn't given victory over sin and death. Jesus only gives victory to those who follow him. There is no other victory, no loopholes or ways to trick the system. And Jesus didn't die for a good son, or a good friend, or a good husband or a good pastor. Jesus fought the battle and won the war for you and me. The Bible says that before God even created the world that he KNEW us, and chose us, and loved us (Romans 8:29, Ephesians 1:4) He didn't choose the people who would live up to some preconceived ideal, he knew you. He knew what you would love and he chose you. He knew where you would be weak, when you would fail, all the things you would struggle with, and he chose you. He knew everything and still he chose you. So why are we trying so hard to be something we're not? Is it maybe because someone has told us we can't do it. Perhaps we've tried and failed and there is a voice in our head that says who we really are isn't pleasing to God.

It's time to break that lie. Sever the agreement you've made that the real you isn't a good person, isn't worth knowing, that you need to struggle to be someone else. You may have tried so long to be something you aren't that you don't really know who you are. So let's start small. Trying asking God this simple question, "Who do you think I am?" Then be quiet and wait. When something pops in your head ask God to confirm it. Wrestle with that process until you feel you have an answer. God doesn't want you to stumble in the darkness, in fact Jesus said he was the light. So hang with it and then write it down. Think about it for a while. Think of how it would be to live as that person, or to be the person God said you were. Let it sink in because God doesn't guess, he isn't just throwing ideas around. He knows you and he chose you to walk in victory. And victory begins by being yourself. I would love to hear what God says about you. If you do ask God and you feel up to it, post what he says here on the blog. Let your obedience help others to obey and let's just see what God does.

Getting a Grip

This afternoon I got a call from a friend who needed some advice. Unfortunately, I gave him a cowardly answer. I'm sorry for that. I was afraid of giving good advice because a lot was riding on what I told him. There are times in our lives when we're faced with incredibly tough choices. And as God calls us to step out in faith, those choices become even harder. Sometimes God calls us to do something that flies in the face of common sense. At other times, and I think this is the hardest thing of all, God calls us to break the cycle of lies and half-truths we've grown up with. For me, it has to do with work. My dad is a hard worker. He's always worked, never takes a sick day, never shirks a task. Let me correct myself, that's my stepfather. My biological father was described to me by mother as a lazy man, who would often call in sick, lose his jobs, and rely on my mother to support the family. One of my biggest fears in life was that I would end up just like my biological dad. So I vowed never to let that happen, never to rely on my wife to support us. And now God is calling me to step out in faith, to chase my dreams, only, my wife is going to have to work. In fact, she'll probably be the main source of income for our family for a while. That feels like a knife in my guts, twisting and turning, revealing the real me who is lazy and inept and just like my biological dad.

I'm not really like my biological father, but sometimes it's easy to believe the worst about yourself. Unfortunately, believing lies about who we are is very unhealthy. It gets us all tied up and crippled with self doubt. We can't do the courageous things, we can't live in freedom, in abundant life, if we're bound up in lies and false agreements. We've got to hang on to truth. Listen to Hebrews 12:12-13 in the Amplified Bible:

¹²So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees, ¹³And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.

It's time we took a new grip on Jesus. He said he was "the truth" and that he came to give us life, to set the captives free, give sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed. We need to let go of the lies we hang on to and grab hold of Jesus. The bible isn't calling for a renewed commitment to obedience, but a renewed commitment to our intimate and loving Savior.

It's time we faced the things that make us weak in the knees, the things that really scare us and shine the light of faith on those big, towering, overwhelming fears. The only way to strength shaking knees is to remove the fear and rest in God That doesn't mean that we pretend the scary circumstances in our lives aren't real, but we learn to trust in God's provision for us; his power and work in our lives to meet our needs and carry us through the difficulties we face.

Finally, we need to get a plan. I used to think that getting a plan was in conflict with stepping out in faith. But when God calls us to step out and trust him, we need to mark out a straight path of obedience. If calls you to do something, you don't have to figure out how to make it happen, but you may need to figure out what it is going to take for you to obey God. You may have to plot the course to get more faith and less fear. You may have to make plans to strengthen your grip on God and let go of some of the things that you've been hanging onto that weigh you down and keep you tied up.

When we do these things, we get strong. When we do these things the people that follow us get strong. When we do these things, we begin to experience life as God intended: full, abundant, overflowing life!