There's a reason in the Christian life that victory produces greater victories. Jesus said, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21 KJV). When we walk in obedience to God, Jesus promises to manifest Himself to us.It is the manifest presence of Jesus that enables us to overcome sin in our lives. Jesus is our victory. Therefore, the more we obey Him - the more we experience His manifest presence. The more we experience His presence - the more we are empowered to do His will. What a wonderful cycle in which we can live life!  

Every step of obedience to God produces fruit within our lives. That's why the Scriptures say that we live from faith to faith and glory to glory. One step of obedience leads to another step of obedience. After walking up a number of those steps, we find ourselves on a higher level of our relationship with Christ. We go from one level of faith to another. We experience one level of God's glory and are enabled to go on to another level. That makes the Christian life an ongoing adventure with Christ.  

When I first became a Christian, I was thrilled with the fullness of walking with Christ. I remember thinking to myself, "It just can't get any better than this." Yet it has gotten better. I told my wife before we were married, "I can't promise you that we will ever be rich, but I promise you this - life won't be boring." And it definitely hasn't been boring! I'm writing this devotional on a plane flying towards the Amazon region in Brazil to preach the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ! I had no clue what God would do with my life over the past 33 years of walking with Jesus. It just keeps getting better and better. Victory begets victory!  

But you may be asking, "What if a person is in the opposite cycle - what does he do? Defeat produces a cycle of more defeat. Is that person doomed to failure?" This is the great thing about the Christian life. No matter how defeated a person has been in his life, Christ can change that life at any moment. The grace of God is greater than the worst of sin. The cycle can be changed. The believer in Christ has every resource needed to overcome the most terrible cycles in our lives. The Holy Spirit dwells deep within our hearts to empower us to become like Christ.  

We must confess our sins and truly repent of them. The blood of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse us from all unrighteousness - no matter how bad our sins may seem. Once we have confessed and are clean, we can appropriate by faith the Holy Spirit to empower us to walk in obedience to the Word of God. We take each act of obedience one step at a time. Before long, we find ourselves on a new cycle - one of victory. Victory leads to victory. That's why Paul wrote that "we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us."  

Begin the cycle of victory today. Take it one step at a time. You'll find yourself going from victory to victory; faith to faith; and glory to glory!