Victory247

“How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?” Galatians 3:3 (New Living Translation)

When we receive Christ for our eternal salvation, the Holy Spirit is the one that indwells and seals us into God’s family. So, the Apostle Paul writes to his friends in Galatia that they are crazy for not tapping into the greatest Power on earth. The Power that secures them in heaven, and the Power that can help them “accomplish” life to it’s fullest.

I can remember the days of the manual typewriter. Each time you pressed a key on the keyboard, it would swing a metal arm. That arm had a metal letter on the end that would crash the ink ribbon into the paper. Unless you had a finely greased machine like the old news writers you see on those old movies, it took a pretty good finger push each time you hit the keyboard.

Then the electric typewriter came out. Wow, it was amazing! It was like today’s computer keyboard that only took a touch of the finger instead of a mighty push. What a contrast to the old ones that were very loud and exhausting. You almost needed to ice your hand down after a long paper.

The Spirit of God indwells us, and is waiting for us to depend on Him so He can empower all of our efforts and thoughts. It’s like plugging in that old typewriter and transforming it into a electric powered machine. Prayer and acknowledging Him as much as possible will do this.

Don’t go on your own ‘human efforts’. Job, sport, relationships, school, getting life direction, guts to ask someone out, enjoying vacation, getting through a hard time… all are things that God longs to come alongside us.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, remind me and show me when I’m doing it on my own efforts. Empower every area of my life as I tap into Your strength. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble”  Hebrews 12:15 (NASB)

Camping our minds and hearts on the ‘grace’ of God is the key to an inner peace and joy. ‘Grace’ means that we have His undeserved favor.

After we receive Christ as our Savior (see “Start the Victory” a top victory247.org), we no longer have to work toward His love and acceptance, instead we work from His love and acceptance. We can’t earn any more of His love, because we have it all already!

There are many days that I don’t “feel” His grace for some reason or another. Could be that I lack sleep, lack prayer times, lack self-control with the Oreo cookies, lack judgment by not confessing a wrong…

There are days that I “feel” that most people I deal with are idiots (the idiot is probably me on those days). I wake up in the morning and the birds aren’t singing, they are yelling.

These are signs that ‘bitterness is springing up’. Those are the indicators that I need to sit down with God and regroup. He will show His grace, and adjust my heart.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to see the signs of ‘bitterness springing up’. Thank You for being a God that understands and lets me start over. And a God that wants me to flourish. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed”         Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Jesus just put in a long, hard day, filled with a lot of people and activity. The next morning He felt the need to get alone before the hustle bustle started again.

We seem to get into a rut when it comes to what we do all day. It seems to me that if I don’t meet with God and think through what I want to accomplish, the wave of daily “stuff” sweeps me away from any forethought.

I remember one evening I was taking a shower, and before I knew it, 24 hours went by and I was taking another shower. I remember thinking, “Wasn’t I just in here?”

We need to stop, get alone with God and get alone with our thoughts. Think about it, even Jesus needed to.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, chisel time out for me each day to get alone with You and my thoughts. Help me to seek and find those times. In Jesus Name. Amen.

“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow”  Psalm 51:7 (NIV)

‘Dealing with sin and guilt’ is the context of this verse. Being ‘cleansed’ is critical to our emotional and spiritual well-being.

Hyssop is used, even to this day, as an antibacterial and anti inflammatory. It can help with about 81 different medical conditions including cancer, bronchitis, insomnia, edema, and colds.

It’s interesting to note that cleansing of the result of sinning (wrongful actions, words or thoughts) is paralleled with physical infections. Bacterial infections grow inside of us if we don’t deal with them. Time doesn’t heal.

Only God can truly cleanse us from  the result of our past sins. We merely need to admit our wrongs, and ask Him to heal us. Then His “divine antibiotics” can kick in.

Now, when it comes to habitual wrongdoing, we need to help the hyssop work by continually confessing it. We can’t just roll over and give up. The damage isn’t worth it.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want a blessed and fulfilled life. So please cleanse me of the infections growing in my “heart”. I admit my individual sins and hand the results over to You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body    1 Corinthians 12:15 (NIV)

The Apostle Paul is writing this to a group of people who had a tendency to compare themselves to each other. Imagine that ( I sarcastically state).

If we really look around, we can’t help but to notice that people have so many differences in likes, taste, personality, goals, philosophy, hobbies, strengths, occupations…but at the same time, with a lot of help from the media, we set each other up in a hierarchy of importance.

Is the president of some company a better human than the accountant because he makes more money? Maybe a guy decided to take a lessor job to spend more time with his family. Or the woman who stays home with her kids instead of  holding a position at a major firm.

Some are better at making money, so don’t scoff at them. Maybe certain others are more effective helping others by using their abilities to make more finances.

