"Walking In Victory, Ministries" is birthed! Part 1

Last Friday morning as I was going about my morning work, I had a revelation. The name for my ministry, audience, and purpose was revealed. "Walking In Victory Ministries" would be the name of the ministry, my audience would be anybody, of any age, in any season, desiring to grow or walk in victory in any area of life. My purpose would be to talk about topics and lessons I have learned along the way in any area of life that God would desire for us to "walk in victory!" Not that I am the expert in this area at all and I think that fact is precisely the reason this would be a burden on my heart, because it's an area of struggle for me. In any area of life I can remember, in any season from my teen years to my current season, I know the truth of God's word in my "know," yet walk in defeat, not on a daily basis, but honestly on a moment by moment basis. Most of the time, my mind is the battlefield, my heart is the casualty, and the outcome is defeat.

How many of you know what this kind of defeat looks like? The defeat in our own hearts and minds, where the enemy (Satan) uses our own worst enemy, (our thoughtlife, our own sinful and corrupt heart, our past experiences, our current circumstances, our failures, our weaknesses, etc., to cause us to stumble on a daily, and in my case, a moment by moment basis? And how many of you recognize this pattern of response, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, doubt, depression, discouragement, hopelessness, insecurity, etc? What is the dialouge in our minds? "I can't do it! I'll never get it right! I'll always be a failure! I'll never be good at ____! Look at him/her, they have it all together! My life is a mess! My marriage is a mess! My kids are a mess! My finances are a mess!" You know the dialouge! It may not look exactly like mine, but filled in with whatever your own individual circumstances hold, it's strikingly similar! How can I be so sure of that fact? Well, I certainly have enough experience in this area to recognize how the enemy operates and the result he's looking to accomplish!

Why does God sometimes allow these attacks? For our good and for His ultimate glory! To show us our continual dependence on Him alone! The enemy is right, we can't do it! We are fully human, hence, filled with sin and fully prone to wander! Apart from our Creator, our Heavenly Father, our Redeemer, our Healer, Rewarder, Restorer, we are completely depraved! Isn't that good news?! :) By now I'm sure you're all scratching your heads in complete confusion as to how you've been encouraged by my message that we can't do anything right, we're hopeless, we're depraved, etc! The truth of the matter is, when we come to this sobering realization, we come to know that there has to be, there IS One greater than we, and if we acknowledge our dependence upon Him, we CAN do it! His desire for our lives is not that we walk in defeat, but in full dependence on Him so that we CAN walk in the glorious victory and abundant life he has for all of us!

There is no sin, no issue in our lives that is shocking to God or too far out of reach for Him to help us walk in victory over! From the issues we look at as small potatoes, if we recognize as an issue at all, such as anxiety, fear, doubt, insecurity, discontentment, judging others, etc., to the mediocre struggles of yelling at our kids, nagging our spouse, unforgiveness and resentment toward someone who has harmed us in some way, to the "larger than large" issues we battle with lust, addiction, rebellion, etc. The truth is, we catagorize our sin. In fact, we don't even like to call it as it is and convince ourselves that "this is normal," "sure, I need to get control over this issue but it's not as bad as what "Johnny" down the street is doing," "well, if so and so didn't do that, I wouldn't have gotten so angry!"

The truth is, none of it, whether we are in full acceptance or full denial of an issue in our lives is a surprise to God, will not be used by Satan to cause us to continually stumble and walk in defeat, and turned back and be used by God to grow us, make us more dependent on Him, and give us a testimony, that can be used for His glory as we use the lessons learned in our own lives to minister into the lives of someone else. 

That is my mission, the purpose of this ministry and whether it is used to minister to one person or multitudes, is up to God. I am just the vessel, the instrument, the tool, for some reason beyond my comprehension or abilities He has called for such a moment as this, to build the ultimate masterpiece of His kingdom!