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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"As we have seen with destiny and identity, perspective plays the key role in understanding our rights when it comes to being a victor."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 205.
Perspective. Can we ever have too much of this amazing trait. How we see things can be so warped if our perspective isn't quite right.
I once watched as an artist friend of mind paint a picture as another friend spoke on faith and fear. Here were two very creative people using what God had blessed them with in their victor status to help get across a point on perspective that I still can't get out of my head.
As my friend highlighted how fear and faith war against each other, my artist friend painted this canvas with an image of a face obviously in fear. He added details to this piece of art that made the words my other friend spoke come alive in ways that really hit too close to home. It was as though with each stroke of the brush, the artist was telling my story. Every color, every nuance of this piece of art reminded me of those times when fear controlled my life. Those were times when victim thinking was in firm control.
As I listened to the words being spoken, trying to make sense of where this all was going, the artist did something amazing. Just as my friend began talking about how faith works to make fear something that doesn't need to be the controlling factor in our lives, the artist took the canvas he was working on and turned it upside down.
This perspective shift literally turned everything on its head. As words of faith were being spoken over us all, the artist took this piece of art that conveyed fear so perfectly and started to add small brushstrokes. Nothing dramatic was changed by the paint he added. Yet, change is what happened.
Now, that face filled with fear was a face changed by faith. Within seconds, a dark and hopeless image was filled with light and hope. It wasn't that the artist repainted a dark image in a way to make it light. That light image was actually in what was created from darkness. In other words, the face of faith that was so hard to see in the middle of fear was actually there all along. All it took to make me be able to see the image of faith was a perspective change. Turning that canvass upside down made it possible for my brain to see what was there all along.
That's how perspective works. The truth we need so desperately to make it another day is there. It isn't lost or being hidden from us. It is simply that our natural faculties get duped into seeing things a certain way until perspective is introduced.
It is the same with whatever we find important in our lives. Destiny, purpose, hope, faith, success, worth, value... all are doomed to be viewed in a way that allows victim thinking to enter the picture if perspective isn't taken into account.
Today's Bible reading really highlights the need to let perspective be all it can be in the victor's life.
So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (MSG)
If we are viewing our life from the perspective of a natural orientation we are doomed to failure. Being stuck in a place of failure can't help but make us live trapped in victim thinking. It is when we view our problems, our challenges, our circumstances and our prospects from a perspective of eternity that victor living takes on a power that can't be denied.
You see, when we look at things like our destiny or our purpose or our identity from the perspective of our circumstances we are seeing things upside down. It is when perspective is shifted so radically that we begin to see the picture of hope and faith that was there all along. Had my artist friend hadn't turned that canvas over, fear would have won out. That radical change in perspective made it so that I could understand faith beats fear in ways I would have never understood if perspective wasn't emphasized in such a dramatic way that evening not too long ago.
How about your life? Are you seeing things in a way that could benefit by a radical perspective change? Join the club. All of us are in that boat. It's time to step out of that boat. Maybe it is our time to walk on water. That can only happen as we let things get flipped on end. The miracle of victor living can only be possible as our perspective changes.
Take time today to consider all your circumstances from the perspective of Heaven. I can't say that your circumstances will change. Remember, that piece of art my friend painted didn't change. It was the change in perspective that made that dark painting become a representation of light. The same might just happen in your challenging circumstances. Heavenly perspective might make what you face today take on a different power. That can only happen with perspective change.
Let you victor status be empowered by how God sees you. Don't let how you see things be all that makes your day be all it can be. Make God's perspective be all it needs to, to turn your world upside down. The image of destiny, purpose, hope, faith, success, worth, and value you need to make your victor status be all it can be is in all that is happening right now in your life. Let God's perspective open your eyes to the image that has been there all along.
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