Day 269 - Freedom Pill

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"Reality is that when we hold onto the bitterness of offense all we are doing is causing ourselves damage. Forgiveness frees us from having to carry the weight of the offense for the rest of our lives."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 212.

Offense is a growing cancer in our world today. It is because of the bitterness that is there because of the various offenses we perceive that we so easily classify our culture as a Victim-Based Society. 

Just like the disease I compared offense to, being trapped in cancer robs us of the freedom to live fully. Unlike cancer though, there is a guaranteed remedy to offense that can eliminate the effects of the disease that threatens to take the best life has to offer. The remedy to offense is forgiveness.

The more I think about that last statement, the more I see it to be true. Chemo-therapy is a common treatment of many of the cancers that we face today. Chemo is an interesting disease treatment method. It is based on the theory that, with enough poison introduced into the body, the out of control growth of the cancer cells can be turned, making remission possible. 

There are a lot of similarities to forgiveness as a treatment to offense when compared to chemo as a cancer treatment. Just like Chemo, forgiveness is pretty much an indiscriminate way of treating the disease. Though chemos have been developed to better target just unhealthy cells, most chemos cause damage to healthy cells as well. In general, forgiveness is kind of the same way. Though we might be targeting one element of offense with forgiveness, the impact of this powerful disease treatment method goes way beyond just what we think the target might be. 

It is when we take the cure for offense in larger and larger doses that the healing properties of forgiveness really come into play. You see, offense is a disease of the mind as well as of the heart. As forgiveness is applied, we correctly assume that the bondage making effects offense has on our heart will be minimized and ultimately reversed. What we sometimes forget is that forgiveness also works on our minds. 

It is from that place of thought that we really need the cure of offense. Though forgiveness might be just what is needed to soften our hearts towards the kinds of situations that hurt us in the first place, it is in the mind where the issue of bondage and freedom reside. With enough of the cure for offense, our minds start to turn in ways were the negative thoughts that have been the result from a particular offense begin to change. It is amazing how much good a victor can have in this world when their thinking has been set free by taking ample doses of forgiveness.

The Bible is filled with scriptures discussing forgiveness. I think God is pretty serious about the cures this amazing treatment brings to the life of a victor. Check out today's reading with me now. 

Lord, by such things people live;
    and my spirit finds life in them too.
You restored me to health
    and let me live.
Surely it was for my benefit
    that I suffered such anguish.
In your love you kept me
    from the pit of destruction;
you have put all my sins
    behind your back. Isaiah 38:16-17 (NIV)

Near the beginning of our reading, it says, "You restored me to health and let me life." Those who have had the amazing gift of remission when fighting cancer feel the weight of these words found in Isaiah. Can't you feel the gratitude in that sentence? It isn't too hard to understand the relief a person who has come through so much has when they can make that statement.

I believe God wants us all to feel that way in just about all that we do in this world. He wants us to realize how easy it is to be restored to health when offense is concerned. He wants us to realize that it is when we put some things behind us that we can begin to live in the fullness of the freedom victors are suppose to have. We can't live that way when the sins of those who have offended us remain right before us like they do when we haven't forgiven.

I had an interesting thought that I almost didn't include in today's presentation. Frankly it kind of sounds blasphemous on the surface. I'm going to say it anyways because I think it makes the point that I believe I'm suppose to get across today. I believe God is serious about forgiveness because of the freedom it affords. Not only is He serious about forgiveness because it makes us free, but I believe that He is so serious about forgiving us because it sets Him free as well.

Good, no lightening bolts yet! Let me keep going. You see, we have done a lot to offend God. He created us, for goodness sake, and we have turned out backs on Him. That kind of rejection, that kind of disrespect, that kind of affront is akin to almost any of the things that have been done to you that has brought offense into your life. If God continued to hold a grudge against us for not treating Him correctly, I believe He would be in just as much bondage as we feel in our lives when the bitterness of offense is allowed to linger in our lives as well.

I think God forgives for two reasons. First of all He loves us. Secondly, He forgives because it brings a level of freedom in His life that we too could benefit from in our lives. Since we are created in His image, maybe those reasons for forgiveness need to be part of our existence as well. Even if we forgive because we want freedom and we want that freedom as a result of a growing love for ourselves, I believe we are living like God when we apply those motives to the issue of offense in our lives.

Offense is a cancer that is eating away at the very fabric of our society today. Don't let that cancer rob you of the fullness of the freedom God intends for you to live out. Take every opportunity to forgive. As you let forgiveness be more and more what drives you, you will begin to see the power of freedom that makes love have the kinds of impact that this world needs so desperately. Live the life of a victor today. Forgive and find freedom in all that you do.

