Day 277 - Grace and Glory

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.

**********

"Victors realize that through God’s grace they have an identity that is complete now and forever more. The foundation of identity is a powerful place from which real and life-changing generosity can be made possible."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 132.

The key to being able to be generous with all that the victor has been given is the realization and application of grace from God. It is when we believe that our ability to be generous is a direct result of the fact that we have done all we can to receive that grace that victors are flirting with victim thinking. Grace that comes from a fullness of identity based on something other than what God only can provide is a grace that is counterfeit and so destructive to those of us trying to live this life as a victor. 

I came across this quote that sums up how grace can be a double edged sword. Thomas Watson says, "None so empty of grace as he that thinks he is full." It is when we think our good situation is a direct result of our efforts at receiving grace that emptiness is what we will experience. Grace is a gift. It isn't earned. It can't be bartered and it definitely should not be a characteristic that makes anyone form an opinion as to who they are. Going down this road takes us to straight to victim thinking.

In truth, it is a fine line we walk. Our identities as a victor happens only because of the grace of God that is on us. Were it not for God's grace, we would be left to our own devices to create and maintain an identity that we hope works in this world. It is when we come to define who we are based on worldly views of what grace should look like that trouble starts to happen. 

Remember, grace is defined as getting something we do not deserve. No amount of our own efforts will ever make us deserving of a gift as great as God's grace. We can never do enough to be what the deep recesses of our souls long to be. All we can do is believe. It is as we believe what God says about us that grace takes on a power that it is suppose to have in order to be considered truly generous. 

Check out today's Bible reading as it relates to the subject of grace.

By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. Romans 5:1-2 (MSG)

We spend so much time trying to stand tall in this world. We want this world to take notice of us, to find us of worth, to see our lives as having meaning. to believe that we are making a difference. Today's reading says that, that is only possible as we stand in the "wide open spaces of God's grace and glory.

Jonathan Edwards says, "Grace is but Glory begun, and Glory is but Grace perfected."

That's what is happening in our lives. God is perfecting His grace in us and that is producing glory all around us. That's the power that is suppose to be behind our generosity in this world. It isn't the perfection we can maintain as a victor that makes grace turn to glory. It is the fact that our victor status is being perfected by God that makes glory something we can come to expect from this life.

What is it going to take for your perfection to happen today? I can tell you this for sure - it isn't going to take more of your effort! Your effort to get grace is exactly what will keep God's Glory from being seen in your life. Believe what God says about you, His child. You are a victor because of His Grace being on you. Let that Grace turn to glory as the process God takes you on perfects you even more in this world. 

Day 276 - Delayed not Defeated

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.

**********

"Victims tend to remain in a pattern where they have to rely on their own cunning to get by even in a place where they are being lavished with love. "

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 127.

I am often amazed at the ingenuity of mankind. We don't have to look much further than the rapid growth of technology for support of that last statement. It wasn't too long ago that the prospect of having driver-less automobiles a part of our reality was stuff of science fiction? That reality is but a heart beat away from happening on our roads today.

I believe one of the greatest gifts our God gave us was the ability to use all our faculties to make life different than it is today. Just like so many good things that are given to us, those same faculties that we use to make good happen can just as easily work against us in ways that I can't help but to label as being bad. It is when we use our intellect, our drive and our ever growing self sufficiency to support thinking, that comes from that place of victim-hood, that we flirt with disaster in this world.

There is no doubt that victims have to draw on their God-given powers of survival to make it through the day at times. It is when those challenging times end that these past victims often look to themselves to gain what they need to feel safe and secure that makes victim thinking a real possibility in their lives. Relying on self is a strategy that will, ultimately fail us and that kind of failure does nothing but drive us deeper into our victim thinking ways.

What's the danger of using our cunning ways to provide for all we need to feel like what we think we are suppose to be? It is when we find ourselves in a place where our cunning ways fail to live up to the standards we require to feel like a victor that victim thinking can really take hold. When victim thinking is fueled by repeated failure, it is so easy to become a victimizer to those around us. I believe this fact makes our current status as a Victim Based Society something we need to take so seriously. Victims causing victims is an epidemic that needs to be stopped.

I recently ran across this quote that completely supports my talks on this subject. Steve Maraboli, author of the book "Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience" wrote, "You are not a victim. No matter what you have been through, you're still here. You may have been challenged, hurt, betrayed, beaten, and discouraged, but nothing has defeated you. You are still here! You have been delayed but not denied. You are not a victim, you are a victor. You have a history of victory."

I like that last line. We have a "history of victory." You may say that your history is filled with badness. Mr. Maraboli isn't saying that you are incorrect with that. What he is trying to get across is that, in spite of all that badness that has happened in your life, you are still here! You haven't been defeated. You have been delayed. That fact makes it so easy to stay stuck in victim thinking. That's why I think our world is behaving like it is today. We think we are victims but we are actually victors because, if for no other reason, we are still here!

I want to get all the cunning I have been given to get behind that kind of thinking. I want to use all the faculties of my soul to get busy living in those times when delay seems to be ruling the day. As long as I am still here, I haven't been defeated. Can't you feel that rush of adrenaline in your veins from letting that kind of thinking take over in your life? That's what makes it possible for those of us being victimized by this world to ever consider the fact that we could be called victors. We are still here and that makes us a victor!

Take a look at what God says on the subject.

Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God,
    turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,”
    ignore what the world worships;
The world’s a huge stockpile
    of God-wonders and God-thoughts.
Nothing and no one
    comes close to you!
I start talking about you, telling what I know,
    and quickly run out of words.
Neither numbers nor words
    account for you. Psalm 40:4-5 (MSG)

This world can make it so hard to believe the line in today's reading that says, "Nothing and no one comes close to you!" We use all our cunning ways to try and make this statement a reality. We work so hard to create and maintain an identity that makes us believe we are valued like this verses says we are. Sometimes are are able to make that happen. Other times we face the kinds of results that makes it so hard to just keep on going. That's when we think we are defeated. That defeat makes us think we are victims. Staying in that place lets victim thinking take over in world damaging ways.

Isn't it time that we use the God-given faculties of this amazing creation to life in that place of victory that is summed up with, "Nothing and no one comes close to you!"? That doesn't happen as we perfect our ways to make this statement a reality. I believe this can be consistently maintained if we use our cunning ways to focus our efforts in being who God says we are. It is in that place of being God's child that all we do takes on a power unlike anything we might be able to muster up on our own.

When this world starts to get you down with all the crazy stuff that comes your way, do something different. Take a moment and visualize God being speechless over who you are. That's what our reading says today - it says, "I start talking about you... and quickly run out of words." God sees you as perfect. God sees you as priceless. God sees you as powerful. God sees you as a victor. Let those facts be what makes it possible for you to stand strong in this time of delay. Remember that you are not defeated. You are still here. Live in that truth and let your victor status be all it can be as you take on what comes at you today.

Day 275 - Fear and Outcome

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.

**********

"Victors still go after the goodies of this world, but they have a solid place to hang onto when the goodies don’t show up. That solidness is the prosperity of the soul that only comes from God."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 117.

I was talking with a friend of mine today about prayer. He was saying that he read a book that had a line in it about what we pray for. The author said that if our dreams don't scare us then we aren't praying big enough things for our life. I believe this is an important element of prayer that we need to have in order for prosperity in the soul to be a reality in our lives.

As we talked more about what "big dreams" might even mean, we saw how hard it is to define what big looks like to a BIG God. What we might think is big is nothing to this God that towers over all we know in this world.

Our bigness might be a healing in our lives or in the life of a loved one. Big to us might be getting that job that seems so far out of reach. The things in this world that come against us can look like giants when we view them from the perspective of what they might mean to how we live this life. I think we need our perspective to be changed so that bigness can return to our dreams.

Moses had to deal with this situation when he lead the Nation Israel out of captivity into the desert. They were on the verge of making happen the Big plan this big God had for their lives. As they prepared to enter into their new homeland, Moses sent in twelve spies to scope out what lay ahead. Check out what happened as those spies returned to report what they saw.

