Victorious Living

Have you sometimes looked at people you believe are winners and wonder “how is it that their lives always seem to go so well?”  So do they have some kind of favor that we cannot attain or some divine aura over them that guarantees them success?  Living a victorious life is not as difficult as you may think. 

Living victorious is as simple as believing what God has said in His word.  It is by faith that we have the hope of a better life.  The scripture tells us that God has a plan for our lives.  The plan is to help us and not harm us, to give us hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11. 

Once I had given my life to Christ, I believed everything would be “alright.”  I believed that somehow all my problems would be instantly solved, and I would walk into a fairytale world where nothing could go wrong.  I naively believed that all of the “born again” people were pure, and good, and would not knowingly do anything wrong.  It was a very idealistic point of view that was quickly dispelled.  I soon found that people were forgiven, but not perfect, and that my problems were still my problems, they did not just go away.

What I finally realized is that living victoriously had very much to do with faith in God’s promises and a willingness to be changed.  Many problems serve to help us see where we need to change.  An awareness of God's presence and understanding that we are never alone makes finding the answers so much easier.   He wants us overcome our problems.  But just as I had to stand away from my children and allow them to learn to walk, and watch them fall and try again until they perfected the process, I too needed to learn the process of problem solving.  I found His word would lead me out of dark places, and set light and hope before me.  Even when it looked impossible, I had with me the presence of a living God who promised me victory.  I found that the word of God equips me for success.

Being Victorious?  Well, it is found in our decision to follow Christ. 

"Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:57-58

What is love anyway? Let’s consider this…

Throughout time, people have endeavored to tell us what love is.  We read about it in poems and sonnets, we hear about it in songs, and we see it in the words of greetings cards.  We watch actors in plays as they try to portray for us a convincing image of what love is. Then there are always the movies that show a completely dysfunctional depiction of love.  The media spends millions of dollars to describe this sublime level of being, and the phenomena that we call love.

But consider this:  love is not sex, love is not feeling good about someone, and love is not enjoying someone’s company, sexual attraction, affection, or lust.   We can, however, mistake any of them for love. It is important to be able to differentiate between a good feeling and love.  Remember, affection, infatuation, and lust that are satisfied dies away.

Just as important as being able to distinguish what love is, is the ability to identify what is not love.  We are programmed to believe, if we meet someone and are attracted to them, like talking to them, and enjoy their company, we have found love. We are sometimes convinced that because mutual attraction brought us together, we are destined for a life together.

“Lust” is a dirty word that we never consider.  However lust, is simply, according to the Wikipedia, “any intense desire and craving for self-gratification.”  Judging love using the intenseness of your attraction, or the need to be with them no matter what it takes, and no matter who it hurts, or no matter how much disarray it brings to their lives, may not be love at all.  Love will cause you to think about what is “best” for the other person.  Lust will cause you to want them at any cost, without any thought for what “price” or “disruption” the other person has to face because of your intense need for them. 

Whenever it does not matter that your request for their time is inconvenient, you must be with them no matter what it costs, that my friend is not love.  You seriously and honestly believe that whatever challenges you face, you can work them out together.  Even if it is just a delay, time to finish school, time to grow and pursue their life’s dream, once you are together, you believe it can all be worked out.  So what if we have to struggle for a while?  You can make it work!  Perhaps, you need to take a closer look at what you are feeling. 

Love in its pure form, seeks good things, even the best, for the other person.  Lust is selfish, and all about me. II Corinthians 13:4-6 tells us “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres”. Be careful, relationships built on sensual lusty feelings do not last.  Lust fails, but love never fails.  II Corinthians 13:8

The Power of Patterns

Consider This?

Patterns

Have you ever wondered why some things never seem to go right?  You did all the right things, and planned carefully.  So why are you here again?  Sometimes it is because of unrecognized patterns you have developed over time without even realizing it. It is said “insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results.”

We have patterns and templates built into our minds. The human brain records and stores information about every experience, success, failure, love, and pain.  We record these experiences, and develop patterns of behavior to accommodate that knowledge.   It’s not necessarily the truth, but the truth according to our stored information, faulty or not. Our creative subconscious, whose job is to maintain our version of sanity, affects our behavior to maintain our version of the “truth” even when it is not the truth at all, just our perceptions of events.  We must uncover, and reprogram faulty information in order to achieve the success we seek. 

My first marriage was wonderful in the beginning.  We were kids in love, at 18 and 19, the world seemed full of hope, love, and endless possibilities.  We felt invincible as we faced the future. And secretly, I was ecstatic about finally being in a position to create an environment to live in where I would feel loved. What we quickly found out was that with a new baby, and too many bills, life was not a great big date.    The marriage became rocky, and soon ended. I was alone, bewildered, and broken. My college career was in shambles, and now I had a child. I had to make adult decisions in an adult world.  With all the responsibilities now mine alone; my question was:  how did I get here?  Happily-ever-after was not supposed to look like this. 

I picked up the pieces and started over.  My life as I had known it, when I had control of it, when studying was my only challenge, was forever altered.  My main focus changed to parenting, and providing. Disillusioned and unhappy again, I launched into my pattern of looking for an antidote for my pain. Once again my pattern emerged:  I covered my pain, and reached out for relief.  No one knew that beneath all the laughter was a young, broken heart, searching for answers. As I look back, getting married at 18 was not the first instance of my “pattern” to anesthetize my heart’s pain.  The root cause was buried deep in my childhood. Until I uncovered that “root” I was destined to repeat my pattern of behavior again, and again.

Finally, my search led me to Christ; the one decision to accept him would change my life.  The walk with Christ is an evolutionary, line upon line, precept upon precept walk.  Christ gave me strength to change my built in responses to heartbreak and disappointment. Today I feel happy, well balanced, and face disappointment with a new pattern of victory!

What is the lesson?  Recognizing your patterns is the catalyst for change.  Try it, you’ll see.

Let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
                                                                                                            James 1:4