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As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 85.
There are few things more impacting to our psyche than being able to more than provide for our lives. When life is such that provision is something we really don't have to give a lot of thought to that the word victor is really easy to associate to our lives. It is when provision is hard that victor living can be such a challenge for us all.
Why is it that victor living can be so closely tied to provision? I believe it goes back to identity. When we are able to provide for ourselves and our families it is so easy to associate who we are with what we do in ways that the world really likes to see. Few people are more admired and held up for example than those who are able to go into this world and fend for themselves in ways where provision isn't an issue in their lives. I believe we all want that kind of admiration to be a part of our lives. When it isn't, victim thinking is so easy to adopt.
I think God knew that our tendency to connect our ability to provide for ourselves with who we think we are would be an issue that we needed to deal with. Right from the beginning He saw this happening and took steps to make it difficult for us to carry on this habit. Check out today's Bible reading as it relates to provision and identity.
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. Genesis 3:17 (NIV)
God actually cursed the work man will do in this world. He calls man's work "toil." When provision is a challenge it is really easy to see what is meant by toil when it comes to work. It isn't that God was cursing man's ability to make ends meet - that would be nothing short of evil. God saw that man would want to enable His work to be what defined Him and God knows what a failed strategy that is for any of us to follow.
God is desperate for us all to believe Him when it comes to identity. He hates that we would settle for what we do to define who we are because what we do is such a temporary thing in our lives. For that reason, God curses the identity based results of our work. It doesn't matter how successful you are at making provision happen, the curse is that that success will never be enough to confirm who you are. God just won't let that happen in ways that will last for too long.
Look, God isn't' trying to hold you back. He isn't trying to make it hard for you to provide for you and your family. God is trying to keep victim thinking from taking over in your life. Looking to our jobs and our ability for those jobs to provide the provision we need to feel good about ourselves is a victim laden strategy that way too many of us have tried to make work over the years. That strategy has been cursed from the very beginning. Maybe it is time to take on another strategy.
Today, let's try something different. Let's go out and do all we need to do to make provision part of our lives. Then, let's take a stand and not let provision be connected to identity in any way. Stand firm on the fact that you are God's Child and this makes you the victor He wants you to be whether your efforts are able to provide what you need today or not.
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