Welcome to the Victory Blog

Everyone has trials in this life. I know this isn’t exactly everyone’s favorite topic to discuss, but I want to talk about overcoming trials. We can’t avoid trials altogether, but we can get through them victoriously.

A few months ago, I went through a bit of a trial myself after returning from Africa. Some stuff was going on with my body; my arms and legs weren’t working properly. I went through a little season of fear because my mother has MS and my father died of a brain tumor. A lot of different things were going through my mind, but I recognized that this was nothing but the enemy trying to discourage me. Thankfully, as I went through this trial, the Lord showed me that there are certain things that we need to have in place in order to make it through our trials.

First, we need to know that:

• Trials are relative. When we’re going through a trial, it’s usually measured by what we’ve been through in the past.
• Trials are impartial. No one gets a free pass through life.
• Trials are unpredictable. You don’t get to plan them out.
• Trials are defining. You never really know what a person believes or how strong they are until a trial. We grow the most in the midst of trials.

Then, there are some key principles to overcoming:

• We must rejoice in spite of the way we feel. This is real simple, but not easy to do. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Joy is more than an emotion; it’s a spiritual force. Don’t let the devil steal your joy; keep worshiping God even in the midst of your most difficult trials.
• We must speak God’s Word in spite of your thoughts! We have to decide not to speak about our problems, but rather to speak to our problems based on God’s Word. Speak faith instead of doubt.
• We must focus on the promise in spite of the problem. Satan will use our circumstances, our trials to try to discourage us and get our focus off of God’s promises. It’s not what’s happening on the outside; it’s what’s happening on the inside that counts and is the key to getting through our trials. We need to know our purpose and focus on that, not on the temporary trials we’re going through along the way.

God is well able to take us through our trials. But we have got to remind ourselves of these principles. When you find yourself in a trial, begin to worship. That will cause faith to begin to well up in your spirit. Speak God’s word and focus on His promises. Look forward. Things often look the darkest just before breakthrough. Keep pressing on! Soon, you will see how your loving Father will turn this trial into a source of great joy in your life and through you to many others!

If you want to hear more about this and have your faith increased, let me invite you to listen to or watch this message online.

This past weekend, it was a pleasure to have my wife, Colleen, bring a great word on another brick in our foundation, Worship. As always, she challenged us to center our thinking on God’s word and remember what it means to truly worship Him. In this powerful teaching, we learn that worship comes in all styles, shapes and sizes and none of them are more pleasing to the Lord than the other. What God is looking for are worshippers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. If we really understand what corporate worship is all about then we should have an expectation that we come in to worship God, whether we like the style or not.

Worship is a critical part of our foundation in Christ; it is our pathway to true intimacy and connection with our Heavenly Father. It’s important that we discover what it means to be a worshipper because it’s ultimately what we were created for. However, because this is such an important part of our walk with Christ, it’s also going to be an area that the enemy battles us in through our mind, will and emotions. Making it easy for us to make excuses for not worshipping because it’s, “not our style”, “I just don’t feel comfortable”, “it’s different from what I’m used to”, “I don’t know these songs”, or many other reasons.

In this teaching, Colleen lays out the foundation of worship and gives us solid biblical answers to why it’s important to worship and how to overcome our personal tastes to become true worshippers of God. If you want to build or strengthen your foundation in worship, I encourage you to listen or watch this message online.

So, are you ready to pursue God in worship?

This past weekend, I was pleased to have one of our executive pastors, Olin Holly, bring the word. God always uses him to give a message that is insightful and thought-provoking. This weekend was no different as he talked about how foundational to the Christian walk it is to be Teachable, the next foundation stone in our current series, BRICKS. I’m going to share a brief synopsis of his message here, but I encourage you to listen to or watch the whole thing online, or download it for later.

• Being teachable means to be ready and willing to learn. If you’re only one or the other, you’re not going to learn. Both have to be in place. Sometimes, we have to be prepared, over the course of time, sometimes a long time, before we’re both ready and willing.

• Pride is the key hindrance to being teachable. So, in order for us to learn we need to know some truths about pride. Pride:
  • Closes our minds to new ideas
  • Closes our minds to feedback – either positive or negative
  • Prevents us from admitting mistakes
  • Keeps us from making needed changes
• In order to overcome pride, we must:
  • Recognize and admit it.
  • Express gratitude and give glory to God.
  • Learn to laugh at ourselves.
• We need to be T.E.A.C.H.-able, which means we are:
  • Thirsty for truth (Psalm 25:4-5)
  • Equipped for life (Acts 17:11-13)
  • Attentive to learn in any situation (Matthew 13:10-13, 16-17)
  • Connected in healthy relationships with God and others (Matthew 22:36-40)
  • Humble, i.e., able to handle both praise and correction (Psalm 25:9)
• Ultimately, we must reproduce ourselves: We become teachable so we can teach others. This is how we fulfill Jesus’ last command to his followers: Go make more disciples.

