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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"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.
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