Victory One Step at a Time

Victory One Step at a Time

And the Lord you God will drive out those nations before you little by little; and you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Deuteronomy 7:22

Do you find yourself frustrated that you are not walking in victory? Consistently? You go for weeks and then you blow it? My friend, YOU are trying too hard. You need to allow CHRIST to live HIS perfect life THROUGH you. And it happens one step at a time. As Pastor Bill Raws would say, "One step in front of the other -- trust and obey ... trust and obey."

Dr. Henry Blackaby writes: When God led His people into the Promised Land, He did so step by step. If He had allowed them to annihilate their enemies at once, the land would have been too difficult to manage. So He allowed some of the enemies to remain for a time in order to maintain the land and suppress the wildlife. In doing so, God taught His people to trust Him STEP BY STEP. He gave them only as much responsibility as they could handle at one time.

As God leads you in your Christian growth, He will allow challenges that match your character and relationship to Him. God will not totally change your character at once when you become a Christian. Rather, He will lead you through a process to become more like His Son.

He will keep working in an area in your life until it is totally controlled by the Holy Spirit. You may eagerly desire maturity in every area of your character, but steady, gradual growth is more lasting.

God will not take shortcuts in His process of making you like Christ. He sees your life from eternity and will take as long as necessary to produce lasting spiritual growth in you.

Do not become impatient while God is producing Christlikeness in you. Do not seek more responsibilities than those He has given you. Obey all that you know He has asked, and He will lead you at a pace that fits your present character and His purposes for you."

Good words from the author of EXPERIENCING GOD in his daily devotional, EXPERIENCING GOD -- THE DEVOTIONAL -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for YOU: Proverbs 1; 1 Kings 10-11; Luke 21:20-38

Great Quote: “Sometimes with great effort (most church members) can be maneuvered into some active role in the church's program, like a trained seal in a circus act, but their hearts are not fully in it. They may repeat the catchwords of the theology of grace, but many have little deep awareness that they and other Christians are 'accepted in the beloved.' Since their understanding of justification is marginal or unreal - anchored not to Christ, but to some conversion experience in the past or to an imagined state of goodness in their lives - they know little of the dynamic of justification. Their understanding of sin focuses upon behavioral externals which they can eliminate from their lives by a little will power and ignores the great submerged continents of pride, covetousness and hostility beneath the surface. Thus their phariseeism defends them both against full involvement in the church's mission and against full subjection of their inner lives to the authority of Christ." Richard Lovelace, Dynamics of Spiritual Life.