How often do you find yourself depressed or frustrated, and saying things like, “I’ll never get out of debt,” I just can’t figure out where I fit in life,” “I’ll never find a good-paying job,” or “I’ll never be healed”? Those kinds of negative confessions do nothing but plunge you deeper and deeper into despair. But in 2 Corinthians 12:9, New Living Translation, God answers all that negativity with six simple words: He says, “My grace is all you need.”

God’s grace, His unmerited or undeserved favor, makes all the difference in the world when it comes to your victory over failure. The best part is, you don’t have to work to receive God’s grace. It’s His gift to anyone who will love Him and obey His Word. The truth is, we can’t gain God’s grace by our own efforts. We can’t increase its flow in our lives by trying a little harder and hoping it will help us to attain success and victory. Our half-hearted efforts at trying to “help God out” in guiding our lives usually lands us in trouble. God tells us in His Word that through Jesus Christ, He is ready, willing and able to meet all our needs. And He does so despite our unworthiness, and without our help! That’s the power of God’s grace—His unmerited favor!

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Have you ever seen a bully in action? Bullies don’t pick on people who are strong and confident. Instead, they go after the meek and timid—those who are least likely to resist their attack, fight back and defend themselves. That’s because, for the most part, bullies are cowards whose strategy is intimidation. Once someone calls their bluff, they tuck tail and run away. They are really weaklings who most often will back down if their threats and boasts are challenged. That’s why the devil is really no threat to you. Like a bully he threatens harm, but he is all bark and no bite. He’s not a vicious lion, but, as the Bible says, he walks around “as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

As a child of God, you have nothing to fear when it comes to the devil because you’re protected by the power of the blood of Jesus and the Word of God. Those are two weapons Satan has no control over—weapons that give you the power and the authority to resist him, kick him out of your life and stop him from hindering God’s plan and purpose in your life. God has begun a good work in you that He intends to complete. When the devil tries to bully you, and block your blessing, don’t run away. Stand up and fight back! If you get knocked down, get up and go at it again. God’s strength in you will make and keep you victorious!

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Excellence is a popular topic these days. In the classroom, the workplace, and throughout civic institutions and society in general, people talk about striving to be the best they can be. So, why should it be any different when it comes to the Church—the Body of Christ? God is the god of excellence and perfection. That’s made clear in the Book of Genesis, and how God went about creating this universe. He took six days to fashion all that was created, and then on the seventh day, He rested. But in those six days, the Bible indicates that God never rushed to make things happen. He was in no hurry. And when He was finished at the end of each day, God looked over His workmanship and declared, “It is good.”God is a God of order, structure and discipline. And as His sons and daughters, created in His image and likeness, He demands the same from us. We should never be haphazard, impatient or reckless in what we do, but rather take the time to see that things are always done decently and in order. From running our families to managing our money, from working on the job to managing our time, it all requires discipline if we want to achieve excellence. Becoming a person of true destiny—growing in and staying true to all that God has created each of us to be—requires focus and ongoing self-discipline. There are no shortcuts to excellence and success in life. There are no shortcuts to what is good.

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After living in New York for several years, it wasn’t easy to adapt to the change in climate when Carol and I moved to hot, sunny Florida. But it didn’t take us long to realize that, if we were to survive in our new surroundings, we had to accept, understand and make the most of the new environment and learn to adapt to it. It’s that way in our spiritual lives as well. We’re all presented with various challenges as we go through the seasons of life—the good ones, and the not so good ones. But what matters most is that we understand the importance of embracing each season that God places before us to walk through life.

God’s best for us comes through the seasons of life, and He wants us to enjoy and prosper from each valuable chapter in the story He has created for us, even as we anticipate the great things He has planned for our futures. It’s up to us to learn to adapt—to embrace each season in our lives for what it brings, and allow it to usher us into the next season. God uses seasons of trials and testing to refine and mature our faith. We become wiser and stronger each time.

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