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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