Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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"Adam and Eve’s spirit just couldn’t handle the dramatic change in weight between being God’s child and an identity driven by shame. We are still feeling the pains of this reality as we fend off the moment-by-moment attacks on our identity that we face every day."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 110.
Change can be such a weighty prospect in our lives. We can actually feel the pressure associated with change. Maybe it is the the need to change something in your life that brings that pressure. Maybe it is the fact that things are changing all around you that makes pressure something you have to pay attention to in your life right now. What ever the circumstance, humans can be seriously adverse to change happening, even when that change is something that might actually be seen as good in our lives.
Ben Franklin said this about change; "When you are finished changing, you are finished!" Business author Alan Deutschman highlighted Franklin's statement on change in a more direct manner. He said, "Change or die!".
Fact is that we are always in a flux of change. Most of us have gotten pretty good at burying our heads in the sand to this fact. It isn't until the consequences of change are screaming in our ears do we look up and engage in ways that make how we change something that allows the power of our victor status to be unleashed in the process of change. Closing our eyes to the need for and the process of change is what makes it possible for victim thinking to rule in our lives.
Fact is, I don't mind change as long as it doesn't make me uncomfortable or challenges my lifestyle. That rules out just about all meaningful and life altering change in my life. When things come into my life that require me to change in ways that confront my view on how my life should be is when I can feel like such a victim. It is in those times of victim thinking that the power of my status as a victor is forfeited in ways that greatly limit my impact in this world of change.
Then there are those of us who realize how much we need to change. Maybe it is a particular set of coping mechanisms that we apply when things get tough. Maybe it is a set of habits that make our relationships something less than what they could be. Maybe it is that we find ourselves in a life where are aren't able to do as much as we think we should in order to be viewed as complete as we would like to be seen. Whatever is the motivation for change, even when we want that change to happen, we often approach that change in such personally victimizing ways. Let me explain that a bit further.
A friend of mine and I have had some amazing talks about life and the changes that we would like to see happen in our day-by-day methods of dealing with what life throws at us. We both have gone through long periods of time where we have buried our heads in the sand when it comes to the need for change. We are at a point in our lives where we want to change but now we see how important it is for our motives to be positioned in a way to help that change be what is right for our lives.
This friend said this about his motives for change. All too often, he is looking to change as a result of guilt from the past or fear of the future. Think about that motivation for a second. Can't you just feel the victim thinking that results when you are driven from guilt from your past. Can't you relate to how victim thinking can take hold as we let fear of the future be what drives us?
That's the pressure I'm talking about from the quote I read from my book at the beginning of this presentation. We simply weren't made to be able to stand up under the pressure that comes from guilt and from fear. That kind of pressure makes our souls collapse in ways that allow victim thinking to take over in our lives.
It isn't always change that makes us feel pressure to make, or even to allow that change to happen. I believe the pressure comes as we give in to changing because of guilt associated with our past and/or fear about what might happen in the future if we don't change. Can you relate to that kind of feeling in your life? I sure can!
In his book, "Thirteen Reasons Why", Jay Asher says, "You can't stop the future, You can't rewind the past, The only way to learn the secret...is to press play." Change happens when we stop replaying the past in our minds and quit trying to make the future happen now. It is in the moment that change can happen in ways that make victor living a reality in our lives.
God says it this way in His word.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)
Fact is that change is going to happen. We will feel the pressure of that change as change comes against our lives in ways that make what we like about our lives turn in ways we didn't expect. Worrying about the past isn't going to keep that change from happening. Fearing about the future isn't going to make the pressures of change from being exerted in our lives. It is the fact that God is there, walking through that change with us that makes it possible for victor living to replace victim thinking in the ever changing world they live in.
Adam and Even missed this fact in their lives. They saw change as something they had to take on themselves. The results was all the crazy change we experience in our world today. It is when we can shed the guilt of the past and the fear of the future that we have the best chance at seeing God's hand in our lives this exact moment. When God's hand is there, pressure from the world seems almost meaningless. When we can't see God's hand, we feel the fullness of that pressure in ways that make our behavior something that denies the power of our victor status from being seen as fully in our lives.
Change is a coming. It is a fact that we can't ignore or wish away. Facing that change squarely in the face as a result of guilt of the past or fear of the future makes the change that happens such a victimizing event to us and to those all around us. As you feel the pressure to change, stop and ask God to reveal Himself to you. Let His presence be what relieves the pressure you feel in the change that is happening in your world. Don't go it alone! Let God in and live more fully in the power of your status as the victor God sees you as today.
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