Making Victory a Habit

Tom Barnard

 

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Philippians 4:13 NKJV

 

Thou canst o’ercome this heart of mine,

Thou wilt victorious prove;

For everlasting strength is Thine,

And everlasting love.

Charles Wesley

 

The Apostle Paul was not speaking arrogantly when he penned the above words to the Church at Philippi. He was, however, speaking confidently. Paul was conscious of his human weaknesses.  But he knew the source of his strength, and he knew that through Christ he could accomplish whatever it was that the Lord had called him to do.

 

How unlike our culture! We live in a day in which secular achievements are celebrated by being elected to prestigious awards and halls of fame. Paul, on the other hand, said, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:10) He took no credit for the victories God had allowed him to enjoy.

 

Bishop Charles Gore (1853-1932) was a leading figure in late-nineteenth-century social reform in England. A gifted minister and communicator, he left these powerful words about the power of God in the life of a believer.

 

“We are conscious of our own weakness and of the strength of evil; but not of the third force, stronger than either ourselves or the power of evil, which is at our disposal if we will draw upon it. What is needed is a deliberate and whole-hearted realization that we are in Christ, and Christ is in us by His Spirit; an unconditional surrender of faith to Him; a practice which grows more natural by exercise, of remembering and deliberately drawing by faith upon His strength in the moments of temptation and not merely upon our own resources.” Gore called this “the habit of victory.”

 

Heavenly Father, as I assess my personal strengths and gifts in relationship to the demands of the work to which you have called me, I fall short. My weaknesses “outdull” my strengths. On my own, I will fail. It is only as I submit to your Lordship in my life that I will experience victory. So, I surrender to your Lordship today. I will repeat this tomorrow. And the days following. I pray that as I do this, you will develop in me the habit of victory. Through Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.

 

(The above quote is by Charles Gore in Joy and Strength, by Mary Wilder Tileston. World Wide Publications. 1929, 1986, p. 25)