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"Provision is all about identity. It’s about the reality and truth of God’s identity in our lives and the reality and truth of our identity in God’s eyes."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 91.
How do you feel about that statement - "Provision is all about identity."? I'm really seeing how that statement is being proven in the lives of so many people I know. How is provision linked to identity in your life?
It is so easy to think that we are OK when things are going well. When all our bills are paid and there's a little left over, we can rest in a peace that makes it possible to overlook the fact that identity is something that is so easy misunderstood. In times when we have an abundant excess, we can take identity to places where pride and conceit might become a real issue.
On the flip side, so many people are in a position where they find it difficult to make ends meet. I saw a statistic recently that said nearly half of the US working population live paycheck to paycheck. This isn't exclusively a working poor kind of problem. Of all the people who make more than $100,000 per year, ten percent say they too live paycheck to paycheck. Provision can be a real problem, even when incomes are way above statistical averages.
As far as the issue of provision is a concerned, I have found that linking provision with identity is a sure fire way to make problems in our lives. When we have identity problems, we run the risk of letting victim thinking take over in ways that deepen our identity issues. As I have said time and time again, when identity is an issue, victim thinking can put us in positions where we are more apt to make victims of those around us. I believe the vast majority of the issues stemming form our Victim-Based Society today is a result of how we have allowed prosperity to be directly linked to who we are.
God is in the business of prospering his Children. Unfortunately we turn this fact into a demand for how we want that prosperity to look like in our lives. When we don't receive what we think we need in order for prosperity to be part of who we are, victim thinking is waiting to take over in ways that just about always causes victims in our wakes.
Take a look at how God prospered a Child of His named Joseph.
As it turned out, God was with Joseph and things went very well with him. He ended up living in the home of his Egyptian master. His master recognized that God was with him, saw that God was working for good in everything he did. He became very fond of Joseph and made him his personal aide. He put him in charge of all his personal affairs, turning everything over to him. From that moment on, God blessed the home of the Egyptian—all because of Joseph. The blessing of God spread over everything he owned, at home and in the fields, and all Potiphar had to concern himself with was eating three meals a day. Genesis 39:2-7 (NIV)
As you may remember, Joseph was a young man so hated by his brothers that they sold him into slavery. Joseph was forced to trade a lifestyle of prosperity to one that was filled with nothing but being ordered about in all that he did. Then prosperity came back into Joseph's life. Everything he touched turned to gold for his master, Potiphar. Joseph's owner, noticed that favor was on this man and Joseph was quickly promoted to the tops ranks of all the servants this powerful man owned.
I imagine things got easier for Joseph. Where some of his fellow slaves toiled in the hot sun all day, Joseph was given duties that made his life something others surely admired. Though his prosperity at that time couldn't hold a candle to how prosperous he was when he was in his father's house, it sure was better than the plight others suffered.
If the story ended there, how sad it would be for the rest of us that don't seem to have that favor on our lives right now. Don't you know how easy it is to see others coming back into prosperity and view their good fortune as another curse against our lives when we view those events through the tainted glasses of victim thinking. But the story doesn't end there for Joseph.
Due to reasons completely out of his control, Joseph gets placed in a prison for many, many years. For a second time, Joseph is knocked down to the bottom of the list when it comes to being prosperous. At least as a slave in Pothphar's house, he had clout and some freedom. Now it appears that he is destined to live out the reaming of his days in a dark, cold and lonely prison. Where was this God of prosperity that shined his light of provision on Joseph's life now?
As Joseph came to realize, that God was right there in that prison with him. God didn't leave this seemingly forgotten son. He was right there shining the light of identity brightly in Joseph's life in a way that made it possible for God to do more in Joseph's life than anyone would have ever thought possible.
Joseph learned a difficult lesson I'm hoping we can learn the easy way. He learned that prosperity didn't have anything to do with the favor God had put on his life. That favor from God wasn't to "bless" Joseph. It was there to bless the world! That's how victor's look at their circumstances. Whether in good times or in bad, God's favor is on them. It isn't there for their own personal prosperity. It is there to bring the riches of knowing that God is for us to a lost and hurting world.
