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"Victims, like victors, have faith. Victims have been taught faith in themselves; faith to provide for themselves the essentials of their life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 128.
Faith is such a fascinating concept. It is so hard to explain, yet we all know what it means. Faith plays a role in all parts of our lives. For some, faith is in a higher being. For others, faith is that the chair they are about to sit in will support their weight. You don’t have to be particularly religious to know faith is something we lean on each and everyday of our lives.
In addition to religious faith and faith in the physical things of this world, we also have faith in ourselves. Victim thinkers and those seeking to live the life of a victor are alike in this fact. The difference in being able to stay out of victim thinking situations surrounding faith is when we consider identity and the things that support that identity.
It is when we must totally rely on ourselves to provide the things that will bolster the identity we want the world to see us as, that victim thinking becomes a real possibility. I don’t care how good you are at what you do, you simply can’t maintain a perfect record when it comes to what it takes to make your preferred identity a reality. As I have pointed out time and time again, it is when we face repeated times of defeat that the possibility for victim thinking becomes something we might need to consider.
Those seeking to live the life of a victor have realized that faith in self isn’t going to cut it when it comes to establishing and maintaining an identity that supports their victor lifestyle. The victor just can’t stand one more defeat being something that threatens their identity like it has so many times in the past. I’m in no way saying that the victor doesn’t face defeat; They do! It is that the victor has realized that whether they win or lose, faith in something other than self is what is needed to know and live out an identity that truly means something.
When it comes to identity, we need faith that is based on something lasting, something that is the same whether we are on the plus side of life or whether negative seems to be ruling the day. For me, faith that has brought that kind of permanence is faith in who God says I am. If you have found something more permanent than faith in yourself that works when it comes to identity, that’s awesome. For me, God’s description of me is all that has withstood the down times of life I have faced.
Today’s Bible reading highlights the identity that allows my faith to be all it can be in this crazy, victimizing world.
And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty. 2 Corinthians 6:18 (NASB)
It's pretty clear who God thinks you and I are. We are His Children. There is nothing in me that I can have faith in that makes this identity possible. Just as true is the fact that there is nothing I will do to create an identity that can match the faith filled reality of who I am in God's eyes. As God's Child, we are victors, even when the things we do don't turn out quite the way we had planned.
The results of having faith in our ability to build a lasting and world changing identity are pretty lack luster for the majority of us alive today. It is when we grasp the fullness of what it means to be a child of God's that power is there even when we feel the most powerless in this life.
God wants us to be all we can be. He doesn't expect us to stop pursuing all the good things we can in this world. He has blessed us with talents and opportunities to exercise those talents in ways we may find hard to believe at times. It isn't that God wants us to sit by and do nothing with those talents. God wants us to realize that having faith in our abilities to provide proof of who we are is such a personally damaging strategy to put into place. It is when we put our faith in who God says we are that what we do takes on a power all it's own.
I'd like to say that living out our identity as God's child guarantees that all will go well in our lives. Faith in that kind of thinking is just as worthless as faith in ourselves when it comes to identity. Good things are going to happen to you today as you live out this identity as God's Child. Bad things are going to happen as well. If you are banking on the good to prove who you are you will find disappointment will lead to victim thinking as bad things come your way.
All I'm saying is have faith today. Not faith based solely in your abilities, but faith in who God says you are as well. That's the only way you will truly be able to live the victor status God has promised that you can see in your life today.
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