Tag: victory

Victory Over Hurts::Guest Post

Posted on by Evangeline

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.

Monday’s Marinade – What You Expect From God

Posted on by Evangeline

Monday’s Marinade is a means of “soaking yourself” in the hope-filled Word of God at the beginning of your week so that you can expect to experience God’s best.

Start your week by meditating about what it is that you expect from God. 

Repeatedly think about this verse and quietly say it to yourself.  Marinate and season your week with hope.Have a confident expectation of good things happening in your life!

COMING SOON: Evangeline’s latest book—Live to Win! You’ll find out more about the importance of expectancy, how to incorporate it into your life, and how it affects your breakthrough to victory.

Here’s your spiritual marinade:Monday's Marinade- EXPECT - Ps 42-11

 

Praying with your spouse - love in action

Love in Action vs. My To Do List

Posted on by Evangeline

 

They say love is a verb and that we should see love in action.

The more I learn of the love of Jesus– specifically, His love for me– its depth, height, width and length astound me. I see more clearly now that His love for me covers everything; it is complete and perfect. There are no holes in His love for me, no void spaces. So if nothing is missing in His love for me, why am I not always confident in the victory His love has already provided?

Love in Action

Jesus’ love is always a love in action. His love is always working to give us victory in our circumstances. Maybe I need to look more at what He’s done instead of what I’ve done or what I need to do (I can sometimes have a l-o-n-g “to do” list to change my circumstances). My to-do list, when it’s not focused on God’s ability and willingness to act, is the  kind of self-help that is not always good. Maybe I need to allow Him to be in control so that I can rest. Everything that Jesus has done is based on His love for me. Every  bit of punishment inflicted on Him before and at the cross was because He did not want me to experience it. He endured every bit of scourging for me. He took every sickness and “condition” onto His body for me so that I wouldn’t have to “live with it” (Isaiah 53:3-5). He satisfied every requirement of the Law so I wouldn’t be required to do so. He left nothing undone and did everything perfectly. What a love!

No matter the circumstances that I find myself enduring, I’m determined to choose to look to Jesus’ love for me– to have confidence in it, to trust it. I’m determined to rest in the knowledge that His love for me has done everything to give me victory in any circumstance. Because of His unmatched, unending, and unfailing love, I win!

How do you remind yourself of His love for YOU?

Tag-Team With God and Experience Victory

Posted on by Evangeline

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

Focus Friday

Posted on by Evangeline

Image courtesy of criminalatt / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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. Use it as an affirmation. Speak this Word to yourself throughout the day. Personalize it by putting your name in it!

“Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 (YLT)

 

Image courtesy of criminalatt / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Rest vs. Work

Posted on by Evangeline

Valorie Burton's bookI recently received an email from business coach, Valorie Burton, that spoke to something that’s been on my heart for a while. Here’s an excerpt from her newsletter:

“While returning from a speaking engagement on an evening flight, the pilot announced that he expected we would land a few minutes early. Instead, as we approached, nearby thunderstorms changed the plan. For more than an hour – as daylight turned to evening – we circled.  At first, I found myself – like many of the passengers – feeling agitated. Then I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and enjoyed a few moments of rest.

I’ve noticed that so often in life, when we encounter a holding pattern, the natural reaction is one of frustration for having to wait. But a holding pattern serves a greater purpose – protecting you until the right conditions unfold that allow you to land at your destination safely. In our fast-paced world, we are tempted to believe that faster is always better. Sometimes, though, pushing for something to happen in the wrong timing can unnecessarily force you into a storm.”  (c) Copyright 2014 Valorie Burton and Inspire Inc.

Valorie encouraged her readers to “take a deep breath, trust God’s timing and calmly embrace the journey.”

I think that’s what God means when He says to rest in Him. He wants us to receive the lavish, unfailing love He has for us and then trust Him to workout whatever the challenge is that we may be facing. That can be hard to do but I have a feeling that it’s the best way to come out on the other side of that challenge with the results that are best for us.

