Welcome to the Victory Blog

We serve a God who is always moving forward – He’s not stagnant. Yet, at times, we find ourselves getting stagnant…some area or thing in our lives is keeping us from moving forward. While other things may come into play, the number one thing that keeps us from moving forward is our failures. Our failures usually (though not always) go hand in hand with sin, which is designed by the enemy to stop us from moving forward, but only has that power as long as we agree with it.

So, we need to ask ourselves often, “Is there anything in my life that I’ve agreed with that keeps me from moving forward? Most people don’t know how to live a life that keeps moving forward. One thing or another will often keep us in bondage. (On a side note, this is why doing this 21-day fast at the beginning of each year is such a great idea…it helps to break such bondages.) If we want to keep moving forward, at some point, we’re going to have to deal with whatever is holding us back.

Paul teaches us that we have to put our failures behind us. Yes, I know that’s much easier said than done, but we can do it if we remember that we’re not the only ones in the world who make mistakes. Every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. That’s why we need Jesus. Through him, we can continue moving forward even after we’ve failed! Also, every single Bible character except Jesus failed (and even Jesus appeared to have failed to some), but those we admire as heroes of the faith, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, etc., are those who kept moving forward.

How did they do it? How did they move forward from failure? They did so through the following process, which, if we will follow, will keep us moving forward as well:

1. Responsibility – Although it’s often very hard, we must accept our responsibility for our failures. Unfortunately, we’re very quick to blame other people or things, but as long as it’s always another person’s or thing’s fault, we’ll be stuck. However, when we start taking responsibility, it opens the door for God to move in. What’s in your life for which you have yet to take responsibility?
2. Repentance – This is not the same as being sorry or remorseful. Rather it means having a change of mind, emotion and action in regard to sin. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, no one moves forward without repentance. Is there any sin in your life that you haven’t repented of?
3. Restoration – When we accept responsibility and repent, restoration comes. God doesn’t see us through the lens of our failures, but through His Son. God is in the restoring business. Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, but to restore it. Knowing this, we can overcome guilt and shame, which hold us back, and learn how to receive forgiveness…as the free gift that it is…no penance required.

Friends, we’ve got to get this truth in our hearts. In order to help, let me encourage you to listen to or watch the message I gave about this last weekend, over and over if you have to. Don’t stay bound up in your failures. Take responsibility, repent and move forward into the amazing restoration that God has for you!