It's all about the "W" / Guest Post by Brad Newburg

2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
 
For all of my life I have been a competitor in one way or another.  In my youth, as the youngest of three brothers, I competed to  keep up in sports and schooling; in the rebellion of my 20's I competed to be the most extreme - pushing the envelope of risk in all that I did; in my 30's I competed to be the most successful - placing money and status above all else.  My life became a pursuit of... "It's all about the "W"  - “it's all about the Win."  With winning the focus of my life, I finally thought at the age of 36 that I had won, yet little did I know amongst all the worldly success I had found I was going to be brought to my knees by God at the crossroad of truth so that I could see that if left to my own strength, all that mattered to me in life would be lost.   

It was in that time of desperation that a shift began in my heart, and questions began to form. What if the "W" I cared about all my life was wrong? What if pursuing self-centered view of winning at all costs to gain the things of the world was a guaranteed path to lose all and cost me my soul? When faced with the fickleness of worldly "W"s and seeing that which I had competed for my whole life - a successful career, a picture-perfect family, a respected reputation - was like a house of cards; the reality of my spiritual condition began to set in. It was in recognizing my sinful condition, my depravity and that in my own strength I could do nothing, that I cried out to God to save me, and He did! It was the weakness that I had to recognize in myself, that led me to my Lord and Savior, that He began to show me would be the way by which I would have to walk for the rest of my life. Jesus said... "If anyone would come after me, let him DENY himself and take up his cross DAILY and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul?"

God began to take me down a path to redefine the "W" that my life would become all about moving forward. The "W" I now seek is Weakness in myself and to pursue that Weakness at all cost, because His power is made perfect in my weakness.  His same power that overcame this world and claimed the greatest victory ever over sin and death, now becomes the power I have to face the daily competitions of my life.

God began to expand my understanding of my necessity for weakness in self and that it has everything to do with authority and where I place it. In order to experience His power made perfect in my life I had to place Him in authority over my life in all ways, in all things, and at all times. God showed me that the self-sufficiency of my past is what kept me blind to my need for Him as my Lord and Savior, and if it persisted as now a believer, it would keep me from experiencing His victory and power in all the current and future circumstances of my life. He showed me that even as a believer when I begin to think or act in a ways that say "I got this!" In those moments I step out from under His authority and open up my life to lose experiencing the perfect expression of His power and provision He died in part to give me.  

Jesus speaks clearly to His disciples about His position of authority and our need for dependency upon Him in John 15:5. "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do NOTHING."  Without the vine every branch would die. His authority is implicit in that I, being the branch, cannot exist without God as my source of life. Secondly, Jesus expands on not only Him being the source of life in me but also the source of a purposeful and victorious life. When Jesus said, "apart from me you can do nothing" He was not referencing that apart from Him I could not compete or even "win” in ways that the world would deem a victory, rather what He is emphasizing is that I cannot compete or win in any Kingdom way apart from Him. Nothing of eternal purpose or value will occur apart from God. He showed me that to truly win required that I would die to myself and live in weakness, that it would no longer be I who lives, but Christ who live in and through me. It was now all about a new "W" - weakness - and pursuing it at all costs. For in my weakness His strength is made perfect. I began to discover what it took to experience Kingdom wins, and it was weakness, an utter dependence upon Him in all things, for no eternal victory can be found apart from Him.  

Jesus himself modeled this radical dependency upon on God during the days of His life on earth and is seen in Hebrews chapter 5 starting in verse 7-8. "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered." Jesus through His own example showed me how to Win and it is found in reverent submission to the Father. Perfect Son though He was, He learned obedience; He learned what it means to win by what He suffered.

May my life forever be lived in such submission, weakness in self, that God alone may be my strength. It is no longer about my ability yet rather only about His. For in His ability I live in the Win as I walk in weakness, and His Win is far more abundant than any win I ever could have asked or imagined in the world.

HIT YOUR KNEES BEFORE YOU HIT YOUR FEET! (MATTHEW 6:33 / JAMES 4:10)

RACE TO THE FLOOR IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCE SO THAT OTHERS MAY BE LIFTED UP. (MARK 10:43-45 / MATTHEW 5:3)

REMEMBER THE ONE WHOSE WOUNDS HAVE GIVEN YOU THE GREATEST WIN - ETERNAL LIFE. (HEBREWS 12:2-3)
* PREACH YOURSELF THE GOSPEL EVERY DAY!

FOR IN HIM ALONE DO I BELONG, AND APART FROM HIM I CAN DO NOTHING! (JOHN 15:5)

R - REJOICE ALWAYS
P - PRAY WORHOUT CEASING
G - GIVE THANKS IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
*Remain in Him to be hemmed in by Him so that your life may be a hymn of praise to Him who alone is worthy of it all!