But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” Numbers 3:31-33 (MSG)

Ten of the spies came back in fear. All they could see was the bigness of those that inhabited the land God promised was their own. Only Caleb and Joshua could see the bigness of their God trumped how big the inhabitants were. Sadly, Israel ended up wandering the desert for 40 years as they let their fear of God's dream for them stop them from moving forward.

How many of us are stuck in victim thinking because the dreams God is putting on our heart has our vision of Him so distorted? It is when we choose to let fear rule our decision making process that the bigness of God goes by the wayside.

Israel forgot that God said this land was their own. They assumed that fact meant that they would be the ones who had to do everything to make that dream a reality. All they could see was the size of their opponents. This kept them from seeing how much larger their God was than anyone who might stand in the way of what God said was going to happen.

I don't blame the people for their fear for one second. It is scary to do the things God has given us to do. This world is filled with frightening prospects, especially when God hands out tasks that are way bigger than our abilities might be able to pull off. That's the mistake Israel made then and we continue to make now. We think that making God sized dreams happen is all up to us. That kind of thinking makes it possible for us to wander in the desert as well.

I can't tell you how many times I have been stuck in places I'd rather not have been simply because of the fear of moving forward. It is in those times that I have found that the perspective from which I am viewing my situation needs to be changed. When I let my thoughts be focused on the problem I miss the reality of the one that can solve my problem in the first place.

It is when things don't turn out the way I intended that fear starts to take hold. When what I have gone after turns out to be a hardship that causes me pain, all my dreams start to be tainted with the debilitating effects of fear. I want that to change. I think it does as I let God be the size He is suppose to be in my life. The reality of God's bigness might be what makes my dreams take on a size that make fear something He and I deal with together.

That's what God is after any way. He doesn't need us to make His dreams happen. God is so big He can speak His dreams into existence. God wants us to be a part of making dreams happen. God's dreams should scare us because they are so big - they are impossible given our abilities and resources. God can make His dreams happen. He just wants us to go along with Him in the process of those dreams coming to fruition. When it comes to making dreams happen, God is all about relationship.

That's the perspective I want to have the next time a land full of giants has me doubting whether I can make it to the other side or not. If God wants me to take that land, it will happen. My fears come to life as I contemplate the cost of failure. With God it isn't about taking the land or not, it is about relating with each other as we work together to get done what He already knows is going to happen.

Victim thinkers are stuck trying to keep the score board tipped in the direction of God's team. What a total waste of time and effort. God doesn't need any help in winning. The Bible is clear on who will win and who will lose. What God is concerned about is that we look to Him when it comes to our next step in this plan He has for our lives. When fear is part of the equation, turn to God and see how He is leading. Go where He goes. Do what He does. Don't let the outcome be anything more than another opportunity to relate to this God that has it all under control.

Your victor status isn't determined by how many success you have in your life. It isn't about making all the right decisions all the time. God sees you as a victor because you are His Child. Live in that place of relationship knowing that what He has destined for you is assured. Step fully into your destiny as you walk out this journey called life. Let God lead the way and push the fear this world uses to slow you down out of the way of all your God directs you to do today. 

Day 274 - Quid-Pro-Quo

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.

**********

"Religion says, 'If you do this, God will do that' (and the other way around)."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 82.

There are few things in this world that set us up for failure, and ultimately victim thinking, than does thinking that what I do will guarantee someone else to react in ways that meet my expectations. This kind of formula driven life doesn't work with relationships with people. Why in the world do we think it will work with a relationship with God?

I can't tell you how many Bible based preachers I have heard speak in ways that make it sound like God is obligated to give us what we want if we obey what He tells us in the Bible. What is so amazing is that their formula driven messages are based on scripture. Take a look at how one such scripture with me now. 

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Malachi 3:10 (NIV)

I have heard countless messages that go something like this. Test God with your tithe. Give your tithe to God and He will bless you. It isn't that the preachers are making this stuff up. That's what today's reading says. Give to God what He asks and you will be blessed. 

I have no doubt that what God is saying in today's reading is true. If I follow His ways, including giving to Him what He asks, I will be blessed. It is when I allow my expectations as to what that blessing is to look like, be what God has to meet, that the potential for failure and victim thinking enter the picture. It is when I apply a quid-pro-quo kind of approach to God's Word that misunderstanding and ultimately victimization is going to be the result.

You see, God is God. He can do whatever He wants to do, whether I obey Him or not. He might choose to bless me with the kinds of provision that I want as part of my life as a result of my choosing to tithe to Him. He might just as well choose to bless me with something that doesn't even come close to what provision might need to look like in my life. It isn't that God doesn't bless us that is the problem. It is that we expect God to bless us in a way that we choose. When we allow our expectations to be what we look to for proof that God is a man of His word, that this world just doesn't make sense. 

I hate to be so blunt about this, but putting my expectations on God's shoulders sounds more like a demand to me. If God is who He says He is, who am I to tell Him what to do. Yet that's what I do as I take scripture, turn it into a formula and then expect God to hold up His end of the bargain by meeting my expectations. That's such a victim thinking way of relating to this God that loves us. 

It is when we let God be God that victors have the potential to live this life with the kinds of power and perspective needed to make it in this world. Letting God be God happens when we shelve our expectations and let Him bless us in the ways that will best serve His plan for our lives. 

I don't tithe because I'm going to get something back from God that I want. I tithe because I have been given something I can never repay. Before I ever knew what a tithe was, I was been blessed with a mercy, the value of which far surpasses any financial well being I might want in my life. Maybe that's what our reading today is talking about. When it comes to blessings that result from giving God what He asks, maybe our blessing is God Himself! Maybe I need to be asking myself if I think God is enough of a blessing or do I expect more from Him in my life?

Victim thinking can't help but to be the result as we let our expectations be tied to scripture in ways that look to be formulas. The reason for obedience can never be about what we think we will get in return. When we try to put our demands on an all powerful God, we might find ourselves in places where what we receive is less than what we expected. Those are the times that the kinds of doubts that make victim thinking a reality in our lives really creep in. 

All I know is that God is so much bigger than my expectations. Of course I am going to go to Him and ask for His hand of provision in my life in ways that make sense to me. What I'm so tired of is experiencing the frustration of failure when my obedience isn't rewarded with expectations I thought God had to meet because of what I think His Word says. 

Maybe we need to take what God says in His Bible in a way that gives God a bit more freedom to work in our lives. That can only happen as we make what God says He will do in our lives less about our expectations and more about His loving plan for who He made us to be. 

Don't miss the power of God's hand in your life. Make obedience to what God asks something that allows what God shows you be a gift from Him, not a demand from you. Your status as a victor can't be built on expectations. You are a victor because of what God has already done in your life, not what He will do as you attempt to live this life following Him. Allow God to be God in your life today. Lay down your expectations and be blessed in all you do today as you live out your standing as God's Child.  

Day 273 - Casting Down Thanks

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

In the previous three presentations on thanks, I described how I had somehow lost what the words "thank you" really meant in my life. I took time to study the word "thanks" in the Bible and as to it's origin in the English language.

I found that we need to have our eyes open to the fact that there is so much to be thankful for. It is when we recognize that God has done so much for us that thanksgiving can be a valuable characteristic, even in the bad times that come our way. When we confess our thanksgiving, things change in this world.

We also learned that the word "thanks" is really all about being grateful for the fact that someone would have given your life some thought at all. When we say thank you for something someone did of us, we are really saying, "thank you for thinking of me." The fact that God thinks of us at all is something we have good reason to be thankful for, even when we are in situations we would rather trade at that moment.

Today I want to focus on the fourth characteristic of the word "thanks" I found in my studies. This one is kind of weird. At first I really didn't understand what was trying to be conveyed, but WOW, does this element of the word "thanks"have power to it. Let's dive right in.

There’s an element in one of the words used as "thanks" in the Old Testament of the Bible that is really kind of strange. In one of the definitions of the word translated as "thanks" there is this notion of casting down. The definition uses phrases like to throw down, to shoot and to cast when it defines the original language word translated as "thanks in certain verses in the Bible. How do these concepts relate to the word "thanks?"

