Chaplain’s Corner

The Habit of Walking in Victory

When you think of the word Victory, what comes to mind? Perhaps the recent AFL grand final that saw the Collingwood Magpies defeat the Brisbane Lions in a close battle? When Edmund Hillary and his team climbed Mount Everest for the first time, I’m certain they saw that as a definitive victory! 

What about the term victim? What comes to mind there? Maybe someone who has suffered loss or has been cheated, robbed or abused? Perhaps you’ve heard the term ‘fallen victim to a hoax’? You might consider yourself a victim of circumstance, or through some wrong choices, or maybe because of the actions of others? Maybe you’ve been backstabbed, overlooked, or feel like life has just given you a raw deal? We are all likely to feel like a victim at some point in our lives. 

David did. The Psalms are full of David crying out to God. But you also see him then turn his thoughts and his attentions to praising God. I love the thought of David actually speaking to his own soul, seeking to convince it … 

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God. Psalm 43:5

So how do we build the habit of walking in victory?

Seek your validation from God, not from humans. 

Constantly seeking the praises of others is a recipe for disaster. However, when we do things with Christ as our focus, He is our validator.

Praise God 

Praise God for what you have and in faith for what is to come.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes ... 

But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor 12:9-10

Forgive

Forgiveness takes our current hurt and places it in the past. When it’s in the past, by God’s grace, we can begin to move forward.

I love the forgiveness, and the grace, shown by Corrie Ten Boom, who said, 

Understand that, through Christ, you are victorious, with Jesus as the key. 

Christ has won the victory over our enemy, Satan. He is there ready to fight on the frontline for us, if and when we allow Him. Take this head knowledge and make it heart knowledge – I’m a victor in Jesus! 

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matt 6:33-34

Serve

Take your mind off your own situation and look for how you can be of service to others. 

Pursue God

It’s no good just recognising our weakness. Yes, we need to humble ourselves and understand we are weak, but bashing ourselves up time and time again in self-pity or self-loathing, is not what it’s about. 

Like any habit or area of weakness, we need to replace it with something, otherwise we’ll keep going back. We need to replace a habit with a habit. When we are going through a time of weakness, a time where we feel like a victim, we need to set our eyes on higher things. Pursue God with a new vigour and a renewed passion, that His presence through the Holy Spirt would overwhelm us. That He would increase, and we would decrease.

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2 Cor 10:5 (KJV)

Bringing our thought life into captivity and allowing Christ to first captivate our hearts and then captivate or minds, He begins a renewing, a restoring, His thoughts for our thoughts.

Did you know that the origin of the English word, victim, comes from the Latin word Victima, meaning person or animal, killed as a sacrifice?

When Jesus was hung upon the cross at calvary, He became the final sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice. He took upon Himself not only the sin and shame of those who were living during His day, but also our sin and shame, as well as our future sin and shame. Once and for all. 

When Jesus died, He became the victim for our sin. When He rose, He became the victor for our salvation and our hope eternal. Through Jesus, we can ultimately overcome and say, I’ve already won!

God bless,

Pastor Matt Daly

College Chaplain