In the Bible, Sarah did not initially trust God’s timing. She had spent years waiting for His promise of a son. In her impatience, she decided to have her husband, Abram, impregnate her maid, Hagar (Genesis 16). She chose not to rest in God’s love for her. She chose not to trust His promise and His timing. Her choice to not wait for the child of promise did not lead to the fulfillment of her hope for a child. What resulted from her “pushing for something to happen,” has been manifested as a centuries-long conflict between the Arab descendants of Ismael (the son of Hagar) and the Jewish descendants of Isaac (the son of Sarah).

So today I encourage you to actively seek that place of rest. Rest in knowing that Jesus finished the work on your behalf on the cross and He desires that you accept it to the fullest extent.

Trust His promises.

Trust His wisdom.

Trust that His effort is better than yours so you can relax and wait expectantly with patience and joy.

Why?

His love for you is unfailing, His timing is impeccable, and the presence of His power in the midst of your challenge will bring the desired results of victory (1 Corinthians 15:57).

The Authority of a Little Yellow Flag

Posted on by Evangeline

This post is from a friend, Keith Rogers, who enjoys teaching about our authority in Christ. Thanks Keith for helping us SEE our authority.

Image courtesy of arkorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of arkorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Not long ago, I heard a good analogy of what spiritual warfare is all about. Picture an NFL football field. On each side of the ball, there are 11 guys who are in perfect condition. They’re some of the strongest and fastest people on the planet and few, if any, can stop them.

Ah, but there are some weaker people out there on the field. These guys are slower, not nearly as strong, and quite a bit smaller. But they have a whistle and a yellow flag, and all they need to do to control those big strong men is to simply throw that flag or blow that whistle.

These people, the referees, have little power on their own. But the power they do have comes from the NFL, and that makes all the difference on the field.

In the same way, you and I may have little power on our own against the dark enemies of the invisible world. But the power we do have comes from another source:  Jesus. And on the spiritual battleground, that power is what makes all the difference.

In Christ, you fight not for victory, but from victory. Because of that, you have every bit of authority you need to defeat the enemy at every turn!

 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.” Luke 10:19

 IN CHRIST, YOU’RE FIGHTING THE ENEMY WITH ALL THE AUTHORITY YOU NEED.

LIVE IN VICTORY BECAUSE OF THAT WONDERFUL TRUTH!

Focus Friday

Posted on by Evangeline
Image courtesy of aopsan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Image courtesy of aopsan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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!

“You have given me your shield of victory.

Your right hand supports me.

Your help has made me great.”

~ Psalm 18:35 [NLT]~

How We Weather a Storm

Posted on by Evangeline

Winter is usually not too cold in central Arizona. But this year’s winter has been decidedly different. Most of the plants in our front yard took a hard hit from below-freezing temperatures a few weeks ago. Take a look at this 7 foot tall victim:

dead plant jpg

If you look near the bottom of this plant, you can see that it had been a large and rather lush green bush before the freeze.  But now, because it did not have what it takes inside the bush to keep it from reacting to the extremely cold desert temperatures, it appears to be close to death. Major pruning will be required to bring it back to its once verdant and healthy state.

But just 10 feet away, in the same freezing temperatures, sat this pot of flowers:

flowers-pretty jpg

These flowers emerged victorious! They weathered the storm VERY well—something inside of them kept them strong and almost non-reactive to the harsh circumstances.

Our lives can be the same way. We can weather the storms of life and come out damaged, messed up and not having anything that looks appealing about us. BUT, if we have something inside of us, or should I say Someone inside of us, we can weather the storms of life and come out victorious, looking unscathed and healthy, like these flowers did. We can continue flourishing and give others joy through the beauty within us.

We’re blessed to have a God and Savior who loves us and puts His Holy Spirit in us to aid us in all our times of need. It is He who enables us to weather the storm and yet flourish so that others will see that His exceptional love, attention, and grace are just what they need in their lives.

Still Thankful?

Posted on by Evangeline

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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