Well, ask the Judge. Unlike in the Olympics, our Judge is also our Coach, Teammate and Biggest Fan. He has walked this way before, and knows what it’s like. Most often we will find that we are much harder on ourselves than He is.
God does want us to know how we are doing, so He will often give us tokens of accomplishment or graduation appropriate to what we have overcome. He knows we need encouragement, and does what He needs to in order to keep us coming to Him for that encouragement. But be aware that His affirmations are not like ours… His score card is much simpler!
For many years I was very afraid of dealing with anything demonic. But there came a point in time when I knew that if I continued in the direction the Lord was taking me I would have to face and overcome this fear. So I told the Lord I was willing to be taught in this area, even though I was still afraid of my reaction. Well, without going into details, a few weeks later the Lord orchestrated a situation where a demon manifested itself into the room where I was working. When this happened all I felt was curiosity, then surprise that I wasn’t afraid. From that time on I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that even these things are all completely under His authority and control. To me, this was not only an encouragement to continue to proceed in the direction I was heading, but a reward for allowing Him His choice and method of teaching.
While we are here on this earth our battlefields consist of overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. You know you’ve overcome in an area, or achieved a goal, not because it’s finished or a deadline met, but because you can rest in dependence in that area.