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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"I am beginning to learn that a victor can experience His Presence in ways that make living like a victor something that isn’t tied to seeing victory all the time."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 47.
Paul was one amazing man of God. He ended up writing over 2/3rds of the entire New Testament of The Bible. Many hold Paul up as the second most powerful and interesting and influential man of the The Bible, next to Jesus Himself. The amazing thing about Paul’s life is, that like Jesus, his life ended in ways that could have allowed victim thinking to take control. Thank God that Paul was like Jesus in that He didn’t let his worldly circumstances dictate his view of who he was in God.
Let’s take a look at today’s Bible verse and peer a little deeper into the life of a victor.
Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 2 Corinthians 11:23 (NIV)
I love how real Paul was in his writings. In the middle of his presentation, he stops his train of thought to comment on how crazy what he is saying sounds in light of the reality of his life. I think we can learn a lesson about how to live as a victor through Paul's realness. It is when we too are real with ourselves, with others and with God Himself that victor living starts to take on a power like it is suppose to have in our lives.
Paul’s life wasn’t an easy one. He wasn't afraid to admit how bad He had it. Paul's life was also filled with may positive accomplishments. Paul wasn't afraid to acknowledge those as well. What Paul seemed to be able to do was to let the good times add to the praise and adoration He had for his God while allowing the bad times draw him closer to this same God. Paul never let the good times go to his head nor the bad times to rob him of his faith in who God says He was in Paul's life.
Truth is that Paul's life was filled with victimization left and right. He was blinded by the light of God, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake, stoned twice (once to death!), flogged many times, rejected, driven from city after city, abandoned, imprisoned over and over again, and ultimately Paul was beheaded. Victimizing event after victimizing event plagued Paul. Yet all along he stood strong on the fact that his identity had nothing to do with all the nasty stuff that was happening to him. His identity as God’s Child made him a victor. Living in that place made it easier to see God’s Presence in the middle of all the bad things that happened in Paul's life.
One of the most victimizing events that befell Paul was the fact that, through the world’s eyes, Paul was a complete failure in doing what God said he would do. God called Paul to preach the good news of Jesus to the gentiles. Paul did the best he could in traveling and sharing Jesus in between all the crazy things that happened to him. Problem was that his time in prison greatly limited his ability to get out there and do what God said he would do in the world. Viewed from the world's perspective, God was acting in some pretty victimizing ways as far as Paul life was concerned.
Think about how Paul must have felt. A driven man literally chained and kept from doing what God told him he was would do. Don't you know every fiber in Paul's being wanted to go and DO!?. All Paul could do at times was to write letters to those few Churches He got to see birthed out of his efforts.
Little did Paul know that God’s Presence was in those letters in such a powerful way. Paul couldn't have realized that those letters would become the backbone of the portion of The Bible gentiles hold so dear. Had Paul been free from prison his impact in the gentile world, arguably, would have been far less than it has been through the power of God in the letters Paul wrote while living a life we would call less than victorious.
That’s the power of living like a victor even when we feel like a victim. God’s Presence takes all the good and bad in our lives and makes it powerful beyond our comprehension. Next time you read and are touched by a letter Paul wrote remember the impact God is having on your life because Paul chose to live like a victor rather than wallow in victim thinking. Hold onto that perspective as you face trials in your life today. You are that same kind of victor with that same kind of power that comes through God’s Mighty Presence in your life.
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Day 245 - God The Victimizer
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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"You see, I believe that most of us at one time or another have felt like we are a victim of God!"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 35.
Victim of God; is that even possible? I can tell you from experience, it can sometimes feels like God is a big kid in the sky with a magnifying glass and we are all a bunch of ants.
When it comes to circumstances, and the evil that can surround those circumstances, it sure can feel like we have a big target on our backs. If nothing more, the very fact that God has the power to do anything He wants can sometimes cloud the issue of who is the victimizer when bad times hit our lives. I can tell you this, if God is the one pinning that target on our backs then evil has to be a part of who He is.
The Bible has something to say about that possibility. Check out today’s Bible reading with me now.
Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. James 1:13 (MSG)
God isn’t sitting in heaven thinking up ways to make our lives miserable. Is that something you would do to your children? Remember, that’s what you are - you are God’s Child. With that said, God’s plan isn’t something that we will ever be able to completely figure out. All the victor can do is to trust in the goodness God says He has planned for His Children. When bad times hit, I have to be honest. Trusting in those bad times being anything but good is something that makes me view God in a light that just isn't true.
What these talks are doing for me is driving home the fact that I am more than the sum of my circumstances. If I simply let what happens to me be the judge as to who I am in this world, the result is a roller coaster kind of life. When times are good I might be able to think like the victor God intends me to be. When times are bad, how could victor living ever be something I could consider? All I know is that the victor has found a way to rest assured in his/her identity and to live from the place of power trusting God’s plans are ALWAYS better than our reality.
Victim thinking is a guarantee when we look to this life for proof that our victor status is intact. Trying to blame God for the bad things that come into our lives from time to time does nothing but compromise our eternal identity as God’s Child. This puts us in a place where it is completely up to us to prove our standing as a victor. Left in that position the victim thinker is doomed to sink deeper and deeper into the pit of universal victimization. Sooner or later there just won’t be anyone left in the victim thinker’s life to blame for all the challenges they have faced over the years. That is a bleak an dark place to go. Few ever return from that place and the tragedy of our souls being that lost is one that makes life such a waste.
We all need to wake up to the fact that the pressure is on. The evil in this world wants to hijack your day, and eventually your life. Evil wants you to believe, with enough conviction, that God is the ultimate victimizer. That God isn’t worthy of our trust in Him. That the identity as His Child is a useless and powerless identity. Evil is going to get you to believe these things so that you will waste your time, like we all have in the past, chasing temporary roles to try and establish a lasting identity for ourselves here on earth. That’s victim thinking taken to the extreme and it just doesn’t work.
Don’t let your day be hijacked. Don’t give into the pressure to let evil rob you of your power to be who God made you to be. If something bad happens today, hold onto the fact that you are a victor no matter what your circumstances look like. If something good happens today, hold onto the fact that you are no more of a victor than if your good is replaced with bad. God is impervious to evil. You have been made in His image. There is something about that image inside of you that makes it possible for you to walk out this life as a victor even when evil is doing its best to make you think like a victim. Live from the place of a victor and push victim thinking away from all you do today.
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"You see, I believe that most of us at one time or another have felt like we are a victim of God!"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 35.
Victim of God; is that even possible? I can tell you from experience, it can sometimes feels like God is a big kid in the sky with a magnifying glass and we are all a bunch of ants.
When it comes to circumstances, and the evil that can surround those circumstances, it sure can feel like we have a big target on our backs. If nothing more, the very fact that God has the power to do anything He wants can sometimes cloud the issue of who is the victimizer when bad times hit our lives. I can tell you this, if God is the one pinning that target on our backs then evil has to be a part of who He is.
The Bible has something to say about that possibility. Check out today’s Bible reading with me now.
Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. James 1:13 (MSG)
God isn’t sitting in heaven thinking up ways to make our lives miserable. Is that something you would do to your children? Remember, that’s what you are - you are God’s Child. With that said, God’s plan isn’t something that we will ever be able to completely figure out. All the victor can do is to trust in the goodness God says He has planned for His Children. When bad times hit, I have to be honest. Trusting in those bad times being anything but good is something that makes me view God in a light that just isn't true.
What these talks are doing for me is driving home the fact that I am more than the sum of my circumstances. If I simply let what happens to me be the judge as to who I am in this world, the result is a roller coaster kind of life. When times are good I might be able to think like the victor God intends me to be. When times are bad, how could victor living ever be something I could consider? All I know is that the victor has found a way to rest assured in his/her identity and to live from the place of power trusting God’s plans are ALWAYS better than our reality.
Victim thinking is a guarantee when we look to this life for proof that our victor status is intact. Trying to blame God for the bad things that come into our lives from time to time does nothing but compromise our eternal identity as God’s Child. This puts us in a place where it is completely up to us to prove our standing as a victor. Left in that position the victim thinker is doomed to sink deeper and deeper into the pit of universal victimization. Sooner or later there just won’t be anyone left in the victim thinker’s life to blame for all the challenges they have faced over the years. That is a bleak an dark place to go. Few ever return from that place and the tragedy of our souls being that lost is one that makes life such a waste.
We all need to wake up to the fact that the pressure is on. The evil in this world wants to hijack your day, and eventually your life. Evil wants you to believe, with enough conviction, that God is the ultimate victimizer. That God isn’t worthy of our trust in Him. That the identity as His Child is a useless and powerless identity. Evil is going to get you to believe these things so that you will waste your time, like we all have in the past, chasing temporary roles to try and establish a lasting identity for ourselves here on earth. That’s victim thinking taken to the extreme and it just doesn’t work.
Don’t let your day be hijacked. Don’t give into the pressure to let evil rob you of your power to be who God made you to be. If something bad happens today, hold onto the fact that you are a victor no matter what your circumstances look like. If something good happens today, hold onto the fact that you are no more of a victor than if your good is replaced with bad. God is impervious to evil. You have been made in His image. There is something about that image inside of you that makes it possible for you to walk out this life as a victor even when evil is doing its best to make you think like a victim. Live from the place of a victor and push victim thinking away from all you do today.
Monday, February 26, 2018
Day 244 - Relational Strategy
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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"But God didn’t make us to go through this life alone. Not only can we trust He is with us, He wants us to value and benefit from close relationship with fellow travelers on this path of life. That requires we have faith and take calculated risks on people. That cannot be done if we have ruled out particular kinds of people because they remind us of someone who has offended us in the past."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 215.
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"But God didn’t make us to go through this life alone. Not only can we trust He is with us, He wants us to value and benefit from close relationship with fellow travelers on this path of life. That requires we have faith and take calculated risks on people. That cannot be done if we have ruled out particular kinds of people because they remind us of someone who has offended us in the past."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 215.
I heard an interesting comment about the brain the other day. Left to our own devices, our brain is naturally wired to go to the negative. For some of us, our brains tend to go way negative. We are the glass half empty kinds of people. For others, our brains go negative but not so badly as to see the worst in all that comes against us. Those are the glass half full kinds of people. My wife is a glass half full person. She is fond of saying to us glass half empty kinds of folks - "Get a bigger glass!"
Just like our brains are wired to go negative, I believe we are also wired to default in ways that make relationship a difficult proposition. Some of us are naturally isolationists. We are the ones that love being alone. If fact, being alone seems to recharge our batteries. The alone time makes it possible for us to be able to deal with those times when relationship is what we are forced to deal with in this world.
Others of us are more naturally drawn to being with other people. For those types, being with others is what recharges their batteries. Being with others is what makes it possible to tolerate times when being alone is all they have.
For the people who find isolation to be as close to heaven as they will get, relationships are hard due to the fact being with others is a draining and trying experience. For those who tend to be more relationally inclined, relationships become something that they were never designed to be. It is when we view relationships as a chore, as the isolationalist tends to do, or as a strategy, as the relationalist tends to do, that the true power of relationships can be lost.
I believe that God designed relationships for a very specific purpose. Relationships were never meant to be a chore or a strategy to feeling good about ourselves. Relationships were meant to be part of the process for bringing about significant and life altering change in our world. It is when we play god with how we view and use relationships that the Heavenly purpose and power of the connections we make in this life tend to get lost.
Check out today's Bible reading as it relates to the power of relationships.
Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. Matthew 18:19-20 (NIV)
Twice in these verses the word "two" is used. The promises made about gathering together and agreeing are over the top amazing. God promises to give us whatever we agree on and that He will be with us when we gather. Doesn't get much better than that.
For those of you who use relationships to recharge your batteries, let me ask you a pretty direct question. Are you experiencing the kinds of miraculous change I believe this verse is saying can happen when we come together? For those of us who find relationship a chore, I have just as direct a question. Do you find it hard to experience God's presence in your life?
If we are really honest with ourselves, it doesn't matter what kind of person we are when it comes to relationships, the promises contained in our reading aren't happening like I think we would like them to be happening. It is my opinion we aren't seeing God's power and presence because we are applying a view of relationships in our lives that just doesn't match up with what God intended for the victor to experience.
If gathering together is a chore or if we are using our coming together for self focused purposes, it is impossible to gather together and agree in world changing ways. Our coming together for reasons other than being under the banner of God's name makes it so easy to miss the true power of God's plan for relationship in the first place.
I have always had this feeling that coming together should ALWAYS be viewed as a spiritual thing. You see, each and everyone of us carry the completeness of God inside of us. We don't do anything to get that completeness in us, He places it there. The Bible says Jesus lives in our hearts. It also says our bodies are a temple of the most High. God has chosen to take up residence in you and in me. If that weren't hard enough to understand, let's take this thinking a little bit further.
It is when two or more are gathered in, God formed and God planned relationship that the fullness of who God is, starts to shine through our coming together. It is like me being at a meeting brings the fullness of God. At the same time you being at the same meeting also brings the fullness of God. When we come together as His Children, that fullness is magnified in each of us and in the relationship that we are forming. With God, it isn't 1/2 + 1/2 = one whole. It is like one full plus one full equals infinity!
I've heard it said that God isn't into addition, He's into multiplication. He is uniquely able to take what we think is a portion and, mix with what someone else thinks is just a portion, and turn that into a magnitude way beyond anything we could have ever thought or experienced. That's why I think God is so promising in today's Bible reading when it comes to relationships. It is when we come together that the Heavenly potential of God's power can be released in this world.
One caveat I need to express here or I'm afraid victim thinking will begin to rear its ugly head. What that Godly power is to look like is completely and unquestionably up to God to make happen. Our expectations as to what that power is going to be mean absolutely nothing to the sovereign God that loves us so. Come together and watch God's Power be released, but let God decide what that power is going to look like as a result of you meeting together in His Name.
The victor's life you want to live today can't be had in isolation. It also can't be had as we live a relational strategy bent on bringing good feelings into our lives. Your victor status will be seen as you come into relationship the way God does. He comes together with the motivation of love. That love takes on a different look with each and every connection God makes. That's how we are to enter into the relationships we come across today. Let God's love empower your connections in ways that make His power something to behold as you live out your victor status today.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Day 243 - Living the "In" Life
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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Doesn't it feel good when you are part of the "in group?" It is when I find myself on the outside that the familiar pangs of victim thinking start to take control in my life.
You know what I'm talking about here. I am sure that you have come across those situations where you didn't get invited to be a part of that group everyone looks on with envy. Doesn't your failure to be invited seem to be such an affront to who you are?
