Category: victory

Victory Over Hurts::Guest Post

In conjunction with the release of my book, Live To Win! 5 Essentials for Victory and Success, I’m excited to provide a series of guest posts over the next few weeks. These folks are special to me, having coached me in one way or another to achieve my goals at various times and in various areas of my life.

Today, it’s my honor and pleasure to introduce you to my pastor, Dr. Frederick Browning. He’s spent many years counseling others so that they become overcomers in the challenges of their  lives. He shares his thoughts about rising above hurts, habits, and hang-ups.


Victory God’s way must be done God’s way.

We must enter the arena and compete for the prize using God’s tactics. God’s way to victory does not include me introducing myself as, “Hello, my name is Fred and I am an alcoholic, drug addict, suffering with this problem and that problem.” Victory God’s way is to say what He says about me and about my situation. God is a deliverer! So I can say, “Hello, my name is Fred and I have been delivered from alcoholism, drug abuse, and this problem, and that problem.” God give me the victory over my hurts, habits and hang-ups. I am who He says I am. I can do what He says I can do.

Victory God's wayClaim the victory in advance. No successful team enters the arena proclaiming how many losses they have. Suppose I was the coach and said, “Hello, my name is Fred and I am a loser. I am your coach that will lead the team to victory.” You would hear teammates asking to be traded to another team.

Victory begins with saying that we are victorious! There is so much power in our words and we should begin the introduction of ourselves with statements of victory not defeat. This is not to deny that you don’t have hurts, habits, and hang-ups. But the hurts, habits, and hang-ups are not your identity. Your identity needs to be rooted in Christ Jesus. Jesus is Victorious! His words are victorious. We should model our words and our actions according to the One  who is victorious and knows how to win.

The Gospel must be given power in our careers, parenting, marriages, finances, health and all aspects of our lives. If the gospel does not have power, then it is a history book that is lost on the shelves of dusty libraries.

The Word of God is living and waiting to produce life from those who hear the word, speak the word, and do the word of God. The Word is exciting in the lives of believers. We are Victorious over Hurts, Habits and Hang-ups because of Jesus, the Living Word.

I can now say, “Hello, my name is Fred and I have been delivered from the hand of the enemy. The enemy no longer has a stronghold in my life. Jesus has set me free and I am free indeed! I am covered by His grace and mercy. The Word of God is a lamp to my feet to guide me from Victory to Victory.”


Pastor Fred-victory

 

Dr. Frederick Browning is a Christian educator who teaches the Word of Faith in a clear and practical manner. He is the senior pastor at SonRise Faith Community Center in Chandler, Arizona. He is the author of Dream Your Destiny.Pastor Browning is committed to reach people of all ethnicities and cultures in the Spirit of Excellence and Integrity.

Tag-Team With God and Experience Victory

Victory

This is what the LORD says: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast number,  for the battle is not yours, but God’s. You do not have to fight this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.  He is with you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged.  Tomorrow, go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.’ 

2 Chronicles 20:15, 17 HCSB

God is an encourager. Throughout the Bible, His words encourage us to experience victory, to not fear, to move forward by trusting Him, to confidently expect good things, and perhaps most importantly, to know that He loves us. When we are confident that He loves us, we can experience increased confidence that we can live victoriously, no matter the circumstance. But sometimes, maybe even most times, we find ourselves fighting for victory using only our own strength, using only our personal capabilities.

Are you trying to live victoriously in your own strength? How’s that working for you?

Are you overcoming the fear of never having a child (or any other fear) or are you giving in to it? Allow any fear that you may be feeling right now to be the prompt that turns you to God. Do not give in to the fear. Doing so will drive you away from Him– the One who has the power to change your circumstances from trouble to triumph. Decide to not engage in battle in your own strength. God stands at the ready, will and able to fight on your behalf. His desire is for you to only be a spectator of your enemy’s defeat. His willingness to fight and His ability to win allows you to expect deliverance and a sure victory.

