Mentor
GETTING VICTORY
Pastor Jude Okwubune
Victory in any circumstance of life is not dependent on the magnitude or strength of the opposition and challenge but on our choice of reaction to the challenge. You can face the challenge with resignation, or confront it with the power of the knowledge that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens His children to proclaim His power and glory.
God wants you to be focused on victory in your endeavors and challenges, provoke yourself to victory and bring forth your inherent fighting spirit. You are not a failure, God does not make failures and you are His redeemed; speaking about you, our Lord Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and forceful men lay hold of the power and glory (Matthew 11:12). I like the reaction of David in the face of the challenging threat of Goliath to his life and the people of God. .
Day to day, we face the same insurmountable challenges in our lives and living for God; it is wonderful to personally experience victory like David did by confronting challenges in the power of God. This applies to all today, to you who are on to sure victory and I love this real life narrative from the word of God:
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, "Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him." 33 Saul replied, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go, and the LORD be with you." 50 So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. (1st Samuel, 17:31-37, 50)
Victory, like anger, joy, fear or failure is a spirit; it is not merely a state of mind, an emotion or an occurrence. You can say that victory is an attitude. People often talk of a winning mentality. It is this desire to win that makes you to focus on victory and puts you over and above impossible situations when opinion and circumstances indicate failure. This desire to over come derives from knowing that you can not afford failure; and can not fail. Insist on being who you are, understand that you are a child of God, realise that God does not make failures; come to terms with the fact that you can do all things through Christ Who strengthens you; and keep your driving force as the will of God.
Seek Godly counsel and confront your challenges with who you are and what you have, you can not walk on water until you step on water. Until you take a step into it, the Jordan in your life will not part.
Everything you need for victory is already with you and in you; in 2 Kings 4:2 the Widow complained, “I have nothing but little oil” yet God could turn her “little” oil into her victory over debt and frustration. I remember years ago a young lady was in a dilemma because of challenges of life, the word of the Lord came to me that none can say a thing and have it done except the Lord has decreed it, I then advised her to go back to the land that is seemingly impossible, she did and today, she is happily married to a wonderful minister of God and settled in the land of Spain. Do not only look to the challenges and opposition; look steadfastly to the power of God to overcome the opposition. Some times we put the problem before the promise and dwell in the problem instead of making the promise of God our dwelling place. Jesus has already promised to continually lead us in victory and display the glorious power of God through us - 2Corinthians, 2: 14. My attitude in every adversity is to focus on the word of God and on the ways that He is making or revealing. I believe that if it has never been possible before me, then I am the one chosen to make it possible for those who will believe in the power of God for similar circumstances.
I have seen countless first and impossible deliverance and victory for the people of God in the Bible and I have experienced proven testimonies in the world today that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow which has persuaded me to be convinced that He makes ways where there seem to be no way. Some time in ago, I needed some approval and documentations, people reeled off to me the impossibility of my mission and the endless list of people who failed in what I am seeking, the officer in charge was deliberate in malice as he told me that I “need not consider” getting a positive result. What came to my mind as I calmly told him that I will be back at an opportune time was 2nd Kings 3:10, - the LORD will not bring me this far to let me down. The said officer scornfully chuckled at my polite refusal to give up and I left, weeks later the LORD granted me favour on higher grounds and the same official was deflated and confounded as he issued the approval I asked for. The officer and I do not know what God knows, one thing I do know is that: in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.
To us Jesus says “be of good cheer it is I, I have over come the world”, awareness of His assurance is our victory. Such was the confidence of David, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine”. You can walk with the same assurance into victory in every situation, acknowledging God; bring the enemy and challenge before HIS awesome strength, knowing who you are, His beloved child.
Attitude is of paramount important, in the valley of the shadow of death remember and confess what God has done for you in past, even in your most difficult time in the valley of the shadow of death, proclaim the marvellous and the minimal acts of God in your life with confidence in His mighty power. This way, you won’t neglect your apparatus, your assets and ability no matter how minimal, it is not by might, and it is not by power it is by the Spirit of God we triumph. Above all, don’t undervalue your style and what you have at hand. It is the battle of the spirits. What you need for victory is amply provided for and lies in you, interestingly David overwhelmed his challenger not by the sophisticated armour and weapons provided by man but by the way he and his God does things. God will not lead you in strange ways, in imitations and in borrowed items. He will lead in His way and provision; no matter how simple, sophisticated or “slow”, God will lead you in His sure way to real and secure victory.