Thoughts
that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking
Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to
the audio file.
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"When it comes to identity, relationship is the only way to the freedom that God intended for us in the first place."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 72.
Many of us use relationships as a tool to help shape the image we want people to perceive when it comes to who we think we need to be in order to be accepted and loved. We often join certain clubs, go to certain restaurants, drive a certain kind of car, buy a certain house in a certain neighborhood and on and on, in order to be surrounded by the " right" kinds of people so that we might better fit in. It's no wonder we live in a world suffering from an identity crisis. Working so hard to position how people see us in order to establish who we are is a strategy filled with victim thinking opportunities.
Look, join any club you want, by any car you would like, live in whatever style house that fits your need, but don't do these things in order to project an identity that you think people want to see. Ultimately, everyone will recognize how false that kind of identity is and the relationships that result will never provide the power they were designed to have in the victor's life.
The Bible places a significant importance on relationships by using the words "one" and "unity." Checked out today's reading in light of the power of these words as they define relationship.
...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:21-23 (NIV)
There is something very important to God about being unified . Look how Jesus defines unity, it is being in each other. In other words relational unity happens when we are so involved, so intimately connected in each other's lives that our individual differences actually augment our unity rather than tears it apart.
I have come to learn that relationships are a valuable commodity in the economy of heaven. Using relationship to try to prove or enhance one's identity falls significantly short of the big purpose God has for relationship in the life of the victor.
God doesn't call was us his children because he needs something from us or he is looking for some level of completion to relationship with us that he's otherwise missing. He calls us his children because we are at one with him. The only reason we have to be able to trust our status as a victor in a world where victimizing events happen to us all is that we are at one with God, unified in a way that makes relationship with him a powerful ally in the battles we have in this world.
I've heard it said many times, "Your friends tell a lot about who you are." If the friends you have chosen to be a part of your life are there to make your identity be something you want it to be, this says a lot about what you believe your status as a victor is in this world. Unfortunately these kinds of friends are the hallmark of those stuck in victim thinking. If, on the other hand, your friends are more than friends; if they constitute the kinds of relationships described in today's reading, you stand the best chance of having a support mechanism in your life to help you maintain your victor status even when victimizing events happen in your life.
How does one develop these kinds of relationships out of the friends they have in their life? I believe it starts when the victor fully steps into that place of oneness, unity with God. It is when we stop using God to try to make our life and our identity more than what He has ordained to be. It is when we begin to trust that glory that Jesus says came from the father through him and was given to us when we begin to walk fully in the status of being a child of God, and therefore a victor. Let today be a day when you're drawn closer to God and to each other because of the fullness, the unity, and the power of relationship in your life.
**********
"When it comes to identity, relationship is the only way to the freedom that God intended for us in the first place."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 72.
Many of us use relationships as a tool to help shape the image we want people to perceive when it comes to who we think we need to be in order to be accepted and loved. We often join certain clubs, go to certain restaurants, drive a certain kind of car, buy a certain house in a certain neighborhood and on and on, in order to be surrounded by the " right" kinds of people so that we might better fit in. It's no wonder we live in a world suffering from an identity crisis. Working so hard to position how people see us in order to establish who we are is a strategy filled with victim thinking opportunities.
Look, join any club you want, by any car you would like, live in whatever style house that fits your need, but don't do these things in order to project an identity that you think people want to see. Ultimately, everyone will recognize how false that kind of identity is and the relationships that result will never provide the power they were designed to have in the victor's life.
The Bible places a significant importance on relationships by using the words "one" and "unity." Checked out today's reading in light of the power of these words as they define relationship.
...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one — I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17:21-23 (NIV)
There is something very important to God about being unified . Look how Jesus defines unity, it is being in each other. In other words relational unity happens when we are so involved, so intimately connected in each other's lives that our individual differences actually augment our unity rather than tears it apart.
I have come to learn that relationships are a valuable commodity in the economy of heaven. Using relationship to try to prove or enhance one's identity falls significantly short of the big purpose God has for relationship in the life of the victor.
God doesn't call was us his children because he needs something from us or he is looking for some level of completion to relationship with us that he's otherwise missing. He calls us his children because we are at one with him. The only reason we have to be able to trust our status as a victor in a world where victimizing events happen to us all is that we are at one with God, unified in a way that makes relationship with him a powerful ally in the battles we have in this world.
I've heard it said many times, "Your friends tell a lot about who you are." If the friends you have chosen to be a part of your life are there to make your identity be something you want it to be, this says a lot about what you believe your status as a victor is in this world. Unfortunately these kinds of friends are the hallmark of those stuck in victim thinking. If, on the other hand, your friends are more than friends; if they constitute the kinds of relationships described in today's reading, you stand the best chance of having a support mechanism in your life to help you maintain your victor status even when victimizing events happen in your life.
How does one develop these kinds of relationships out of the friends they have in their life? I believe it starts when the victor fully steps into that place of oneness, unity with God. It is when we stop using God to try to make our life and our identity more than what He has ordained to be. It is when we begin to trust that glory that Jesus says came from the father through him and was given to us when we begin to walk fully in the status of being a child of God, and therefore a victor. Let today be a day when you're drawn closer to God and to each other because of the fullness, the unity, and the power of relationship in your life.
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