Day 365 - The Year of the Victor

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365 days done. What an amazing journey this year has been producing this podcast. I sure have had a lot of fun doing this project. I have learned a great deal in producing these podcasts this past year. Much of what I have learned has come out of the circumstances that made this podcast possible in the first place.

Right after I wrote my book called Victor - Breaking Free From A Victim-Based Society, I started writing what I thought would be a daily devotional. I had intentions of writing this devotional using quotes from my book along with a daily Bible reading to further explain the process of moving from victim thinking to victor living. It was my intention to publish this work and see how God might use it to help others on this journey to victor living.

After writing almost three months of this daily devotional, life got in the way. The project was put on the back burner. Over a year later, I hadn't even touched the project at all. My thinking was that maybe God didn't want me to publish this work. Maybe He had different plans. Some pretty good devotions were left to collect dust on some server in the cloud.

Over a year later, I injured my hand. I was working on a project for a friend of mine. On a day like so many before I was using a grinder to cut some metal. As I was busy doing what I do, the grinder bound up in the piece I was cutting and jumped back seriously slicing the top of my hand in three different places. I knew immediately I needed to go to the ER to get the wounds cleaned up and stitched. Little did I known it was going to be a bit more complicated than that.

As the ER doctor was cleaning up the wounds and prepping it for stitches, she saw in one of the cuts that the tendon to my pointer finger was sliced in several places. Though it wasn't severed, the extent of the damage to the tendon made her realize that some more attention was going to have to be given to this injury. She sewed me up and refereed me to a hand surgeon. A week later I was in surgery so that they could repair the multiple chunks I had taken out of my tendon.

Being the injury was to my right hand and that I am right handed, I became quite incapacitated. Eating, personal care, driving and even the computer work I do became things I literally had to relearn. I wasn't able to use my right hand for almost two months and after that found that it took several more months of physical therapy to get somewhat normal function to return to my hand.

During this down time, I needed something to do. One of my greatest cheer leaders in life is my niece Gini Joy. Gini is a busy mom of four amazing kids, one of whom is a precious special needs child. She had asked me if I would record my book for her so that she could listen to it when she found time to go out for a run. What else did I have to do? I could read and record my book one handed. So, I took a few weeks to record the entire book for her. I really enjoyed the process of creating an audible book for Gini Joy.

When Gini Joy finished listening to my book she asked me, "What's next?" She wanted more! There's not much more in this world that makes us feel like a victor than does being wanted! It was at that point that the few months of the daily devotional I had started writing so long before came to mind. What if I turned those writings into a daily podcast? I had never done anything like that before. Just like recording my book, I could put together a daily podcast one-handed. Why not? I figured out how to make a podcast happen and off we went.

What I didn't expect was to be impacted as deeply as I have been by taking on this project. I really don't know if Gini Joy has heard all 365 days. I don't even know if there is any other people who might have listened to this thing. I do know that I have listened to each and every one of these podcasts on a daily basis. I can't tell you how many times what I heard being played on my podcast app was speaking directly to my soul. Time and time again, I would think, "Where did that come from?" I have needed to hear the words I recorded to help me live like the victor God has made me to be.

I estimate that I have written over one half a million words in producing this podcast. That's equivalent to writing five-250 page books! Not once did I feel like this project was a burden. Not once did I dread sitting down at my computer to write, record, edit and publish this daily podcast. I thank God for Gini Joy's boldness in asking me to take on such an ambitious project. I can say with absolute certainty, this project has changed my life.

Isn't that just like God? He used a time challenged mom to help an injured, prospect lacking, get-it-done kind of person do something that has had impact in this world. That impact might not rise to the level of victory this world looks to when it tries to define what a victor is suppose to look like. Remember, victory can't be the sole characteristic of a victor or victim thinking will ultimately be the result. All I know is that God wanted this victor to realize more completely the power of his victor status. This podcast has done exactly that for me.

I can guarantee that there are things you are doing right now that are having the kind of impact I'm talking about when it comes to this podcast. That impact might not be universal. It might not make it so that you are sought after as an expert at what you are doing right now. If you expect that kind of result to feel like the victor God made you to be, you will be disappointed in ways that make victim thinking a real possibility in your life.

All we can do is do what we are able to do and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to victory. As for being a victor, that's a cinch. All we have to do is take another breath. We are a victor because God says so. Our identity as God's Child makes us a victor whether we achieve the victory we think we need in life or not. This year of listening to this podcast has helped make that message something I truly believe. I'm hoping any success I face in the future or any failures that come my way are filtered through the fact that I am a victor whether I experience success or am in failure. Win or lose God loves me. That alone is all the victory I need to make victor living a power in all I do in this world.

God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. In each podcast I usually incorporate a Bible verse that helps to drive home the point I want to make about victor living. I typically take time to explain how the scripture we read connects to the subject of the podcast for that day. Since God started this project, I think His Word should end it. As I read today's Bible verses, I pray that He show you what it means for you as you live out your victor status. May God's word richly bless you and make you stand out as His Child in all that comes your way today.

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Colossians 3:15-17 (MSG).

Day 364 - Raising Little Victors

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Our children are just as much victors as we are. We often forget how hard the world works to get our kids to believe they are less than who God seems them to be. Our kids represent the future of the world we live in. Not only is it important for us to make victor living the foundation of our lives, it makes sense to help our kids see just how much of a victor they are as well.

As far as the way the world sees our children, society has taken a turn that just doesn't make sense. The world says that we need to dumb things down to a common level so that no one will feel bad about themselves. Youth sports has gone through a phase where the score isn't kept and there aren't any winners or losers. It was thought that some kids might think less of themselves if they lost at the sport they were playing. How does that kind of thinking make it possible for us to grow into the belief that we are victors no matter how things turn out in our lives?

Those who have promoted this philosophy when it comes to protecting our children from the damaging effects of keeping score have bought into the victim thinking principals that I have spoke against for almost a year now. It is when we tie what we do to who we are that victim thinking comes rushing in. That's why people can think that by not keeping score they can make everyone feel like a victor. That's so counter intuitive to the reality that our kids are going to have to face for the rest of their lives.

Fact is that you win some and some you will lose in this world. It is when we connect who we are to whether we win or lose that we set ourselves up for victim thinking ways of dealing with the world around us. Whether we win or we lose, we need someway to help us realize that we are still victors. The only way I have found to make victor living possible is to know what God says about us.

I love today's Bible reading. I have used it as part of our birth announcement for our kids many years ago, It says....

One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left. Matthew 19:13-14 (MSG)

I see three things God is asking when it comes to raising little victors. First of all we are to bring our kids to Jesus. In the days Christ walked the earth, that meant seeking out where Jesus was and making the trek to bring your kids to Him. Such is the case today. We have to seek where Jesus is and bring out kids there to Him. That might be your local Church. It might be a particular set of friends who are really drawn to living like victors. Seeking Christ might mean you finding him yourself and sharing who God says you are to your children. Raising little victors start as we take seriously the call to bring our kids to Him.

The second thing I see is that we are to expect our kids to be touched by what they encounter when we bring them to Christ. Coming to Christ should be more than just a head based experience. I believe our kids need to be touched in their hearts when it comes to the good news Jesus wants us to know about who He sees our kids to be. This requires that we keep our eyes open for opportunities to point out qualities we recognize in our kids that have come from the hand of God.

Don't know what that might look like in your kids lives? Start with the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. Look for when your kids exercise one of these gifts and call them out for it. Remind them that it is the very spirit of God working in them to make these traits happen in recognizable ways. Where the spirit of the Lord is is a freedom that comes with victor living.

Not only are we to bring our kids to the Lord, and when we do, we are to expect His blessing to be on them, we are to remove any barriers to our kids finding their victor status before the Lord. That means that we might have to change some of the activities that we are quick to fill our kids time with. The distractions of life are obstacles for you and for me when it comes to recognizing what God is saying about us. Don't you think that the busy schedules we fall prey to are just as distracting when it comes to our kids learning what God thinks of them? Be on the lookout for obstacles in what you do that might make it more and more challenging for your kids to grow into the fullness of their victor status.

It is as we bring our kids to God, expect God to bless them with His presence and remove any of the obstacles that might hinder our kids from seeing themselves in God's eyes that we make victor living something our children might seek all the days of their lives. What I love about today's reading is that it is not only for our kids, the truth in today's word is just as real for you and for me.

