Skip to main content

What does victory look like?

This morning as I was driving to the mission, I was singing that phrase, "I'm going to see a
victory"; I stopped for a moment and asked myself, "What does a victory look like?"; Sometimes
I think we need to define what we are expecting. We walk around saying the most generic
phrases that honest to goodness if they happened, we would not recognize it if it bit us. So, in
the world of followers and likes, is reaching only one person a failure? Seriously, if you don’t
see the success you think you should have, then are you a failure? If our faith is not by sight,
then what is the clue that we have arrived at the goal? Are the people in Hebrews 11:37 all
failures because they were stoned, sawn in two, put to death by the sword and ill-treated?
When it comes to God and His definition of victory, what are you asking Him to do in your life?
My very first class at one of the chapels, I had two ladies show up. Soon it became only one.
When I went to talk to God about it, He let me know that in His world, it was about the one.
That young lady has become one of the greatest joys of my life.
Is there something in your life that you feel you are a big fat failure? I think you should go back
and look at the situation through God’s eyes. God needs us in the moments of life for the
relationships around us. It is not about you seeing the results. It is about your commitment to
God to follow a task through till God says you’re done. If seeing the victories become part of
Christ-follower’s requirements, then I feel we will miss out on many of God’s adventures. There
is a reason God gave me my mission motto “To serve God; Not fix man.” I rarely get to see the
impact of my work. My obedience though, has brought peace of mind, self-worth, joy, and love
into my life. Now that is a victory to me.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Authority Given By God

  The other day, God reminded me of a story. When I was teaching in the old mission building, my classroom was the library. I loved the big tables that we could join together as we discussed God’s word. Then I had to move over to the men’s side of the building and teach in one of the classrooms. It was your standard room with conference tables. At the time, I felt the setup cold as I was way upfront from the ladies “teaching.” My director permitted me to join the tables together to make it more intimate. Since I was having trouble with my legs, she told me I could leave the tables joined together for the guys to put the room back together. She forgot to tell the guys. One day, a man came storming into my classroom and yelled at me. “You will put those tables back,” he demanded. I looked up and slowly said, “No.” He screamed again, “Yes, you will.” I again replied, “No, and if you have a problem with that answer, you can talk with my supervisor.” The look on his fa...

Questions about Fasting Part One

  Was fasting a foretelling of repentance and dying to self? Everything in the Old Testament Jewish faith was the "first to establish the second," meaning the religious acts were a foretelling to set up the death and resurrection of Christ. The practice of circumcision is not a sacred act anymore, nor is sacrifice. Why? Because in the New Covenant through Jesus, circumcision is now of the heart and not the flesh. The book of Romans reminds us that every religious act of the flesh has been replaced by living under grace through faith. So why are we continuing the practice of fasting for repentance or sorrow? Is that not an act of flesh? Do we not believe that if we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just to forgive us? Why do you have to starve yourself to get God to move or hear Him? Don't we believe that He has heard us if we ask according to His will? Do you think God is motivated more by our acts of humility or our acts of faith? Does He not kn...

Fast Part Two

  I have been mulling over the part fasting should be playing in the age of grace. For two weeks, I have questioned my friends about why they fast. Most of my friends said the same thing: to get close to God or hear God. My friends are kind and allow me to challenge their thought processes or debate them concerning their answers. Yesterday at church, God finally brought a complete response to me about fasting. Imagine yourself on a date or having an intimate dinner with someone, and they took out their phone and started scrolling. What if you were talking to a friend and they walked away from you to do something else? How would you feel if someone you loved screened their calls and refused to pick up the phone to talk with you? All three of those scenarios are how we treat God. God looks at the relationship with His people as a marriage. There is not one marriage that can survive without intimacy or that special closeness withheld for only one. When we read ve...