I believe that this particular definition of "thanks" is pointing to our need to be intentional about giving thanks. It is so easy to just be in the moment without recognizing the power of God in that moment. Hard times make that doubly easy for us to do. Just keeping our head above water in the bad times is a full time job. Recognizing to be thankful takes a lot of effort. Sometimes the energy and the drive to make that effort happen just isn’t there.

When that drive to be thankful isn’t there, God still loves you! Even that point makes it that much more evident of our need to give thanks. When you are in a place where you can’t give thanks, Thank God because He doesn’t condemn you and go about dealing with whatever comes at you that moment. The more we do that the more we will recognize the power of giving thanks.

I thought long and hard about what God was saying when He used a word for Thanks that can convey a meaning of cast down or throw down or shoot. Then it hit me. This is speaking of determination.

In the Book of Ruth, we learn of this foreign woman who shows great determination to live a life of serving as a result of her being thankful. Ruth's determination literally changed history as far as God's people are concerned. Check out today's reading with me now.

But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. Ruth 1:16-18 (NIV)

That's how we are to be when it comes to thanks in our life. We are to be as doggedly determined as Ruth was to follow Naomi. We are to be thankful and cast out our thanks because things change when we are that determined with the power of thanks.

I remember a movie about a Christian couple facing some interesting challenges in their life. One of the issues they faced came as they were trying so hard to have a baby. Time and time again they failed to get pregnant. One more time the wife found herself in the OBs office waiting on the results of a pregnancy test. In comes the nurse with the news, once again, she’s not pregnant!

You could see the devastation on the woman’s face. As she walked out of the office one nurse looks at another and with such compassion tells the other nurse how much her heart aches for this woman’s plight in life. Repeated failure in life has that affect on others. A sadness can come as the sad things that happen to us seem to be all we see in our lives.

The wife walks to the car and wipes away a few tears. She’s almost completely cried out over the number of times she has been in this position of disappointment. Then she musters up her courage and says something that I believe embodies the element of casting down when it comes to "thanks". She says, “God, even if I never get pregnant I choose to love you!”

Don’t you know that is a thanks that means everything to this God? Even if she never gets to live the life she feels she was so destined to live, she will still find it in her soul to praise, to thank and to love this God that thinks so much of her.

She’s in good company with that statement. That’s exactly what Shadrak, Mishack and Abendego said before they were thrown in the blazing furnace. They told the King that they would not bow down in praise (that's thanksgiving) to any god but God almighty. They knew that their God was mighty to save. They also knew that their God could do whatever He wanted to do with their lives. They were resigned to live this life, good or bad, thanking their God for all He had done for them. Then they said these words, “But even if He doesn’t save us…” we will still praise Him.

That’s a throw down of Thanks in my opinion. That’s what shoots an arrow through the heart of evil in this world. Even if this God of power chooses not to use His power to rescue us from the situation we find ourselves in at this moment, we still have SO much to be thankful for.

It is when we cast down our Thanksgiving like that, that the power of Thanks takes on a life of its on. I believe that we need to take times to be intentional about this kind of throw down. We need to stop from time to time and say, “Even if you never get me out of this situation, I still will love you - I still will thank you.”

It is when we cast down this kind of crazy attitude of thanks that God’s power becomes more and more evident in ways that actually might change some of what our circumstances look to be. We don’t give thanks to change God’s mind. We give thanks because God can’t change His mind! If He could change His mind He might change how He thinks of us. That would be a disastrous thing for sure.

We throw down our thanks because God is deserving of our thanks no matter what our life looks like. We cast out our thanks into a dark and hurting world because that thanks is filed with light and that changes things. We shoot words of Thanks like arrows because arrows pierce their target. The target of thanks in an evil world is the heart of that evil in the first place.  Maybe our Thanks is a weapon God is using to defeat evil in our lives, in the lives of our family and in the lives of everyone we come into contact with as a result of the challenges we face this moment.

Cast down your praise! Throw down your Thanks. Shoot that gratitude out in random as well as focused ways. Watch as God’s power makes your stance something that this world finds totally amazing and is drawn to. Let Thanks can be the power that makes it so that we realize that our circumstance isn’t wasted in this world. That's what victor living looks like. Make thanks part of all you do in your world today.

Day 272 - Impossible Standards

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.

**********

"Victims are trapped in a viscous cycle of trying to live up to impossible standards."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 60.

When I mention impossible standards, it is so easy to think of those standards others have put on us. Our family of origin. Our church. Our bosses, Our spouses. There are times when even those the most close to us can have expectations that make standards something almost impossible to ever meet. Bad thing is that almost every standard we have for ourselves is just as impossible to meet when we are the judge of living up to that standard. 

For the vast majority of us, we are our own worst critics. I can't tell you how many times someone has paid me a compliment that I easily shrug off because I just don't believe that they are right. My standards for what they are complimenting me on are so much higher than theirs must obviously be. I don't know why I can't see my life like others seem to be able to see it. I can't help but to believe that I have made my standards of excellence something that no one will ever be able to achieve. 

I'm beginning to think that it isn't because we aren't good enough when it comes to our standards. I'm beginning to think that it is because we can't maintain our standards consistently that brings doubt to our judgement. Whether my standards include being a good dad, a good provider or a good mate to my spouse, it is consistency that troubles me more than ability. Let me explain that a bit more. 

You see, there have been times when I have no doubt that I was a good dad. Same goes for being a provider and husband. That's not what trips me up. It is that there also those glaringly obvious times when I haven't been able to raise up to my standards in these important areas. Even if I messed up only once, my judgement of myself it tainted to the point where doubt can really rule the day. That's the place victim thinking likes to take over. 

No, it isn't the standard that is the problem. It is my ability to consistently maintain that standard that gets me into trouble. Want to know something? I believe this fact is such a God thing it isn't even funny. 

You see, that feeling of not being able to maintain my standards is exactly why Jesus is so important in my life. Perfection is required in order for me to relate to this God that loves me. There are times when I might be able to say that perfection was the result of what I did. But then there are those times when perfection was the furthest thing from my actions. It is those times I failed to achieve the standards that make me doubt my ability to ever meet the standards of this all powerful God. 

God knew that's how we would be in this fallen world. We just can't maintain the ability to operate at perfect levels for very long. Our failure at being perfect makes us doubt who we are and that ushers in victim thinking in ways that cause pain and suffering all around us. God's answer was for us to be seen perfect through a perfect being like His son. In other words, my standards mean nothing when I trust the ability of a perfectly suited being to meet all the standards I need to relate to this God of mine. What an amazingly unselfish and freedom making plan. 

Check out today's reading in light of our efforts to get to rise to some level of standard in our lives. 

Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you.

    Attention, Earth, I’ve got a mouth full of words.

    My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain,

        my words arrive like morning dew,

    Like a sprinkling rain on new grass,

        like spring showers on the garden.

    For it’s God’s Name I’m preaching—

        respond to the greatness of our God!

    The Rock: His works are perfect,

        and the way he works is fair and just;

    A God you can depend upon, no exceptions,

        a straight-arrow God. Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (MSG)

Like a sprinkling rain. God's ways aren't destructive. They aren't something that tears us down. They are like a mist that soaks deep to the root. He is the rock. We can lean on what He says about us and take it as the truth. Our standards don't mean a thing. It is what He says about us that makes it possible to be the victor we want to live as in this life. It is when we trust in what He says about us that our actions take on a power to make change in ways that rise to His standards in this world. 

It is that God thinks the world of you that makes who you are have meaning. It is that God sees you as His child that makes your standards useless to try and make happen and maintain. It is that God loves you that makes it possible to live feeling like a victim and and experience life as a victor. It is impossible to make this happen simply relying on our standards of living. It is only though God's view of us that we have the power to throw off victim thinking and take on victor living. 

Don't let your standards be how you judge your actions. Let God's view of you be all the standard you need to make victor living something attainable in your life today.