The truth is, it is an affront to your identity. The only reason it can feel like an affront is because it is! When we allow our identity to be shaped and confirmed by things of this world, affronts are what we are to expect. It is when we face those kinds of affronts when it comes to identity that offense can make us allow victim thinking to rule in our lives.
I recently heard a couple Bible verses that had the simple phrase, "In Christ" as part of their wording. I was intrigued by those words in a way that made me want to dig into what they might mean for a person who calls himself a follower of Jesus.
I decided to take a look at all the verses in the Bible that have the phrase "In Christ". I found that there are quite a few verses with this phrase. To help me understand what was being communicated, I took a look at the words individually. The word for Christ is exactly what it means - it is the name of this person we call Jesus. The word “in” opened my eyes to a perspective about this phrase that I think helps us take on more of the victor status God wants in our lives.
I found that the word "in" comes from the Greek word that has a lot to do with entering into or facing the object it describes. I don't know what I thought it would mean, but the action of entering into something gives the word "in" a flavor that really speaks to me. I started to recognize my need to be engaged and intentional about being "in Christ." It is more than just a place, it is an action that brings me to a place where there is a lot going on for the victor. “In Christ” means we enter into who this Christ has made us to be as we face him fully. There is a power in that kind of approach to who this God is in our lives.
With this meaning in mind, I took a look at all the verses where "in Christ" was used. The following list are attributes I saw that are ours for the taking when we choose to be intentional about entering in to who our God says we are in Jesus. This list is kind of long, but I wanted for you to hear the entirety of what I found "In Christ" is about for us. Listen to who you are In Christ.
“In Christ”...
There is faith
We are justified and redeemed
There is NO condemnation
There is life
We have God’s Love
We speak in truth
We are unified (at one with each other and with God)
We are helpers (purposed, co-workers of the most High)
We are approved
We are sanctified (made whole and complete)
We are wise
We are righteous
We are God’s Children
We are instructed
We have the good news (the gospel of Christ)
We can rest
We have hope
We are made alive
We can rejoice
We are established
We experience triumph
We can speak in power
We can step into the throne room of God (the veil is gone)
We are new creations
We are reconciled with God
We can see the truth in a simply way
We can stand and speak before God
We can be part of a body
We have liberty (that is freedom)
We are part of a covenant with God
We are free from religious laws
We have faith (are faithful)
We have access to spiritual blessings and heavenly places
We are the workmanship of God
We are partakers of God’s promises
We have access to eternal purpose
We are consoled
We are saints
Now that's a list of attributes that I need to hear spoken over my life more often. That's what I am as I live out this life of a victor "in Christ". I'm not those things because of what I do. I'm those things because that's how God sees me.
In Christ is more than just a phrase found in the Bible. It is a mantra of authority and identity. It is a banner of victory. It is a fact that we have the right to claim and live out each and every day of our lives. It is what can make victim thinking have to take a back seat to victor living.
As you go about your day today, think on what it means for you to be "In Christ." You might want to come back to this list and speak it over your life as the things of this world try and get you to believe you are less than what God says you are. Let the power of your status as the victor God sees you to be make it even more possible for you to enter into the fullness of being "In Christ" today.
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Doesn't it feel good when you are part of the "in group?" It is when I find myself on the outside that the familiar pangs of victim thinking start to take control in my life.
You know what I'm talking about here. I am sure that you have come across those situations where you didn't get invited to be a part of that group everyone looks on with envy. Doesn't your failure to be invited seem to be such an affront to who you are?
The truth is, it is an affront to your identity. The only reason it can feel like an affront is because it is! When we allow our identity to be shaped and confirmed by things of this world, affronts are what we are to expect. It is when we face those kinds of affronts when it comes to identity that offense can make us allow victim thinking to rule in our lives.
I recently heard a couple Bible verses that had the simple phrase, "In Christ" as part of their wording. I was intrigued by those words in a way that made me want to dig into what they might mean for a person who calls himself a follower of Jesus.
I decided to take a look at all the verses in the Bible that have the phrase "In Christ". I found that there are quite a few verses with this phrase. To help me understand what was being communicated, I took a look at the words individually. The word for Christ is exactly what it means - it is the name of this person we call Jesus. The word “in” opened my eyes to a perspective about this phrase that I think helps us take on more of the victor status God wants in our lives.
I found that the word "in" comes from the Greek word that has a lot to do with entering into or facing the object it describes. I don't know what I thought it would mean, but the action of entering into something gives the word "in" a flavor that really speaks to me. I started to recognize my need to be engaged and intentional about being "in Christ." It is more than just a place, it is an action that brings me to a place where there is a lot going on for the victor. “In Christ” means we enter into who this Christ has made us to be as we face him fully. There is a power in that kind of approach to who this God is in our lives.
With this meaning in mind, I took a look at all the verses where "in Christ" was used. The following list are attributes I saw that are ours for the taking when we choose to be intentional about entering in to who our God says we are in Jesus. This list is kind of long, but I wanted for you to hear the entirety of what I found "In Christ" is about for us. Listen to who you are In Christ.
“In Christ”...
There is faith
We are justified and redeemed
There is NO condemnation
There is life
We have God’s Love
We speak in truth
We are unified (at one with each other and with God)
We are helpers (purposed, co-workers of the most High)
We are approved
We are sanctified (made whole and complete)
We are wise
We are righteous
We are God’s Children
We are instructed
We have the good news (the gospel of Christ)
We can rest
We have hope
We are made alive
We can rejoice
We are established
We experience triumph
We can speak in power
We can step into the throne room of God (the veil is gone)
We are new creations
We are reconciled with God
We can see the truth in a simply way
We can stand and speak before God
We can be part of a body
We have liberty (that is freedom)
We are part of a covenant with God
We are free from religious laws
We have faith (are faithful)
We have access to spiritual blessings and heavenly places
We are the workmanship of God
We are partakers of God’s promises
We have access to eternal purpose
We are consoled
We are saints
Now that's a list of attributes that I need to hear spoken over my life more often. That's what I am as I live out this life of a victor "in Christ". I'm not those things because of what I do. I'm those things because that's how God sees me.
In Christ is more than just a phrase found in the Bible. It is a mantra of authority and identity. It is a banner of victory. It is a fact that we have the right to claim and live out each and every day of our lives. It is what can make victim thinking have to take a back seat to victor living.
As you go about your day today, think on what it means for you to be "In Christ." You might want to come back to this list and speak it over your life as the things of this world try and get you to believe you are less than what God says you are. Let the power of your status as the victor God sees you to be make it even more possible for you to enter into the fullness of being "In Christ" today.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Day 242 - Noble Character
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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"We have to fight the very natural tendency to let our tasks shape who we are. Tasks are temporary and can change like the shifting wind. If we allow tasks to shape our identity then we will spend most of our time trying to figure out who we are."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 190.
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"We have to fight the very natural tendency to let our tasks shape who we are. Tasks are temporary and can change like the shifting wind. If we allow tasks to shape our identity then we will spend most of our time trying to figure out who we are."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 190.
It is such a natural thing for us to turn to what we do when it comes to who we are. I don't think it is a cultural thing more than it is a human thing. Humans seem to be wired to let the view of ourselves and others be shaped by what it is that we do. It is when what we do runs into challenges that identity can be such a complex thing.
I can remember when I was in a place where God had me on hold as far as a career is concerned. For that season, I dreaded meeting someone new in my life. Without fail, it wouldn't be two minutes into a conversation with that new acquaintance, when they would ask - "What do you do for a living?" I wanted to shrink into a corner when I heard those words coming my way. I just didn't know how to answer that question in a way that would allow my identity to be something that I wasn't ashamed of.
That question is such an easy one for us to ask. Somehow we have been conditioned to think that we can determine who a person is by simply hearing what kind of work they choose to do. Sure, a person's occupation says something about who that person is. However, what a person does is but a drop in the bucket when it comes to who that person is. Identity is so much more than just the roles we play.
Today's Bible reading highlights how important identity is when it is based on something other than what we do. Our reading is from Proverbs. It says...
A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value. Proverbs 31:10-11 (NIV)
All you men out there, take heart. This verse is just as much for us as it is for the women our reading seems to be focused upon. The Church is the Bride of Christ. Our "husband" is none other than Jesus Himself. Men and women can read this verse in the context I'm using today as we concentrate on what identity is suppose to be all about.
Our reading says that we are worth more than rubies. It isn't talking about what this person does that makes her valuable. The confidence the husband has in his wife doesn't come with the fact that she is good at what she does. No, her husband is not lacking because her identity is something that empowers the family to be all it can be.
That noble character is something that doesn't come as a result of successfully working a task to its end. Character comes as one lives out who they are in a world that tries to get us to compromise on what our identity is suppose to be all about. If we allow roles to be the defining factor when it comes to identity, then character is so hard to nail down. Since roles change, identity will change as well. Shifting identities is the exact opposite of what it takes to make character something we can recognize and trust in another person's life.
We just can't get to noble when we are spending so much time trying to make our tasks reflect well on our identity. Noble comes as we know who we are and allow our tasks to be empowered by that knowledge. It is the identity that God has made for us, as His Children, that makes it possible to let tasks be all they can be in our lives. Nobility is in our blood as a result of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. The noble character is part of what living the victor's life is all about.
Trying to make your worth be shown as a result of all you do is such a victim making process. Isn't it time to live in that place of amazing worth? Stop allowing what you do be what shapes who you are. Live in that place of power and worth as the victor God has called you to be in your world today.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Day 241 - The Mundane
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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"GOOD PEOPLE HAPPEN TO BAD THINGS!"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 147.
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"GOOD PEOPLE HAPPEN TO BAD THINGS!"
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 147.
I often hear the question asked, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" What a terrible question to try and answer. Frankly, I've given up on trying to come up with some life changing, God fearing and thought provoking answer. I simply don't believe there is an answer that gives any justice to the depth and importance of this often asked question.
I remember talking with a crew of men at my house working to plant a few trees in my yard. I had just had an encounter with God the evening before regarding the power of connection even in the mundane things of life. It doesn't get much more mundane than being stuck at home waiting on some people to arrive to plant a few trees. Not a lot of world impact in that endeavor - or so I thought.
I had decided that I was going to just be content with what God had planned for me that day, even if His plans looked to be pretty boring from where I was sitting. When the guys finally arrived to do their work I went outside to meet them. They were five of them there. Two of the guys took an interest in a car I'm working on. We spent a few minutes checking out what I have been doing. We traded a few stories about our past auto adventures. Hey, if nothing else, I experienced a good few moments talking with another couple of car nuts. Not a bad day after all. God had so much more in mind.
As the three of us stood there talking about cars, I noticed one of the workers who walked past me. He had on a hoodie and honestly, he looked like he had had a pretty rough night the evening before. By his looks, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that he must be nursing a pretty challenging hangover. Been there, done that. Something just drew me to this guy, but he wasn't interested or maybe wasn't able to carry on a conversation at that time. I just went on with my day.
When the guys were about finished planting my trees, the foreman asked for me to sit with him and go over the paperwork. He looked at me and out of the blue said, "It would be really nice if you would say something to the guys today. You see, one of our team mates was recently killed in a motorcycle accident and the guys are taking it really hard."
Honestly, I was kind of taken aback. Who am I to speak to these guys about something so personal as losing a friend and coworker so tragically? What can I say to help console a bunch of grown men, hurting over losing a 21 year old friend like that? I was actually a bit angered that this guy would put me on the spot like that. It was as though this guys was asking me to answer the question - "Why does bad thinks happen to good people?" Who does this guy think I am?
If it isn't obvious by what I just said, I have to admit that I was more than a little anxious about what this guy was asking of me. Then it hit me, God had said that He was in the mundane. My day had been all about mundane so I just believed that God was going to be there and do something. We walked around the corner of the house where the guys were finishing up their work. I walked up to the group and said, "I heard about your friend - I'm really sorry you guys have to deal with such a tragedy." Pretty deep words - right?
Then something really amazing happened. The guy in the hoodie - the one I had written off as being a little hung over - looked straight at me and said, "You should have known him. He was a great guy. Why is it always the good ones that are taken so soon?" By what I can only chalk up to divine inspiration, I immediately knew what to say. I stared straight at my hoodied friend and said with confidence and authority, "I know what you mean. The bad ones, like you and like me always seem to get left behind." Our eyes locked for a few seconds as we connected on a level that was truly miraculous. The guy in the hoodie smiled and said, "You are absolutely right!" and went back to work with a with a changed look on his face.
It was as though that exchange settled something for my new friend in the hoodie. I didn't have to mention God or heaven, I didn't even have to know the answer to the unanswerable question of "Why?". All I had to do is live in the power of who God made me to be and let Him be God, even in the mundane things of my life.
We are in good company when it comes to living in the mundane. Check out this description of Jesus and let's see how it relates to our seeing God's power in the mundane.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)
When I think of Jesus, I think of walking on water. I think of raising people from the dead. I think of changing people's lives through healing and deliverance. That doesn't sound very mundane to me. And it wasn't. But that isn't all Jesus had going on in His life. Those stories, and most of what we know about Jesus, comes from the last three years He walked this earth. Don't you know that the other 30 years of his life must have been filled with the same kinds of mundane you and I experience?
Jesus was a carpenter. I'm the grandson of a carpenter. I can't tell you how many days I spent on a roof driving nails in ways that mundane doesn't come close to describe the boredom that I experienced. Our reading today highlights the place of authority Jesus came from. This same Jesus had to find God's significance, even in the mundane, just like we do today.
Jesus knew something that I'm starting to appreciate in my life. The mundane doesn't mean that I'm missing something when it comes to who I am. God is just as present in the mundane as He is in the exciting times of life. My experience that day with my friend in the hoodie made that fact abundantly clear to me.
The mundane isn't my enemy. Being lulled to sleep to where I might miss God is the enemy that I need to vanquish from my life when life turns mundane. It would have been so easy to miss that encounter with that young man that boring day not too long ago. I'm so glad I didn't. I'm so glad God wanted me to learn something about His power in all of my life when I surrender to who He says I am. Seeing God move through me in a way to touch a hurting soul made me believe more fully in the victor God has made me to be.
Let me bring this presentation back full circle. What does all this talk on the mundane have to do with "Why do bad things happen to good people?"? I go back to the quote I started today's talk with. Bad things don't happen to good people, good people happen to bad things.
That young man's death was God using a good person to bring light into a dark world. It took a couple of "bad" people (my hoodied friend and me) touched by the loss of that good one to see the light that was shining that bright sunny day when five guys came over to plant a few trees in my yard.
