Fast Track to Victory

Most of us are filled with good intentions. When we try hard, and still fail, we may be disappointed. We may feel discouraged because … our best was not good enough.

Have you been there? I sure have. I don’t even want to get into my mistakes here. But it’s sufficient to say I tried my best, accepted all the help I could get, and I still failed.

But life is that way sometimes. Learning to deal with this sad but inevitable reality – we will come short of the demands placed upon us at times – is easier when we grab hold of the truth from God’s word. We’re not expected to! The Bible tells us we are nothing without God!

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5 KJ/AV

And so everything, our circumstances and our limitations are in the hands of God. We need him to succeed. If he ordains success for us, he will bless us with it. If he ordains failure, we get failure. That may sound harsh, but we can learn from failure. We learn maybe we shouldn’t pursue a career in math or science, maybe we should finance our business venture more heavily next time, or seek a business partner from the get-go.

Every experience in life, whether we succeed or we fail, is an opportunity to learn and grow.

“all things work together for good to them that love God…” Romans 8:28 KJ/AV.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
“Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:13-15

Remember the saying “A friend in need is a friend indeed?”

It is so true. We may feel disappointed at times when the friends we’ve shared so many good times with scatter the moment there’s trouble. We know they really care about us if they stick with us, even if we’re not having fun.

When we’re in need, friends are more important than ever. For example, losing a loved one can be devastating. Yet having family and friends gather around can make it bearable. A friend can help make the bitter, sweet.

There are times when we may feel lonely. We find ourselves in an empty house, staring at a bowl of food we’ll be eating … alone. Sometimes we may feel no one cares to hear about our latest victory, or defeat. We may feel there’s no one to help us shoulder the load we’re carrying. We may feel all our friends have abandoned us.

But we have a friend who never leaves us. He is there through the good times and bad. He is our friend in need. It is Jesus, the word of God, the one who is for us and with us, the one who is love itself. (John 1, Psalm 56:9, Isaiah 7:10, 1 John 4:8)

When we have a relationship with Jesus, the quiet house isn’t a lonely place. Quiet time is welcome; it’s time to spend with Jesus. When we have a relationship with Jesus, the tragedies are no longer quite as tragic. Yes , there will be sad times. There will be losses. But the pain is blunted by His everlasting love. It is blunted by his support. He IS there, carrying the load.

When we are perplexed, when life has thrown us challenges we feel totally unprepared for, Jesus is our friend in need. A chat with Jesus can make it all better. He has all the answers and he wants to help us. All we need to do is ask.

I was reminded Saturday that Jesus is my friend in need when I was hunting for a parking spot. You know, that all elusive spot? It looked like there was none left. Then, when I thought I would have to turn around and look somewhere else, there it was: A FAVORED spot, a choice spot. Jesus knew my need ahead of time and provided.

Jesus is our friend in need. We find Bibles in motel rooms, where we may be alone and a stranger. We find online Bibles when we need a quick reference. We may even have people give us Bibles. We usually need not look very far to find one when we need encouragement, or a little peace amid the storms of life.

No matter what life brings, and no matter what our need, Jesus is our friend — indeed.

Living a life of faith can be difficult at times. We may be tempted to give up, quit praying, or resign ourselves to defeat by our enemies because … we SEE defeat. But God wants us to “walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 KJ/AV

Faith may not be convenient. Our hectic lifestyles may not leave us extra time; we may be tempted to ignore the promptings of the Holy Spirit to take time to pray, counsel a friend, or even help a child with homework. We may ignore the counsel in his word; we may fail to resist stress by taking time for ourselves.

In doing so, we may forfeit … more than we realize. Take a look at this gem from Youtube about a doctor who took the time to obey, despite what he SAW with his eyes. Click here.

If you’re fed up with having the enemy run your life, get help fast with Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook, a book aimed at new and young Christian that encapsulates the biblical truths we all need to live a life of victory. There will always be challenges in life, but Fast Track will teach you the practical truths you need to unmask the enemies’ lies and begin patterning your life according to God’s word. Learn more here.

If you’ve ever seen a diseased palm, it is not a pretty sight. Scales may cling to the undersides of the fronds, eventually causing the fronds yellow. When the scale spreads to more and more fronds, your plant may look like a goner.

You hope pesticides will do the trick. You apply it a few times. If that doesn’t work, your best solution may be to prune. Cut off all the diseased fronds and burn them, or at least dispose of them so they can’t infect the rest of the plant. If you do this when new fronds are coming in, your plant won’t even look bald!

This situation teaches us a lesson about how God makes all things new.

Let’s face it, in our lives there is disease –m physical disease and disease of the heart like being heartbroken, depressed, or even captive to alcohol, drugs, or foods. These problems can overwhelm us, so much so, that no doctor, psychologist, or therapy program can help us.

We may come to view ourselves as sickly, ugly, neglected or abandoned — as an eyesore which should be uprooted from the planet Earth. But God can prune.

He cuts out the evil. He can remove the dead and diseased things in our life that are robbing us of health, vitality and the new life he has for us. When he does, we can smell the roses in life … again.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

For more practical lessons based on biblical principles, check out Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook by Cheryl Rogers. Get a preview here.

Ever since man sinned in the Garden of Eden, we’ve been hiding from God. No longer innocent, we may no longer feel comfortable in the presence of a perfect and all-knowing God.

Running from God brought a lot of new challenges, however. Challenges we really weren’t — and aren’t — equipped to face. For example, we can feel mighty empty without that relationship with God that we are meant to have. We can try to fill that emptiness with a lot of things, things of the world, and find ourselves addicted to alcohol, drugs, pornography — or even to computers and certain foods. We can make a god of another person, expecting them to make us happy and fulfill us, only to find our relationship shipwrecked when reality strikes.

God is the giver of all good things, even our relationships, and if we don’t recognize or understand that, we may have to learn the hard way.

The devil has spread a lot of lies about God and it is understandable if we are concerned about what is to become of us, seeing we are not perfect like he is. But when we earnestly seek God through his Word, this grim view of our world changes.

God is love. (1 John 4:8) He sent his one and only son that we have life and have it to the full. (John 3:16 and John 10:10) God wants us to choose who we will serve. (Joshua 24:!5)

When God’s truth shines that new light on our circumstances, all the running and hiding seems pretty pointless. Our heart’s cry may be: Come, Lord Jesus. We’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of a mess down here. We need you.

For more Bible-based wisdom, read Fast Track to Victory, A Christian Guidebook by Cheryl Rogers. This non-denominational book shares truths that set you free to live a victorious Christian life.