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"I pray that you will find yourself in a place where you see the uselessness of trying to repay the overwhelming grace God has lavished in your life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 130.
Yes, I'm actually praying for your failure. How about that? Truth is, so is God. He is hoping that you and I will so completely fail at being able to pay Him back for His amazing love for us that we will simply give up. What a day of celebration it is when one of God's children wake up to a new day - a day when they realize that they just can't ever repay God's love. His love is unfathomable. It is more precious than any amount we will ever earn. It is more valuable than any service we will ever do for Him. His love is something that, though is free, it is beyond our ability to ever pay Him back.
Having just said that I know that I will once again dive back in to that place where I'm working to try and prove God made a good decision in choosing me. That's the place victim thinking waits to sink it's sharp talons deep into our lives. Thinking or acting to prove anything God has said about us is the foundation for victim thinking. Isn't it time to just stop going down that road? Yet, that's what we will do time and time again on this journey we all are on.
Working to try and do the impossible is such a demoralizing thing to do. That kind of work leaves us broken and without hope. Sadly, even in that broken and hopeless place we are likely to pick up that burden again only to find more brokenness and despair. Why do we continue on such a hopeless duty? I believe it is because of one word - PRIDE.
Look at today's Bible reading and consider what it has to say about pride.
Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor. Proverbs 29:23 (NIV)
Pride brings a person low. That's the place of brokenness and hopelessness I was speaking of before. Pride says, "I can prove to God that I'm acceptable." It is when we come to the end of that rope that we discover the amazing grace of this Lord of ours. Look at what today's reading says. Pride brings a person low, but in that low spot we receive great honor.
God never leaves us in any pit of despair that has resulted from our prideful ways. When we are ready to be pulled out of that place. He doesn't condemn us or even chastise us for the thinking that brought us to that lowly place. He is so quick to extend His powerful hand to lift us up. He longs to set us in that spot where we can finally accept the love He has made for us. That's when our identity as a Child of God starts to take on a power in the victor's life like never before.
Look, we have a lot of really hard work to do in this life. Work that we will find tremendously rewarding and fulfilling. I can state with total confidence that working to prove who you are in God's eyes isn't the hard work God has set before us. The only reward for that kind of work is brokenness - a lowly life filled with victim thinking results.
That work also is a distraction. Expending the tremendous effort required to try and prove that we measure up is keeping us from doing the Kingdom work God wants us to partner with Him on. Isn't it time to start believing you are who God says you are? Stop looking to your circumstances to prove you are something of worth. You are His Child and that makes you a victor. That's all the truth you need to kill the pride waiting to draw you down into lowly places. If, however, you are like me and will probably let pride drag you into some pit here or there, know this - God is there and honor awaits us all!
God isn't asking you to stop the amazing work you are going to do today. He gave you that work! He wants the best for you and the success you might be on the cusp of experiencing might be part of that best. It is when our souls crave that success as proof of something about who we are that pride has us poised for failure, even when worldly success is the result.
If you are feeling empty today in spite of your positive circumstances, maybe you are in that lowly place described in today's Bible reading. Lift your eyes. God has His hand of love extended to lift you up to a place of honor. He isn't honoring you because of your great accomplishments. He is honoring you because of what He says about you is true. Let today be a day of victory as you live the life of a victor God has called you to be.
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