Light can shine in the exciting times as well as the mundane times of life. That light shines the brightest when God's children allow Him to work fully in their lives. That work doesn't stop when things turn boring. No, that work might just kicking in in ways that we might not fully see until we cross over into the next life.
I hope I never take my mundane times for granted again like I have so many times in the past. God is there whether times are good or bad. He's also there when times are exciting and when times seem to be moving at a snail's pace. Let the light of God shine through your life. Be the good that happens in a bad situation as you live out your victor status as God's Child today.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1:15-17 (NIV)
When I think of Jesus, I think of walking on water. I think of raising people from the dead. I think of changing people's lives through healing and deliverance. That doesn't sound very mundane to me. And it wasn't. But that isn't all Jesus had going on in His life. Those stories, and most of what we know about Jesus, comes from the last three years He walked this earth. Don't you know that the other 30 years of his life must have been filled with the same kinds of mundane you and I experience?
Jesus was a carpenter. I'm the grandson of a carpenter. I can't tell you how many days I spent on a roof driving nails in ways that mundane doesn't come close to describe the boredom that I experienced. Our reading today highlights the place of authority Jesus came from. This same Jesus had to find God's significance, even in the mundane, just like we do today.
Jesus knew something that I'm starting to appreciate in my life. The mundane doesn't mean that I'm missing something when it comes to who I am. God is just as present in the mundane as He is in the exciting times of life. My experience that day with my friend in the hoodie made that fact abundantly clear to me.
The mundane isn't my enemy. Being lulled to sleep to where I might miss God is the enemy that I need to vanquish from my life when life turns mundane. It would have been so easy to miss that encounter with that young man that boring day not too long ago. I'm so glad I didn't. I'm so glad God wanted me to learn something about His power in all of my life when I surrender to who He says I am. Seeing God move through me in a way to touch a hurting soul made me believe more fully in the victor God has made me to be.
Let me bring this presentation back full circle. What does all this talk on the mundane have to do with "Why do bad things happen to good people?"? I go back to the quote I started today's talk with. Bad things don't happen to good people, good people happen to bad things.
That young man's death was God using a good person to bring light into a dark world. It took a couple of "bad" people (my hoodied friend and me) touched by the loss of that good one to see the light that was shining that bright sunny day when five guys came over to plant a few trees in my yard.
Light can shine in the exciting times as well as the mundane times of life. That light shines the brightest when God's children allow Him to work fully in their lives. That work doesn't stop when things turn boring. No, that work might just kicking in in ways that we might not fully see until we cross over into the next life.
I hope I never take my mundane times for granted again like I have so many times in the past. God is there whether times are good or bad. He's also there when times are exciting and when times seem to be moving at a snail's pace. Let the light of God shine through your life. Be the good that happens in a bad situation as you live out your victor status as God's Child today.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Day 240 - New Normal
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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"Victors find healing and move into the fullness of the love, freedom and plenty that they experience in free life. They don’t see those who are so willing to pour out on them the love they need as being temporary providers, not to be trusted in the long term. Victors take the jealous ways that protected them in captivity and slowly trade them for generosity in their strange, new, free life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 128.
I have a friend that has been through a lot in life. She has been on an accelerated course of victor living these past couple of years. She is truly amazing to watch. Her love for God is so inspiring. I want to be like her when I grow up!
One day we were meeting talking about some issues she needed to get into the light. As we were discussing various situations she said something that triggered when I came across this quote that I read earlier. She said, "I don't know how to live this new life very well. It is often confusing. I know where I don't want to be but sometimes I'm not sure where I'm suppose to go."
When we find the freedom God wants for us it can be a "strange, new life." This is especially true for those, like my friend, who has had such a radical shift in thinking when it comes to her status as a victor. Changing from a place of bondage to a place of freedom can be a really disorienting shift in perspective.
My wife and I talk about those kinds of perspective shifts all the time. We are of the age when changes in life are many and sudden. From our kids growing up, getting married and now having kids of their own, to the freedoms all this change has brought to our lives, we too can find life to be a bit disorienting at times. My wife calls these times of figuring out what life is suppose to look like with all the change we face, "our new normal."
I like that terminology. Normal is such a challenging word to think through in anyone's life. What is normal? I'm starting to realize that normal is really all about what it going on at that moment in your life. It is when we long for and strive to make happen normal's that have come and gone that victim thinking can really sneak into the life of a victor.
I think that's why I connect so much with calling this life of flux, my new normal. It gives me a chance to choose something that is the bedrock of victor living. Contentment comes as I start to view each and every second as my new normal. It is when I can be content with who I am no matter what my circumstances look like that I have the ability to fully live in the power of being the victor God made me to be.
That doesn't mean that I don't long for good times when my new normal includes challenging circumstances. There isn't a single thing wrong with wanting times to change when times are bad just like there is nothing wrong wanting times to stay the same when times are good. It is when I connect what my times look like with who I think I am that victim thinking is lurking at my door.
Today's Bible reading is one that seems a little too good to be true. Check it out with me now.
The fear of the Lord leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble. Proverbs 19:23 (NIV)
Untouched by trouble? Seriously? Am I to really believe that if I fear God well enough in my life that trouble will never come my way? Maybe someone heard God incorrectly when they wrote this down many thousands of years ago.
Ever thought that way about something you have read in the Bible? I have come to learn that when I question God's Word like I just did, I'm about to learn something really important if I take time to let God speak to me as He longs to do with each of us. Let's dig into this verse a bit and see if there is some answer to the glaring dilemma I see in the promises of this scripture.
So, my too good to be true view comes from the words "untouched by trouble." Immediately I thought what a crock! Jesus was, by far, the most adept at fearing God and look at the trouble that touched His life. How can I ever be better at fearing God than Him? Surely this verse must mean something else.
As I sat staring at the verse it came to me. It doesn't say that trouble won't come into my life if I fear God. It says I will be untouched by trouble. When connected with the word contentment just before this phrase, I started to see what I think God was saying.
You see, I don't think God is talking about the lack of trouble in this verse. I think He is speaking to the results of what trouble can do to the identity of those facing trouble. See, Jesus wasn't immune to trouble. It was that trouble didn't ever phase Him when it came to His ability to believe who God said He was. That's what God wants for you and for me.
Sure, I would love it if the absence of trouble was a promise I could work towards. That's just not in the cards on this side of heaven. What is possible is for me to be in a position where my identity is so devoid of connection to my circumstances that I am who God made me to be whether I'm in good times or in bad. That's a new normal that I think I'm going to have to take some time to get use to.
All I know is that contentment is the cornerstone to living this life as a victor. It is when God empowers me to live with contentment when times are good that pride doesn't rule in my life. It is when God empowers me to live with contentment when times are bad that despair is more readily kept at bay. Good times and bad aren't the issue. It is what we do with who we are when in good times and in bad that makes victor living something we can attain to.
How are you doing in your new normal? I hope you are seeing how contentment is playing a key role in making that new normal something filled with power and the presence of God. Let everything you do today be done from a place of leading. Don't give into doing to make results part of the proof of who you are. You too will be untouched by trouble if you let the truth of who you are shine in all you do today.
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"Victors find healing and move into the fullness of the love, freedom and plenty that they experience in free life. They don’t see those who are so willing to pour out on them the love they need as being temporary providers, not to be trusted in the long term. Victors take the jealous ways that protected them in captivity and slowly trade them for generosity in their strange, new, free life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 128.
I have a friend that has been through a lot in life. She has been on an accelerated course of victor living these past couple of years. She is truly amazing to watch. Her love for God is so inspiring. I want to be like her when I grow up!
One day we were meeting talking about some issues she needed to get into the light. As we were discussing various situations she said something that triggered when I came across this quote that I read earlier. She said, "I don't know how to live this new life very well. It is often confusing. I know where I don't want to be but sometimes I'm not sure where I'm suppose to go."
When we find the freedom God wants for us it can be a "strange, new life." This is especially true for those, like my friend, who has had such a radical shift in thinking when it comes to her status as a victor. Changing from a place of bondage to a place of freedom can be a really disorienting shift in perspective.
My wife and I talk about those kinds of perspective shifts all the time. We are of the age when changes in life are many and sudden. From our kids growing up, getting married and now having kids of their own, to the freedoms all this change has brought to our lives, we too can find life to be a bit disorienting at times. My wife calls these times of figuring out what life is suppose to look like with all the change we face, "our new normal."
I like that terminology. Normal is such a challenging word to think through in anyone's life. What is normal? I'm starting to realize that normal is really all about what it going on at that moment in your life. It is when we long for and strive to make happen normal's that have come and gone that victim thinking can really sneak into the life of a victor.
I think that's why I connect so much with calling this life of flux, my new normal. It gives me a chance to choose something that is the bedrock of victor living. Contentment comes as I start to view each and every second as my new normal. It is when I can be content with who I am no matter what my circumstances look like that I have the ability to fully live in the power of being the victor God made me to be.
That doesn't mean that I don't long for good times when my new normal includes challenging circumstances. There isn't a single thing wrong with wanting times to change when times are bad just like there is nothing wrong wanting times to stay the same when times are good. It is when I connect what my times look like with who I think I am that victim thinking is lurking at my door.
Today's Bible reading is one that seems a little too good to be true. Check it out with me now.
The fear of the Lord leads to life;
then one rests content, untouched by trouble. Proverbs 19:23 (NIV)
Untouched by trouble? Seriously? Am I to really believe that if I fear God well enough in my life that trouble will never come my way? Maybe someone heard God incorrectly when they wrote this down many thousands of years ago.
Ever thought that way about something you have read in the Bible? I have come to learn that when I question God's Word like I just did, I'm about to learn something really important if I take time to let God speak to me as He longs to do with each of us. Let's dig into this verse a bit and see if there is some answer to the glaring dilemma I see in the promises of this scripture.
So, my too good to be true view comes from the words "untouched by trouble." Immediately I thought what a crock! Jesus was, by far, the most adept at fearing God and look at the trouble that touched His life. How can I ever be better at fearing God than Him? Surely this verse must mean something else.
As I sat staring at the verse it came to me. It doesn't say that trouble won't come into my life if I fear God. It says I will be untouched by trouble. When connected with the word contentment just before this phrase, I started to see what I think God was saying.
You see, I don't think God is talking about the lack of trouble in this verse. I think He is speaking to the results of what trouble can do to the identity of those facing trouble. See, Jesus wasn't immune to trouble. It was that trouble didn't ever phase Him when it came to His ability to believe who God said He was. That's what God wants for you and for me.
Sure, I would love it if the absence of trouble was a promise I could work towards. That's just not in the cards on this side of heaven. What is possible is for me to be in a position where my identity is so devoid of connection to my circumstances that I am who God made me to be whether I'm in good times or in bad. That's a new normal that I think I'm going to have to take some time to get use to.
All I know is that contentment is the cornerstone to living this life as a victor. It is when God empowers me to live with contentment when times are good that pride doesn't rule in my life. It is when God empowers me to live with contentment when times are bad that despair is more readily kept at bay. Good times and bad aren't the issue. It is what we do with who we are when in good times and in bad that makes victor living something we can attain to.
How are you doing in your new normal? I hope you are seeing how contentment is playing a key role in making that new normal something filled with power and the presence of God. Let everything you do today be done from a place of leading. Don't give into doing to make results part of the proof of who you are. You too will be untouched by trouble if you let the truth of who you are shine in all you do today.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Day 239 - Surrendering to Belief
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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A group of friends of mine met the other day and we had an amazing discussion. I wish our talks were recorded. The insights I get from these friends, as we do life together, are simply amazing. We don't have much figured out, but let me tell you, we are seeing God in ways that has made lasting change a possibility when it comes to keeping victim thinking out of our lives.
Our discussion this day centered on a chart that we had come across earlier in the month. Let me describe this chart for you. On the left side is a column of words like fear, destruction, isolation, insecurity, judgement and death. On the right side, lined up in direct opposition to each of the words I just read were the words, rest, restore, relationship, confidence, forgiveness and life. The left side of the chart were words used to describe Satan while the words on the right were words that describe Jesus. This chart was made to help us compare and contrast Satan's tactics from Jesus' in dealing with those of us in this world.
One of my friends drew a vertical line separating the left side from the right side of the chart. He said that at times he feels like he is straddling that line trying to balance life. As the negative thoughts come from the Satan's side of the ledger, my friend feels he has to balance it against what he knows to be true about himself. He then went on to have an eye opening experience. He really isn't straddling that divide - he simply chooses to cross over from the Jesus side to the Satan side as he entertains the various thoughts that come as a result of the circumstances in life.
That makes so much more sense to me than just straddling that line. We really aren't that good at balancing between good and bad. As I have talked about many times, we were never intended to be the determining factor when it comes to goodness or the badness that comes our way. My friend's realization that we come to this line as we drift from side to side on this chart is something that I think victors need to take into serious consideration.
As we continued our conversation, my friend said something that I'm still wrestling with in many ways. He said "We have to be willing to surrender, then we can look at what we believe." It just isn't enough to obtain a bunch of knowledge and to use that knowledge to come up with some belief system that we are willing to give a try. God wants us to surrender to the right side of this equation and then live in a place of belief that Jesus is all He says He is in our lives. For those analytical, proof driven and linear thinking kinds of people, like me, that is a hard pill to swallow.
Then a Bible verse popped into my head. Jesus encountered a man who really needed God's power in his life. Apparently this man's son was afflicted by an evil spirit that not only impacted this man's son's life, the spirit was actually working to try and kill the young boy at times. The man comes to Jesus and says,
"But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:22-24 (NKJV)
This father was desperate. Can you imagine watching your child suffer at the hands of evil in this world? He was desperate to see God move and took a big risk. He brought his son to see Jesus. You have to realize that this father didn't have much faith. Look at the first line of today's reading. It says, "But if you can..."
This guy was talking to God Himself and dared to use the word "If". That alone should have eliminated this man from receiving anything from Jesus. After all, if he has so little faith, why would God want to do anything for this guy at all. I hope you see those words are nothing more than victim thinking coming out in ways that I know all too well. It is when we connect things like faith or belief or performance of any kind to who God sees us to be that we will end up in the throws of victim thinking.
Jesus answers the man's feeble statement of faith with the direction to believe. Then the man realizes that his belief might not be enough. Tearfully, he cries out to Jesus and says, "I believe, help me with my unbelief..."