What really touches me about our reading today is how much Jesus wants the kids with Him. The disciples tried to stop the kids from getting in our Lord's way. Kids can be messy. They can create a chaotic environment. They can be distracting. The disciples didn't want Jesus' work to be hindered by a bunch of kids tripping Him up. Jesus saw things so differently.

He didn't care how messy or loud or distracting the kids could be. He seems to relish the fact that kids loved being around Him. I think we need to realize something from this truth so that we too can live more like the victor God made us to be. It is as we come to Jesus just as we are that we stand the best chance for the blessing of His presence to have the kinds of impact we need on our lives.

The Bible says that we are to come to God as a child. That means we don't have to clean up our mess, tone ourselves down or be unnoticed when we step into the thrown room of God. We should barge in like we own the place, the way a child would do. Kids don't worry about what others might think when it comes to getting the attention they need from someone they love. They go after that object of their love in ways that make even the most powerful of us melt. God loves to melt as we come barging in expecting the love He is so ready to pour out on us. Victors are nothing more than kids who want the love of a loving father and aren't afraid to go to great lengths to find that love.

Victor living isn't just for us, it is for our kids as well. Unfortunately, victim thinking is just as likely in our kids lives as it is in ours. It is as we fight for our kids to see themselves in God's eyes that victor living becomes something our children can learn is for them. We have to be intentional about making happen all our kids need to build a life on victor living so that their future is as free from victim thinking as it can possibly be.

Next time you look at your children, see them as God does. They are just as blameless and without fault as you are. Let them know how much you love the victor status you see in them each and every day. Resist the temptation to let what they do be proof of that victor status. Let God show you how to bring your kids to Him for His blessing of presence. May your kids grow up to be the power houses of victor living this world needs for them to be.

Day 363 - Personality Testing

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Not too long ago a friend of mine turned me onto the Enneagram (spelled ennagram) personality testing program. You can check it out for yourself by going to The Enneagram Institute online. Link to their website by going to the text of this podcast.

https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

I have taken personality tests many times in my life. All of them have done a very average job at identifying a personality type that made any sense to me at all. This one nailed me in ways I find a bit unnerving. There are a lot of people who put way too much stock in these kinds of tests when it comes to who we are. I'm not one of those folks. With that said, this personality test really opened my eyes to some things I'd like to discuss as it relates to victor living. 

The Ennagram test helps you determine your personality type as it relates to the nine different personalities they consider. I'm a 6. This personality type is called the "Loyalist." Here's a description of the Loyalist as quoted from The Ennagram Institute web site mentioned earlier. 

"The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others."

When I read this description of my personality type for the first time I was shocked. Those who know me know each and every descriptive term fits to a tee. Those that really know me now have an appreciation as to why I have exhibited the quirks in my life that don't seem to make sense at times. Like most personality traits, there is always a tension between opposing forces that can create behavior that is less than advantageous to living like the victor God calls us to be. 

What I find truly amazing about the Ennagram testing is that they are champions of being the best personality type you test out to be. They know that when we try to be something other than what our wiring dictates that short circuits happen in ways that cause damage to us and to those around us. It is when we know who we are that what we do takes on a meaning like never before. 

If I let the results of this testing be the end all/be all of who I am, I'm going to be just as victim thought driven as if I had never taken the Ennagram test. I'm not a Loyalist that is working to serve this God of mine. I'm a Child of the King's that happens to be wired to react to this world the way a Loyalist does. What God wants for me is to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I do that as I understand who God says I am and let my personality come into alignment with His definition of identity.

One of the most amazing parts about the Ennagram testing information is their levels of development discussion. Not only are there nine personality types, there are also nine levels of development each type might find themselves in at any given moment. When we are performing at a level 1 we are living as fully as we can in the power of what I call victor living. When we are at level 9 we are being controlled by victim thinking in self damaging and victim causing ways. 

For my fellow Loyalists, here's a brief description of optimal performance and performance that causes damage to occur. Again, this was taken from The Ennagram Institute website. 

Level 1 (The Loyalist At Their Best): Become self-affirming, trusting of self and others, independent yet symbiotically interdependent and cooperative as an equal. Belief in self leads to true courage, positive thinking, leadership, and rich self-expression.

Level 9: (The Loyalist At Their Worst) Hysterical, and seeking to escape punishment, they become self-destructive and suicidal. Alcoholism, drug overdoses, "skid row," self-abasing behavior. Generally corresponds to the Passive-Aggressive and Paranoid personality disorders.

I can't tell you how many times I have found myself at level 9. That word hysterical is so real to me. So are so much of the other really harsh, scary and, frankly embarrassing descriptors. What I want to share with you today is that even when I'm performing at my worst, this isn't who God made me to be. This is what happens with we let the world dictate who we are for too long. Even when I'm stuck at this level of victim thinking, God still sees me as the best because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. It is when we come to that place of surrender to the amazing love God has for us that we are in a position where we can move up the scale when it comes to how our behavior reflects the kind of personality we have been given. 

I don't like me at a level 9. Others don't like me at that level either. Good news is that God loves me at whatever level I have allowed my life to emulate at that given time. That love He has for me makes me want to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I'm starting to see that the words used to describe Level 1 are more and more what my reality looks like. I'm not becoming a Level 1 because of a lot of hard work on self improvement. I'm becoming a better Loyalist because I'm starting to believe more in who made me to be in the first place. It is as I lean into who God says I am that my personality type reflects positively in the behavior the rest of the world comes into contact with in my life.

Today's Bible reading holds the key to being the best victor you possibly can be. Let's read the scriptures now.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NIV)

Love is the key for me to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I need to learn to love others and to learn how to love myself. I think I can do this as I let the fact that God loves me sink in to my soul more and more. It all starts with God's love. Where it ends is only limited by how much we want to live like the victor God made us to be.

No matter what your personality type, no matter at what level of performance you live out that personality type, know this - God loves you! Take that with you into all that you do today. Let that fact be the driving force behind how you are wired to take on your day. It is then and only then that your personality comes alive in ways that make victim thinking a thing of the past.

Day 362 - Accepting Who I Am

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Yesterday we read from 1 Corinthians 15. There was a line in there that has stuck with me. It goes like this, "...by the grace of God I am what I am..." There is something powerful about that verse that I think we need to consider in order for victor living to play the role it is suppose to in our lives.

That line speaks of acceptance. It takes guts to accept who we are. The world is always telling us we aren't enough. The church is often guilty of echoing the worldly message. All the rules and regulations religion loves to hold up as proof of something about their walk with their god does nothing when it comes to the grace of God making us what we are.

I am what I am and God seems to be OK with that. This doesn't mean that I won't be something different tomorrow. It just means that I need to lighten up on bad mouthing myself because I fall short in some way or another. This doesn't give me a license to do whatever I want to do and reason away bad behavior with the easy grace that cosmes with God's forgiveness. He does forgive. For me to use the fact that he forgives to act in ways that challenge my identity in worldly ways is akin to manipulation the likes of which would offend us to no end were the table turned.

This grace that makes me what I am isn't a cheap grace. It cost God everything. For me to cheapen that grace in ways that flippantly excuse my victim making ways is something that seems totally unforgivable. Yet, even this sin is forgiven by God. His grace goes way beyond anything I have ever seen offered up in this world.

That's why I have spent the better part of this last year talking about identity. We spend so much time doing things to try and prove something about ourselves. It is when we fail to achieve all that we think we need in this world that identity becomes something that threatens to crush our souls. God wants things to be so different for us.

Victor living is all about knowing who we are no matter what might be happening in our lives. It is when we can look in the mirror on our worst day and muster up the strength to say, "God loves me!" that the power of victor living starts to take hold in our lives. If God's grace is there when things are going our way, I have to believe that same grace is there when the world turns against us. Grace is the basis of identity that makes victor living a possibility in a world so adept at making victims of us all.

When things are bad, the line from 1 Corinthians isn't saying that we deserved the badness that came our way. It is as we accept that we are still the loved child of God in the good times as well as the bad that identity plays the role in our lives God intended it to be. That's what the Corinthians verse is saying to me. It is saying that God's grace makes me worthy of being called His Child. My circumstances have nothing to do with this status. When I look to what I do to prove who I am, I turn my back on the power of God's grace in my life.

I have shared in my book and several times in these podcasts the fact that I hate any question asked pertaining to identity. It is when I meet new people in my life and they ask, "What I do for a living?" or any kind of question used to try and identify me, I am at a loss as to what to say. Those questions use to scare and frustrate me to no end.