God will fight for you. He will do all the combat work. You only need to ask Him to partner with you and then stand still, watching Him do the work. Think of it as a tag-team wrestling match. Here are some of the details of how tag-team wrestling is done:

The basic tag team match has two teams of two wrestlers facing off against each other. However, only one wrestler from each team, called the “legal man” is allowed in the ring at a time. The other member of the team wait outside the ropes in the team’s specified corner until the active “legal man” becomes weakened and tired.  All the while, his partner watches helplessly, struggling to reach him for a tag. The tension builds as the legal man is unable to tag out until something happens that allows the partners to tag and reverse the momentum of the match in their favor. Then he can tag (much like a high-five) his partner to come in to fight for him. [Source: Wikipedia]

I see this from a spiritual viewpoint as you being the “legal man” in a fight, struggling to pin your opponent down and stop his attack. God is your team member, always in your corner,  watching you trying to win on your own, wishing you would allow Him to be the “legal man.” When you choose to put your hand up– taking a hands-off approach to your fight– and tag God to make Him your “legal man” in the fight, you get to climb out of the ring, wait and rest in your corner, and watch God do all the work in defeating the enemy.

Which will you choose to do? Keep fighting in your own strength or tag God to fight your battle so you can experience victory?

Photo courtesy of Nongpimmy|Free Digital Photos

Under God, There’s Still Hope!

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today, across the United States, people are remembering

those who served in America’s military and lost their life in battle.

I’m especially thankful for those who, through the centuries,

paid the ultimate price for our freedom,

gave the ultimate sacrifice for our liberty,

and provided the ultimate blessing…a nation that is STILL under God and indivisible.

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9  [NLT]

Memorial Day 2013

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Today, across the United States, people are remembering

those who served in America’s military and lost their life in battle.

I’m especially thankful for those who, through the centuries,

paid the ultimate price for our freedom,

gave the ultimate sacrifice for our liberty,

and provided the ultimate blessing…a nation that is STILL under God and indivisible.

“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” ~ Joshua 1:9  [NLT]

Still Thankful?

We just finished celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in America. Even though that weekend is set aside to more openly express thankfulness (and shopping), how can we remain thankful in the weeks and months ahead? What about today…are you still thankful?

Why should we look for things in our daily lives that could be reasons to thank God? Because giving thanks to Him is the means of focusing on the solution to the problems we have. When we give thanks in the midst of our problems, we keep victory’s door open. Thanking God when we’re dealing with trying circumstances is the best way to express that we expect Him to make good happen.

I’m not saying to thank God for the problem. My point is to thank Him for being the answer to our problem. Talking about the same problem over and over again changes nothing. Labeling yourself as being one who constantly suffers/experiences problems prolongs the problem! Continuing to talk about your dissatisfaction with being “stuck” in a negative situation is actually the language of defeat.  But, by expressing thanks and acknowledging that our full and final solution is found in Jesus, we speak the language of victory.

Trust in God’s ability and willingness to make good come out of bad. His divine power has given us everything we need [2 Peter 1:3,4]. All our solutions are found in His promises in the Bible. Find the promises related to your problem and then believe them and speak them. When we increase our knowledge of what Jesus accomplished on our behalf and how He made those promises able to be manifested, Peace and Favor are increased in our lives. That’s a reason to still be thankful everyday!

What’s your reason to still be thankful?

Photo courtesy of Dreamstime.com | Olga Vasilkova

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Focus Friday

Focus on the following scripture throughout the day. It’s God’s Word and it’s what He desires us to believe. Believe it is true for you because God’s Word is Truth. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!

Photo courtesy of Microsoft Images

“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”

Romans 8:31 [NLT]

Do You Smell Victory?

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”  2 Corinthians 2:14 [NKJV]

Photo courtesy of Microsoft Images

The first part of that scripture, has been one that I’ve believed in and stood on through multiple and various struggles. I frequently have to remind myself of my victory in Christ so that I don’t concentrate on the problem and sink into a pit of despair about my circumstances. I depend on that verse because it contains the word “always.” “Always” means without exception, on every occasion, continuously (dictionary.com). When I have truly and consistently put my trust/faith/belief in that victory supplied by Jesus to every believer, I have seen its manifestation.

But only today did the second half of that verse stand out to me—“through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” For the last 8 weeks, I’ve been teaching a Bible study class at my church about the unmerited, unearned favor (grace) of God. Having done so has opened my eyes to an entirely different way of looking at things! Now it’s easier to see that knowing more about Jesus’ perfect and complete work on the cross multiplies His grace in my life [2 Peter 1:2]. His grace does not depend on my efforts/works. His grace gives us continuous victory. We did not do anything to acquire because Jesus did it all. Knowing Him imparts a beautiful fragrance to our lives because increased knowledge about JESUS multiplies grace and peace.

To know Him — His love, His strength, His sacrifice, His work —  is to know victory, and it smells good!

Do you smell victory?

Please encourage others by sharing below an instance of victory that you’ve experienced.