I so relate to this man. Don't you? You see, I believe too, but I also am filled with so much unbelief. Looking at those words on the chart I see places where God has taken me on an amazing journey of progress in being able to live on the side of believing Jesus. There are other words on that list that I need a lot of help with. As usual, with God, it isn’t about how well we are doing in it all, it is about how much He is allowed to be part of the process. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
I feel like God has helped me in my belief in relationship. In the past, life's circumstances has made it possible for me to really despise the idea of relationship. In many ways, I have always been kind of a loner. Isolation works really well for me as a strategy at times. I can remember conversations where I have actually said that I hate relationship. For those of you who know me, those statements might seem kind of shocking. But, I have to tell you, they are true. God has done a miracle in making relationships something I crave in my life today. Sure, I still would rather be alone at times, but am living a relational life because God has shown me the power that results when I allow others to be a part my life and as I earn the right to be a part of the lives of others.
On the other side of the equation is the word fear. That tactic of Satan's that is combated by Jesus with the word rest. I still need a lot of help with my unbelief over the word rest. I face fear by getting busy. Rest is a four letter word to me when it comes to battling fear in my life. I live by the rule that rest means inactivity. Inactivity makes accomplishment impossible. That takes me to the belief that without accomplishment, I can't be loved. When it comes to the fear/rest equation, I believe, but, Lord help me with my unbelief.
The victor needs to know that the power that results in surrendering to belief isn't exclusively there when we come to a place of being 100% committed to our belief. God's power is there when we come to a place of wanting to believe but need so much help in overcoming our unbelief. That power is there because it is in that place of need for God's help that the amazing power of God becomes something that comes our way.
It is definitely a step by step process. It is a dimmer switch kind of progression. Slowly the light is coming on. But, like any light, even the smallest and dimmest light makes darkness flee. The help God is providing in my unbelief is making the dimmer switch move more fully into the on position. Thank God he doesn’t expect an on/off kind of change. I would be doomed because that just isn’t in the cards for me as far as I can see God’s plan for my life. I’m beginning to love that fact. It is the journey with God that makes the time He spends with me showing me the ins and outs of love and rest that make the time it takes to get to where God is leading something that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Maybe I am more surrendered than I give myself credit for. I do believe! God help me with my unbelief! Such a powerful way to live. This makes it possible to allow God to be God, even in the things that we both know desperately need changing in my life. When it comes to fear, I want the rest of God to be what drives me into a deeper and deeper understanding of the love He has for me. That's the only way I will ever be able to live out the victor status He has made possible for me to have.
I want that rest in my life - a rest that comes with contentment. I want to believe more and more that, when it comes to my life, it is OK! I’m OK with God. That kind of rest makes love something more believable. Thank you God that you don't wait until I am 100% surrendered to belief in Jesus' attributes before your power comes. Thank you that you are training me to live in rest and love. Thank you that your rest and love are filled with action and power. Thank you for this moment in life!
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A group of friends of mine met the other day and we had an amazing discussion. I wish our talks were recorded. The insights I get from these friends, as we do life together, are simply amazing. We don't have much figured out, but let me tell you, we are seeing God in ways that has made lasting change a possibility when it comes to keeping victim thinking out of our lives.
Our discussion this day centered on a chart that we had come across earlier in the month. Let me describe this chart for you. On the left side is a column of words like fear, destruction, isolation, insecurity, judgement and death. On the right side, lined up in direct opposition to each of the words I just read were the words, rest, restore, relationship, confidence, forgiveness and life. The left side of the chart were words used to describe Satan while the words on the right were words that describe Jesus. This chart was made to help us compare and contrast Satan's tactics from Jesus' in dealing with those of us in this world.
One of my friends drew a vertical line separating the left side from the right side of the chart. He said that at times he feels like he is straddling that line trying to balance life. As the negative thoughts come from the Satan's side of the ledger, my friend feels he has to balance it against what he knows to be true about himself. He then went on to have an eye opening experience. He really isn't straddling that divide - he simply chooses to cross over from the Jesus side to the Satan side as he entertains the various thoughts that come as a result of the circumstances in life.
That makes so much more sense to me than just straddling that line. We really aren't that good at balancing between good and bad. As I have talked about many times, we were never intended to be the determining factor when it comes to goodness or the badness that comes our way. My friend's realization that we come to this line as we drift from side to side on this chart is something that I think victors need to take into serious consideration.
As we continued our conversation, my friend said something that I'm still wrestling with in many ways. He said "We have to be willing to surrender, then we can look at what we believe." It just isn't enough to obtain a bunch of knowledge and to use that knowledge to come up with some belief system that we are willing to give a try. God wants us to surrender to the right side of this equation and then live in a place of belief that Jesus is all He says He is in our lives. For those analytical, proof driven and linear thinking kinds of people, like me, that is a hard pill to swallow.
Then a Bible verse popped into my head. Jesus encountered a man who really needed God's power in his life. Apparently this man's son was afflicted by an evil spirit that not only impacted this man's son's life, the spirit was actually working to try and kill the young boy at times. The man comes to Jesus and says,
"But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us."
Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:22-24 (NKJV)
This guy was talking to God Himself and dared to use the word "If". That alone should have eliminated this man from receiving anything from Jesus. After all, if he has so little faith, why would God want to do anything for this guy at all. I hope you see those words are nothing more than victim thinking coming out in ways that I know all too well. It is when we connect things like faith or belief or performance of any kind to who God sees us to be that we will end up in the throws of victim thinking.
Jesus answers the man's feeble statement of faith with the direction to believe. Then the man realizes that his belief might not be enough. Tearfully, he cries out to Jesus and says, "I believe, help me with my unbelief..."
I so relate to this man. Don't you? You see, I believe too, but I also am filled with so much unbelief. Looking at those words on the chart I see places where God has taken me on an amazing journey of progress in being able to live on the side of believing Jesus. There are other words on that list that I need a lot of help with. As usual, with God, it isn’t about how well we are doing in it all, it is about how much He is allowed to be part of the process. Here's an example of what I'm talking about.
I feel like God has helped me in my belief in relationship. In the past, life's circumstances has made it possible for me to really despise the idea of relationship. In many ways, I have always been kind of a loner. Isolation works really well for me as a strategy at times. I can remember conversations where I have actually said that I hate relationship. For those of you who know me, those statements might seem kind of shocking. But, I have to tell you, they are true. God has done a miracle in making relationships something I crave in my life today. Sure, I still would rather be alone at times, but am living a relational life because God has shown me the power that results when I allow others to be a part my life and as I earn the right to be a part of the lives of others.
On the other side of the equation is the word fear. That tactic of Satan's that is combated by Jesus with the word rest. I still need a lot of help with my unbelief over the word rest. I face fear by getting busy. Rest is a four letter word to me when it comes to battling fear in my life. I live by the rule that rest means inactivity. Inactivity makes accomplishment impossible. That takes me to the belief that without accomplishment, I can't be loved. When it comes to the fear/rest equation, I believe, but, Lord help me with my unbelief.
The victor needs to know that the power that results in surrendering to belief isn't exclusively there when we come to a place of being 100% committed to our belief. God's power is there when we come to a place of wanting to believe but need so much help in overcoming our unbelief. That power is there because it is in that place of need for God's help that the amazing power of God becomes something that comes our way.
It is definitely a step by step process. It is a dimmer switch kind of progression. Slowly the light is coming on. But, like any light, even the smallest and dimmest light makes darkness flee. The help God is providing in my unbelief is making the dimmer switch move more fully into the on position. Thank God he doesn’t expect an on/off kind of change. I would be doomed because that just isn’t in the cards for me as far as I can see God’s plan for my life. I’m beginning to love that fact. It is the journey with God that makes the time He spends with me showing me the ins and outs of love and rest that make the time it takes to get to where God is leading something that I wouldn’t trade for the world.
Maybe I am more surrendered than I give myself credit for. I do believe! God help me with my unbelief! Such a powerful way to live. This makes it possible to allow God to be God, even in the things that we both know desperately need changing in my life. When it comes to fear, I want the rest of God to be what drives me into a deeper and deeper understanding of the love He has for me. That's the only way I will ever be able to live out the victor status He has made possible for me to have.
I want that rest in my life - a rest that comes with contentment. I want to believe more and more that, when it comes to my life, it is OK! I’m OK with God. That kind of rest makes love something more believable. Thank you God that you don't wait until I am 100% surrendered to belief in Jesus' attributes before your power comes. Thank you that you are training me to live in rest and love. Thank you that your rest and love are filled with action and power. Thank you for this moment in life!
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Day 238 - Satisfying That Hunger
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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"Worldly prosperity is about trying to bolster your identity with things. We want to be more than we feel we are so we amass as much as we can in the hopes that this proves we are more. My soul is tired just thinking about how that last sentence has been lived over and over again in my life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 118.
Ever seen that bumper sticker that says, "Those with the most toys wins!"? That sentiment is the epitome of what my quote from today's presentation is trying to combat. Who we are, how we really feel about ourselves and how much we have will never be all that we need to feel the kind of peace I believe the victor is suppose to have in his or her life.
I have known people with insane amounts of money. These people were some of the most miserable, confused and identity lacking folks I have ever seen. I have seen powerful and absurdly rich people screw up their entire life doing stupid things for reasons, I now see, as them just trying to feel some proof of life in the middle of their amazing circumstances. I have heard of wildly successful people committing suicide because they were so lost when it came to who they were. If money, position and possessions were all we needed to make this life be all it is suppose to be, I believe cases like what I have described here wouldn't be as prevalent as I know them to be.
Sure, there are rich and powerful people who are happy by all outward appearances. It isn't the money or position that I believe is a threat to their well being. It is relying on that money and/or position that opens the door to victim thinking. It is when, what we rely on for what we need begins to change that circumstances can really usher in victim thinking principals.
Our reading today puts an exclamation point on what I'm trying to say about how the results of what we do is so hopeless in making what really matters happen in our lives. Let's take a look at today's passage now.
Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety,
but trusted instead in great wealth
and looked for security in being wicked.
But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God;
I trust in his constant love forever and ever.
I will always thank you, God, for what you have done;
in the presence of your people
I will proclaim that you are good. Psalm 52:7-9 (GNT)
It isn't the person's wealth that made the difference. It wasn't what they did that made them secure. No, it is the fact that the author of this Psalm realized his worth being planted right were he was that made all the difference when it came to seeing God's love in his life. God's pleasure for this man didn't happen because he was good at what he did for a living. No, God was pleased because this man chose to thrive - to grow exactly where God planted him. That's what a victor does when it comes to living fully in the power God has for our lives.
God doesn't have a thing against us being wealthy or powerful or in a place of position. In fact, God has plans for some of us to have all these and more. What God hates is, what our reliance on these worldly benefits does to our confidence as the victor He has made us to be. It is when we tie who we are to anything in this world that the ravages of victim thinking threaten to take over in our life. God hates those ravages because they cause us pain and He can't stand to see His children suffer.
Look, go after as many toys as you want. There's nothing wrong with having nice things at all. Just don't buy into the notion that the more you have the better you will feel about who you are. Applying that kind of logic is like thinking that painting your house will help end the pains in your belly when you are hungry. The two just don't match up at all. Doing more and more to try and quell the feelings regarding identity that make our Victim-Based Society possible, is just as absurd as painting a house and thinking that, that action will satisfy your physical hunger.
How hungry are you today? What are you going to do to satisfy that hunger? Choose your actions carefully. Make sure what you are working for will actually give you the result you want. Amassing more and more will do little to make your identity issues go away. Let what God says about you be all the sanctification you need to live the fullness of your victor status today.
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"Worldly prosperity is about trying to bolster your identity with things. We want to be more than we feel we are so we amass as much as we can in the hopes that this proves we are more. My soul is tired just thinking about how that last sentence has been lived over and over again in my life."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 118.
Ever seen that bumper sticker that says, "Those with the most toys wins!"? That sentiment is the epitome of what my quote from today's presentation is trying to combat. Who we are, how we really feel about ourselves and how much we have will never be all that we need to feel the kind of peace I believe the victor is suppose to have in his or her life.
I have known people with insane amounts of money. These people were some of the most miserable, confused and identity lacking folks I have ever seen. I have seen powerful and absurdly rich people screw up their entire life doing stupid things for reasons, I now see, as them just trying to feel some proof of life in the middle of their amazing circumstances. I have heard of wildly successful people committing suicide because they were so lost when it came to who they were. If money, position and possessions were all we needed to make this life be all it is suppose to be, I believe cases like what I have described here wouldn't be as prevalent as I know them to be.
Sure, there are rich and powerful people who are happy by all outward appearances. It isn't the money or position that I believe is a threat to their well being. It is relying on that money and/or position that opens the door to victim thinking. It is when, what we rely on for what we need begins to change that circumstances can really usher in victim thinking principals.
Our reading today puts an exclamation point on what I'm trying to say about how the results of what we do is so hopeless in making what really matters happen in our lives. Let's take a look at today's passage now.
Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety,
but trusted instead in great wealth
and looked for security in being wicked.
But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God;
I trust in his constant love forever and ever.
I will always thank you, God, for what you have done;
in the presence of your people
I will proclaim that you are good. Psalm 52:7-9 (GNT)
It isn't the person's wealth that made the difference. It wasn't what they did that made them secure. No, it is the fact that the author of this Psalm realized his worth being planted right were he was that made all the difference when it came to seeing God's love in his life. God's pleasure for this man didn't happen because he was good at what he did for a living. No, God was pleased because this man chose to thrive - to grow exactly where God planted him. That's what a victor does when it comes to living fully in the power God has for our lives.
God doesn't have a thing against us being wealthy or powerful or in a place of position. In fact, God has plans for some of us to have all these and more. What God hates is, what our reliance on these worldly benefits does to our confidence as the victor He has made us to be. It is when we tie who we are to anything in this world that the ravages of victim thinking threaten to take over in our life. God hates those ravages because they cause us pain and He can't stand to see His children suffer.
Look, go after as many toys as you want. There's nothing wrong with having nice things at all. Just don't buy into the notion that the more you have the better you will feel about who you are. Applying that kind of logic is like thinking that painting your house will help end the pains in your belly when you are hungry. The two just don't match up at all. Doing more and more to try and quell the feelings regarding identity that make our Victim-Based Society possible, is just as absurd as painting a house and thinking that, that action will satisfy your physical hunger.
How hungry are you today? What are you going to do to satisfy that hunger? Choose your actions carefully. Make sure what you are working for will actually give you the result you want. Amassing more and more will do little to make your identity issues go away. Let what God says about you be all the sanctification you need to live the fullness of your victor status today.
Monday, February 19, 2018
Day 237 - The Truth In The Lie
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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"He is pleased with us (being His children) because of our identity, not because of what we do with that identity. Hold on to this fact – it is where victor thinking has the power to overwhelm victimhood in our lives."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 92.