I have to be honest with you, I'm still not good at answering those questions. What this past year has done for me is to help me see that I'm OK with myself in the fact that I still don't know how to answer the, "Who are you?" kinds of questions I will face. Maybe I'll have the guts to say one day, "I am who I am because of God's grace in my life." I really don't know how to describe who I am outside of the vague and religious sounding "Child of God" answer. Maybe God will give me a finely worded answer in the future. For now, I'm at peace with being able to accept that I am who I am.

I think what brings that peace is the fact that God knows who I am. He knew me before I was even born. He knows my beginning. He sees my end. There is something strangely comforting to me about those facts. I'm so much more at ease with simply being who I am because God is there every step of the way as I discover more and more of what that identity means in a world so identity conscious and identity confused.

Our Victim-Based Society is one that wants what we see, what we do and what others think of us to be the foundation for who we are. Though this strategy may work for some people some of the time, I have yet to see anyone make this way of approaching identity work for the long haul. There comes a time when what we see, what we do and what others think of us falls short in ways that challenge us to the core. That's when victim thinking is waiting to rush right in.

Our society likes to talk a big game when it comes to acceptance. We demand to be accepted but are quick to reject anyone who thinks even the slightest bit differently than we do. That kind of hypocritical thinking has made our Victim-Based Society something that turns just about any cause into another victim making proposition. Acceptance is so hard to understand, let alone apply in our lives when we look to who we think we should be as the foundation for what we think are our righteous ways.

Our Bible reading ends with a promise that is so lacking in how we have allowed our society to evolve. Take a look at today's reading with me now.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 (ESV)

Peace or rest for our souls. That's what we aren't seeing to the extent needed in today's world. I believe it is because the yoke we have elected to carry is way to onerous for us to maintain. Whether that yoke be social justice, identity politics, sexual equality, race relations or any number of hot button issues that we use to define who we are, the burden is too great for us to carry. As we are weighed down by the overwhelming burden of these and other important issues, it is so easy to fail to accept others and eventually fail at accepting ourselves. 

By the grace of God I am who I am. What a powerful way to live. I want to be able to live this way even with people who choose to not see the power of living this way. Fact is, God's grace made them who they are right at this moment as well. When I take the time to realize that they too are just as loved as I am, the frustration and the anger that I might feel at how people react in our Victim-Based Society tends to diminish quickly in my life. 

It all gets pretty simple when I trust what God says about me for an identity that has power in this world. That power might not make all my dreams for a good life come true. That power will make God's dreams for my life happen. I'm starting to realize and accept that this is the best for me, even when that best isn't the good I really want. 

As you go after all you will in your world today, remember who you are. You are who God says you are. His grace has made you exactly what you need to be at this moment for God's presence to be seen and felt in and through you. Make your victor status have meaning in a world seeking victimization as part of their identity. Let God's grace flow through you and watch things change in your world today.

Day 361 - Grace Transforms

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Amazing grace... How sweet the sound... That saved a wretch like me. "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognized hymns ever written. It was penned by an ex-slave trader who realized the extent of forgiveness Jesus had given to him. If God could forgive this man who was responsible for devastating the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children, then maybe God's grace is something that is truly amazing.

I have come to realize how powerful this word grace really is. It is when we extend grace to one another that the power of change begins to be something that we are open to working in our lives. Without grace, change is almost impossible to make happen. I find it very interesting that only Christianity builds its religion on the issue of grace. Without grace, what Christians believe is completely worthless and actually quite dangerous. So goes any religion that doesn't have as its cornerstone the incredible gift of grace.

You have to remember that grace happens when we don't receive what we deserve. All other world religions are busy telling you what will happen if you don't do what you are suppose to do. In other words, you had better tow the line or you will get what you deserve. Christianity is unique in that our God knows we can't tow the line perfectly on this side of heaven. He has chosen to NOT give us what we deserve. Though our failure to tow the line makes us just as guilty as it does in any other religion, Christianity is all about forgiveness in spite of how far we miss the mark.

I don't believe that we can possibly live this life as the victor God made for us if we don't understand the importance and appreciate the significance of grace in our lives. Were it not for grace, you would be doomed. Today alone, you will fall short in ways that absolute demand your destruction. The fact that you get to take another breath is a gift of grace way to many of us miss on a moment by moment basis.

I know some will want to argue with me the fact that our actions aren't all that bad. It is easy to justify our relative goodness when compared to some really bad people in our world today. Problem is that God doesn't look at our missing the mark that way. He doesn't say that us missing the mark a little bit is OK since someone else missed it so badly. The fact that God is a perfect being means that even a slight miss of the mark is deserving of death. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the reality of dealing with perfection. That's why grace is such a powerful force for change. It is as we realize that we are NOT doomed to get what we deserve that we are so much more open to changing our ways.

What I have seen is that we can sometimes twist grace into something that we deserve. When often we think we have earned the grace we have been given. When we live in this fallacy, we negate the power of this amazing gift in our lives. Grace can never be deserved. Grace is given and can never be earned. The world has done a really good job of making us think things about grace that ensure the power of grace will be absent in our lives.

Even the Apostle Paul realized the power of grace in his life. Check out today's Bible reading with me now.

For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 (NIV)

"...by the grace of God I am what I am..." If we could get that line into our everyday thinking, grace would be a powerhouse unlike anything else we could ever expect. Paul was no slouch when it came to who he was. His life was on a crash course with destiny. Some think that Paul would have ended up leading the entire Jewish nation later on in his life. He was a zealot for God. He did things to make victims of those who dared go against his interpretation of what God was doing in and around his life.

Much of Paul's life was spent doing in order to be who he thought he should be. He took radical, risky and dangerous steps to make his life count for something he thought would make who he was have impact for the God he served. Then he encountered Jesus.

Things changed dramatically for Paul after that chance meeting. Doing took on a different perspective for Paul. Our reading today shows us that Paul now saw what He did in a way that was empowered by grace. It wasn't what Paul did that made him something in this God's eyes. It was what God did through Paul that made all the difference for him.

More than that, it is what God didn't do that made Paul fall to his knees in worship. God didn't destroy Paul for persecuting those who followed Jesus like Paul was so famous for doing in that day. Grace saved Paul. He knew it. Grace changed Paul so completely that many didn't believe he was telling the truth when he spoke of Jesus the way he did the rest of his life. Paul's past actions couldn't be forgiven by those victimized by his being so zealous for God. But, God could forgive Paul. That kind of grace changed Paul's life. That same grace stands at the ready to change your life as well.

Paul never became the leader of the Jewish nation like many thought he was destined to be. In fact, Paul's life fizzled out by how the world measures things. Paul was executed for preaching the good news of grace through Jesus Christ. Yet, grace made Paul's life count for something. Though Paul never achieved what many thought his destiny would be, God's destiny happened through a man who's life was cut short by the hatred of this world. Much of what the Christian church studies and learns from came from this man who was changed by the power of grace in his life.

How amazing is grace in your life? If you are like me, grace doesn't always rise to the level of amazing often enough to make change happen. I'm trying to change that. I change as I stop and realize how much what I deserve has been held back in my life. Whether my life turns out to be what I think it was destined for, I want to live like Paul did. I hope it is as I believe "...by the grace of God I am what I am..." that no matter what my day turns out to be, grace can have the power to make who I am shine like the victor God sees me to be. 

Day 360 - What's Your Story

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We spoke yesterday about the difference between creating and discovering your destiny. It is when we expend our time and effort at creating destiny that victim thinking takes over in our lives. As we go along with God on the journey of discovering the destiny He has placed in our hearts, we find this life to be more of what God intended it to be.

Today, I want to replace the word destiny with the word story. There are so many of us worried about what our life story will be when all is said and done. Though our story and our destiny are similar in many ways, I think that people are talking about two different aspects of their lives when they talk about destiny as opposed to their story. 

Where destiny speaks of purpose and results of a life well lived, story speaks more of how we got to that place of destiny, if you ask me. Our story is more about how the things we did shape how we got to where destiny was the outcome. In some respects, our story is more about the points along the way on our journey to destiny. As different as these two things may be, working to create our story is just as damaging to who we are as working to create a destiny to support our identity. 

