Maybe I am alone in this, but I don’t think so. I believe lots of people probably go through this. Maybe even right now you are going through this very thing. Feeling defeated. Like no matter what you do, no matter how hard you try, no matter how much you reach out for help, no matter how many times you keep trying, no matter how much you try to change, no matter how much you try to start all over again and convince yourself this time things will be different, etc., you end up feeling defeated. To the point you start wondering why even bother trying anymore. Why even bother trying to go forward. Why even bother getting out of bed in the morning. A big etcetera.
I have felt this way a zillion times through the years. And finally, at long last, I have learned how to have victory. How to keep going forward. How to get over the hurdles. And over the mountains. And through the storms. And beyond the battles. Oh, sure, there have been loads more on the other side. I have had a pretty challenging life to say the least. But I have learned to have victory after victory along the way. And to keep on walking down the pathway of righteousness (Psalms 23:3) God sets before us.
Now I will emphatically tell you my victories come by the grace of God. Not by my effort. By His love, power, strength, goodness, and mercy. Through being filled with and led by His Holy Spirit. Through reading the Bible and learning to live by it. Through spending much time alone with Jesus. Through lots of praise and worship. Through lots of reaching out to fellow Jesus followers. Through much repenting when needed. Through learning to yield myself to God and to live in obedience to Him. And, most of all, through learning to CRY OUT TO GOD – to pray my heart out. Day and night, to pray, pray, and pray.
Please note my victories have come from God and through a deeply personal and intimate relationship with Him and my being totally devoted to God and His ways. And for me PRAYER has been and continues to be the key. NOT simply crying out to God I keep a distance from. Not merely praying when I am in need. Not living my life as I please and coming to God simply when I need and want something. But learning how to ABIDE IN JESUS day by day, to trust and rest in and look to and put my hope in Him, to spend time in God’s presence, to stay connected to Him and commune with Him night and day, and to PRAY, PRAY, and PRAY! Oh, yes, to cry out to God!
When we feel defeated, probably the most tempting things for us to do are to escape in some ungodly way and/or to quit and refuse to move forward. Please don’t do either. Please believe in and develop a deeply intimate, personal relationship with the Lord, and CRY OUT TO GOD – and press on. Press on! Press on! Glory be to the Lord God almighty, Hallelujah, AMEN! CRY OUT TO GOD! Hallelujah, AMEN!
“pray without ceasing,” 1 Thessalonians 5:17 NKJV