Day 271 - The Proverbial Straw

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

Much of what I'm going to talk about today came about as a result of sitting in on an amazing presentation by Ken Baugh. If you want to learn more about this man and the wisdom he is imparting, go to his website at idtministires.com and check out the link to the Abundant Living In Christ series.

Ken recently finished his doctoral thesis. He did what was thought the impossible. He compiled a work that brings together psychology, nueo-psychology and spirituality together in a way where meaningful change can really happen. For the lay person like myself, this is very heady stuff. All I know is that what I have been able to learn from Ken is so much in line with the entire discussion of victor living.

Today I want to touch on a few points Ken presented recently on memory and how our brain functions to help make behavior happen. Ken made a point of how amazing our brains are. God wasn't kidding when He said we are "fearfully and wonderfully made". You don't have to go any further than the human brain for evidence of this Biblical truth.

Ken said that our brains have a tremendous ability to store information. He found that there is enough memory capacity in a single human brain to store all the raw data that is currently on the Internet. Ken said that our brains have the capacity to store all the information about everything that we have experienced in all our lives. That means, every detail, every smell, every sight, every single thing that our senses registered about an event is stored in our brains.

He pointed this out because of the fact that our brains play such a key role in how we behave in our lives. Our thinking is the driving force when it comes to how we handle situations that come our way. Ken has been telling us that our thinking is shaped by the memories that are stored in the deep recesses of our mind.

That's why a certain smell can trigger feelings about a situation. If that odor that triggers a particular thought was registered during a stressful situation, your reaction to smelling that odor now might not be all that positive. If that odor is a reminder of a particularly pleasant time in your life, your reaction could be completely different. Memories influence our thinking which, in turn, influences our behavior.

Why is all this important? It is because our thinking is all we really have control of in this life. We can't control what happens to us. We can't control how others will treat us. All we have is the ability to choose how we will react to what happens to us. The difference between those who live like the victors God wants us all to be and those of us stuck in victim thinking is that victors pay more attention to how they think.

Ken said that, as amazing as our brains are, they are pretty lazy when it comes to processing memories. Our brain likes to be able to systematize thoughts and memories in a way that create responses that are easily duplicated. In other words, our brains don't like to rehash feelings and memories to create new behavior because that takes up valuable resources. Our brains like to keep those power packed resources available for situations that might lead to life or death. That's not a bad plan, but most of what we face today has so little to do with life or death. I want my brain more focused on making freedom what I experience. That freedom just doesn't happen when all I do is live out of a place of automatic response.

Back to our familiar odor response example from above. When we first connected that odor to some situation in our lives, our brain remembered how we reacted. When that odor comes around again, the brain likes to go into auto-pilot mode and react like it always has. That takes the least resources which makes our brain happy.

All that is OK unless how we react causes others damage in some way. It is when behaviors are conditioned by responses to memories that haven't been processed against the truth that victim thinking can really come to the forefront. It is when we give into the automatic responses of our brain based on past victimizing input that negative habits are reinforced.

How can we know if we are going down this path. Ken highlighted one such sign. As he put it, when we react to a firecracker situation with a nuclear response we might need to stop and take an inventory of what is going on. Have you ever been in that situation where your reaction to that situation was way beyond what was actually going on. Those are what I like to call the "straw that broke the camel's back" moments to me.

We all know that any given single situation, like a single piece of straw isn't enough to make us go over the edge like we have in the past. It is when the stresses of this life combined with the brain's ability to get us to react to situations like we have in the past, that make nuclear responses to firecracker situations happen.

I love today's Bible reading. It deals with the subject at hand so well. It says...

It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. Romans 7:21-23 (MSG)

It isn't that you planned to go nuclear when that situation happened. Few of us are wired that way. It is that there is so much going on in our heads that we often set ourselves up to where auto response is all we have. That's the territory victim thinkers seem to never be able to conqueror. The victor takes steps to make that territory their own.

How does one do that? I believe the Bible has it right on that one too. God's word says to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. My brain hurts just thinking of the amount of work this takes to make happen.

The kind of work required to take captive every thought is like beginning a workout routine. At first it requires a lot of effort to get things moving in the right direction. After a little perseverance, what was once a chore becomes more of a habit. Same can be said for taking captive the thoughts our brain wants us to automatically react to.

The key to victor living might be as simple as not reacting automatically to input that triggers behavior shaped by past occurrences. This is particularly the case when how we react is based on lies that our brains have accepted as a result of the badness that has happened a long time ago. Those buried, and long forgotten memories, might be just the key to why we go nuclear over situations that others barely react to.

The lies that our brains have accepted, as a result of the badness that has happened a long time ago, almost always have to do with who we are. If you let those situations come to mind you will inevitably feel the sting of the situation that goes to the heart to who you are. You might think that you don't measure up. You might believe that you will never be lovable enough. You might consider how meaningless your life seems to be. All these thoughts and so many more are lies when compared to who God says you are.

Because you are His Child, you are lovable. You are worthy. You have meaning. You are a victor. It is when we force our brains to process what is happening right now through how God sees us that we have the best chance at taking captive the thoughts that have enabled us to react in a victim making way in the past. As we get better at taking captive the thoughts of the past using the truth of the present, we are better able to exhibit a behavior that others see as victor living.

Thank God He is bigger than our brains. I'm so glad that He gave us such a wonderful tool as the human brain when it comes to victor living. Problem is, that if I choose to not let the fullness of my mental capacity to run free in my life, my thoughts are destined to control me rather than the other way around.

Take captive your thoughts and life fully in the freedom God wants for you as you experience victor living in your life today.

Day 270 - The Best For Us

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.

**********

"God wants the best for me – His desires are for my best."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 44.

God wants the best for you and for me. How could He not want the best if we are, in fact, His Children. Unfortunately we tend to think the best means that we will never face trials of any kind. How victimizing it is when bad times hit the Child of God who misunderstands what God’s goodness might look like in their lives.

Here’s what happens when the victor is subjected to badness if their view of what God’s goodness is isn’t seen from the correct perspective. If we have a wrong view of what God’s goodness looks like, when bad times come we tend to let doubts enter into our thinking as to God’s character. We start to see our lives as being separate from who God is in this world. When we are going through bad times, we can believe the whispers of Satan that make us think we aren't important to this God that made us. We can buy into the narrative that God doesn't exist when His existence is questioned because of a set of terrible circumstances in our lives. When that happens, victim thinking can really take over.

When the bad times hit it is critical that our view of God, and of what His goodness looks like, be secure in the victor’s heart. Take a look at this subject in light of today’s Bible reading.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 (NIV)

The victor finds courage, stability and peace from the fact that God doesn’t change. He isn’t the “nice god” today that gave you that victory and the “naughty god” tomorrow when that victory seems to elude you. God is the same today, tomorrow and forever.

I think that we forget what an incredible gift the immutability of God really is. The fact that He doesn't change is something we can celebrate in our lives. Good times or bad, God is the same. Victors need to have that locked firmly in their hearts or this world will do an amazing job of getting us to forget the power of who we are.

Fact is that good times as well as bad are destined to be in your future. The victor realizes that their own circumstances have nothing to do with the character and nature of this God they have the right to call “Father.” God’s desire for us is for the best. That doesn’t always translate to getting everything we want when we want it.

Victim thinkers are stuck in a place where their view of God, particularly His goodness, is based on what their lives look like at any given moment. Living that kind of life is such a whip-saw way to live. Victim thinkers are doomed to wildly shifting thoughts about themselves and their God. When times are good, their thoughts on goodness are going one way. When things take a turn for the worse, their thoughts whip them in a completely different direction. Living this way is such an exhausting and counterproductive way as far as my experience has shown me.

What I'm coming into a better understanding is, is that God wants the best for you and for me. He doesn’t want you to be blown about by the shifting winds of change when it comes to your circumstances. He wants you to be just like Him - steadfast and unchanging when it comes to the power that results as the victor lives out His identity as God’s Child.