I happen to believe that the story of our lives isn't something that we should have to think much about. Sure, there are times where we need to help make BIG decisions when we come to major crossroads in life. Choosing a spouse, picking a career, having kids, even making a major job change can all be crossroad decisions that we need to be aware of when it comes to how these events shape our story. However, even these kinds of major decisions shouldn't be something that paralyze us in identity crushing ways like I have seen it do so many times in my life in the past. When it comes to our story, even the wrong turns make our story more of what it is suppose to be. 

That's the power of believing in an all-knowing, all-powerful God. If He is part of our lives the way I think He is, we just can't go wrong. Before you go off the handle as a result of that last statement, let me explain a bit more what I mean. 

I live with the philosophy that God knows where we started and he knows where we will end up. I don't believe that He is a puppeteer in the sky pulling our strings to get us to go here and to go there so that we end up where He wants us to be. If that were the case, our story wouldn't be all that much to be concerned with. 

No, God isn't directing our every step. What He is looking to do is be part of all our steps on this journey of life. In other words, He doesn't' want to control us, He wants to be with us. It is the fact that God desires to be with me more than He wants to direct me that makes me think we just can't get it wrong. If God is part of all that we do, even when what we do isn't exactly what God wanted for that moment, I think God's blessing is still with us in ways I'm not sure we will fully appreciate until we get to heaven. 

If you think God's blessing is success in what you have decided to do, victim thinking is but one step away. If you think God's blessing is absent because what you decided to do didn't turn out the way you thought, then victim thinking is what will cloud every decision you make in the future. Blessing tied to the absence or presence of success is one of the most well worn strategies that make victors step into victim thinking ways that this world has ever seen. 

Blessing is so much more than success. God's blessing is all about His presence. Read the Bible and you will quickly see that blessing came in the middle of godly men and women being successful in what they did less often than that same blessing being there in the times the world would define their efforts as being a complete failure. Jesus, God's own Son, is the shining example of that last statement. 

It isn't that we need God to direct our each and every step. It is that we need God to be there with us as we take any step in our lives. Whether that step takes us on the path to success or to failure has no bearing on whether we are blessed or not. If we have chosen to let God into the process of deciding what step to take, His presence is all the blessing we will ever need. 

That's why I don't think we can ever get it wrong. If God's presence is with us if we succeed or fail then why wouldn't His blessing be there if we brought Him into our decision making process even when what we decide isn't exactly what God wanted for that particular circumstance. 

This begs the question, what if what we decide to do makes it so that God's plan for where we are to end up can't happen? All I have to go by to answer that question is the Bible itself. The vast majority of the decisions people made in the Bible really didn't matter when it came to God's plan. For those few, and I mean maybe one in a lifetime kinds of decisions, that might actually alter the course of God's plan for this world, God made it abundantly clear with His presence how that Biblical character was to proceed. 

Moses and the burning bush, Joshua and the captain of the Lord's army, Jonah in the belly of a whale, Paul and a blinding appearance of Jesus Himself, Peter and a vision leading the way.... These are but a few of the many examples of where God's presence was so unmistakable that God's plan moved forward is world changing ways. 

Most of our story making decisions really don't have any impact on whether we will get to where God has planned for us to arrive. If we do come to a crossroad where we might alter God's plan for our life, I think He will make it abundantly clear how we are to proceed. We still have free will to make any decision we want, but I believe God's presence makes our decisions something that fits in exactly with what God wants for our lives. 

What's your story? I hope that question weighs less and less on your life as you realize your story is happening as you go on this journey of life blessed by God's presence. Don't try and make a story happen in your life. Let God take the steps with you that make the fullness of your story develop. That story takes time. It happens as you let God into your life in ways where His closeness becomes more and more of a blessing. Just like your destiny, your story is guaranteed! God put it there for us to be a part of discovering and seeing happen in the span of life we have on this earth. 

All I can say is enjoy the process of your story coming into focus. Don't worry about what that will look like. Trying to figure that out is such a victim making proposition. Make all you do today be all about walking with God by your side. In that way your victor status will have the power needed to make whatever happens fit perfectly with the plot God put into action even before you were born. 

Day 359 - Creating or Discovering

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It is so easy to get destiny intertwined with our expectations and our ability to make those expectations happen, that victim thinking can't help but to be the result. I came across a quote from a daily devotional I receive in my email that put destiny in just the right context. 

Pastor David Whitehead said, "Part of our journey on this earth is not to create our destiny, but to discover it."

Destiny can tie us up in victim making knots when we choose the wrong action when it comes to what destiny is suppose to be. When we think our job is to create our destiny, we set ourselves up for repeated failure. It is when we fail over and over again, particularly when it comes to something as important as destiny, that we begin to take on the identity of a victim. When we see who we are connected with victimization, it is so easy to do and say things that will ultimately victimize others. It is when we see this life as a process in discovering destiny that victor living becomes much more possible. 

I don't know if you are this way or not, but I love to discover things. It is one of my greatest dreams to find a piece of a meteor on the ground or to stumble across some lost artifact. It isn't about the money that these things might bring. I just like the idea of finding something kind of unique. Many of my greatest treasures are worthless trinkets that I have discovered as I have gone through this life.

My wife and I were on vacation a couple years ago with my brother and his family in South Carolina. We all were walking the beach one day looking for sharks teeth. This particular year was a banner one for this task. We found a bunch of them! On one particular day I came across something that seemed to stand out on the shore. I almost walked past this little item. On a whim I picked it up and took it home to try and figure out what it was. After some investigation I found that I had stumbled on a petrified shark's vertebra. I had never found anything like that in my life. I was so excited and, admittedly a little bit proud. That little discovery really made my day. 

That's what drew me to the quote I shared earlier about destiny. There is something so right to me about destiny being something we discover rather than something we make happen. Discovery takes time. It takes effort. Discovery comes at a cost and isn't always rewarded like we might think it should be. Even with those shortcomings surrounding the discovery process, I think that our efforts are better suited to be in discovery mode rather than the creation of destiny. 

I love how today's Bible reading puts it when it comes to discovery. 

It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2 (ESV)

God concealed that sharks back bone on that beach that afternoon. It was my glory to search and find that bone. Such is the way I think God wants us to look at destiny. 

God has placed a destiny in our hearts. It is hidden away so that the world can't steal or corrupt that destiny. As we search for that destiny in all that we do, we discover things about ourselves and things about our God that bring glory into our lives. In a sense, God's glory is hidden with our destiny that has been placed in our hearts. We unlock the power of God's glory as we go with him on the journey of discovering our destiny. 

I have spent the better part of my life trying to make what I thought my destiny should be. I took who I wanted the world to see me as and formulated as best a supporting destiny as I could devise. Then I set out on making that destiny happen. All my efforts were spent trying to create my own destiny. That is so completely backwards and counterproductive. 

Discovery takes a lot of effort. We don't have the time or the energy to go on the journey of discovery if we waste all our time and energy trying to create destiny. In essence, we make destiny something that stays hidden when we try to make a destiny we devise happen in our lifetime. 

How can one tell if they are creating or discovering destiny? Ask yourself this one question. "Do you need destiny to be something that makes who you are more of what you want the world to see?" If you answer yes to this question, your time and efforts will be used on creating destiny. Though you might have some success at creating a destiny that bolsters your identity in worldly ways, that just isn't enough. 

Need proof of that last statement? Just think of the latest high profile people who recently committed suicide. Those people had all the money, power, prestige, prominence and significance my identity longs for, yet it wasn't enough. In spite of all the things we think one would need to make identity be what works for us, these high profile people still took their own lives. Worldly proofs of an identity built on destiny have shown themselves to be untrustworthy in tragic ways. 

I'm not saying that you will kill yourself if you are unable to create your own destiny. Suicide is an extreme action based of victim thinking. What I am saying is that victim thinking can become deeper and deeper ingrained in our lives when we put our efforts into trying to make destiny be the foundation of our identity. Suicide is a real possibility when victim thinking has so infiltrated our identities that we just can't see any hope of who we are making a difference any more. 

Identity has to be something that stands on its own. We need to know who we are so that as we go on the discovery process for destiny we don't get discouraged by the ups and downs of this process in victimizing ways. It is when I believe in who God says I am that the meandering path that is the discovery process doesn't take it's toll on my life like it can when I fail at creating my destiny. 

I think God loves it when we find those little treasures along the path of this life He made for us. That rock, that piece of bone, that strange artifact - they all help to weave a story that is uniquely yours. That's how it is to be with the discovery process surrounding our destiny. The little discoveries you stumble across along the way help to piece together the puzzle of the destiny God has hidden in your heart. When viewed in this light, it really is about the journey more than the destination. 

