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 see God as a person. Their view of Him grows to a point where they actually believe God might just love them no matter what their life looks like."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 80.
How do you see God. Is He that unreachable, untouchable, unapproachable, unattainable entity in the sky? Notice how all those words start with the prefix "un"? Do you know what that prefix means? It means "not." I'm starting to realize that any word that begins with the prefix "un" when associated with my God makes Him and un-God. In other words He is not God to me at all!
Believe me, the power and ability of this God I know is something that can easily make me believe that He is impersonal. All the "un" words above have had a pretty clear connection to God in my life from time to time. Looking back at when I thought of God that way, I can clearly see a connection to my labeling God with those impersonal terms as a result of the victim thinking places I was stuck in at the time.
You see, God is a very personal and connected being. He didn't create us to just turn us loose to our own devices. He made us to commune with us. I don't know His reasoning for this, but God has a healthy need to be a part of our lives. There is something in relationship that God finds appealing and, frankly He has shown us that He can't live without.
I know that sounds quite dysfunctional when viewed from our earthly perspective. I have known people who profess to not being able to live without someone. More often than not, that relationship was quite toxic at times. We humans have a way of using relationships to meet needs in our life in ways that relationships simply weren't designed to function.
God doesn't have the kinds of relational quirks we humans seem to bring into the mix. His longing for relationship comes from a place of power. That power is the essence of what love is all about when viewed from heaven looking down. It is when we are drawn to participate in an intimate and personal way with God that victim thinking begins to have less of a hold on our lives.
Our reading today is an impassioned cry from our God Himself. Let's take a look at how God sees us from His Word.
I led them with cords of human kindness,
with ties of love.
To them I was like one who lifts
a little child to the cheek,
and I bent down to feed them. Hosea 11:4 (NIV)
Notice the personal touch being communicated in these words? How can any word that means not be associated with the relationship kinds of works like reachable, touchable, achievable and attainable when it comes to this God that made us? It is when we know that we mean something to someone as great as our God that victor living begins to be a real possibility in our lives.
It is the fact that God is a personal God that has made the difference for me. It isn't that His word has been proved right all along. It wasn't some great sermon that sealed the deal when it comes to walking with this God. I wasn't some epiphany of knowledge that made this God become the victor making force it is in my life. It is the touch of a very personal God that has made it possible for me to be able to take intentional steps out of victim thinking in my life.
I said in my quote earlier that seeing and experiencing God in a personal and connected way might change our belief. Where we might once have viewed God in a good light when our lives were going well, we might now be able to see God as the God with an unchanging love for me no matter what my life looks like. Wow - there's a word that begins with "un" that really does apply to God. God doesn't change, particularly when it comes to how He loves you and loves me.
Bottom line is that it all comes down to relationship. Do you want those feelings of victim thinking out of your life? Then it is time to dive in deeper in relationship with God. Don't dive in because you want your circumstances to change. If you are in bad times, of course you want the good times to return. Making relationship with God won't do a blessed thing to your circumstances. Get in relationship with God because you want to feel and experience His love no matter what kind of time you are having in your life right now.
God wants to walk with you in all you are part of today. Invite Him in. Sit with Him a bit. Get to know Him. Commune with this God that wants to lavish you with His kind of love in ways that will blow your socks off. Your power as a victor is fueled by that love that can't be changed, can't be lost and can't be stopped by this world. Live in that power and watch as God works on your world today.
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