We usually think victory looks like a mountaintop experience: some long-awaited occurrence finally materializes and we go nuts. Which is a valid form of celebration. But I would like to suggest a more practical application; a more usable definition for what it actually looks like on a day-to-day basis.
Victory, in the Christian life, sometimes looks like death. The things you’ll be celebrating most are usually the places you died to. The place where you should be going, “This doesn’t look good at all. This is hard and horrible and I’d rather not go through this.” Just look at Jesus: the greatest celebration of all time came through His death. As morbid as it sounds, those awful, ugly times are usually the moments of greatest victory; the greatest celebrations in our lives.
But they don’t look like a party. And they certainly don’t feel like it. It usually feels like a painful time that’s dark, confusing, and hopeless. But if you will allow God to infuse the situation with His resurrection power, it’s easy to see just how beautiful the death process can be.