Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God.
Revelations 2:7  (NLT)
 
"Act like you been there before."  Ever hear that sports slogan before?  It means that even if it's your first victory or you have just beaten a highly touted opponent, don't respond in surprise....act like you expected the outcome, that you expected the victory.
 

It's sad, but many of us live life with little to no expectations at all.  We begin each day wondering what curveball may come our way, what other setback will come hurling at us and bring us to our knees.  We many times (too many times) respond in surprise when somthing good actually happens in our lives.  Guess what, when we think think this way, challenging things usually do happen to us.  When we think and act like this, we put ourselves in a position of defeat before the day even gets started.  Why do we even consider starting a day with the idea that we are already defeated?

Our answer can somtimes be found in our attitude.  It's the one thing that we can truly control in life, the one thing we have a choice in.  Believe it or not, YOU have a choice in how you approach each day and the attitude that you carry out the door.  Don't believe it?  Get a positive attitude and watch the great things that will come your way.  It's true, try it sometime.  But even bigger than our attitude is our belief in something even greater than the world can hurl at us, a belief that regardless of the circumstances life may throw our way, in the end, it's a belief that everything is going to be ok and that defeat will not overcome us.  Yes, it's our FAITH that will lead us to live a life of victory rather than suffering another day of defeat.  In fact, the good attitude we need in life many times comes from our faith and reminds us that God is good and that we have much to celebrate and be thankful for. 

You see, there is no defeat in the plans God has for our lives.  There's no need to fear or worry about the next hurdle or the next curveball life throws your way.  In fact, it's our faith that unlocks God's power in our lives, the greater the faith, the greater the POWER.  In the Bible, Jesus compares the power of faith to a mustard seed and says (paraphrase); for even if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you could tell something as big as a mountain to move and it would.  Jesus was clear that even a little faith has great power to do great things.  Do you have any mountains in life?  Do you have faith that God can move the mountains in your life?  The point is this, even a little faith can release incredible power into our lives, but the truth is nothing happens without faith.  Imagine what God will do when we completely and totally commit to Him and have faith in Him as the true power source in life......our victory my friend would be beyond imagination!!  You see, when we get our eyes off our problem and onto Christ, we have the confident assurance that the victory is already ours and that everything else is simply small little speed bumps in the roadway of life. 

So stop living your life like the battle has been lost.  Stop looking at all the trials and roadblocks to happiness and start focusing on all that you have been blessed with.  With every trouble we face each day there is a blessing right there beside it.  Don't let trouble and trial get you down.  Get a postive attitude, believe in all that God has to offer and don't be surprised by the victory that comes your way....."act like you've been there before" and let your faith be the key that unlocks God's power in your life and bring you to a place that before you could only imagine. 

The victory is already yours!!  Believe it, Celebrate it and Rejoice in it!!  

Peace  ><>