When you are faced with challenging circumstances hold on to the fact that God is working for His best to be seen in your life. The difference you might feel could be seen in how strong you are able to stand when the gales of life come your way. Don't let how you feel about who you are be based on how well your life is going at the moment. Let God gift you with His best. Be the victor He has called you to be by living in His Goodness no matter what comes at you today.

Day 269 - Freedom Pill

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.

**********

"Reality is that when we hold onto the bitterness of offense all we are doing is causing ourselves damage. Forgiveness frees us from having to carry the weight of the offense for the rest of our lives."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 212.

Offense is a growing cancer in our world today. It is because of the bitterness that is there because of the various offenses we perceive that we so easily classify our culture as a Victim-Based Society. 

Just like the disease I compared offense to, being trapped in cancer robs us of the freedom to live fully. Unlike cancer though, there is a guaranteed remedy to offense that can eliminate the effects of the disease that threatens to take the best life has to offer. The remedy to offense is forgiveness.

The more I think about that last statement, the more I see it to be true. Chemo-therapy is a common treatment of many of the cancers that we face today. Chemo is an interesting disease treatment method. It is based on the theory that, with enough poison introduced into the body, the out of control growth of the cancer cells can be turned, making remission possible. 

There are a lot of similarities to forgiveness as a treatment to offense when compared to chemo as a cancer treatment. Just like Chemo, forgiveness is pretty much an indiscriminate way of treating the disease. Though chemos have been developed to better target just unhealthy cells, most chemos cause damage to healthy cells as well. In general, forgiveness is kind of the same way. Though we might be targeting one element of offense with forgiveness, the impact of this powerful disease treatment method goes way beyond just what we think the target might be. 

It is when we take the cure for offense in larger and larger doses that the healing properties of forgiveness really come into play. You see, offense is a disease of the mind as well as of the heart. As forgiveness is applied, we correctly assume that the bondage making effects offense has on our heart will be minimized and ultimately reversed. What we sometimes forget is that forgiveness also works on our minds. 

It is from that place of thought that we really need the cure of offense. Though forgiveness might be just what is needed to soften our hearts towards the kinds of situations that hurt us in the first place, it is in the mind where the issue of bondage and freedom reside. With enough of the cure for offense, our minds start to turn in ways were the negative thoughts that have been the result from a particular offense begin to change. It is amazing how much good a victor can have in this world when their thinking has been set free by taking ample doses of forgiveness.

The Bible is filled with scriptures discussing forgiveness. I think God is pretty serious about the cures this amazing treatment brings to the life of a victor. Check out today's reading with me now. 

Lord, by such things people live;
    and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
    and let me live.
Surely it was for my benefit
    that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me
    from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins
    behind your back. Isaiah 38:16-17 (NIV)

Near the beginning of our reading, it says, "You restored me to health and let me life." Those who have had the amazing gift of remission when fighting cancer feel the weight of these words found in Isaiah. Can't you feel the gratitude in that sentence? It isn't too hard to understand the relief a person who has come through so much has when they can make that statement.

I believe God wants us all to feel that way in just about all that we do in this world. He wants us to realize how easy it is to be restored to health when offense is concerned. He wants us to realize that it is when we put some things behind us that we can begin to live in the fullness of the freedom victors are suppose to have. We can't live that way when the sins of those who have offended us remain right before us like they do when we haven't forgiven.

I had an interesting thought that I almost didn't include in today's presentation. Frankly it kind of sounds blasphemous on the surface. I'm going to say it anyways because I think it makes the point that I believe I'm suppose to get across today. I believe God is serious about forgiveness because of the freedom it affords. Not only is He serious about forgiveness because it makes us free, but I believe that He is so serious about forgiving us because it sets Him free as well.

Good, no lightening bolts yet! Let me keep going. You see, we have done a lot to offend God. He created us, for goodness sake, and we have turned out backs on Him. That kind of rejection, that kind of disrespect, that kind of affront is akin to almost any of the things that have been done to you that has brought offense into your life. If God continued to hold a grudge against us for not treating Him correctly, I believe He would be in just as much bondage as we feel in our lives when the bitterness of offense is allowed to linger in our lives as well.

I think God forgives for two reasons. First of all He loves us. Secondly, He forgives because it brings a level of freedom in His life that we too could benefit from in our lives. Since we are created in His image, maybe those reasons for forgiveness need to be part of our existence as well. Even if we forgive because we want freedom and we want that freedom as a result of a growing love for ourselves, I believe we are living like God when we apply those motives to the issue of offense in our lives.

Offense is a cancer that is eating away at the very fabric of our society today. Don't let that cancer rob you of the fullness of the freedom God intends for you to live out. Take every opportunity to forgive. As you let forgiveness be more and more what drives you, you will begin to see the power of freedom that makes love have the kinds of impact that this world needs so desperately. Live the life of a victor today. Forgive and find freedom in all that you do.

Day 268 - Thinking & Thanks

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

In our first two presentation on thanks, we talked about the need to recognize and to confess our thanks. There is so much we have to be thankful for. Even in the bad times, thanks is possible. It is when we are thankful in the challenging times that I believe makes the good times that much more powerful in our lives. 

As I have said in past presentations, I came to a place where giving thanks was losing its meaning in my life. I just didn't know what the words "thank you" meant anymore. Habitually saying those words just didn't make any sense. I felt like God wanted me to get what these words meant so that their power could be more of what I experienced living as the victor He has called out for me in this life. 

I stated in earlier podcasts, I found that "thanks" had a meaning that included words like confession and recognition. Today, we are going to take a look at a third nuance to the word "thanks" that I found as I studied this interesting word. Forgive me for the difficulty you might have understanding my wording today. We are going to cover a meaning of the word thanks that can be summed up by a word that sounds very much like thanks. An important element of the word "thanks" comes as we take a look at the topic of how we "think." These words sound so similar that you might have to listen closely to tell which one I'm saying as we go through our presentation today. Alright, let's get started.

I mentioned in the Confession podcast that we are obligated to give thanks. We owe God something that we can never repay. Even in the good times and in the bad, the grace God has given us should be just as evident. It is when we think God's grace means we get a good life now, that we begin to lose the power of thanksgiving in our lives. Because grace is so much more than just a good live right now, even when times are bad, we can thank Him. There’s a power in recognizing that fact. 

The origins of the world Thanks reinforces this notion of obligation. The French word for thanks is “merci”. Literally translated this word means “mercy.” In other words when a french person says “merci” they are saying thanks for not giving me what I really deserve. Now, that’s a perspective on thanks that I believe we have missed in our life. 

I don’t care how bad your life is at the moment, you actually deserve a whole lot worse in the eyes of a perfect and perfectly unapproachable God. Even the slightest misstep on our parts is proof enough of the need for our total annihilation. Yes, God loves us. He pours out on us the power of relationship and promises something better no matter how bad or how good our lives are right this moment. That’s mercy if I have ever heard it. I have a lot to be thankful for. I deserve a whole lot more badness, even when bad times are in my life. That's mercy. For that mercy, I want to stop and simply say, "Thank you God!"

That thought is emphasized in today Bible reading. Short as this verse is, it is packed with the truth and the power of thanksgiving. 

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)

Knowing that the French word for thanks is all about mercy, this verse takes on a whole new meaning when we replace mercy in our reading with thanks. When we make this substitution, our reading goes like this. Be thankful, just as your Father is thankful. 

What's God thankful for? He's thankful for you and for me. He is thankful for the relationship we have with Him, when we let Him in. He is thankful for the love and praise and honor and worship we show Him, particularly when times are bad in our lives. He is thankful for the choice we make to love Him in spite of what this world does to try and get us to do otherwise. Our verse makes it abundantly clear, that just as God is thankful for the ability to relate to us, we are to be thankful for our relations, both vertical and horizontal. 

Where the origins of the word "thanks" has a lot to do with obligation, it also has a focus on the notion of thinking of the other person. When a person gives you a gift, it is a symbol that they have thought of you. How many times have you heard that people really love gifts that have an element of thought behind them? That's what people are really conveying when they say thanks for what you have done for them. It is the recognition that someone thought of you that makes thanks have the power it can in our lives. 