Sometimes it takes losing prosperity in our own lives to be placed in exactly the right position to step into situations where God's power to bless the world will be seen in ways we could have never been a part of if our comfortable life was all we had. If Joseph had not been placed in that dark prison, the world would have not been blessed the way it was as a result of this victor living out his live even when victory was so far from his ability to make happen.
God is in the business of prospering his Children. Unfortunately we turn this fact into a demand for how we want that prosperity to look like in our lives. When we don't receive what we think we need in order for prosperity to be part of who we are, victim thinking is waiting to take over in ways that just about always causes victims in our wakes.
Take a look at how God prospered a Child of His named Joseph.
As it turned out, God was with Joseph and things went very well with him. He ended up living in the home of his Egyptian master. His master recognized that God was with him, saw that God was working for good in everything he did. He became very fond of Joseph and made him his personal aide. He put him in charge of all his personal affairs, turning everything over to him. From that moment on, God blessed the home of the Egyptian—all because of Joseph. The blessing of God spread over everything he owned, at home and in the fields, and all Potiphar had to concern himself with was eating three meals a day. Genesis 39:2-7 (NIV)
As you may remember, Joseph was a young man so hated by his brothers that they sold him into slavery. Joseph was forced to trade a lifestyle of prosperity to one that was filled with nothing but being ordered about in all that he did. Then prosperity came back into Joseph's life. Everything he touched turned to gold for his master, Potiphar. Joseph's owner, noticed that favor was on this man and Joseph was quickly promoted to the tops ranks of all the servants this powerful man owned.
I imagine things got easier for Joseph. Where some of his fellow slaves toiled in the hot sun all day, Joseph was given duties that made his life something others surely admired. Though his prosperity at that time couldn't hold a candle to how prosperous he was when he was in his father's house, it sure was better than the plight others suffered.
If the story ended there, how sad it would be for the rest of us that don't seem to have that favor on our lives right now. Don't you know how easy it is to see others coming back into prosperity and view their good fortune as another curse against our lives when we view those events through the tainted glasses of victim thinking. But the story doesn't end there for Joseph.
Due to reasons completely out of his control, Joseph gets placed in a prison for many, many years. For a second time, Joseph is knocked down to the bottom of the list when it comes to being prosperous. At least as a slave in Pothphar's house, he had clout and some freedom. Now it appears that he is destined to live out the reaming of his days in a dark, cold and lonely prison. Where was this God of prosperity that shined his light of provision on Joseph's life now?
As Joseph came to realize, that God was right there in that prison with him. God didn't leave this seemingly forgotten son. He was right there shining the light of identity brightly in Joseph's life in a way that made it possible for God to do more in Joseph's life than anyone would have ever thought possible.
Joseph learned a difficult lesson I'm hoping we can learn the easy way. He learned that prosperity didn't have anything to do with the favor God had put on his life. That favor from God wasn't to "bless" Joseph. It was there to bless the world! That's how victor's look at their circumstances. Whether in good times or in bad, God's favor is on them. It isn't there for their own personal prosperity. It is there to bring the riches of knowing that God is for us to a lost and hurting world.
Sometimes it takes losing prosperity in our own lives to be placed in exactly the right position to step into situations where God's power to bless the world will be seen in ways we could have never been a part of if our comfortable life was all we had. If Joseph had not been placed in that dark prison, the world would have not been blessed the way it was as a result of this victor living out his live even when victory was so far from his ability to make happen.
What prison are you sitting today? Is prosperity the furthest thing you can see happening in your life the way you want it to? Take a look around you. I guarantee you will see God sitting in that dark cell with you. Join Him and let His love light up the darkness in your situation. He is about to open the cell door to a path where His glory will blow you and those around you away. Let the power of your victor status be all you need to make the blessing of God's presence overwhelm any provisional issues you might face in your life today.
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