Day 268 - Thinking & Thanks

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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In our first two presentation on thanks, we talked about the need to recognize and to confess our thanks. There is so much we have to be thankful for. Even in the bad times, thanks is possible. It is when we are thankful in the challenging times that I believe makes the good times that much more powerful in our lives. 

As I have said in past presentations, I came to a place where giving thanks was losing its meaning in my life. I just didn't know what the words "thank you" meant anymore. Habitually saying those words just didn't make any sense. I felt like God wanted me to get what these words meant so that their power could be more of what I experienced living as the victor He has called out for me in this life. 

I stated in earlier podcasts, I found that "thanks" had a meaning that included words like confession and recognition. Today, we are going to take a look at a third nuance to the word "thanks" that I found as I studied this interesting word. Forgive me for the difficulty you might have understanding my wording today. We are going to cover a meaning of the word thanks that can be summed up by a word that sounds very much like thanks. An important element of the word "thanks" comes as we take a look at the topic of how we "think." These words sound so similar that you might have to listen closely to tell which one I'm saying as we go through our presentation today. Alright, let's get started.

I mentioned in the Confession podcast that we are obligated to give thanks. We owe God something that we can never repay. Even in the good times and in the bad, the grace God has given us should be just as evident. It is when we think God's grace means we get a good life now, that we begin to lose the power of thanksgiving in our lives. Because grace is so much more than just a good live right now, even when times are bad, we can thank Him. There’s a power in recognizing that fact. 

The origins of the world Thanks reinforces this notion of obligation. The French word for thanks is “merci”. Literally translated this word means “mercy.” In other words when a french person says “merci” they are saying thanks for not giving me what I really deserve. Now, that’s a perspective on thanks that I believe we have missed in our life. 

I don’t care how bad your life is at the moment, you actually deserve a whole lot worse in the eyes of a perfect and perfectly unapproachable God. Even the slightest misstep on our parts is proof enough of the need for our total annihilation. Yes, God loves us. He pours out on us the power of relationship and promises something better no matter how bad or how good our lives are right this moment. That’s mercy if I have ever heard it. I have a lot to be thankful for. I deserve a whole lot more badness, even when bad times are in my life. That's mercy. For that mercy, I want to stop and simply say, "Thank you God!"

That thought is emphasized in today Bible reading. Short as this verse is, it is packed with the truth and the power of thanksgiving. 

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Luke 6:36 (NIV)

Knowing that the French word for thanks is all about mercy, this verse takes on a whole new meaning when we replace mercy in our reading with thanks. When we make this substitution, our reading goes like this. Be thankful, just as your Father is thankful. 

What's God thankful for? He's thankful for you and for me. He is thankful for the relationship we have with Him, when we let Him in. He is thankful for the love and praise and honor and worship we show Him, particularly when times are bad in our lives. He is thankful for the choice we make to love Him in spite of what this world does to try and get us to do otherwise. Our verse makes it abundantly clear, that just as God is thankful for the ability to relate to us, we are to be thankful for our relations, both vertical and horizontal. 

Where the origins of the word "thanks" has a lot to do with obligation, it also has a focus on the notion of thinking of the other person. When a person gives you a gift, it is a symbol that they have thought of you. How many times have you heard that people really love gifts that have an element of thought behind them? That's what people are really conveying when they say thanks for what you have done for them. It is the recognition that someone thought of you that makes thanks have the power it can in our lives. 

We are wired to want to be thought of. The notion that someone would take time of out their day to actually turn their attention to us is something that touches us all in a deep way. When we say Thank You to a person who gave us a gift, we are actually showing our appreciation for the fact that that person thought of us in the first place. 

I think that’s why thanking God all the time is such a powerful thing to do. It is actually showing God how much we appreciate the fact that He thinks of us constantly. Using thanks as a way of relating to this God also puts us in a place where we are thinking more of who God is in our lives on a moment by moment basis. Thanks can actually get our eyes off our problems and enable us to focus on someone who is the answer to all our problems. 

One more element of where the word Thanks came from in our language. Thanking someone is really saying, “I am thinking of you because of all you have done for me.” Isn’t that the epitome of a relationship with God? God has done so much for you and for me. We will never be able to repay all that He has done for us. By saying Thanks, we are telling God we are thinking of Him because we recognize all that He has done for us. That’s why Thanks is so important and powerful - It makes it possible for us to remember who we are and who this God is in our lives. 