Anyway, the point is that we need each other to make our society work. God knew that, hence the differences. So, why compare? Enjoy how you were made! Be the best “you”.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, thank You for making me like this. Help me to realize that nobody can be a better “me”. Forgive me for comparing. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice” Proverbs 12:15 (NIV)

I use to feel that being an adult means to have all the answers. But I have learned that a truly mature person is willing to continually evaluate and rethink their approach to life.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan was talking about what to do when encountering a bear. “I heard that we should play dead. Who came up with that, maybe the bears?!” Then Gaffigan looks into his hands as if reading a manual; “Play dead, cover yourself with honey, and climb into a large white plate”.

I’m not sure if playing dead is the best advice, but experts do say we are to stand still and act completely unafraid. That is totally the opposite of what I would feel like doing. Everything in me would say, RUN! But I would surely end up as “fast food”.

The best advisor in my life is God talking to me through the bible, and through the advice of faith-filled people. He says to truly “live” a full life, we need to “die” to ourselves(see Luke 9:24) and help others. Also, to “get” we need to “give” (see Proverbs 11:24-25). This seems the opposite of the common way of thinking.

Basically, we can’t just trust our feelings and first instincts, but we can trust the Author of the bible and of life.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, keep my mind pliable to right thinking, never let me feel like I have all the answers. Make me a seeker of truth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“…inwardly we are being renewed day by day”                                        2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV)

I was watching a movie with actor Paul Rudd trying to win the heart of Reese Witherspoon. He gives her a small canister of Play Doh as a birthday gift. He explained that he has kept this Play Doh for years as a reminder of how life can work out.

He melts her heart with the story of how Play Doh was originally invented with the purpose of cleaning wallpaper. The inventors were going out of business when they tweaked the product and packaging, then sold it as a toy for kids. Instantly the company made millions.

His point was to tell Reese Witherspoon that she is an amazing woman that is just going through some hard times, and is just a few “tweaks” away from being where she needs to be for success and fulfillment.

God made each of us unique and special. Now He longs to make slight adjustments, or “tweak” who we are, to give us a more fulfilled life.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, point out the slight adjustments that can be made in how I approach those I work with, live with, what I do, how I view daily life, and especially who I am. Then You tweak me, because I can’t do it on my own. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD”  Proverbs 16:11 (NIV)

I’m assuming that even back in the days when this verse was written, people had a tendency to cheat a little when using the scales to calculate purchases.

I remember the day I ordered a Whopper at Burger King. The order taker accidentally put a second one in my bag. For a high school boy who eats like a  tree chipper, that was like winning the lottery. I gave no thought to the mistake.

As I started to understand my relationship with God, I realized that ‘honest scales’ are honored by Him. We may think we are standing alone when we choose to be honest, but He notices, and will bless us for it. Even my own kids look at me funny when I give back money if I was given too much change at a store. Or think I’m nuts when I go out of my way to pay to get into a ball game when I easily could walk in the back entrance “free of charge”.

White lies, stealing something left unattended, illegal downloading, not paying someone back… all can be “free of charge” in the short term, but guilt feelings and hardness of heart grow like a fungus on our inner peace. We are missing out on the heart blessings the Lord will build into us when we choose honesty.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, help me to walk daily with a sense of Your constant presence and care, so that I won’t feel the need to get things that seem “free of charge”. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

“You’ve tired yourself out with many journeys. You’ve found renewed strength, so you didn’t faint”   Isaiah 57:10 (GWT)

Message to God, from us…

“Touch my journey, join me on the path, walk with me, run with me, crawl with me. I can’t do this alone.

Carry me at times, point me in the right direction, redirect and forgive my wrong turns, strengthen me to go against the grain, to stand strong when there’s a stampede. I can’t do this alone.

Convince me that it’s worth it, encourage me that I can continue, tape my ankles and brace my knees when necessary. Help me to run and not grow weary, walk and not faint. Let me soar on wings of eagles* on my journey toward eternal bliss. But…

I just can’t do this alone!”

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, touch my journey. I need You. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

*see Isaiah 40:31

“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become pure children of God, living in a crooked and depraved generation, shining like stars in the universe ”   Philippians 2:14-15

As you go through your day, listen to all the complaining and grumbling. Nobody seems to be content. Nobody spends a lot of time looking at the other side’s point of view. It feels good to gripe and paint ourselves as the expert.

I was pulled aside by a wise man who noticed that I came across like I had all the answers. He advised me that I needed to have a “healthy self-doubt”. He told me to ask myself, “could I be wrong here? Could I be not completely understanding the whole picture? Could there be a variable I’m missing? What are they really trying to say to me?”

So outside of the essentials, like faith in Jesus being the only way to salvation, I’ve become much more thoughtful and open to others’ point of view.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I want to ‘shine‘ in this dark generation by not ‘complaining and arguing‘. Give me understanding, tact and compassion as I interact. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.