We are wired to want to be thought of. The notion that someone would take time of out their day to actually turn their attention to us is something that touches us all in a deep way. When we say Thank You to a person who gave us a gift, we are actually showing our appreciation for the fact that that person thought of us in the first place. 

I think that’s why thanking God all the time is such a powerful thing to do. It is actually showing God how much we appreciate the fact that He thinks of us constantly. Using thanks as a way of relating to this God also puts us in a place where we are thinking more of who God is in our lives on a moment by moment basis. Thanks can actually get our eyes off our problems and enable us to focus on someone who is the answer to all our problems. 

One more element of where the word Thanks came from in our language. Thanking someone is really saying, “I am thinking of you because of all you have done for me.” Isn’t that the epitome of a relationship with God? God has done so much for you and for me. We will never be able to repay all that He has done for us. By saying Thanks, we are telling God we are thinking of Him because we recognize all that He has done for us. That’s why Thanks is so important and powerful - It makes it possible for us to remember who we are and who this God is in our lives. 

We have a lot to be thankful for. The very fact that God would even think of us, as insignificant was we are when compared to His bigness, is proof enough of our need to give thanks. Take time today to thank God no matter what is going on in your life. He thinks of you all the time. He knows what you are going through. He feels your pain in ways this well worn statement fails to communicate fully. Thank Him for thinking of you. Thank Him for thinking you are the victor He sees you to be. Thank Him for the mercy He is showing you right now. Thank Him for letting you be called His Child and live in the power of what that will be in all you do today.

Day 267 - Judging Your World

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.

**********

"I’m saying that we need to be aware of how the “have to’s” can crush our ability to live like a victor in the middle of the bad circumstances that victimize us all."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 177.

I sure do wish I could view the challenges that come my way as something other than life forcing me to do what I need to do at that given moment. Don't you know how powerful life would be if the things that come against our life could be lived out with the power of a positive attitude. 

I'm not saying this to make light of the bad stuff that comes our way. Please be aware that I'm in no way delusional as to the pain and suffering this world can toss at us. It is that I'm gaining an new found appreciation of the fact that when we enlist the power of our inner most being in the middle of bad times, things seem to happen in ways that I just can't fully explain. 

Our words have the power to make the power of our souls an ally in the battle with all that is going on in our lives. Our words also have the power to make the power of our souls work against us when bad times hit. It is when we use the words "have to" to describe the things we are faced with doing in a good or bad situation that our souls can actually work against us. 

Our behavior is largely controlled by the faculties of our soul. Our will, intellect and emotions are what make it so that we act in ways that are either victor making or victim causing. Here's what I mean by that. 

Ever been around someone who is having a really bad day? Their attitude has a way of being so infectious. If they are angry and lash out at you, isn't it so easy to be angry and lash out right back at them? If you don't know this person, it can be so easy to misjudge their actions as hatred or prejudice or evil. Their actions, driven by their soul reacting to their own situations, makes it possible for you to be victimized by their response. Worse than that, your misinterpretation of the motives behind their behavior makes it possible for you to add to that person's belief that they are a victim. The opposite is just as true. 

Our actions have the ability to either draw others in or push others away. We can't always control how others will react to us, but we can control how we act in situations that come at us, whether they be good or they be bad. A large portion of that control is exhibited when we choose the words we use in the situations that come our way. 

When we use words like "have to" to describe the tasks that come at us in life, we are telling our soul that we are trapped in this place. The soul will do all it can to help set itself free. Even when freedom isn't an issue, our words can make the soul take on a posture that enables our behavior to impact others in ways we never intended. 

I've heard it said that they only thing we really have the ability to consistently control is our thoughts. Sure we can control our will as well, but that is so hard to do on a long term basis. My friend, Ken Baugh likens controlling our will to that of holding a beach ball under water. We all can do that but eventually the force of the ball under the water is going to overwhelm us and BOOM the ball will come erupting to surface, splashing everyone around you. Same goes for our emotions. The will and emotions are so hard to maintain over long periods of time. 

It is our thoughts that we have the ability to shape and maintain. When our thoughts are heading in a particular direction, our will and emotions are more than happy to follow suit. 

Amazing thing is that our words emanate from our thoughts. When we think a situation is filled with  "have to" occurrences, we are in a place where our will and emotions are put on alert. It is in that time of heightened awareness that the beach ball of our lives is about to soak all those around us with an eruption of things that threaten to victimize anyone in our vicinity.

Our Bible reading today points out a couple of things regarding our thoughts and the words that might come from our thinking. Check it out with me now.

The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
    the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
    the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
    will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    won’t decide on the basis of hearsay. Isaiah 11:2-4 (MSG)

I believe that it is in those times when we are living a "have to" life that we are letting fear take over in our lives. Whether we have something to fear or not, our souls are in a place where they sure think fear is to be fought. Our reading today highlights the only fear that our soul loves. Fear of our Lord is what our soul knows is right. That kind of fear isn't a cower in the corner and fight for freedom kind of fear. Fear of God is a comfort to the soul. It is the power it needs to help us discern the good from the bad that comes against us.

Our reading today uses the word judgement when it comes to our lives. Appearances and the lies this world throws at us are horrible foundations for the kinds of judgement we need to be the powerhouse of a victor God intends. You see, when we judge our lives through the lens of "have to" we are turning loose our souls to fight a cause that might just be the wrong cause. We have to be fighting what God wants us to fight, not what we think is coming against our good lifestyle that we might judge to be a "have to" situation.

God neither creates the evil that makes badness come into our lives, nor does He use that evil to punish us. The thinking behind "have to" living believes that we don't matter to this God that made us. There is a hopelessness in that belief that makes our souls cower in ways that fail to serve us in world changing ways.

The answer to "have to" living is to live in a place of "get to." Nothing empowers our ability to live a "get to" life like realizing that we are not alone. Our scripture points out what makes "get to" living possible in the first place. It is the fact that God's Spirit hovers over us. That spirit brings wisdom and understanding. It brings direction and strength. It instills knowledge and that is what is needed to make the power of living in the fear of God something that makes our souls come alive.

A lot is going to come your way today. Some of those things will make you think that you have no choice but to be where your are. Though there will be little you can do to change you situation, you can change your thoughts. It is when we change our thoughts that getting through what we face something that is filled with a power that is outside our ability to muster up all on our own. It is when we realize that God is right there with us, watching over us, empowering us and cheering us on that our thinking changes in ways that make even the most arduous task a "get to" opportunity for our souls to shine.

That's the epitome of victor living. It is when our souls take on the power of God through the spirit's direction that victor living really takes shape. That shape has so little to do with whether our circumstances can be described as victorious or not. The fact that God's presence is guaranteed for the victor is what makes that person a victor in the first place.

Make today all it can be by taking on all your tasks with an attitude of "I get to...". You may be surprised at how, even the hardships that come your way might be sightings of God in your life for yourself and for all those around you.

Day 266 - Reshaping Life

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.

**********

"Victims have been trained by this world to grab for all they can and be sure no one takes more from them than they deserve to receive. Who is the judge of how much is enough to give out? The victim thinker."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 125.

In the 70's a beer company use to have a series of TV commercials that had a line something like this. "You only go around once in this world so why not grab for all the gusto you can?" Even for something as mundane as selling beer, ad agencies work to appeal to our victim thinking ways to help their product get noticed. Amazing thing is, that strategy works!

We have been conditioned to grab for all we can. After all, can we trust that there will be enough to go around when so much is required from this world to satisfy our growing appetites for stuff? That's a victim thinker's way of approaching the world that does nothing but spawn victims all around them. 

This is especially the case with whatever it is that we find in this world that makes our lives be in that place where we are OK with who we are. You know what I mean by that, don't you? Aren't there times in your life where everything just seems to be good? I don't know about you, but when those times are there I will do almost anything to make them stay that way. As those times change, I find myself grabbing for more of what I think will make those times last. 

