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"A victor is one who lives in a place where all he expects is to see God. He doesn’t put all his hope in the expectation that God will provide his next meal, a healing, a good worship service, a revealing word... A victor is grateful when those things come from the Hand of God, but doesn’t expect them."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 90.
Have you been in a position where you have caught a glimpse of God? I have met so many people who say that they have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask that question. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I believe we have abundant opportunities to see God each and every day.
God often appears in the simple things of life. Maybe that is why we fail to see Him so often. We have ourselves looking for the grand encounters - sightings of God that are of Biblical scale. I am witness to the fact that those BIG sightings of God do happen, but they aren't the norm. What should be the norm is seeing God in all that we do. That's what I'm hoping these presentations help us to realize and live out as our victor status takes hold in our lives.
It is when we let our expectations of what an encounter with God should look like take over, that disappointment, and ultimately victim thinking, will be the result. Look, I want God to appear in a BIG way just like the rest of us. I want my prayers to be answered in ways that can only be seen as an encounter with God. I want the things I do be successful on a scale that is undeniably a God thing. I want my relationships to be nothing but positive and uplifting in ways that shows just how relational this God I serve is. I want God's love to be seen in ways that make the love in this world overtake the evil and wrongdoing that we see happening all around us.
It is when I use my ideals, my interpretation and my perception of what these appearances of God should look like that I back my self into a corner that ultimately leads to victim thinking. What happens when my prayers don't get answered the way I thought they would? How do I react to my failure to achieve the kinds of success I think is needed in this world? What am I thinking when I let my relationships be taken to places where hurt and confusion is the result? How do I respond when love falls so short of what is needed to make evil flee? Anything that makes it so that it looks like I can't trust God is exactly what Satan wants me to lean on when it comes to seeing God in my world.
Psalm 139 is such a powerful read. Take time to read through the entire Psalm and realize that God is talking about you in those amazing verses. Take a closer look with me now at a couple of verses that will help us to focus on today's topic of seeing God all around us.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)
There isn't anyplace we can go to get away from God's presence. He is in the good as well as in the bad. He is there when we succeed and when we fail. God can be seen when we feel like a victor and when victim hood is all we seem to be able to make part of our lives. The sooner that we get into our thinking that God is there for us, guiding us, supporting us and holding us close, the sooner we will be able to let victor living have the power God wants for us to experience in this world.
It is when we choose to let the things of this world be what proves who we are that darkness starts to play a role in our lives. We let darkness hide us when we try and get from this world what God offers up to us freely. Night shines like the day when we believe what God says about us in spite of what our circumstances might look like at any given time.
When was the last time you saw God in your life? If it has been a while, maybe you are looking too far above your situation. Isn't it time to look for the hand of God that is guiding you right now. If your situation is going well, maybe it is God's hand you need to be looking for making that good time happen in the first place. If dark clouds seem to be what you are facing in life, maybe it is time to look for God's powerful, right hand to be what leads you through the darkness. Either way, God is there - start looking for Him and rejoice the more you recognize His presence.
Most of the life of a victor is more about believing than it is about seeing. Yet, I happen to believe that when it comes to seeing God, a victor's life is to be filled with example after example of sightings of the God that loves us. Don't worry how profound those sightings are, just look for Him and let His presence be all you need to let victor living change your world today.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)
There isn't anyplace we can go to get away from God's presence. He is in the good as well as in the bad. He is there when we succeed and when we fail. God can be seen when we feel like a victor and when victim hood is all we seem to be able to make part of our lives. The sooner that we get into our thinking that God is there for us, guiding us, supporting us and holding us close, the sooner we will be able to let victor living have the power God wants for us to experience in this world.
It is when we choose to let the things of this world be what proves who we are that darkness starts to play a role in our lives. We let darkness hide us when we try and get from this world what God offers up to us freely. Night shines like the day when we believe what God says about us in spite of what our circumstances might look like at any given time.
When was the last time you saw God in your life? If it has been a while, maybe you are looking too far above your situation. Isn't it time to look for the hand of God that is guiding you right now. If your situation is going well, maybe it is God's hand you need to be looking for making that good time happen in the first place. If dark clouds seem to be what you are facing in life, maybe it is time to look for God's powerful, right hand to be what leads you through the darkness. Either way, God is there - start looking for Him and rejoice the more you recognize His presence.
Most of the life of a victor is more about believing than it is about seeing. Yet, I happen to believe that when it comes to seeing God, a victor's life is to be filled with example after example of sightings of the God that loves us. Don't worry how profound those sightings are, just look for Him and let His presence be all you need to let victor living change your world today.
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