Now there's a concept that I have trouble grasping from time to time. Do I really live life believing that God is pleased with me? How about you? Do you have any challenges believing in God's pleasure with who you are at this moment in time?
That feeling of doubt, that feeling of condemnation that comes as I doubt who I am in God's eyes is what makes victim thinking a possibility. It is when I do, or say or fail to do or say something that this world is uniquely positioned to make me feel like there is no way this God could ever be pleased with me. This is nothing more than a lie from the pit of hell. I have found that learning to recognizing this lie in my life, and calling it for what it is, is paramount if I am to live out my victor status.
We have to remember that for a lie to be truly effective, there has to be some element of truth in it. If the lie we need to deal with is that God could never be pleased with us because of what we have done or are doing now, then we need to parse the truth from the lie in that statement.
Truth is that we all have done things, and are doing things right now, that should bring displeasure to this God that loves us so. Who of us is living a perfectly sinless life? No one! God is perfect so any lack of perfection makes it impossible to commune with Him in any way. Because of our mistakes, our transgressions and our willingness to do things outside of God's provision and protection, we are deserving of death and eternal separation. If the story ended there, the lies of Satan would have to be considered complete and absolute truth.
But the story doesn't end there. God knew that, left to trust solely on our own misguided ways, it is hopeless to ever think that we might be in a position to bring pleasure into His life at all. That's the power and the beauty of the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. It isn't what we do that makes it possible to please this God. It is what Jesus has done that makes it possible for all our transgressions to be overlooked. Our actions mean nothing as far as pleasing God is concerned. Our action in letting Jesus be our bridge to God is what makes any other actions we do, good or bad, irrelevant when it comes to our relationship with this God.
So, the truth in the lie that says we will never please God is that on our own, we can't please Him. What Satan wants us to believe is that we are left abandoned because of that fact. He wants us to over look the completed work of Jesus and just give up hope all together when it comes to a relationship with God. In this case, even the truth portion of the lie doesn't even matter because of Jesus' work on the cross. No amount of our doing will ever be enough to make us be what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
I can't stress how important this concept is for us to live like the victors we so long to be in our lives. Relying on our actions to confirm our victor status is just as futile of an endeavor as to thinking that our efforts will ever be enough to please this God. Alone, we can't - we can't make our identity work, we can't live like a victor, we can't avoid victim thinking, we can't relate to this perfect God. With Jesus we can!
Let me read today's Bible passage as it relates to the work we do trying to please God.
If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves? Psalm 127:1-2 (MSG)
It is useless to work your "worried" fingers to the bone. Oh if I could only lock this thought into my head when Satan comes at me with the lie that I am not doing enough to please God. It isn't that God wants me sitting around doing nothing. That's not the kind of rest the author of today's passage is talking about. The rest that God loves to give is rest from that stress filled, panic driven and completely useless striving to prove that we are something God already sees us as. God's rest is filled with plenty to do. The kind of rest God loves to give is rest from the self focused, life draining efforts of trying to live up to an impossible standard that only we hold ourselves to.
By the way, Satan will do all he can to make sure you don't let God's rest be a part of your walk with Him. The busier you are at trying to earn what God freely gives, the less likely you will have lasting impact on your world and on the Kingdom being built around you by God. If Satan can't get you to believe that God doesn't love you, he will do all he can to make you as busy as possible trying to earn that love we all so desperately want in our lives.
To live the fullness of this life as a victor, we have to start recognizing the lies in our life. Not only that, we have to stop letting those lies be what drives us into more and more frenetic activity. At some point, we need to come to a place where we can look at our lives and determine why we do the things we do. Root out as much of the God pleasing and identity earning motives as you can. It is when we are living in a place where we believe what God says about us that the power of victor living can really be experienced in our lives.
**********
"He is pleased with us (being His children) because of our identity, not because of what we do with that identity. Hold on to this fact – it is where victor thinking has the power to overwhelm victimhood in our lives."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 92.
Now there's a concept that I have trouble grasping from time to time. Do I really live life believing that God is pleased with me? How about you? Do you have any challenges believing in God's pleasure with who you are at this moment in time?
That feeling of doubt, that feeling of condemnation that comes as I doubt who I am in God's eyes is what makes victim thinking a possibility. It is when I do, or say or fail to do or say something that this world is uniquely positioned to make me feel like there is no way this God could ever be pleased with me. This is nothing more than a lie from the pit of hell. I have found that learning to recognizing this lie in my life, and calling it for what it is, is paramount if I am to live out my victor status.
We have to remember that for a lie to be truly effective, there has to be some element of truth in it. If the lie we need to deal with is that God could never be pleased with us because of what we have done or are doing now, then we need to parse the truth from the lie in that statement.
Truth is that we all have done things, and are doing things right now, that should bring displeasure to this God that loves us so. Who of us is living a perfectly sinless life? No one! God is perfect so any lack of perfection makes it impossible to commune with Him in any way. Because of our mistakes, our transgressions and our willingness to do things outside of God's provision and protection, we are deserving of death and eternal separation. If the story ended there, the lies of Satan would have to be considered complete and absolute truth.
But the story doesn't end there. God knew that, left to trust solely on our own misguided ways, it is hopeless to ever think that we might be in a position to bring pleasure into His life at all. That's the power and the beauty of the plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. It isn't what we do that makes it possible to please this God. It is what Jesus has done that makes it possible for all our transgressions to be overlooked. Our actions mean nothing as far as pleasing God is concerned. Our action in letting Jesus be our bridge to God is what makes any other actions we do, good or bad, irrelevant when it comes to our relationship with this God.
So, the truth in the lie that says we will never please God is that on our own, we can't please Him. What Satan wants us to believe is that we are left abandoned because of that fact. He wants us to over look the completed work of Jesus and just give up hope all together when it comes to a relationship with God. In this case, even the truth portion of the lie doesn't even matter because of Jesus' work on the cross. No amount of our doing will ever be enough to make us be what Jesus has done for us on the cross.
I can't stress how important this concept is for us to live like the victors we so long to be in our lives. Relying on our actions to confirm our victor status is just as futile of an endeavor as to thinking that our efforts will ever be enough to please this God. Alone, we can't - we can't make our identity work, we can't live like a victor, we can't avoid victim thinking, we can't relate to this perfect God. With Jesus we can!
Let me read today's Bible passage as it relates to the work we do trying to please God.
If God doesn’t build the house,
the builders only build shacks.
If God doesn’t guard the city,
the night watchman might as well nap.
It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late,
and work your worried fingers to the bone.
Don’t you know he enjoys
giving rest to those he loves? Psalm 127:1-2 (MSG)
It is useless to work your "worried" fingers to the bone. Oh if I could only lock this thought into my head when Satan comes at me with the lie that I am not doing enough to please God. It isn't that God wants me sitting around doing nothing. That's not the kind of rest the author of today's passage is talking about. The rest that God loves to give is rest from that stress filled, panic driven and completely useless striving to prove that we are something God already sees us as. God's rest is filled with plenty to do. The kind of rest God loves to give is rest from the self focused, life draining efforts of trying to live up to an impossible standard that only we hold ourselves to.
By the way, Satan will do all he can to make sure you don't let God's rest be a part of your walk with Him. The busier you are at trying to earn what God freely gives, the less likely you will have lasting impact on your world and on the Kingdom being built around you by God. If Satan can't get you to believe that God doesn't love you, he will do all he can to make you as busy as possible trying to earn that love we all so desperately want in our lives.
To live the fullness of this life as a victor, we have to start recognizing the lies in our life. Not only that, we have to stop letting those lies be what drives us into more and more frenetic activity. At some point, we need to come to a place where we can look at our lives and determine why we do the things we do. Root out as much of the God pleasing and identity earning motives as you can. It is when we are living in a place where we believe what God says about us that the power of victor living can really be experienced in our lives.
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Day 236 - The Flow of Grace
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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"In religion we worry about the results because results reflect on our identity. We do good, so therefore we must be good. Failure means there must be something wrong with us. This is victim thinking."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 78.
Religion and results can be tied together in ways that work to make victims of those who buy into the results based means of getting to this God that is suppose to love us. Results back us into the corner of using our religious understanding to try and make sense of all that comes at us in this world. It is when we bow to the alter of results that victim thinking can't help but to be the outcome that drives our lives.
You see, results make us move in circles where good and bad are the issue. Humans were never suppose to know the difference between what is good and what is bad. I know that is an impossible concept to wrap our heads around. We are bombarded by the need to determine good from bad in everything we do all day long. The knowledge of good and bad is what causes us to live in a way where victim thinking comes in and tries to kill our prospects of living fully in the life of the victor God sees us to be.
Religion, at its worst, adds another layer of confusion to the potential victim thinker stuck in making good and bad the basis from which they live out their identity. Religion brings in a host of rules and regulations to try and help us figure out good from bad. That kind of thinking puts in an adversarial position with those who think differently when it comes to what is good and what is bad. Its no wonder a large portion of the world fails to embrace organized religion today.
Jesus made it very clear that He hated religion. He knew the awesome power and benefit of a relationship with The Father. Jesus saw, first hand, how man had turned what was suppose to be a relational approach to God into a results based process. Jesus had some pretty direct and harsh words when it came to the leaders of religions entities. He called it as He saw it and I think we need to be looking at our own methods of coming to this God to make sure we too aren't falling in the same trap.
Religion makes us think it is all up to us. Do this, don't do that. If we can just keep the rules in a good enough fashion, maybe, just maybe we will be good enough to make it in the end. Ask any person who has little or no church experience and they to are caught in the results based method of getting to God. Most believe that if the good in their lives out weights the bad, then surely God will let them into whatever is next after this life.
I hope you see the futility of that kind of religious and non-religious, results based thinking. I'm exhausted just considering what it takes to be good enough to be a part of what God promises. I've tried to live a results based life. I've tried to let what I do be enough to prove who I am. For a while that seemed to work just fine. It was when what I did didn't seem to rise to a level that I thought made enough progress in life that fear started to creep in.
What if all my efforts weren't good enough? That made me double down and work all the harder. I did so until I nearly worked myself into an early grave. It was when I took time to slow down that I started to recognize the unforced rhythms of the grace God surrounds us with on a moment-by-moment basis. The more I tap into those rhythms, the more I feel the pressure being lifted from my need to let results be what makes me worthy of whatever this God has for me.
Phillip Yancy has a quote on grace that blows results living out of the water. He says, "Grace, like water, flows to the lowest points." Religion has gotten way too preoccupied in making us acceptable to receive that grace. It makes results be what proves that grace is warranted in a person's life. Yancy says it is exactly the opposite. Grace settles where it is needed most. Results living make it so that grace is so hard to find, let alone be something that we find easy to dispense.
Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Romans 4:16-17 (NLT)
All we need is faith. Amazing thing about the faith that is required is that, that too comes from God. I'm continually amazed at how little I am required to do to be the victor God made me to be. Yet, I still revert back to the strategy of results to make me feel good about my self in ways that ultimately leave me feeling like a victim.
That's why letting religion be anything about results is such a damaging way of helping people find their way to God. That kind of religion, though makes for a nice, clean and respectable Sunday experience, does little to be a part of the kinds of profound change God is bringing about in this world.
I want to be about being a part of making that kind of change happen in my world. In order to begin, I need to change my results based ways of thinking about who I am and who this God is to me. Sure, there will be tasks that God gives me where getting something done will be required. God isn't afraid of results. He just doesn't want us to let results be what provides any level of comfort in who we are. He longs to give us that comfort directly as He interacts with us in this life.
Maybe that low in your circumstances you are experiencing right now is nothing more than a gathering point for the unforced rhythms of grace from God in your life. If Yancy is right and grace settles like water, then the challenging times may be more about God doing something in your life, than your need to get something done.
Allow that grace to do all it needs to in your life today. Let results based living pass by you. Be the power house of victor living God wants for you. Allow Him to do the work as you go about taking on all that lies before you this amazing day.
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"In religion we worry about the results because results reflect on our identity. We do good, so therefore we must be good. Failure means there must be something wrong with us. This is victim thinking."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 78.
Religion and results can be tied together in ways that work to make victims of those who buy into the results based means of getting to this God that is suppose to love us. Results back us into the corner of using our religious understanding to try and make sense of all that comes at us in this world. It is when we bow to the alter of results that victim thinking can't help but to be the outcome that drives our lives.
You see, results make us move in circles where good and bad are the issue. Humans were never suppose to know the difference between what is good and what is bad. I know that is an impossible concept to wrap our heads around. We are bombarded by the need to determine good from bad in everything we do all day long. The knowledge of good and bad is what causes us to live in a way where victim thinking comes in and tries to kill our prospects of living fully in the life of the victor God sees us to be.
Religion, at its worst, adds another layer of confusion to the potential victim thinker stuck in making good and bad the basis from which they live out their identity. Religion brings in a host of rules and regulations to try and help us figure out good from bad. That kind of thinking puts in an adversarial position with those who think differently when it comes to what is good and what is bad. Its no wonder a large portion of the world fails to embrace organized religion today.
Jesus made it very clear that He hated religion. He knew the awesome power and benefit of a relationship with The Father. Jesus saw, first hand, how man had turned what was suppose to be a relational approach to God into a results based process. Jesus had some pretty direct and harsh words when it came to the leaders of religions entities. He called it as He saw it and I think we need to be looking at our own methods of coming to this God to make sure we too aren't falling in the same trap.
Religion makes us think it is all up to us. Do this, don't do that. If we can just keep the rules in a good enough fashion, maybe, just maybe we will be good enough to make it in the end. Ask any person who has little or no church experience and they to are caught in the results based method of getting to God. Most believe that if the good in their lives out weights the bad, then surely God will let them into whatever is next after this life.
I hope you see the futility of that kind of religious and non-religious, results based thinking. I'm exhausted just considering what it takes to be good enough to be a part of what God promises. I've tried to live a results based life. I've tried to let what I do be enough to prove who I am. For a while that seemed to work just fine. It was when what I did didn't seem to rise to a level that I thought made enough progress in life that fear started to creep in.
What if all my efforts weren't good enough? That made me double down and work all the harder. I did so until I nearly worked myself into an early grave. It was when I took time to slow down that I started to recognize the unforced rhythms of the grace God surrounds us with on a moment-by-moment basis. The more I tap into those rhythms, the more I feel the pressure being lifted from my need to let results be what makes me worthy of whatever this God has for me.
Phillip Yancy has a quote on grace that blows results living out of the water. He says, "Grace, like water, flows to the lowest points." Religion has gotten way too preoccupied in making us acceptable to receive that grace. It makes results be what proves that grace is warranted in a person's life. Yancy says it is exactly the opposite. Grace settles where it is needed most. Results living make it so that grace is so hard to find, let alone be something that we find easy to dispense.
Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Romans 4:16-17 (NLT)
All we need is faith. Amazing thing about the faith that is required is that, that too comes from God. I'm continually amazed at how little I am required to do to be the victor God made me to be. Yet, I still revert back to the strategy of results to make me feel good about my self in ways that ultimately leave me feeling like a victim.
That's why letting religion be anything about results is such a damaging way of helping people find their way to God. That kind of religion, though makes for a nice, clean and respectable Sunday experience, does little to be a part of the kinds of profound change God is bringing about in this world.
Maybe that low in your circumstances you are experiencing right now is nothing more than a gathering point for the unforced rhythms of grace from God in your life. If Yancy is right and grace settles like water, then the challenging times may be more about God doing something in your life, than your need to get something done.
Allow that grace to do all it needs to in your life today. Let results based living pass by you. Be the power house of victor living God wants for you. Allow Him to do the work as you go about taking on all that lies before you this amazing day.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Day 235 - Stepping Out Of The Shadow
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 we rely on our own efforts to be righteous instead of allowing The Holy Spirit to convict us of our righteousness we come face to face with the feeling of condemnation. Long term condemnation is the foundation of victim thinking."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 58.
I have lived most of my life being guided by the principal that goes something like this, "If you want a job done well, do it yourself." Although I still feel this principal has served me well in the past, I have come to realize that it is not universally true about some of the work that I come across on a day-by-day basis.
Where this principal is especially wrong is when it comes to my identity. Forming the identity that I need and making that identity be something that lasts is simply not a job that I can do very well. I don't know of a single person in this world that is suited to do this job in a way that even comes close to something that we can describe as "well."
It isn't that we are too limited in our ability. We aren't missing some kind of education of mental prowess to make this job be all it can be in our lives. It isn't even that we aren't pure enough in our motives to make our identity a task that we can accomplish with any kind of competency. No, our shortfalls in the area of identity come with the reality that we are strangers in a strange land. That fact makes forming and maintaining our identity something the victor simply cannot do on his or her own.
Today's Bible reading shows two men, who face an identity crisis before God. One handled it a religious way while the other handled it a relational way. Can you guess who God sees as the victor here? Let's read the story now.
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ The tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.' Luke 18:9-14 (NASB)
The Pharisee was someone who took the responsibility of identity really seriously. He studied and applied himself in ways that allowed him to rise to the tops of society at that time. Don't know you know there was a lot of pride the family of this man felt knowing their son, husband, father and/or sibling had what it took to be thought of in such regard by all in that day?
That entire last paragraph is what makes victim thinking possible when it comes to relying solely on ourselves to form and maintain an identity for ourselves. Pride, status, power, and ultimately condemnation are all the result when we think we have it all under control as far as identity is concerned. Not only are we putting ourselves in a position where we will ultimately be disappointed, it is so easy to look down on others who might not be as adept at securing identity like we think we are.
So it was for this religious leader. His position allowed him to believe that his standing was assured before God. After all, he had done it all the right way, so wouldn't God be so proud. God says in our reading today that it will be the Pharisee that will be humiliated due to the fact that he dared exalt himself based on what he had done to get to where he was in life. It is when we are successful at making an identity work for us outside the loving direction of God that pride leads to a fall that will result in the need to eat some humble pie.
It was the hated and shunned tax collector that gained an appreciation of who God is to be in his life. He came to the realization that all the work he had done to make a name for himself was for nothing when compared to the God that loved him so. He woke up to the reality that God's love trumps any position of pride that we might be able to make for ourselves. Though the tax collector couldn't even lift his eyes to God due to the guilt he felt at how short his life had fallen, Jesus make it clear that this is exactly the kind of man God loves to raise up.
It isn't that God is looking for us to feel like dirt when it comes to who we are. He just wants us to recognize the futility of thinking we can make an identity for ourselves that will last. Unfortunately, for many of us, coming to that conclusion takes a lot of hard knocks in this life. It is when we get tired of beating our head against the wall of identity and let God in, that things start to change.
I don't know about you, but I want to be exalted. I want to be lifted up. I have spent the better part of my life trying to make that happen. I have leaned heavily on the success and accomplishments I have been able to make happen to drive home for me who I am. When that didn't work, it almost killed me. Then God came rushing in.
It was when I started believing in who God says I am that this life started to make sense again. Sure I still have big dreams and still some energy to chase a few of those dreams. I now chase those dreams, not for identity driven reasons, but for reasons based more on leading and passion and calling. Are my motives completely clear? Of course not! I'm still a work in progress. It is the fact that God is working overtime to convince me of the righteousness He has placed in me that makes my identity take on a power that I could never have mustered up on my own like I tried so hard to do in the past.
Isn't it time you get out from under the dark cloud of condemnation that comes from relying on your own efforts to secure an identity? If you aren't feeling that condemnation yet, I know you will in the not too distant future. Step fully into the light of God's truth in your life. Step into the fullness of the victor God says you are. Make your accomplishments be something other than support for who you want the world to see you to be. Let the righteousness of God be seen in your life as you live as His Child today.
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"When we rely on our own efforts to be righteous instead of allowing The Holy Spirit to convict us of our righteousness we come face to face with the feeling of condemnation. Long term condemnation is the foundation of victim thinking."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 58.
I have lived most of my life being guided by the principal that goes something like this, "If you want a job done well, do it yourself." Although I still feel this principal has served me well in the past, I have come to realize that it is not universally true about some of the work that I come across on a day-by-day basis.
Where this principal is especially wrong is when it comes to my identity. Forming the identity that I need and making that identity be something that lasts is simply not a job that I can do very well. I don't know of a single person in this world that is suited to do this job in a way that even comes close to something that we can describe as "well."
It isn't that we are too limited in our ability. We aren't missing some kind of education of mental prowess to make this job be all it can be in our lives. It isn't even that we aren't pure enough in our motives to make our identity a task that we can accomplish with any kind of competency. No, our shortfalls in the area of identity come with the reality that we are strangers in a strange land. That fact makes forming and maintaining our identity something the victor simply cannot do on his or her own.
Today's Bible reading shows two men, who face an identity crisis before God. One handled it a religious way while the other handled it a relational way. Can you guess who God sees as the victor here? Let's read the story now.
And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ The tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.' Luke 18:9-14 (NASB)
The Pharisee was someone who took the responsibility of identity really seriously. He studied and applied himself in ways that allowed him to rise to the tops of society at that time. Don't know you know there was a lot of pride the family of this man felt knowing their son, husband, father and/or sibling had what it took to be thought of in such regard by all in that day?
That entire last paragraph is what makes victim thinking possible when it comes to relying solely on ourselves to form and maintain an identity for ourselves. Pride, status, power, and ultimately condemnation are all the result when we think we have it all under control as far as identity is concerned. Not only are we putting ourselves in a position where we will ultimately be disappointed, it is so easy to look down on others who might not be as adept at securing identity like we think we are.
So it was for this religious leader. His position allowed him to believe that his standing was assured before God. After all, he had done it all the right way, so wouldn't God be so proud. God says in our reading today that it will be the Pharisee that will be humiliated due to the fact that he dared exalt himself based on what he had done to get to where he was in life. It is when we are successful at making an identity work for us outside the loving direction of God that pride leads to a fall that will result in the need to eat some humble pie.
It was the hated and shunned tax collector that gained an appreciation of who God is to be in his life. He came to the realization that all the work he had done to make a name for himself was for nothing when compared to the God that loved him so. He woke up to the reality that God's love trumps any position of pride that we might be able to make for ourselves. Though the tax collector couldn't even lift his eyes to God due to the guilt he felt at how short his life had fallen, Jesus make it clear that this is exactly the kind of man God loves to raise up.
It isn't that God is looking for us to feel like dirt when it comes to who we are. He just wants us to recognize the futility of thinking we can make an identity for ourselves that will last. Unfortunately, for many of us, coming to that conclusion takes a lot of hard knocks in this life. It is when we get tired of beating our head against the wall of identity and let God in, that things start to change.
I don't know about you, but I want to be exalted. I want to be lifted up. I have spent the better part of my life trying to make that happen. I have leaned heavily on the success and accomplishments I have been able to make happen to drive home for me who I am. When that didn't work, it almost killed me. Then God came rushing in.
It was when I started believing in who God says I am that this life started to make sense again. Sure I still have big dreams and still some energy to chase a few of those dreams. I now chase those dreams, not for identity driven reasons, but for reasons based more on leading and passion and calling. Are my motives completely clear? Of course not! I'm still a work in progress. It is the fact that God is working overtime to convince me of the righteousness He has placed in me that makes my identity take on a power that I could never have mustered up on my own like I tried so hard to do in the past.
Isn't it time you get out from under the dark cloud of condemnation that comes from relying on your own efforts to secure an identity? If you aren't feeling that condemnation yet, I know you will in the not too distant future. Step fully into the light of God's truth in your life. Step into the fullness of the victor God says you are. Make your accomplishments be something other than support for who you want the world to see you to be. Let the righteousness of God be seen in your life as you live as His Child today.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Day 234 - The Victor’s Victory
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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"The reality that The Church has failed to point out is that those of us waiting on our victorious time are just as much a victor as the person who has received a miracle from God."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 35.
Have you ever been so desperate for something that you feel like you might burst waiting on that thing to happen? Believe me, I know that place all too well. I’m just not too sure that is a place where God resides. Let me explain.
The Bible is clear that God wants us to be desperate for Him. I just don’t see it all that clearly in The Word, that God wants that desperation for Him to ALWAYS look like something He does for us. That’s not how real, loving relationships work in the human realm. I just don’t think it is the way it works with a relationship with God as well.
How can I say such a thing with confidence? Let’s consider a real life example. What if you are married to a woman who is an amazing cook. Night after night you come home to a meal that is way beyond anything you could ever dream of. Now, here’s the hard question you have to consider. Are you in love with your wife or with her cooking? Here’s where that question really gets put to the test.
Let’s further speculate that you have had a really hard day at work. What if the day has been so hard that you haven’t had a single moment to eat breakfast or lunch. Don’t you know you are going to be starving by the end of the day? Maybe the only thing holding you together is the knowledge that you will have an amazing meal prepared by your loving wife when you get home. Are you desperate for the meal or for your wife who is cooking that mean? If you let honestly win out, the meal is what you want, isn’t it?
How do you think your wife would feel if she was, night after night, only sought after for that amazing meal she cooks. Do you think she would be growing in her trust of love you are offering or shrinking back from it? That’s the exact thing we do with God as we find ourselves constantly desperate for His goodies rather than desperate for relationship with Him.
Today’s Bible reading is a really simple one.
“You shall not covet…” Exodus 20:15 (NIV)
The verse goes on to list things we are not to covet, things like our neighbor’s stuff, etc. But isn’t that what we do when we are desperate for God’s goodies in our life? Aren't we really coveting for the things of God rather than being desperate for God Himself? I know that hits a little close to home for me. How about you?
Look, it’s not wrong to ask, even plead with God for the necessities of life. I have found that victim thinking is ready and waiting for me when I think that I know best as to how God is suppose to meet my every need in life. It is when God’s idea of what is best for us at any given moment fails to align with our view of what is good for us that doubt comes creeping in. That doubt might be focused on who we are. It might also be doubts as to who this God is in our lives that result. All I know is that those kinds of doubts are what ushers in the possibility for victim thinking.
As you go about your day today, how about taking a look at where you are on the covet spectrum. How much of what you are asking God to be a part of today is really about relationship with Him? The more honest you are with that question, the more likely you are to be able to let God into your day in ways that, I guarantee, will change your world.
God loves it when you think of Him more than you think of what He might be able to do for you. Even when your thought of Him is as honest as, "I really need you to do this thing for me today. I want to want you more than I need your miracles. I just don't know how to make that happen." God can't help but to be a part of open dialog like that. I can't swear that He will give you what you want, but I do know He will be with you in ways that will make whatever happens today something to behold.
If you find yourself waiting for something really important in your life today, remember whether you get that thing or not isn’t about who you are. You are God's Child. Your best intentions are His number one goal. Let God be the one who determines what is best for you as you wait on Him. As you wait, don’t give into the temptation to think less of who God is or who you are in His eyes. Your status at His Child ensures your position as victor even when victory remains just out of your grasp.
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"The reality that The Church has failed to point out is that those of us waiting on our victorious time are just as much a victor as the person who has received a miracle from God."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 35.
Have you ever been so desperate for something that you feel like you might burst waiting on that thing to happen? Believe me, I know that place all too well. I’m just not too sure that is a place where God resides. Let me explain.
The Bible is clear that God wants us to be desperate for Him. I just don’t see it all that clearly in The Word, that God wants that desperation for Him to ALWAYS look like something He does for us. That’s not how real, loving relationships work in the human realm. I just don’t think it is the way it works with a relationship with God as well.
How can I say such a thing with confidence? Let’s consider a real life example. What if you are married to a woman who is an amazing cook. Night after night you come home to a meal that is way beyond anything you could ever dream of. Now, here’s the hard question you have to consider. Are you in love with your wife or with her cooking? Here’s where that question really gets put to the test.
Let’s further speculate that you have had a really hard day at work. What if the day has been so hard that you haven’t had a single moment to eat breakfast or lunch. Don’t you know you are going to be starving by the end of the day? Maybe the only thing holding you together is the knowledge that you will have an amazing meal prepared by your loving wife when you get home. Are you desperate for the meal or for your wife who is cooking that mean? If you let honestly win out, the meal is what you want, isn’t it?
How do you think your wife would feel if she was, night after night, only sought after for that amazing meal she cooks. Do you think she would be growing in her trust of love you are offering or shrinking back from it? That’s the exact thing we do with God as we find ourselves constantly desperate for His goodies rather than desperate for relationship with Him.
Today’s Bible reading is a really simple one.
“You shall not covet…” Exodus 20:15 (NIV)
The verse goes on to list things we are not to covet, things like our neighbor’s stuff, etc. But isn’t that what we do when we are desperate for God’s goodies in our life? Aren't we really coveting for the things of God rather than being desperate for God Himself? I know that hits a little close to home for me. How about you?
Look, it’s not wrong to ask, even plead with God for the necessities of life. I have found that victim thinking is ready and waiting for me when I think that I know best as to how God is suppose to meet my every need in life. It is when God’s idea of what is best for us at any given moment fails to align with our view of what is good for us that doubt comes creeping in. That doubt might be focused on who we are. It might also be doubts as to who this God is in our lives that result. All I know is that those kinds of doubts are what ushers in the possibility for victim thinking.