I don't know if I will ever find that piece of meteor or some other unusual artifact in my life time. Thing is, I'm not going to let that fact stop me from trying. I'm also not going to be so driven by the need to find those things that I lose the power of what I might discover in this moment right here and right now. I pray that your day be filled with discovery after discovery. I also pray that it be the little things that bring you the most joy. God's glory is waiting to be unleashed as you open your eyes to the treasures all along your path today. May your glory be the basking in God's glory in all you discover with Him today. 

Day 358 - When The Truth Hurts Others

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The world can seem so upside down at times. The crazy antics of a world filled of those succumbing to the false teachings of a Victim Based Society make it seem that the future is so bleak. Left in the hands of mankind, it is! But, that's not the end of the story.

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

Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:15-16 (NIV)

That first line from our reading really captures the current climate when it comes to how we treat one another when trapped in victim thinking. Truth is the victim of those seeking their own way. Those who want to stand up for the truth in loving ways are shunned and persecuted by evil. Such is the way when we pledge allegiance to our Victim Based Society. Looks to me this has been the case from day one.

Our reading today was penned by the prophet Isaiah some 2500 years ago. You would think that over 25 centuries, we would be in a better position for change. Victim thinking was alive and well long ago. It is just as alive and well in today's age. Fail to learn from history and you are doomed to repeat historical events. Why can't we learn from that age old fact in ways that make victor living more of a possibility?

God, Himself is the He in today's reading. God is appalled at our apparent lack of ability to learn from our damaging and hurtful ways. It is as though He couldn't believe His eyes. That no one would be willing to step into their victor's role so completely as to bring salvation to the world was a fact that just didn't compute for our God. Amazing thing is that He chose to do it Himself. Salvation became the mission of our God. It so completely consumed Him that He gave of Himself with eternal backed consequences for you and for me.

God didn't condemn us for failing to learn from our past. He could have made things a lot easier for Himself were He to just give up on us completely like I'd have done to such an unruly and ungrateful creation. Not only did He not give up, He gave His all to make salvation possible for each and everyone of us caught in victim thinking. Why did He go to such lengths for us? One word describes God's motives - Love.

Our reading today points out an important fact about our efforts that we need to pay close attention to or we will fall right back into victim thinking ways. Righteousness is such a critical word for the person considering any path as a basis for being the foundation of who they are. It doesn't matter if you have a religious belief or not, thinking that your goodness is enough to make who you are have the kinds of impact on your live you so need is such a victim's way of thinking. Sadly, thinking that our righteousness is enough makes it so easy to cause victims of those who don't hold to what our righteous ways espouse a being truth.

You see it in religion after religion, including the Christian way at times. Thinking that our "truth" is paramount makes it so easy to disregard and even cause others pain in the process of defending that truth. The most obvious example of this fact is radical Islam. Truth, other than what is taught by radicalized leaders of this faith, is thought to be so divisive as to require death of those who hold an opposing truth.

Those that call themselves Christian aren't immune to such radical views either. From the Crusades to the bombing of abortion clinics, horrific acts of victimization have been done in the name of the truth we have taken and turned into a weapon against those who don't believe as we do.

If anyone listening to this happens to be cheering because they hate religion, you too are just as prone to atrocities in the name of your truth as is any religious person. Our views can drive us to do things that kill the spirit, if not the body, of those who dare to think differently than we do. Religious or not, letting our actions empowered by our truths turn our Victim Based Society into something that is filled with victim making opportunities.

I think that's why today's reading says, "...his own righteousness sustained Him." Our righteousness is as though filthy rags to this holy and untouchable God. This doesn't mean that we can't do good things based on the truth we hold. We can and we do. It is when we do from a place of love that a level of goodness happens that catches God's eye. That goodness will never be enough to prove who we are, but it is a start that I think we are missing today as fully as it was missing in Isaiah's time.

So, what's a person to do? I think that the ultimate action is applying trust. It is as we trust the arm of God and be covered by His righteousness that we begin to see the fullness of who we are. Identity based on something bigger than ourselves makes it easier to understand who we are when this world does things to make us doubt what we think salvation and right ways are to look like. Placing our trust in anything less opens the door to allowing our truths to drive us to do things to support that truth in victimizing ways.

Don't believe this truth that I'm sharing today? Your unbelief use to offend me to no end. It made me uncomfortable that you could believe something different than me. I wanted to think that there was something wrong with you and that it was my job to prove you wrong. I now realize my attempts at converting you were nothing more than the vestiges of victim thinking working into my relationship with those who dared to disagree with the truth as I saw it. I was willing to say and do things that might victimize you in ways I had experienced as I was victimized by others defending their truth. That strategy just doesn't work for me any longer.

I have come to a place where I see how far short all my actions at defending a truth has been. I am tired to working to make this world believe what I think my identity is suppose to look like. I'm finding that there is a peace in surrendering to the truth that I'm not enough and I need more. That peace just hasn't been matched by anything I have tried throughout my life.

I think my almost 60 years of proof of a truth shared 2500 years ago is evidence enough for me to want something different. If my choosing God being that difference isn't your cup of tea, I am completely OK with that. I would hope that we could have deep and meaningful conversations over our differences without having to defend ourselves like we might have done in the past. It isn't our job to convert one another. It is our job to relate to one another. We can't do that as we are stuck defending our position in ways fueled by victim thinking.

Our Victim Based Society is alive and well because of the fact that our truth has blinded us to a truth that matters. The reality is that we aren't capable to the kinds of love this God wants to lavish on us so completely. In fact, trying to make the kind of God's love happen in our lives is what takes truth and turns it into something damaging to those who might not hold to our truth. I sure do hope we can change this way of thinking. We change as we let God's love be more of the foundation for truth even when what we think is truth is challenged by those around us.

Whatever you believe or don't believe, I know this to be true. We have to stay open to each other. It is as we endeavor to relate to those who don't believe as we do that the world takes on a different appearance. This is so hard to do. It's a moment by moment kind of thing. It is so easy to get off track when we hold the truth we see up as being the end all and be all of what we think is behind that truth.

We aren't being asked to compromise on our truth. We are being asked to compromise on our defense of that truth. That's so hard to do because we have allowed our success at defending truth be what makes our identity be something we want the world to see. This is the pattern that makes our Victim Based Society something that is unmistakably alive and well.

As you go about your day today, realize that your truth will be challenged over and over again. When this happens, lean into God, not God's truth, but God Himself. If it is His arm that saves and His righteousness that sustains, then doesn't it make sense that we need Him? That's a good thing. Needing God is so right because His truth about us needs no defense. We are His victors because He calls us His Child. Let all you do today stand on the merits of what God says about you. Then you won't need to be in the victim making position of defending your truth to those you come against today.

Day 357 - Understanding Love

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A friend of mine asked me a thought provoking question the other day. We were talking about the love God has for us. He stopped in the middle of our conversation and asked, "Why can't I get this, why can't I understand God's love in ways that would make my life totally different?"

This friend is a seasoned follower of Jesus Christ. He is in his seventh decade of life. He started this Jesus thing a bit late in life. He's only been at it for just 30 years now! The older I get the more I connect with what my friend was asking.

You see, my friend knows how God's loves changes things. He has seen first hand how people make miraculous and instantaneous changes when they come face to face with the fact that God loves them. His question that morning comes from the realization that, even with as much experience and knowledge as he he has in his life, he has so much further to go.

You don't have to be in your seventies to be asking that question. Have you ever felt dumbstruck when it comes to accepting and living in the fullness of God's love? Join the club! I believe that feeling is a uniquely human attribute.

Why is is so hard to understand, trust and apply God's love in our lives? I can think of three reasons why this might be the case. Crazy thing is that simply mastering each of these areas won't make it so that you fully live in the love God has for you. It is a we master one of these areas, another weakens in ways that demand our attention. It's as though the cards are stacked against us when it comes to fully knowing God's love on this side of heaven. Maybe they are. Let's take a look at each of the reasons I see why God's love seems to be so missing in our lives at times.

The first reason I think that God's love is so hard to understand is that we have no ability to generate the kind of love God gives all the time. I have spoken on this before but it is important that we come to grips with this fact. We simply cannot love unconditionally on our own. We weren't made to produce that kind of love. We were created to be conduit of unconditional love, not the source of that love.

