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"Without knowing our standing before God we are doomed to waste time in this life trying to figure out who we are. Satan loves us being stuck in that mode."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 60.
I happen to believe that one of the biggest time drains in the world today isn't time that is wasted doing nothing. It is the time spent doing things that we don't need to do that makes it so that progress isn't as achievable as it could be. When we go after those things that don't result in the progress we want, we are attacked in two different ways. First of all the time spent chasing unnecessary results can never be replaced. If that weren't enough of a negative, the effort we expend makes it that much harder for us to have the energy needed to do what actually makes sense when it comes to moving in the direction we desire.
Satan loves it when we choose to expend ourselves in areas where we just don't need to be. Adrian Rogers, the pastor who baptized me when I was ten years old, has an interesting quote about Satan's strategies. Pastor Rogers said, "If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy." Busyness is an amazingly effective strategy. When we choose to be busy in areas that have no overall impact in our lives, Satan smiles.
It is when we don't know or fail to believe our standing before God that busyness becomes a strategy that works so wonderfully well against us in this life. Taking time to try and earn what has been freely given to us takes us to places where discouragement and dejection are the result. When we face these emotions for too long, victim thinking is what happens. Satan wants us stuck in victim thinking. He will use busyness to help us get and stay there.
God has told us who we are. He has gone to great lengths to make it so that our efforts are not required when it comes to confirming and maintaining our standing before Him. It is when we feel the need to work to prove our standing before Him that busyness becomes the shortest path to victim thinking.
We don't have to do anything to determine or confirm our standing before God. That standing was determined the moment Jesus gave His live on the cross for us. Our standing is assured. It can't be changed. No amount of work will make that standing more evident. There is nothing we can do to earn that standing. We are who God says we are. That is all we needed to live this live as the victor God has called us to be.
So what is our standing before God? Here's a list of a few of the many attributes that define our standing.
Let's start our list when it comes to our standing before God with the words righteous and holy. The Bible says,
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 (NIV)
Notice how the only action here is the process of putting on the new self. That happens as we accept who we are before God and walk in that power. Righteous and holy to God aren't actions words when it comes to His Children. They are statements of fact. Like I have said before, most words that describe our standing before God are nouns. We get ourselves all bound up in time wasting ways when we turn these words into verbs. Working to prove our righteousness and holiness is exactly what Satan wants us to do. Don't give him the satisfaction. Stop trying to become what you already are.
Not only does God see us as righteous and holy, He also sees destiny and purpose in us. We don't have to find our purpose. We are purposed. We tend to feel drawn to work so hard to make purpose and destiny happen. Purpose and destiny are part of who we are because God has put them there in the first place. It says in the Bible,
Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people,
Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil. Psalm 97:11 (MSG)
We don't do anything to make destiny shine from our lives. It was placed there from before we were born. All we have to do is to be. Be all God says we are and His light can't help but to shine out from us, even on our darkest days.
The last characteristic of our standing before God I want to highlight today is the fact that God says we are victors. It says in God's Word...
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Romans 8:37 (NASB)
We spend so much time trying to make victory be the proof that we are the victors God made us to be. Victory isn't the defining characteristic of our standing before God. We are victors because God said so. It is when we think we need more victory in order to make our victor status have more clout, that Satan's strategy of busyness enters in victim making ways.
Stop doing and just be. All that doing is not helping you become more of what God already says you are. This doesn't mean that we are to do nothing. All this means is that we are to stop letting our actions try and be proof of our standing before this God that made us. Your day can be amazingly different if you just believe in who God sees you to be and let that be the power behind all you will accomplish in your life today.
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