As you go about your day today, how about taking a look at where you are on the covet spectrum. How much of what you are asking God to be a part of today is really about relationship with Him? The more honest you are with that question, the more likely you are to be able to let God into your day in ways that, I guarantee, will change your world.
God loves it when you think of Him more than you think of what He might be able to do for you. Even when your thought of Him is as honest as, "I really need you to do this thing for me today. I want to want you more than I need your miracles. I just don't know how to make that happen." God can't help but to be a part of open dialog like that. I can't swear that He will give you what you want, but I do know He will be with you in ways that will make whatever happens today something to behold.
If you find yourself waiting for something really important in your life today, remember whether you get that thing or not isn’t about who you are. You are God's Child. Your best intentions are His number one goal. Let God be the one who determines what is best for you as you wait on Him. As you wait, don’t give into the temptation to think less of who God is or who you are in His eyes. Your status at His Child ensures your position as victor even when victory remains just out of your grasp.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Day 233 - Quenching Your Thirst Part 2
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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Yesterday we focused on the word joy. We discussed the fact that Biblical joy is a joy that lasts. That joy comes only when we recognize we are in God's presence. God promises to never leave us. He says He will never forsake us. For that reason, we can expect that God's joy will be with us because His presence is always within our reach. Today we are going to see how joy is connected to peace.
Where the verse from Psalm 16 that we focused on yesterday deals with joy, the verse from Numbers had me focusing on the word peace.
Back on Day 226, we took a look at a presentation called "The Power of Let". In this talk we took a look at a verse on peace that had the words "let" and "rule" that was associated with peace. You might want to go back and check out that presentation again as it relates to what we are discussing today.
As I studied those words, I happened to look at the word “face” in the passage from Numbers we read today. As I studied the word “presence” from the Psalm passage I came across the Number's passage again. I was surprised to see that the word “presence” and the word “face” are the same word in the original language. That really caught my attention.
In the King James translation, the word presence was also translated as countenance. This is a word that I have used in the past but, frankly, I really couldn't tell you what it meant. I had to look it up in the dictionary. Countenance basically means a person’s facial expression. The face is the part of a person that we can “read”. That's why it is important to have what is called a "poker face" when playing cards of chance. Did you know that the face is also how we can “read” God? By stepping into the fullness of God’s Presence, we are able to experience joy and peace as we read the pleasure of a father's face beaming over His beloved children.
I’ll come back to that thought in a second. But first, check this out. God can also read us by our countenance. I find that fascinating - that the God of the universe would care enough to pay attention to our facial expressions and react to them. Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? Genesis 4:3-6 (NASB)
God noticed that Cain’s countenance fell - that his face was down cast. Basically, Cain was saddened. What made Cain sad? It was realization that he had not honored God as completely as his brother Able had.
This story has always bugged me. I have always seen this story as God favoring one brother over another. It actually says his face dropped because God didn’t look on favor at Cain’s offering. The work Cain did was frowned on by God, while the work Able did was pleasing to God. Other than the whole murder thing, I really connect with the pain that came with the sadness in Cain's life. There are times I feel like that all I do falls short. It is easy to believe that the favor of God is missing in my life because I’m not good enough. These are some of the same old tapes playing in my head that have been there Oh so long. What's even worse is that those old tapes seem to be supported by God’s own words! That's almost too much pressure to stand up under.
As I studied our verses from yesterday and today, I received what I think is a totally a different perspective. I remembered the purpose of the Old Testament. It is there to show us the hopelessness of relying on our own efforts to get what God wants to give us freely. Adam and Eve decided to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Do you know how hard it is to tell good from evil over things like honoring God? Without the fullness of the perspective from Heaven, it is so easy to be like a Cain and feel the fullness of rejection when our interpretation of good vs bad doesn't hit the mark from God's point of view.
What hit me was that God’s Old Testament response to Cain was what we all get when we allow our interpretation of what is good and what is bad in our life to be the foundation of coming into the presence of this God that loves us. Cain deduced that his offering was good. God didn’t! That conflict made Cain act out with terrible results. The first murder came to be as a result of letting the knowledge of good and bad be the filter used to come into contact with God. We feel the same effects in our lives when we allow our attempts at determining good and bad in our lives fall short as well.
This story was presented as a lesson to us all. We can’t “do” enough to get to this God. We can’t reason our way into the presence that brings joy and peace. That means we can’t be “good” enough in our lives to ever be worthy of being in the presence of God. That’s a BIG dilemma we will never be able to overcome. In steps God's plan through Jesus Christ!
The story of Cain, along with all the stories of the Old Testament, point us in the direction of needing a savior. At the root of all the hard to understand and, seemingly cruel ways God interacts with His people at times, is the fact that we try in our own way to turn our view of “good” be good enough when it comes to tapping into God’s Love. We are like Cain. We simply do not have the fullness of the ability required to tell good from bad in this world. We are wired to mess that up because we were never suppose to know good from bad - it wasn't to be part of who we are. How is it that we would even think about letting “good and bad” be our point of reference when it comes to God’s presence and all that presences has to offer?
With Jesus, we are able to step into that presence with boldness and authority. Even when our actions fall short, we don’t! That’s so powerful! That’s why there is such hope in the cross. Hope evaporates quickly when we tell God, by our actions, that we want our knowledge of good and evil to be how He judges us. It is when we accept that we are acceptable in Christ that the fruit of God’s presence (joy and peace among them) can begin to be recognized and lived out in our lives.
The story of Cain now speaks to me in a totally different way. It isn’t a, hard to please God making me guess whether my efforts will be enough to please Him that haunts me in this story. It is a God, bent on loving me, that is saying, “just give up trying to earn my love and let me give it to you!” It is a God that has done all the work to prove that I am good. It is a God that is showing me the futility of my own efforts to get to Him. It is a God that is saying, “just accept it - IT IS DONE!”
Back to the thought about receiving peace and joy by stepping into the presence of God. At first I filtered that thought through the old tapes of Cain. Feeling God's presence seems to be such a work based endeavor. Sometimes I just can’t seem to tell whether I’m feeling God's presence or not. Then the question comes to mind - "Am I doing enough to get that presence in my life?" It can feel like I have fallen short because I just can't feel His presence like I thought I would. Expectation can get in the way of how I’m able to experience peace and joy when I expect God’s presence to be something based on my interpretation of what is good and bad.
Where all this took me as I considered the Psalms and Numbers verses, is that it comes back to acceptance. You may be wondering how did I ever get there? Remember the word countenance? That’s how the King James translates the word that means presence in the Old Testament. When I looked up countenance in the dictionary, I saw that when this word is used as a verb, it basically means to “admit as acceptable”!
When it comes to peace and joy, countenance is the only action required. The action that makes peace and joy a possibility in our lives is to just accept! Accept that we are in God’s presence whether we feel it or not. Accept that joy is possible. Accept that peace is what is guiding my life. Accept that the situation I am in, or the challenges from the past that continue to haunt me, mean nothing with regards to walking in God’s presence. If all that be true, then peace and joy are mine all the time. Now that is a hope filled possibility that I want to accept more in my life.
The path of a victor is one that is willing and able to accept who they are. Working to prove some identity that they want or that the world thrusts on them is an exercise in victim thinking. Today can be a day filled with peace and joy irrespective of the circumstances that come your way. Make that peace and joy be all it can be by accepting that God's face is shining down on you. It is shining, not because of how good you are at making peace and joy be a part of you life. It is shining on you because you are the Child He so adores. Live in the place of that power and watch your victor status come alive today.
**********
Yesterday we focused on the word joy. We discussed the fact that Biblical joy is a joy that lasts. That joy comes only when we recognize we are in God's presence. God promises to never leave us. He says He will never forsake us. For that reason, we can expect that God's joy will be with us because His presence is always within our reach. Today we are going to see how joy is connected to peace.
Where the verse from Psalm 16 that we focused on yesterday deals with joy, the verse from Numbers had me focusing on the word peace.
Back on Day 226, we took a look at a presentation called "The Power of Let". In this talk we took a look at a verse on peace that had the words "let" and "rule" that was associated with peace. You might want to go back and check out that presentation again as it relates to what we are discussing today.
As I studied those words, I happened to look at the word “face” in the passage from Numbers we read today. As I studied the word “presence” from the Psalm passage I came across the Number's passage again. I was surprised to see that the word “presence” and the word “face” are the same word in the original language. That really caught my attention.
In the King James translation, the word presence was also translated as countenance. This is a word that I have used in the past but, frankly, I really couldn't tell you what it meant. I had to look it up in the dictionary. Countenance basically means a person’s facial expression. The face is the part of a person that we can “read”. That's why it is important to have what is called a "poker face" when playing cards of chance. Did you know that the face is also how we can “read” God? By stepping into the fullness of God’s Presence, we are able to experience joy and peace as we read the pleasure of a father's face beaming over His beloved children.
I’ll come back to that thought in a second. But first, check this out. God can also read us by our countenance. I find that fascinating - that the God of the universe would care enough to pay attention to our facial expressions and react to them. Check out today's Bible reading with me now.
So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? Genesis 4:3-6 (NASB)
This story has always bugged me. I have always seen this story as God favoring one brother over another. It actually says his face dropped because God didn’t look on favor at Cain’s offering. The work Cain did was frowned on by God, while the work Able did was pleasing to God. Other than the whole murder thing, I really connect with the pain that came with the sadness in Cain's life. There are times I feel like that all I do falls short. It is easy to believe that the favor of God is missing in my life because I’m not good enough. These are some of the same old tapes playing in my head that have been there Oh so long. What's even worse is that those old tapes seem to be supported by God’s own words! That's almost too much pressure to stand up under.
As I studied our verses from yesterday and today, I received what I think is a totally a different perspective. I remembered the purpose of the Old Testament. It is there to show us the hopelessness of relying on our own efforts to get what God wants to give us freely. Adam and Eve decided to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Do you know how hard it is to tell good from evil over things like honoring God? Without the fullness of the perspective from Heaven, it is so easy to be like a Cain and feel the fullness of rejection when our interpretation of good vs bad doesn't hit the mark from God's point of view.
What hit me was that God’s Old Testament response to Cain was what we all get when we allow our interpretation of what is good and what is bad in our life to be the foundation of coming into the presence of this God that loves us. Cain deduced that his offering was good. God didn’t! That conflict made Cain act out with terrible results. The first murder came to be as a result of letting the knowledge of good and bad be the filter used to come into contact with God. We feel the same effects in our lives when we allow our attempts at determining good and bad in our lives fall short as well.
This story was presented as a lesson to us all. We can’t “do” enough to get to this God. We can’t reason our way into the presence that brings joy and peace. That means we can’t be “good” enough in our lives to ever be worthy of being in the presence of God. That’s a BIG dilemma we will never be able to overcome. In steps God's plan through Jesus Christ!
The story of Cain, along with all the stories of the Old Testament, point us in the direction of needing a savior. At the root of all the hard to understand and, seemingly cruel ways God interacts with His people at times, is the fact that we try in our own way to turn our view of “good” be good enough when it comes to tapping into God’s Love. We are like Cain. We simply do not have the fullness of the ability required to tell good from bad in this world. We are wired to mess that up because we were never suppose to know good from bad - it wasn't to be part of who we are. How is it that we would even think about letting “good and bad” be our point of reference when it comes to God’s presence and all that presences has to offer?
With Jesus, we are able to step into that presence with boldness and authority. Even when our actions fall short, we don’t! That’s so powerful! That’s why there is such hope in the cross. Hope evaporates quickly when we tell God, by our actions, that we want our knowledge of good and evil to be how He judges us. It is when we accept that we are acceptable in Christ that the fruit of God’s presence (joy and peace among them) can begin to be recognized and lived out in our lives.
The story of Cain now speaks to me in a totally different way. It isn’t a, hard to please God making me guess whether my efforts will be enough to please Him that haunts me in this story. It is a God, bent on loving me, that is saying, “just give up trying to earn my love and let me give it to you!” It is a God that has done all the work to prove that I am good. It is a God that is showing me the futility of my own efforts to get to Him. It is a God that is saying, “just accept it - IT IS DONE!”
Back to the thought about receiving peace and joy by stepping into the presence of God. At first I filtered that thought through the old tapes of Cain. Feeling God's presence seems to be such a work based endeavor. Sometimes I just can’t seem to tell whether I’m feeling God's presence or not. Then the question comes to mind - "Am I doing enough to get that presence in my life?" It can feel like I have fallen short because I just can't feel His presence like I thought I would. Expectation can get in the way of how I’m able to experience peace and joy when I expect God’s presence to be something based on my interpretation of what is good and bad.
Where all this took me as I considered the Psalms and Numbers verses, is that it comes back to acceptance. You may be wondering how did I ever get there? Remember the word countenance? That’s how the King James translates the word that means presence in the Old Testament. When I looked up countenance in the dictionary, I saw that when this word is used as a verb, it basically means to “admit as acceptable”!
When it comes to peace and joy, countenance is the only action required. The action that makes peace and joy a possibility in our lives is to just accept! Accept that we are in God’s presence whether we feel it or not. Accept that joy is possible. Accept that peace is what is guiding my life. Accept that the situation I am in, or the challenges from the past that continue to haunt me, mean nothing with regards to walking in God’s presence. If all that be true, then peace and joy are mine all the time. Now that is a hope filled possibility that I want to accept more in my life.
The path of a victor is one that is willing and able to accept who they are. Working to prove some identity that they want or that the world thrusts on them is an exercise in victim thinking. Today can be a day filled with peace and joy irrespective of the circumstances that come your way. Make that peace and joy be all it can be by accepting that God's face is shining down on you. It is shining, not because of how good you are at making peace and joy be a part of you life. It is shining on you because you are the Child He so adores. Live in the place of that power and watch your victor status come alive today.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Day 232 - Quenching Your Thirst Part 1
Click here to link directly to the audio file.
**********
I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus in on a topic that I believe is really important for us to consider. Forgive me for taking two days to land the plane on this one, but there was so much material here I just couldn't shrink it down enough to cover it in one day. So, let's jump right in.
In today's reading, we will be looking at two sets of passages from the Old Testament. They are connected in a way that I think those of us looking to live this life as the victor we want to be need to understand. The first verse is from the book of Psalms. It says...
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
The second reading goes like this.
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. Numbers 6:23-26 (NIV)
The reading from Numbers is a pretty familiar one for those of us who have heard ministers bless large events. These words are often quoted as a benediction, stated over the lives of those people who have gathered for some function or another. I have never really paid much attention to those verses from Numbers, until today. Heck, I really didn’t know this familiar prayer was an actual Bible verse. So much for my scholarly ability!