God's love can be so hard to understand because of the fact that we are designed to be conduits of His love. It stands to reason that something we can't generate is likely to be quite difficult to understand, trust and apply in our lives. The more we simply give in to how God wants to love us, the more we will be able to experience unconditional love for ourselves. It is as we get use to seeing unconditional love being dispensed in our lives that the love of God starts to make more and more sense.

We find it challenging to understand God's love for us at times because His love isn't something that we naturally have at our fingertips. God is the source of that love. He has unlimited supplies of unconditional love for us to enjoy. Problem is that we put conditions on receiving that love God so freely gives to us. The second reason we find it difficult to understand God's love is that we work to box God in with our conditions on His love.

What are our conditions? We often see God's love in light of our circumstances. We have come to believe that God loves us when our lives are going well. Our expectations put conditions on God's unconditional love. Doesn't that sound completely illogical? Well it is! When you put conditions on something unconditional it kind of negates the power of that thing in the first place.

That paradox makes the power of what God's love is suppose to look like in our lives so confusing and so easily missed. We are a conditional love based kind of species. Sure we are able to love the unlovable in some pretty remarkable ways. But, even in loving the unlovable, there are areas we won't go. Those areas, as right as they might be for the situation, are conditions. When we approach God's love with conditions of any kind, the power of His love gets lost in the shuffle.

Want more of God's love? Stop making God meet your expectations of what that love is suppose to look like. He is offering an unlimited supply of His love. Our conditions do nothing but limit how much of His love we can accept and apply in our lives. The more we can lay down our expectations of what God's love is to look like in our lives, the better we will be at seeing that love in action.

The last reason I want to consider today when it comes to God's unconditional love has to do with our home. I'm not talking about the house you live in. I'm talking about this world. Christians tend to forget that they are nothing more than aliens in a strange land. This world will never be capable to fully understanding the love God has for us all. Sure we are able to drink in gigantic portions of that love from time to time, but reality is that it won't be until we are home in heaven will God's unconditional love make perfect sense.

That doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to grow in the knowledge and experience of His love here on earth. He longs for us to let that love be the driving force in our lives. I think that we need to realize that this place is too small to contain the vastness of His unconditional love. We were made to take in all we possibly can handle and let the excess spill out into the lives of those around us. The more we live that kind of life, the better we are able to see what unconditional love looks like on a moment by moment basis.

Problem is that even is we were capable of being filled completely by God's love every moment, there is so much more that this world will never be able to understand. That's the challenge when it comes to serving a loving God that is unlimited. His love is too big for us to ever completely understand, at least in our present condition.

Our Bible reading really highlights the power of God's love. It says...

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NIV)

Never feel shamed that you don't fully understand the love God has for you. You are in great company. None of us will fully understand His love on this side of heaven. Today's Bible reading says the answer to any shame we might feel over God's love is hope. God is pouring out His love on us constantly. Hope is only hope when what we hope for is sometimes missing in our lives. Hope is not needed when we have all we need.

The same goes for God's love for us. Sometimes we might need to feel the sting of wondering whether we are living in God's love so that we can exercise the muscle of hope. Our reading today reminds us that God is pouring into our hearts all we need. It is as we hang on to hope and listen to our hearts that the quiet whisper of love can be heard in our lives in life changing ways.

Want more of God's love in your life? So do I. It is as I drop my expectations, be the conduit for the love God made me to be and live a life of just passing through that His love becomes more and more visible to me.

Take time today to drink in all the love God has for you. He has more than you can handle. The excess will work through your life to change people's lives all around you. Let God's unconditional love for you be the power behind who you are in all you do today.

Day 356 - Light of Life

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I have been really drawn to John chapter 1. The book of John is a must read for Christians and non-Christians alike. It really is an encapsulation of how Jesus modeled God's love for mankind. You just can't go wrong letting John's view of Jesus sink into your life. 

I am amazed at how John penned the words he did. The first 18 verses of John 1 is nothing short of melodic in how it reads. I have to admit that I find it necessary to go back and read the words John wrote over and over again. I sometimes miss the meaning as I enjoy the skill in which this disciple was able to communicate the message of Jesus in his writings. 

As an example, take a look at today's Bible reading from John Chapter 1. 

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:4 (NIV)

This is one of John's more brief and to the point sentences describing Jesus. As short and sweet as it is, there is a lot to unpack in today's reading for those of us looking to live a victor's life. Let's take a closer look at this verse now.

In Him was life... Such an important concept for victors to get from their heads to their hearts. Life can be lived to the fullest when it is In Christ. It isn't that a walk with God through Jesus makes life easy. It is that as we lean into who God says we are through Jesus, that life seems to just make sense. 

In Christ we have purpose. In Christ we have identity. In Christ we are valued. In Christ we are wanted. In Christ we are eternal. In Christ we are accepted. In Christ there is love. I can't think of a single thing in this world that brings to the table this list of benefits. Can you? 

Does you job bring universal purpose, identity, value, want, eternity and/or love? Sure there are times your job might fit the bill on one or more of these benefits, but can you completely depend on your job for all these things? How about your marriage? Your kids? Your friends? Your Church? I have yet to find a worldly endeavor that brings the kind of peace a relationship with Christ has brought to my life. In Him I have found life. John really nailed it with the first four words of today's reading. Amazing thing is that he isn't done yet. 

John goes on to say that the life in him is the light of all mankind. That's a pretty bold statement. to make. For those who find that their own efforts are enough to bring the peace they need in their lives, this light John introduces here is of little use. For those of us who have been overwhelmed by the darkness of this world, this light is a total life saver. 

This life is the light... as a statement is beginning to make more and more sense in my life these days. I love the fact that John uses light as a descriptor of the life we have in Christ. I took a look at the Greek word used for the English translation of light. In the definition section of the tool I used to translate the Greek word for light, they used several metaphors to help identify the subtly of this word. One of the metaphors used was the following. 

God is light because light has an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality. 

Light can be harsh and abrasive. Light can also be soft and alluring. In the performance world, light plays a critical role in creating the right atmosphere for what is trying to be communicated. Implement the wrong lighting plan and the message often gets lost on the audience. Same goes when using the word light to describe the life God promises for us through Him.

For those stuck in trying to make this life be all about who we are, what we do and how the world sees us, the light of God will seem harsh and unappealing. The message will surely be lost when it is bathed in a light that is the light of God. For those who have seen the futility of trying to make this life prove anything about who they are, the light of God is a safe and welcoming sight. 

John goes on to talk a lot about the light of God in John chapter 1. He makes some points about God's light that make it so that we have to allow what He says sink in a bit. Today's reading opens the door to the possibility of viewing our life in a light that helps life be something that we are more able to understand. It is when our identities are illuminated by the light that is God, that a power becomes available to us like never before. That power comes as God's light opens our eyes to a different perspective in life. 

As we view who we are and what we do from God's perspective, the outcomes we face don't have quite the impact they did when our light source was something other than God. Life can be such a roller coaster when we try to light our way by what we do. When things are going well, things seem bright and easy to see. When things take a turn for the worse, the darkness can make us feel lost and afraid to move forward. 

Life will always be filled with ups and downs. It is such a shame to let those ups and downs be overly impacting on who we are. We allow that to happen when we look to a light other than God to make this life be what it was intended to be for us. When we allow God to light up our life, the highs are so much more impacting and the lows don't take quite the toll on who we are they once use to. 

The last thing I see in today's reading is purpose. If life is in Christ and that life is the light to all mankind, we become something appealing and alluring to those around us as we let that light shine from our lives. We all want to be significant. We all want our lives to count for something. It is when we settle on letting worldly objectives be enough to make us feel significant or to have impact that victim thinking can't help but to be something we will have to deal with. 

When we are living a life in Christ, we exude a light that is different in this world. That light is what the rest of the world longs for but are looking in all the wrong places to find. Your life can not be more purposed then when you let God illuminate who you are through what Jesus did for us on the Cross. It is as we live out our identity as God's Child that victor living becomes a distinct possibility. 

As God's light shines in your life, know you are empowered to do more than you could ever dream or imagine. All mankind is looking for that kind of light. You may never be called to preach from the mountaintop as to what that light means in your life. What you are called to do is to let that light shine... let that light pour out of you in all that you do. 

Think about what kind of light is working in you. Let the life in Him be a light to all mankind. Shine like the victor God made you to be and bask in the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality of God's glory in your world today.