So, are you teachable?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

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This month, as part of our ongoing iCare campaign, we are reaching out to care for orphans and widows both locally and abroad.

Locally, we are partnering with Bethany Christian Services, the largest Christian adoption and orphan care agency in the US, in their goal of manifesting the love and compassion of Jesus by protecting and enhancing the lives of children and families. Currently, there are over 11,000 children in Georgia’s foster care system, many waiting for adoption, and only 4900 available homes to serve them. Through Bethany programs these children and families are supported, new families are educated and prepared to serve, at-risk families are helped and children are cared for with the love of Christ. Your giving will provide much needed resources to families who care for our precious children.

• Car seats for families caring for infants
• Clothing for older children placed into new homes with nothing of their own
• Training and education for families
• Winter coats, backpacks and school supplies
• Programs for children such as tutoring & group therapies
• Assistance for adoption
• And more…

With your help, we can meet the needs of Georgia’s children and families and provide the safety and security that every child deserves.

Abroad, we are partnering with Watoto Child Care Ministries to rescue children, raise up leaders and rebuild a war and AIDS-ravaged nation – Uganda, Africa. The Watoto ministry has been successfully changing the lives of widows and orphans for the past 18 years. The story of Watoto begins with Baby Watoto, a branch of ministry which rescues newborn infants who have been tossed aside by their parents, caring for them for the first two years of their lives. After two years, the babies graduate into the Watoto Villages. This second branch of the ministry focuses on building healthy families. It’s the perfect combination because the widows care for the orphans with each household consisting of a mother, 3 boys and 3 girls. Each village is self-sustaining with a school for education, vocational training, clean water, medical clinic and church. Once up and running each self-sustaining village operates with residents gardening, sewing and conducting all of the necessities for life without dependence on outside support. Watoto Village is truly giving children and widows the opportunity to grow up knowing the value of family, the value of hard work and the love of Jesus Christ which will pass on for generations to come. With your help, we can provide much needed funds to continue building the Watoto Children’s Villages and providing hope and happiness to widows and orphans.

Thank you, Victory, for your generous giving to look after orphans and widows in our communities and around the world!

As I began studying for this series, I asked God, “What are the things that are most concerning to people right now that we need to understand how to navigate through?” In response, one of the things God began to talk to me about was our thoughts – about how to keep them from taking us in the wrong direction. Throughout Scripture, we see that all the major biblical characters wrestled with this, starting with Eve in the Garden of Eden. In order to really do the Christian life, it is critical that we understand how powerful our thoughts are. Why? Because the things we dwell on in our minds come out in our words, and the words we speak strongly influence our actions. If we’re not careful and start dwelling on negative thoughts, those thoughts will download into our words and actions and start negatively affecting every area of our lives and that of others as well.

Most of us have to battle negative thoughts our whole lives. I’ll be honest with you; I have problems with my thoughts. It’s my biggest battle. My thoughts are constantly bombarding me with things that are completely contrary to God’s Word. The devil wants to get our minds to stop agreeing with God and get us focused on our emotions, our feelings. We have to get the victory over this, or we’ll go down. So many people are not doing the great things that God’s called them to do, because they haven’t learned to take charge over their thoughts.

We need to recognize that we’re in a battle, the number one battleground is our mind. How we deal with our thoughts will make the difference in whether the course of our lives go up or down. Let me ask you this: What do you spend the most time thinking about? What dominates your thoughts? Many people can’t change their lives, because their thoughts are dominated by negativity. If we can change our thoughts, our lives will change. So, how do we change our thoughts?

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (NKJ) Our minds need to be renewed. This process starts by following three principles of thinking:

1. What you put in is what comes out. We are byproducts of how we think. The things we dwell on become the filter through which we interact with life. We’ve got to get our minds focused on whatever is true, noble… (Phil 4:8-9)
2. Submit your thoughts to God’s Word. Ask whether the things you meditate on agree with God’s Word. We have to decide if we’re going to serve the god of our feelings or the God of the Bible.
3. Learn to speak God’s words over your thoughts. There’s tremendous power in our words. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The only way Satan can get victory over you is by using circumstances to plant negative thoughts in our minds and then getting us to speak them out. We have to counteract this by speaking exactly what God’s Word says. Speak to the problem, not about it.

Let me encourage you to stop dwelling on your circumstances or your problems. Start meditating on the truth of God’s Word and what it says about your circumstances. Get it inside of you and then speak it out. As you do this, you will be amazed at how getting this foundation stone in place will dramatically change your life and the lives of many people around you!

(Learn more about it – listen to the whole message here.)