WARNING:—I’m about to date myself and many of you.

When I was a child I remember one of my favorite things to do was play games.  I loved all types.  I’m talking about outdoor, board games, arcade-type games……it didn’t matter.   I just enjoyed it all and would spend as much time as my parents allowed immersed in those activities.  Truth be told, I STILL enjoy playing board games and such with family & friends.  I still remember my brother and I sitting for hours playing our Atari [yep, there it is–showing my age].  Years later our parents gave us a Nintendo gaming system.  Again, we were hooked.  The Nintendo systems were more advanced than the Atari and we felt like we had made it to the big time.  I still hear the Super Mario music from time to time on a commercial or something and my memory immediately flashes back to those days of sitting in front of the television battling against and overcoming evil to free the princess.  It was intense and always felt so real.  There was always a struggle of some sort.  We were always on the hunt for extra points, extra lives and anything that would help us get to the next level.  Some levels were fairly easy and left you with a false confidence that you could decimate the next level just as quickly.  This was not always true.  Many times we would find it necessary to battle the same level for weeks at a time before we were able to move on.  There was always some sort of trick.  Once you learned and/or mastered the trick that specific level was never a struggle anymore.  What had, in the past, taken us two weeks to figure out now only took us a few minutes to complete and move on.  Battling those Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Buzzy Beetles, Bullet Bills, Hammer Bros. and those pesky jumping Cheep-Cheeps were, figuratively and literally, child’s play.

It may sound crazy but I learned a very important life lessons during those younger years just wasting time in front of a video game.  One of the most important lessons was realizing my willingness to struggle and fight would ultimately be the determining factor in my ability to move forward.  The same is true of the Christian life and walk.  We like to look around us at the current Christian ‘superstars’ and compare our own lives with those we think have it better than we do.  Maybe it’s someone in mainstream ministry or even those in our local churches.  We see others who ‘have it made’ and we stand back frustrated and jealous that it seems their ability to overcome/succeed supersedes that of what we ourselves are capable of.  We look at the struggle we’re dealing with and find it unfair that someone else received their blessing or promise much faster than we did.  Their struggle didn’t even seem like a struggle at all.  You sit back, frustrated, and feel like God has forgotten or turned His back on you.  It’s just the opposite.  We all have a bad habit of allowing ourselves to develop tunnel vision.  We can only see what’s in front of our faces.  We weren’t there to see the struggle those men and women endured in the past to achieve their breakthrough.  You didn’t see all the nights they were on their knees in tears asking God to [you fill in the blank].  That specific level probably was easier for them than it was for you simply because they have experienced that battle before and have learned to overcome it quicker.

Rather than focusing on what you don’t have or the ‘what if’s’ realize the level at which YOU are willing to struggle will become the determining factor in overcoming the struggle that is sitting in front of you.  The struggle is not easy but you CAN overcome if you’re willing to fight………OR you can choose to wallow in your own little pity party.  Trust me when I say, the struggle will not go away.  Truth be told, it doesn’t need to go away.  That struggle is preparing you for the battles that are to come.  You may not realize it but you’re becoming stronger mentally, spiritually, and even physically.  You’re learning how to make better decisions in the heat of the moment.  You are learning what NOT to do because it did not work.  What you learn in THIS battle will determine your ability to fight and conquer the next battle that comes your way.  Choose to FIGHT today.  Rather than allowing the devil to remind you of past failures begin testifying how you will overcome THIS and FUTURE battles.  Go ahead and praise God on credit 🙂  Your destiny in Him awaits you but remember the old adage…different levels=different devils.  More importantly, be reminded you ARE an overcomer today– though it will never be by your own strength.  Rather the strength that can ONLY be found in Him.