So, here I am once again, feel no good …
I know I said never again
Temptation feels like it never ends
I’m sliding, powerless as I descend
Back into my old ways again
Back into my old ways again

”My Old Ways,” Tame Impala

The team recommended Tame Impala’s “My Old Ways” as an introduction to this article. At first, I wasn’t sure about it. But I decided to listen to them —and then really listen to the song.

The initial tone and tempo felt disturbing, unsettling, and even irritating. Then the rhythm changed, and it seemed to drive me forward. What had seemed uncomfortable became inspiring. I realized why: the song was warning me about something I do whenever life gets hard.

I get nostalgic.

When I face difficulty—when the pressure builds, when people are depending on me, when life feels overwhelming—I start looking back. I think about when life was simpler. When I had fewer responsibilities. When life was more about me and less about everyone who needs something from me.

And here’s what I’ve learned: nostalgia can feel like comfort, but sometimes it’s actually a trap. It can become the doorway that leads us right back into the very patterns we’re trying to escape.

That’s why this song unsettled me. It was showing me the danger of romanticizing the past, of letting “the easier days” become more attractive than the breakthrough God wants to give me today.

Breakthroughs take time. Just as I had to do with this song, we need to listen to God, wait on God, and while we’re waiting, remember to keep looking forward instead of slipping back…

Back into my old ways again. 

Maybe you’ve been reading our recent Chemistry Lab experiments about relying on God’s power instead of our own, and have been inspired to grow. You’ve spoken with friends about the areas in which you’re weak. You’ve even started to take steps toward transforming your self-reliance to God-reliance.

But then, life hits. You get tired, slowly start trying to take back control, and before you know it, you’re back into your old ways again. 

This desire to take back control is quitting in disguise. What is really going on is this: we are afraid of success—the sustained effort necessary to do the hard things required to win.

The truth about breakthroughs is they require us to win, but winning doesn’t come from a perfect record. Winning is the ability to take multiple nosedives, then after failure decide to get back up again. 

The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.

Job 17:9 NLT

The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.

Proverbs 24:16 NLT

God knows we get tired. He knows we fall back into our old ways. But if we keep taking steps forward—even after we fall—and don’t give up, he can make us stronger. In The Chemistry Lab we call this “spiritual incrementalism”: small daily steps that accumulate to produce great growth, and this is where our breakthroughs happen.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9 NIV

I’m not there yet, nor have I become perfect; but I am charging on to gain anything and everything the Anointed One, Jesus, has in store for me—and nothing will stand in my way because He has grabbed me and won’t let me go.

Philippians 3:12 Voice

Breakthroughs don’t usually come in big, dramatic moments. They’re not flashy or impressive. They come when we keep at it—charging ahead with our eyes fixed not on our imperfections, our failures, or our obstacles, but on God and Jesus who has grabbed hold of us and won’t let go. He has the power to change us from the inside out, so all we need to do is just keep moving forward.

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened… [13] So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Luke 11:9-10,13 NLT

This “keep on” faith is what I needed to keep fighting for my breakthrough when I was writing these words in a different city, at a much less mature age, in a church bulletin on March 16, 1986:

LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer. — Isaiah 26:16 NIV

“I have struggled to the point that I could barely whisper a prayer. There have been times when I wanted to give up. The criticisms, challenges, and failures in my Christian life have always been the cause of these moments. Do you ever get tired of being told that you’re wrong, you need to work harder, or you need to love God more? Do you ever feel like Elijah did as he sat under the broom tree and prayed for death (1 Kings 19:3-4)? 

Struggle is a part of your life, whether you are a Christian or not. Christian struggle leads to growth in character and eternal life. There is no easy way out; you must choose to struggle as a Christian and accept the corresponding blessings. These faith-fighting secrets will see you through if you really want to make it!”

The faith-fighting secrets I was talking about then are no match for the superpowers we have been discussing in the recent editions of The Chemistry Lab, which is why we have created a superpower guide that you can print out and keep with you until the struggle becomes a breakthrough.