Both these verses were used in a presentation I attended a couple weeks ago. I have taken the opportunity to dig in to the Psalm verse in the past. It was during a particularly difficult time that the issue of joy was something I was desperate to try and understand. You see, for reasons I'm still figuring out, depression had really taken a hold of my life. Joy was something that seemed like such a foreign subject to me. Day in and day out, I saw people who looked to exude joy. It was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other, let alone be able to experience the kinds of joy that seemed to come so easily to others.
Victim thinking was in the driver's seat at that time in my life. I didn't think I would ever be in a place where I could call myself a victor. My wife asked me one day, "Why can't you just choose joy?" That question haunted me in profound ways. It wasn't wrong of her to ask that question. In fact, I now see the diving inspiration behind spurring her into getting that question in my mind and now, into my heart. So much of what I have learned since that time has come as I have dug into God's Word to try and figure out this thing called joy.
When I was studying what “joy” meant, our reading from Psalm 16 was a cornerstone for me. As I studied the places in the Bible where the word "joy" was used I came into the realization that that true joy can only happen in the “presence” of God. That's what our reading from Psalms is saying.
You see, Joy isn't about being happy. It is about being in a place of contentment, acceptance, surrender and peace. I have found that things of this world just can't bring that kind of joy in my life like being close to this God that loves. me. Sure nice things I can make happen in my world can come close at times. What I have found is that the joy that comes from worldly pleasures and accomplishments can change like the shifting wind, making joy that much harder to understand and live out in this life.
I started to see a theme running through the Bible when it came to joy. People who were able to recognize the fact that God was with them had joy that seemed to last. That joy looked to be there whether times in their lives were good or bad. That same joy looked to me to be in the lives of those we would consider saints as well as those we might classify as being sinners. What I saw was that the potential for that joy is there all the time. If God lives up to his promise to not leave us and to not forsake us, then knowing that joy comes when we recognize the presence of the Lord means that His constant presence promises the hope of continuous joy.
Believe me, I know how absurd the last part of that sentence sounds. Continuous joy - are you kidding me? Am I really delusional enough to believe that I can live in a state of continuous joy? I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but my answer to that question is becoming a stronger and stronger, "YES!"
What I'm learning is that it is up to us to recognize and hold on to that joy. It comes when we recognize and hold onto the presence of God. Remember, I'm not talking about happiness here. It is so easy to confuse heavenly joy with what the world has taught us joy is suppose to be about. Joy isn't about us getting our way. It isn't about us living the comfortable life we desire. It isn't even about settling for the kinds of worldly peace that I often go after in victim making ways. The joy I have tasted and want more of is a joy that quenches the thirst of my soul in ways nothing else in this world has ever been able to do.
If you find joy in money, what will happen if your money was gone? If your joy is found in your family, what happens to that joy when your family grows up and moves away? If your joy is found in the identity you gain from your job, what happens when you retire? See the dangers of connecting joy to the things of this world? Those things are destined to change. God doesn't change! I believe that's why the Bible is filled with story after story of people expressing joy as they recognized the ever presence of God all around them.
That's my prayer for you today. I pray that you will recognize God in every action you take today. I pray that that recognition will open your eyes to the fact that continuous joy is something that isn't pie-in-the-sky. I pray that you taste a new kind of joy that ruins the taste for a wordy joy that just can't last. God longs for you to experience that kind of joy. He longs for that because He knows that it can only happen as He and His Children come together and live out an intimate relationship today and for all eternity. Let the joy of the Lord empower you to live out the fullness of the victor God sees you to be.
**********
I'm taking today and tomorrow to focus in on a topic that I believe is really important for us to consider. Forgive me for taking two days to land the plane on this one, but there was so much material here I just couldn't shrink it down enough to cover it in one day. So, let's jump right in.
In today's reading, we will be looking at two sets of passages from the Old Testament. They are connected in a way that I think those of us looking to live this life as the victor we want to be need to understand. The first verse is from the book of Psalms. It says...
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
The second reading goes like this.
The Lord bless you
and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. Numbers 6:23-26 (NIV)
The reading from Numbers is a pretty familiar one for those of us who have heard ministers bless large events. These words are often quoted as a benediction, stated over the lives of those people who have gathered for some function or another. I have never really paid much attention to those verses from Numbers, until today. Heck, I really didn’t know this familiar prayer was an actual Bible verse. So much for my scholarly ability!
Both these verses were used in a presentation I attended a couple weeks ago. I have taken the opportunity to dig in to the Psalm verse in the past. It was during a particularly difficult time that the issue of joy was something I was desperate to try and understand. You see, for reasons I'm still figuring out, depression had really taken a hold of my life. Joy was something that seemed like such a foreign subject to me. Day in and day out, I saw people who looked to exude joy. It was all I could do to just put one foot in front of the other, let alone be able to experience the kinds of joy that seemed to come so easily to others.
Victim thinking was in the driver's seat at that time in my life. I didn't think I would ever be in a place where I could call myself a victor. My wife asked me one day, "Why can't you just choose joy?" That question haunted me in profound ways. It wasn't wrong of her to ask that question. In fact, I now see the diving inspiration behind spurring her into getting that question in my mind and now, into my heart. So much of what I have learned since that time has come as I have dug into God's Word to try and figure out this thing called joy.
When I was studying what “joy” meant, our reading from Psalm 16 was a cornerstone for me. As I studied the places in the Bible where the word "joy" was used I came into the realization that that true joy can only happen in the “presence” of God. That's what our reading from Psalms is saying.
You see, Joy isn't about being happy. It is about being in a place of contentment, acceptance, surrender and peace. I have found that things of this world just can't bring that kind of joy in my life like being close to this God that loves. me. Sure nice things I can make happen in my world can come close at times. What I have found is that the joy that comes from worldly pleasures and accomplishments can change like the shifting wind, making joy that much harder to understand and live out in this life.
I started to see a theme running through the Bible when it came to joy. People who were able to recognize the fact that God was with them had joy that seemed to last. That joy looked to be there whether times in their lives were good or bad. That same joy looked to me to be in the lives of those we would consider saints as well as those we might classify as being sinners. What I saw was that the potential for that joy is there all the time. If God lives up to his promise to not leave us and to not forsake us, then knowing that joy comes when we recognize the presence of the Lord means that His constant presence promises the hope of continuous joy.
Believe me, I know how absurd the last part of that sentence sounds. Continuous joy - are you kidding me? Am I really delusional enough to believe that I can live in a state of continuous joy? I can hardly believe I'm saying this, but my answer to that question is becoming a stronger and stronger, "YES!"
What I'm learning is that it is up to us to recognize and hold on to that joy. It comes when we recognize and hold onto the presence of God. Remember, I'm not talking about happiness here. It is so easy to confuse heavenly joy with what the world has taught us joy is suppose to be about. Joy isn't about us getting our way. It isn't about us living the comfortable life we desire. It isn't even about settling for the kinds of worldly peace that I often go after in victim making ways. The joy I have tasted and want more of is a joy that quenches the thirst of my soul in ways nothing else in this world has ever been able to do.
If you find joy in money, what will happen if your money was gone? If your joy is found in your family, what happens to that joy when your family grows up and moves away? If your joy is found in the identity you gain from your job, what happens when you retire? See the dangers of connecting joy to the things of this world? Those things are destined to change. God doesn't change! I believe that's why the Bible is filled with story after story of people expressing joy as they recognized the ever presence of God all around them.
That's my prayer for you today. I pray that you will recognize God in every action you take today. I pray that that recognition will open your eyes to the fact that continuous joy is something that isn't pie-in-the-sky. I pray that you taste a new kind of joy that ruins the taste for a wordy joy that just can't last. God longs for you to experience that kind of joy. He longs for that because He knows that it can only happen as He and His Children come together and live out an intimate relationship today and for all eternity. Let the joy of the Lord empower you to live out the fullness of the victor God sees you to be.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Day 231 - Gazing At Destiny
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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"We believe that we are victors whether we come to see the fullness of our destinies in our lives or not."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 192.
The "we" in the quote I just read are those wanting to live this life as victors. You see, the only way I have found to do this is to have a frame of reference that doesn't require victory to be what defines my victor status. This is especially true when it comes to destiny. If you are banking on your victor status to be proven by the extent at which you are able to determine and make happen your destiny, you are on a crash course for victim thinking in your life.
Destiny, like victory, can be such a fleeting thing. One moment we think we have it all figured out and in the next moment we are left wondering whether we will ever experience what just a few moments ago, was so clear in our minds. That's why making destiny or victory the foundation for our status as a victor is a strategy that just doesn't work in the long run.
This world has an amazing ability to offer up some pretty wicked curve balls at times. The challenges that come against us often make it so difficult to believe whether we will ever experience victory. That feeling can be such a victimizing experience. Stay long enough in a place where we are dealing with victimizing prospects and victim thinking can't help but to take over.
I hope this isn't too bleak of a view for you. It shouldn't be. Destiny is something that is going to happen in your life. It just will! What that destiny looks like might not be exactly what you have in mind. That's where victim thinking can really come into play. When our idea of destiny doesn't match up with what God might want our destiny to be, life can loose some of its sweetness if we are relying on destiny to make our victor status a reality.
This doesn't mean that we aren't to go after all we have on our hearts to pursue. Quite the opposite. I believe God wants His Children to go after as much in this world as they possibly can. It is when our motives for going after what we want from this life are tied up in the world that trouble is sure to happen. Perspective, especially when it comes to how we view our identity, is so important for the victor. Check out what God says about perspective in today's Bible reading.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)
Up, up, up. Our gaze needs to be shifted upwards in all things that has to do with who we are. Looking around at this world for proof of who we are or proof of our worth, is not what works in the long run.
I know many of you are ready to argue with me on this point because your worldly perspective is working for you at the moment. I guarantee a few hiccups in how the world treats you and you will be rethinking your strategy. I know this for a fact because I use to think my worldly results were good enough to make my identity what I thought it was suppose to be. It was when victory became more and more elusive that victim thinking came to call as I got more and more confused as to who I was suppose to be.
I haven't given up on destiny. I hope you don't think that is what I'm proposing in today's presentation. What I have given up on is relying on destiny to help be what makes me see my identity more clearly. I still believe that a BIG destiny is what God has put me here on this earth for. I'm taking steps to make that BIG destiny, as I see it, happen. If God has a different plan, so be it. I'm still His son and that alone makes me the victor I long to be.
What I am trying to stop doing is letting how effective I am at making my destiny happen be linked to who I am. I wish I was perfect in that endeavor. I'm not. But, I have to tell you, I'm better at it today than I was yesterday! Compared to ten years ago - I'm not even the same person when it comes to how I'm living out this victor status God has placed in my life. I know the same can be said for your life as well if you were to look closely at how God has moved with you on this journey.
Here's what I'd like to close today's talk with. None of us are perfect. Our motives are going to be messed up at times. We are going to have too low of a gaze when it comes to identity and victim thinking will ultimately be the result. Good news is that God loves you and loves me just the way we are. Better news is that He loves us so much that He won't leave us as we are. Change is inevitable. Embrace God's change for your life today. Make destiny and victory what they will be. Trust what God says about you and let your victor status empower all you take on in your life today.
**********
"We believe that we are victors whether we come to see the fullness of our destinies in our lives or not."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 192.
The "we" in the quote I just read are those wanting to live this life as victors. You see, the only way I have found to do this is to have a frame of reference that doesn't require victory to be what defines my victor status. This is especially true when it comes to destiny. If you are banking on your victor status to be proven by the extent at which you are able to determine and make happen your destiny, you are on a crash course for victim thinking in your life.
Destiny, like victory, can be such a fleeting thing. One moment we think we have it all figured out and in the next moment we are left wondering whether we will ever experience what just a few moments ago, was so clear in our minds. That's why making destiny or victory the foundation for our status as a victor is a strategy that just doesn't work in the long run.
This world has an amazing ability to offer up some pretty wicked curve balls at times. The challenges that come against us often make it so difficult to believe whether we will ever experience victory. That feeling can be such a victimizing experience. Stay long enough in a place where we are dealing with victimizing prospects and victim thinking can't help but to take over.
I hope this isn't too bleak of a view for you. It shouldn't be. Destiny is something that is going to happen in your life. It just will! What that destiny looks like might not be exactly what you have in mind. That's where victim thinking can really come into play. When our idea of destiny doesn't match up with what God might want our destiny to be, life can loose some of its sweetness if we are relying on destiny to make our victor status a reality.
This doesn't mean that we aren't to go after all we have on our hearts to pursue. Quite the opposite. I believe God wants His Children to go after as much in this world as they possibly can. It is when our motives for going after what we want from this life are tied up in the world that trouble is sure to happen. Perspective, especially when it comes to how we view our identity, is so important for the victor. Check out what God says about perspective in today's Bible reading.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)
Up, up, up. Our gaze needs to be shifted upwards in all things that has to do with who we are. Looking around at this world for proof of who we are or proof of our worth, is not what works in the long run.
I know many of you are ready to argue with me on this point because your worldly perspective is working for you at the moment. I guarantee a few hiccups in how the world treats you and you will be rethinking your strategy. I know this for a fact because I use to think my worldly results were good enough to make my identity what I thought it was suppose to be. It was when victory became more and more elusive that victim thinking came to call as I got more and more confused as to who I was suppose to be.
I haven't given up on destiny. I hope you don't think that is what I'm proposing in today's presentation. What I have given up on is relying on destiny to help be what makes me see my identity more clearly. I still believe that a BIG destiny is what God has put me here on this earth for. I'm taking steps to make that BIG destiny, as I see it, happen. If God has a different plan, so be it. I'm still His son and that alone makes me the victor I long to be.
What I am trying to stop doing is letting how effective I am at making my destiny happen be linked to who I am. I wish I was perfect in that endeavor. I'm not. But, I have to tell you, I'm better at it today than I was yesterday! Compared to ten years ago - I'm not even the same person when it comes to how I'm living out this victor status God has placed in my life. I know the same can be said for your life as well if you were to look closely at how God has moved with you on this journey.
Here's what I'd like to close today's talk with. None of us are perfect. Our motives are going to be messed up at times. We are going to have too low of a gaze when it comes to identity and victim thinking will ultimately be the result. Good news is that God loves you and loves me just the way we are. Better news is that He loves us so much that He won't leave us as we are. Change is inevitable. Embrace God's change for your life today. Make destiny and victory what they will be. Trust what God says about you and let your victor status empower all you take on in your life today.
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