Day 355 - Ours

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There are times when it is so easy to believe that we just don't measure up. The world is really good at making us think that our talents, our abilities, our resources, our education, our relationships will always fall short when it comes to who we are. As we stay in that place of doubt, it gets easier and easier to let victim thinking take over in our lives.

I came across a Bible verse this morning that made me think about what it takes to make those times of doubt something different in our lives. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)

At the beginning of our presentation today I used a word several times. That word was "our". I said that the world is really good at making us think our talents, abilities, resources, education and relations will always fall short when it comes to who we are. I went on to say that it is when we stay in that place that we thing our stuff won't be enough to make us who we want to be that victim thinking takes over.

Our Bible reading also uses the word "our". Interesting thing is that it is only used once. Peter says that we have all we need in this world through our knowledge of Him. The difference between victim thinking and victor living can be seen as we change the focus as to what we think we can control.

In my opening paragraph I listed things that I typically look to when it comes to identity. I lean on my talents and abilities and resources and education and relationships to make who I am be seen in the light my fragile ego needs so completely. This is such a failed strategy of making identity be what it was meant to be.

I'm not saying that talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships aren't important when it comes to who we are. What I'm starting to realize is that these things need to be secondary. They need to come under the power of something more lasting when it comes to making these important items do all they need to do to make us live out who we are in this life. Peter hits on what it is that empowers all these important traits of life. It is when we allow the knowledge of God be what fuels the fire behind talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships that victor living comes out of the truth of who we are.

Our reading today highlights a reality that I think we too often miss. God's divine power has given us everything we need to life a godly life. That word "godly" comes from a Greek word that means reverence and respect. It can also be translated as holiness.

I saw something in this word today that really changed the meaning of today's reading for me. I have always saw being godly as living in a place where I have reverence and respect for God. I think this is an accurate view of what this word means, but today I saw something more for us to consider. What if reverence and respect was meant for us as well? In other words, what if the fact we have been given everything we need from God to live in this world in a way that we receive the reverence and respect our souls hunger for? That is something that I find simply amazing.

Isn't that what we look for through trying to make our identity be all it can be in our world? Aren't we yearning for a little bit of respect. Some may call it acceptance. Others may look to being loved when it comes to respect. Reality is that we want our identities to work for us in ways that make who we are be respected by others we come into contact with. Today's reading promises that that will happen. It happens as we get to know this God that empowers who we are through all He is in our lives.

I love how Peter puts it in today's reading. We get to participate in the divine nature of God Himself. There is power in God's divinity. That power is promised to us. That power comes as we get to know who this God is that calls us His Child. When we are focused on the traits of our life we always fall short at reaching who we want to be. When we focus on the power behind those traits, life turns in a direction that makes victor living possible irregardless of what our circumstances might be.

We have been given everything we need. The world tells us we are falling short. Which are you going to believe today?

Let the power of God's divine nature flow into who you are. Take time to ask God to show Himself to you. Learn about Him. Make that knowledge of Him be yours! Let that knowledge turn your talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships into what they were meant to be when it comes to who you are. On your own, these traits aren't enough. With God, these traits are more than enough to make your identity do all it was destined to do in your world today.

Day 354 - Cosmic Joke

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Victor Borge, famed comedian, conductor and pianist once said, “Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.”

I have often heard it said that God has an amazing sense of humor. I think Mr. Borge would agree, judging from his quote above. I love the thought that humor resides between what we think we can do and what we are actually capable of doing. I happen to think it is precisely in that place of humor that victim thinking can sneak in if we aren't too careful. Let me explain what I mean by that.

I wish it were always funny when I can't do what I think I'm capable of doing. How many times have you come to that place where your abilities seem to be dwarfed by your challenges? This is where I think God's sense of humor comes into play. You see, we have been instilled with dreams and aspirations way beyond our means. We are made in the very image of God. God is gigantic! It stands to reason that, if we carry the image of God inside of us, when why wouldn't we have dreams and aspirations that match His size? Here's where Mr. Borge's quote comes into play.

It is comical to watch something the size of an ant try and carry a dream as big as the universe. Yet, that's what we often think we are suppose to be doing in order to let victory be what defines our victor status. Thinking that it is up to us to make an identity that can make happen the God-sized aspirations placed there by Him is such a victim making proposition.

It was quoted earlier, "...humor is truth." When it comes to the humor in thinking that we can make our identities be what they need to be in order to make our destiny all it is suppose to be, truth is the foundation for this kind of comical thinking. As silly as this is, we tend to fall victim to this kind of humor over and over again. It just doesn't have to be this way.

God isn't like an adolescent bent on pulling off the perfect practical joke in you life. He isn't up there belly laughing at our failed attempts at making happen the profound ambitions in our hearts come to reality. He wants us to recognize the unbridgeable gap between our aspirations and abilities and let Him be all we need to make happen the big things He has placed in our hearts. Surrendering that gap to Him is the only way we can live like the victors He has called us to be all the time in our lives.

Victim thinking can't help but to be the result when we come face to face with the fact that we just aren't able to make happen all the dreams that are in our heart. It is when we think we have somehow failed that we surrender to victim thinking ways.

God sees it so differently. He lives in us. He is there to make those impossible dreams a distinct possibility. It is when we forget that He doesn't need us to make those dreams happen that we tend to get ourselves into trouble. God doesn't need us to make dreams happen. He longs for us to go on the journey with Him to make those dreams come to life. With God, it is always about relationship. It is never about getting things done. God is perfectly capable to do all He wants to get done in this world. He just wants us to go with Him as He gets done all He wants in and through our lives.

Today's Bible reading helps me see life from God's perspective. Take a look at our reading with me now.

He forgives your sins—every one.
    He heals your diseases—every one.
    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.
God makes everything come out right;
    he puts victims back on their feet. Psalm 103:3-6 (MSG)

I almost didn't put that last line in today's reading. It is way to easy to turn today's reading into a formula for success. It sounds as though God is saying that those things that make us feel like victims will be taken away. Funny thing is, they will! In heaven, we will never be victimized in any way, ever.

God's sense of humor is very obvious to me in today's reading. When it says he makes everything come out right, I have to laugh. I can list off ten things in my life right now that aren't coming our right at all. Most of those things are not happening the way I want because of the gap between my aspirations and my abilities to make those aspirations happen. It is when I focus my eyes on the real prize that this gap becomes something jokes can be made of without it seeming so hurtful to me.

What's the real prize? It is a walk with God. Our prize isn't success. Our award isn't making this life be all we want it to be. Sure, that's the award I want, but that just isn't what is guaranteed on this side of heaven.

It is this walk with God that is the complete fulfillment of what God wants for us in this world. When it comes to making our dreams happen, God's presence is the only aspiration where our ability doesn't strike our funny bone as we strive to make our aspirations happen. God's presence is always there, no matter how good we might think we are at making His presence happen in our lives.

Next time you think or say, "God has a funny sense of humor." remember what makes it possible for humor to be seen in what you do in your life. Stop thinking that it is up to you to make the dreams in your heart happen. Settle into the unforced rhythms of God's grace. Let Him lead the way. Trying to make happen all God has put in your heart with the abilities you have been given makes you nothing more than the punch line of a joke you just weren't meant to get in the first place. Be all God says you are by resting in what He does. Let your victor status come alive by allowing God to do all He wants to do in and through your life today.

Day 353 - Adding To This Life

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I have spent the better part of this year talking about how we add to the plan God instituted when it comes to who we are. It is easy to think that it is Jesus plus success. We look to Jesus plus holiness when it comes to walking out this life with God. We seek after Jesus plus purpose to find meaning in this world. We yearn for Jesus plus our comfortable life as proof that God loves us in life changing ways.

Anything we add to the fact that Jesus did it all for us become stumbling blocks when it comes to walking out our victor status. This is the case with our identity as God's Child. It is just as true when it comes to our ability to relate to this God that made us. When it comes to who we are, and who this God is in our lives, it is a Jesus plus nothing strategy that makes victor living something we can experience no matter what our lives look like.

I have a friend who has suffered a moral failure. His entire world is crumbling around him because of the sinful things he has been doing that have come to light. Right now this friend is battling the natural thoughts that it is Jesus plus getting his life back into order. In other words, this friend is being told that until he gets this mess cleaned up, he isn't worthy of much in the Christian world. That's a lie from Satan that I don't think the Christian Church is too good at recognizing.