Amazing thing about this life and a life with God is that EVERYTHING changes. Good times change. So do the bad. Unfortunately, we aren't all that good at dealing with the ramifications to change. Even when things are changing for the better, victim thinking can make it so that we grab for all we can to make the status quo be more of what we have, even when what we have falls so far short of what is to come. 

I came across an interesting quote that made me think recently. In his book, Beyond Sundays by Wayne Jacobsen, the following statement really caught my attention. Mr Jacobsen said, 

"He (meaning God) has to reshape internally the ways you were taught to live—twisted by indulging your desires, haunted by the insecurities of not knowing you were loved, exploited by the selfishness of others, or manipulated by the lies and fears of religious obligation." There is so much in that statement that we need to unpack. 

The author was making a point about the status quo that I think those of us wanting to live this life as the victors we would like to be, need to take to heart. You see, I don't believe where we are right now holds a candle to where God is taking us in the future. I don't care how great your times are right this moment, they are but a poor reflection of the amazing times that are to come. It is as we jealously guard this moment, and grab for all we can because of the fear of the next, that victim thinking takes root in our lives. 

I love what Mr. Jacobsen said about God's work in our lives. He is reshaping us from the inside out. When I think of the implication of that I come to realize what a big job God has in order for that reshaping to happen. No wonder it takes so long to transform us from where we are today to where He knows we will be in the future. If God reshaped all that needed changing in our lives, at one time, it would kill us! Step by step, God is changing those things in us that once defined us but now are holding us back from the victor's life He has called us to. 

That's why it can feel so disconcerting, this life we lead. When we are in the middle of the kinds of changes God does in our lives that life can feel so strange. On one had we want to grab for all we can to try and hold on to what we know all too well. It doesn't matter that what we know is killing us. Even if we have come that conclusion, we still grab for anything to hold onto as we try and maintain the status quo. 

Then there's the other side to this middle ground of change. We know we are going somewhere but, darn if we know where or what it will look like when we get there. I have to tell you, there is a lot of fear in that place of the unknown. With all this reshaping, what will life look like when God is done? Will I even like who I am as God changes me from the inside out? The fear of the unknown is a terrible thing to deal with. When it comes to our identity, fear of the unknown can be just about too much to bare. 

Our reading from the Bible is a pretty familiar one to many of us. It says,

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (ESV)

So much of what I fear in my life comes as I consider what love might look like in light of what I think I need at that moment. If I'm stuck in a place where I find it necessary to lean on particular coping mechanisms that might not rise to the level of perfection of a perfect God, fear comes in knowing that God might change me in ways that those coping skills won't work in the future. That's a scary place to be. Looking ahead from where I am now, that seems like punishment. To take away what gives me comfort doesn't seem like love to me. 

That's why God's shaping is from the inside out. That's why His shaping takes time. He slowly infuses His love in us in ways that help us to see fear for what it is worth. Fear about the future based on God's love for us now is grabbing for all we can to try and make today stay the same even though we know change is a coming. 

We have a lot in our lives that need to be unlearned. There are a lot of insecurities that haunt our lives. The selfishness of others has matched up with our own selfish ways that has made it possible for us to be used in hurtful ways. The well meaning Church has allowed a level of damage to occur in our lives through the rigors of obligation. All this makes it so that victim thinking can slip into our lives. When it does we tend to grab for all we can, hoping that the goodness of this moment won't be overshadowed by the fear of what might come. 

Perfect love drives out that fear. As the victor you are, that love is in you. It is hard at work, reshaping who you are and who this world will see you to be in the next moment. Let that love do its work. Stop grabbing for all this life has to offer as the fix to the uncertainty you feel right now. Take another breath and let God's amazing love make you more of the victor you long to be.

Day 265 - Storms of Life

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.

**********

"Jesus knew that no matter how bad the circumstance, he could trust God to provide the kind of peace in the soul that can only be described as prosperity."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 114.

Jesus was the most prosperous person to have ever lived. If you look to money for how prosperous Jesus was, you will be sorely disappointed. If you consider his significance as to how prosperous He was you will be shocked at how little impact on the immediate world He had when He was alive. If you take into account any of the many things you and I might think makes us prosperous, there is no way that Jesus should be considered the most prosperous man to have ever lived. Yet that's what He was. 

Jesus had this ability to have peace in the soul unlike anyone who has ever lived. That peace came from the fact that He knew God wouldn't do anything that would make their relationship be less than it had been since the dawn of time. Money will come and go. Significance will shine brightly, then it will fade. All the other attributes we are so quick to pursue, when it comes to prosperity, are here one day and gone the next. Peace in the soul is something that makes the other things we settle for in this world pale by comparison when it comes to prosperity . 

If that is the case, then what is peace in the soul and how do we get it? I don't know if I can definitively answer those questions, but I do have some thoughts on the subject. 

Let me start by describing what I think peace in the soul is NOT. Peace in the soul is not that feeling of comfort, satisfaction, security or well being that the world is so quick to assign to what peace is suppose to look like. Each and everyone of those things are not permanent. One moment it is hear and the next moment we have lost our peace because that characteristic is MIA (missing in action). Peace in the soul is not something we can get by what this world offers. Peace in the soul comes as we seek something extra-worldly for the prosperity this quality brings to our lives. 

Peace in the soul is a calm and quiet in the storm. Jesus displayed this peace in the soul as he slept in the back of the boat during that stormy day out on the lake. His disciples were scared to death. They were afraid the terrible storm they were in was going to kill them. They looked to Jesus and saw Him peacefully snoozing His and, as they thought, their lives away! Take a look at this story with me now. 

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Matthew 8:22-25 (NIV)

Can't you relate to the disciples fear and angst? Even though these were experienced sailors, this storm had them all afraid for their lives. It must have been a pretty bad blow, if they were that scared. How is it that Jesus could be so sound asleep when experienced sailors were at the point of panic because of the storm? That's what peace in the soul does for us when we let it be what takes over our lives. 

You see, Jesus didn't have a care in the world. First of all, He knew that he wasn't going to die in a boat, in the middle of a lake on a stormy day. Jesus knew He had a destiny with death but that kind of death on a lake that day wasn't what He would face. There is a peace that the soul gravitates to when purpose is at stake. Jesus knew He was part of a plan bigger than just succumbing to a passing storm. That knowledge let His soul rest in ways that made His body follow suit. 

Then there is the fact that Jesus knew who He was. You see, even if God decided to let Jesus die in that boat, what did it matter to Him. The sooner He died, the quicker He would be reunited with His Father and all those who loved Him so in Heaven. Either Jesus was going to live through the storm with God or He was going to die and more fully be with God for eternity. The prosperity Jesus was exhibiting as peace in the soul came as He lived a win-win kind of life. That kind of prospect is something the soul loves and peace in the soul is a natural result. 

Interesting thing is that the exact things that made it possible for Jesus to have peace in the soul is just as true for you and for me. It was also true for the disciples as well. That's why Jesus was so quick to confront them on their faith after He had calmed the storm. He said to them, "Where is your faith?" I believe He was asking them why they couldn't see their destiny and identity as clearly as Jesus could in His life. 

It is during those times that panic is driving all the peace out of my soul, I need to be asking the same question. Where is my faith? Don't I believe I am who God says I am? Don't I believe that He has a destiny for me? Why am I letting this storm make me doubt my identity and the destiny that is empowered by that identity? 

Maybe, the next time a storm hits my life, I need to ask myself where my faith is. Then I need to realize that the object of my faith is curled up in the back of the boat we both are in. Why not go snuggle up with my faith and just ride out the storm letting the heavenly rest wash over me. I'm just as destined as Jesus. I'm just as much identified as He was. I'm a Child of the King just like my big brother Jesus. There a power in that fact that promises peace in my soul unlike anything else I have ever seen in this world. 

Let peace be what guides you today. That peace won't let you down. Sure you might be in for a rough ride. Fact is you might not come out the other end. Either way, you just can lose. God is with you now and will be with you whether you get to the other side of the lake or not. That's the power of victor living that we have at our fingertips. Don't let the storms of live drive you to question who you are or your destiny as the victor God has called you to be. Let the rest of God sweep over you and bask in the prosperity that is peace in the soul that God has made a way for your to have this fine day.

