Remembering Victories

Why is it that we are always able to immediately recall our deficiencies when we are about to tackle a monumental task, or begin a promising new endeavor? I don't know about you, but just about any time that I finally take initiative and make up my mind that I am going to answer the bell and meet a challenge head-on, I am reminded about my shortcomings. My fallenness. My inadequacies. And, as much as I want to plow right through those speed bumps, I tend to slam the brakes and treat them as enormous barriers.

Satan really does not have any power over us at all - at least those of us who consider themselves children of Christ. But, we find ways to empower him by our forgetfulness. You see, when we fail to remember how God has moved in our lives, we give Satan a foothold. There's nothing the enemy loves more than to pile on discouragement, despair, and shame when we take our eyes off Jesus. It's his favorite past-time.

But, there is a rather simple solution to these feelings that surface and overwhelm us: remembering God's victories in and through us. Answered prayers. Times of laughter. The kindness we received when we didn't deserve it. That job we only could have gotten with His personal assistance. When we were able to make ends meet somehow when we were certain we were at the end of our financial rope. Victories.

The funny thing is that both God and Satan thrive on our weakness. The irony is that when we are self-sufficient we are truly demonstrating the weakness that our enemy loves to exploit. But, our true strength surfaces when our needle is on empty and we can only turn to our Heavenly Father.

Paul said it this way: But he (the Lord) said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

So, when you feel weak, it's quite likely that's exactly where God wants you. And, in moments (or hours, days, weeks, or months) of weakness, don't look down in discouragement; don't look around in bewilderment; don't look ahead in uncertainty; look UP - to the One who will be ready to fill you with His perfect strength and carry you through to another victory!