Many of his Christian friends have abandoned this fallen man. Some are even advocating that others leave him high and dry as well. I totally get their anger and frustration at the craziness of this situation. I'm angry too. What I don't think they can see is that they are living a Jesus plus something kind of life that just isn't part of what I see the good news of Jesus is to be all about.

I think this is why Christians have been accused of shooting our wounded at times. You see, this man who has fallen is wounded. It is my guess that he has been so for quite a while. He has been living a Jesus plus something kind of life by allowing sinful coping mechanisms to help him deal with the feelings that something is missing in his life. That emptiness in this friend's life that led to sinful coping mechanisms are in us all. It is when we turn to things of this world to help deal with the pain of feeling that emptiness in our lives that we let victim thinking take over in victimizing ways.

It is much easier for us to just pretend that everything is OK. I have to look as holy as my other friends in the church seem to be. I can't share how unholy I feel at times because that might make the fragile identity I've worked so hard to build and maintain collapse in ways I just can stand. I pretend it is Jesus plus nothing but let my coping mechanisms be the plus that dulls the pain of loneliness and shame that are too deep to share. If I were to share them there is a good chance I'd be shot! Not literally, but figuratively. I'd be rejected. I'd be labeled. I'd be sidelined. I'd be judged and sentenced in ways the church has been way to quick to do to too many of its own.

You see, even in the aftermath of this friend's sin being uncovered, God still sees him as blameless and without fault. I know how shocking this sounds, but it is true. Jesus died for ALL our sins. This includes the sin of friends that betray us in the right here and the right now. That's why I can say with confidence, that for my friend who is disgraced by sin, it is Jesus plus nothing. It isn't Jesus plus repentance. It isn't Jesus plus restoration. It isn't Jesus plus reconciliation. It is simply Jesus that makes it possible for this man to walk as the victor I know him to be in spite of the consequences of the failures he has lived out in his life.

This doesn't condone what he has done to bring such disgrace on him and his family. What he has done is so completely wrong! This friend will face serious, and potentially irreparable, consequences due to his actions. But, for us to treat him with such disdain is a sin in of itself. It is telling this friend and the world that it is Jesus plus a perfect life that is required to be the victor God calls us to be. I'm sorry, that just isn't something that the Bible supports. Praise God it isn't because we all would be doomed to victim thinking if it was.

There is nothing wrong with being angry at my friend as a result of his actions. There isn't anything incorrect with being frustrated to the point of needing to take a break from relating with this fallen man. Maybe that's what this man needs right now - time alone with God. But expecting something other than what God expects is adding to the powerful message of Jesus Christ in ways that I just can't be a part of.

This begs the question, "What does God expect?" Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now and let's see if we can't see some of what God expects from us.

Thank God! Pray to him by name!
    Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
    translate his wonders into music!
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
    you who seek God. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;
    be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made,
    his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered Psalm 105:1-5 (MSG)

I have to be honest with you. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that speak to obeying God's laws and keeping our lives pure that could be taken as what God expects of us. Of course God wants us to walk with Him in purity and honesty. What we too often do is make these self focused actions be what it takes to make relationship with Him something we can attain to. That's a failed way of living that Jesus came to replace.

Think of it this way. If your relationship with your spouse or your child was dependent on them doing everything you expect them to do perfectly and without question, do you think you'd be in relationship with those people right now? There is no way! Our spouse and our kids are just like us. They are prone to failure. They are prone to going in their own direction. This fact makes our works based strategy so completely useless when it comes to the foundation for relating to one another in any meaningful and long-term way.

Same goes with God. Our reading today points to something that can be so hard to define. Love is the basis from which we are to be in relationship with this God and with others. We are to look for the works of love God performs in our lives. We are to share those works of love with one another. Why? So that we all will be better able to let doing take a back seat to being when it comes to who we are. Love is to be the foundation of a Jesus plus nothing kind of life that makes us victors at every turn.

My friend who has fallen did so because he failed to see God's love in his life. That makes him no different than you and than me. We are lousy at seeing the love God has for us. That's why we add so much to the Jesus plus nothing equation. When we are in that place where we doubt the love God has for us we can be driven to do some pretty victimizing things as a result of our victim thinking fueled ways.

Those friends of this fallen man that are rejecting him are failing to see God's love just as completely as my fallen friend. The sad reality is that they are leaving as wide a wake of victims in their failure as this sinful man has wound up leaving in his life. When we add to Jesus, anything in this world, the results aren't something God is all that pleased for us to be a part of in this life.

It's Jesus plus nothing. That's it. That's all we have when it comes to who we are. That's all we have when it comes to who this God is in our lives. The troubles we face can easily be traced back to adding something to the Jesus message. You are a victor because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Stop adding to that amazing sacrifice and live in the power of who you are as God's Child today.

Day 352 - Life & Death

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I came across this Bible verse this morning.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (NIV)

For some reason, I really stopped and thought about what Paul was writing in today's reading. When you think about it, this is an impossible standard for us to live up to. Paul, was in essence saying, that this life has nothing for him. He so banked on the promise of what was to come that whatever came his way in this life didn't impact him quite the way it did before he met Jesus.

I think this is how we all are suppose to be when it comes to viewing our lives. Let me ask you a pretty direct question. How are you doing at living this kind of life right now? In other words, how much of death being a gain do you believe given where you are at this moment?

I have to tell you, that question has been on my mind quite a bit after reading this verse this morning. Do I really see leaving this life as a gain? Less than three weeks ago my second granddaughter was born. Would I really see death as a gain if I knew that I would die tomorrow? I'm not so sure I could hold on to this view.

I really want to live. I want to see my grandchildren grow. I want to be there for those milestones of life that they will get to experience. I hope to be part of helping them see love in action as the love God has given me for these precious little gifts of life blossoms into something even more beautiful than what it is now. I want the time to see that love come alive in these kids's lives. That makes death seem like an obstacle, not the opportunity Paul seemed to see it to be. Is there something wrong with me?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to live. I think Paul make that clear in today's reading. He said, "...to live is Christ..." I take that to mean the wanting to live is totally a God centered thing to do if we make God the center of the life we want to live. It is when I use this life as proof that I'm somehow OK in the eyes of this God that loves me that life becomes the center, rather than God being that center. It is when I depend on how this life turns out to make it so that my identity be what I expect it to be that victim thinking tendencies come rushing in.

We often look at life as being the blessing and death as being a curse. I think Paul is trying to get us to see things differently. Paul isn't saying that life is a curse. I think he is trying to get us to see that being with God is the biggest blessing we can ever expect to have. He can be with us in the joys and trials of this life. He will certainly be with us when our final breath comes. It is as we learn that God is always there that life and death can take on a different perspective.

We have allowed what we do in this life to be the basis for our victor status. Show me a person with a good life and I can more easily understand how they have lived victoriously. Today, Paul helped me see that victory has so much more to do with God than with the life God has given us. Isn't it always about the giver of the gift more so than it is about the gift itself?

I think that is why Paul could see death as a gain. When his time on earth was up, he knew that God's presence would be more readily available to him than it is in this life. Win or lose, life or death, Paul knew he was a victor. He knew his victor status came as a result of God' calling him His child. What Paul did might have been important for the moment, but his eternal position before God was secured no matter how what he did turned out in this world.

To live is Christ...to die is gain. This is a victor's way of living. God isn't asking us to give up on our dreams for this life. He doesn't expect us to not seek the joy of watching our children and grandchildren grow into the people He has made them to be. He is asking that we see things the way He does. Just like we long to be here for the long haul with our offspring, God longs to be with us forever!

I want to see death in a different light. I want to be like Paul and see passing from this life to the next as a gift, not a curse. Though it may be a gift that I don't want too quickly, it is a gift that I don't want to fear and be driven to avoid at the expense of the important relationships around me. It is as we waste time worrying about death that life turns in directions that God never intended. There are way too many victim thinking actions being driven by those of us dreading death in life robbing ways. God wants that to change.

Live big today! Live like it is your last moment. Let the joy of this life fill you in ways God wants for you, His child. But, don't let life be all you have. There is so much more. As the victor God sees you to be, death isn't a punishment. Death is a gift that we all get to experience. Let the presence of God be what your life is based upon. When your time here on earth is up, God's presence is exactly what we all will experience every moment of every day in eternity. May you walk in the power of God's presence in all you do to live your life today.