Day 264 - Overcoming This World

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.

**********

"In fact, He might find that our discomfort is better for His plan of salvation for this world than our demand for a good life."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 94.

I don't like that quote above. Even though I wrote those words, I don't like what they say. The implications of those words scare me. How could a loving God think that anything other than my comfortable life be what He could ever want for my life? 

God's plan is something I don't think we will ever fully appreciate. You see, God's plan isn't to make our lives nice and comfy. God doesn't have anything against us having a good life. It just isn't His plan to make comfort be the focus of a life well lived. 

This life is about something more. This life has more to do with the battle waging right now between the forces of good and the forces of evil. I just can't understand how Satan keeps His fighters so motivated to fight. The results of their efforts are so abundantly clear in God's Word. God wins! Light overcomes darkness. The forces of good prevail. 

Why in the world would anyone keep fighting in spite of knowing that the outcome is assured? I believe the reason they continue to fight is based on nothing more than that terrible characteristic we sometimes live out in our lives. Evil is motivated to fight out of the simple word spite. 

Satan knows that he will be defeated. He knows He will be separated from God for all eternity. All He can do is to take as many of us with him in the hopes that this will cause God some pain. Want to know something really amazing. That fact does cause God pain. The fact that even one of God's creations would choose to live without Him is a thought that, I believe drives God to do reckless and desperate things. You don't have to go any further than God offering up His own son to see what I mean by that. 

Jesus' death on the cross is nothing short of reckless and desperate. This plan doesn't guarantee that all of God's Children with choose to be with Him. That's Satan's motive for continuing to fight. He knows that God's plan won't work unless we choose to accept that plan. He wants to make it hard for us to make that choice. He does so by making our life difficult at times in ways that can only be descried as hell on earth. 

That's why discomfort in our lives can sometimes be viewed as God's plan. He may need us to be in some pretty dark places for His light to be seen. Living in a place where we expect God's plan to always make our life what we want it to be is a victim thinker's paradise. God is God. His plan is what will make this world be all it is suppose to be for His Children. Sometimes that plan makes it possible for our comfortable lives to be forfeited whether we like it or not. 

Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 (ESV) 

Victory is described in such a different way in today's reading. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the evil in this world. It isn't the defeat of evil that is our victory. It isn't the fact that our live turns back into what we want that defines victory for the victor. Faith is what John says victory looks like.

John also says that any of us that are Children of God overcomes the world. That's a powerful promise. It doesn't say that that victory will be the comfortable and pain-free life in this world. It says we will overcome. God will show us what that looks like. It might be that our overcoming will be when we pass from this life to the next. Victors have to come to grips with that being a real possibility as God's plan unfolds in their lives.

I wish I could read the Bible and see how it is God's responsibility to give me the life I want. I dream of the day when I can say that God's obligation is to make my life be all I long for it to be. I'm sad to say that just isn't the case. It isn't that God doesn't love us that He would stand for anything bad to happen in our lives. It is that evil is in this world. Badness is going to happen. Truth is that we might be the only chance for the light of God to be seen when evil has darkened the world around us so completely like it does from time to time in our lives.

The only way I know how to live in this reality is to let God be God. That strategy only works when I have the faith needed to believe I am all He says I am in spite of how hard Satan is working to get me to believe something different.

Please don't let today be about allowing your circumstances to determine your position before God. If Jesus did that, none of us would be able to claim our victor status. No, do something totally different today. Let your faith be what provides all the victory you need in your life. Have faith in who God says you are. Have faith in the fact that God's plan is something that is good, even when your life is filled with bad. Have faith that victory is assured. That's the only way I know of to make victim thinking less of a distraction in all you have planned as God's Child today.

Day 263 - Recognition & Thanks

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

**********

This is the second in a series of four presentation on the issue of "thanks." Not too long ago, I talked about how the words "thank you" all of sudden confused me. It was as though I couldn't come up with a reason why those important words have such meaning and power in our lives. When this happens to me I have to take time to look at what the world thinks and what God thinks for a perspective that helps me get back on track.

Last time I spoke on the connection of thanks to confession. You might remember that I found that, when it comes to thanks, confession is so important. We have to get the words "thank you" out of our heads and, at times, out of our mouth. Thank you is an obligation. It is an obligation that is a good thing. Thank you gives us the ability to confess our gratitude for things that have been done for us that provide a future, even when our present is so messed up. The confession of thanks gives our soul the ability to get involved in things eternal as they fight the weighty things of the temporal.

Today we are going to focus on another element of thanks that I discovered as I studied the word "thanks" in the Bible. Not only does "thanks" have an element of confession to it, there is an element of recognition in the word "thanks" that we need to be aware of. We are to recognize the need to give thanks. Recognition is what makes confession even possible when it comes to the word "thanks."

When I took a look at the times the word "thanks" was used in the Bible I found an interesting flavor to this word that caught my attention. There is an element of the meaning of the various words translated to the English word "thanks" that has everything to do with recognition. What is it that we are to recognize when "thanks" is at issue? We have to recognize the amazing grace that we have been given. More to the point, it is so important that we recognize the presence of that grace whether our life is good or not at any given moment.

We have, somehow, taken the concept of grace and turned the meaning of this beautiful word on its ear. We have come to the belief that grace abounds when our life is good here on earth. If we are ever going to live in the power of thanksgiving, the victor has to get it when it comes to what grace is and what grace isn't. Put simply, grace isn’t that we get a good life. Grace is that we get an eternal life.

Today's Bible reading shows us the way when it comes to recognizing grace in our lives.

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 (GNT)

There is a fullness to this life that comes when we realize that this moment of pain, that might be weighing us down so completely, isn’t what we are destined to forever. Victim thinking is so much more possible when we think that grace means we will never have challenges in our lives.

Getting to a place where we recognize that grace in our lives happens when we go on a journey with God in this life. Peter said that we are to continue to grow in the "grace AND knowledge" of our savior. It is as we face the good times and the bad times of life with a heart that recognizes those things to be thankful for that grace and knowledge become the foundation for all we have to give thanks for.

Look, I'm just as adverse to pain in my life as the next guy. I will do and say anything to make my life the comfortable thing I want so badly. When times are good, of course I can thank God for the grace He gives. When times are bad, I should be able to thank Him just as completely. It is when I begin to think that God owes me a good live because He promises grace that this world will make me feel like a victim at every turn.

When bad times hit, grace is just as sure as when good times are all we know. Sure we there are times when it will feel like a marathon as we endure the of pain that comes at us in this life. Even in that place of pain, we still need to recognize the truth of the grace that promises the fullness of an abundant life, free of pain when this life comes to an end. When recognition of the truth of grace is combined with the confession of thanksgiving big things start to happen in heaven and on earth.

It is when we let the burdens of this world blind us to the fact that we are destined for so much more that we stagnate. I can’t help but to believe that so many of us are stuck in our pain because we have given up. Giving up is typified by our failure to give thanks.

Sure, our painful circumstances stink. There is no doubt that they are hard. No one could blame you for missing the fact that there is so much to be thankful for. God doesn’t think anything less of you for that fact. But, there is so much more than just being stuck in a place that will ultimately take us to victim thinking.

The reality is that there comes a point when it is time to wake up. Do you hear that call in your life now? I do. It is time to recognize who you are and who this God is in your life. There is a sweetness, a loveliness, a delight, a pleasure, a joy in this very moment that needs to be seen for all it is worth.

As hard as life is right now, there is so much to be thankful for. If nothing else, the fact that God calls you His child is enough to make thanksgiving be all it needs to be in our lives. It is time to let that recognition be all it needs to be to be thankful. Thankful for the promise of the future. Thankful for the hope of tomorrow. And, Yes, even thankful for the moment.

Open your eyes and see the promise of your future. Thankfulness that comes from that promise is what makes this moment be all it can be in your life.