We have a lot to be thankful for. The very fact that God would even think of us, as insignificant was we are when compared to His bigness, is proof enough of our need to give thanks. Take time today to thank God no matter what is going on in your life. He thinks of you all the time. He knows what you are going through. He feels your pain in ways this well worn statement fails to communicate fully. Thank Him for thinking of you. Thank Him for thinking you are the victor He sees you to be. Thank Him for the mercy He is showing you right now. Thank Him for letting you be called His Child and live in the power of what that will be in all you do today.

Day 267 - Judging Your World

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"I’m saying that we need to be aware of how the “have to’s” can crush our ability to live like a victor in the middle of the bad circumstances that victimize us all."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 177.

I sure do wish I could view the challenges that come my way as something other than life forcing me to do what I need to do at that given moment. Don't you know how powerful life would be if the things that come against our life could be lived out with the power of a positive attitude. 

I'm not saying this to make light of the bad stuff that comes our way. Please be aware that I'm in no way delusional as to the pain and suffering this world can toss at us. It is that I'm gaining an new found appreciation of the fact that when we enlist the power of our inner most being in the middle of bad times, things seem to happen in ways that I just can't fully explain. 

Our words have the power to make the power of our souls an ally in the battle with all that is going on in our lives. Our words also have the power to make the power of our souls work against us when bad times hit. It is when we use the words "have to" to describe the things we are faced with doing in a good or bad situation that our souls can actually work against us. 

Our behavior is largely controlled by the faculties of our soul. Our will, intellect and emotions are what make it so that we act in ways that are either victor making or victim causing. Here's what I mean by that. 

Ever been around someone who is having a really bad day? Their attitude has a way of being so infectious. If they are angry and lash out at you, isn't it so easy to be angry and lash out right back at them? If you don't know this person, it can be so easy to misjudge their actions as hatred or prejudice or evil. Their actions, driven by their soul reacting to their own situations, makes it possible for you to be victimized by their response. Worse than that, your misinterpretation of the motives behind their behavior makes it possible for you to add to that person's belief that they are a victim. The opposite is just as true. 

Our actions have the ability to either draw others in or push others away. We can't always control how others will react to us, but we can control how we act in situations that come at us, whether they be good or they be bad. A large portion of that control is exhibited when we choose the words we use in the situations that come our way. 

When we use words like "have to" to describe the tasks that come at us in life, we are telling our soul that we are trapped in this place. The soul will do all it can to help set itself free. Even when freedom isn't an issue, our words can make the soul take on a posture that enables our behavior to impact others in ways we never intended. 

I've heard it said that they only thing we really have the ability to consistently control is our thoughts. Sure we can control our will as well, but that is so hard to do on a long term basis. My friend, Ken Baugh likens controlling our will to that of holding a beach ball under water. We all can do that but eventually the force of the ball under the water is going to overwhelm us and BOOM the ball will come erupting to surface, splashing everyone around you. Same goes for our emotions. The will and emotions are so hard to maintain over long periods of time. 

It is our thoughts that we have the ability to shape and maintain. When our thoughts are heading in a particular direction, our will and emotions are more than happy to follow suit. 

Amazing thing is that our words emanate from our thoughts. When we think a situation is filled with  "have to" occurrences, we are in a place where our will and emotions are put on alert. It is in that time of heightened awareness that the beach ball of our lives is about to soak all those around us with an eruption of things that threaten to victimize anyone in our vicinity.

Our Bible reading today points out a couple of things regarding our thoughts and the words that might come from our thinking. Check it out with me now.

The life-giving Spirit of God will hover over him,
    the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength,
    the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God.
Fear-of-God
    will be all his joy and delight.
He won’t judge by appearances,
    won’t decide on the basis of hearsay. Isaiah 11:2-4 (MSG)

I believe that it is in those times when we are living a "have to" life that we are letting fear take over in our lives. Whether we have something to fear or not, our souls are in a place where they sure think fear is to be fought. Our reading today highlights the only fear that our soul loves. Fear of our Lord is what our soul knows is right. That kind of fear isn't a cower in the corner and fight for freedom kind of fear. Fear of God is a comfort to the soul. It is the power it needs to help us discern the good from the bad that comes against us.

Our reading today uses the word judgement when it comes to our lives. Appearances and the lies this world throws at us are horrible foundations for the kinds of judgement we need to be the powerhouse of a victor God intends. You see, when we judge our lives through the lens of "have to" we are turning loose our souls to fight a cause that might just be the wrong cause. We have to be fighting what God wants us to fight, not what we think is coming against our good lifestyle that we might judge to be a "have to" situation.

God neither creates the evil that makes badness come into our lives, nor does He use that evil to punish us. The thinking behind "have to" living believes that we don't matter to this God that made us. There is a hopelessness in that belief that makes our souls cower in ways that fail to serve us in world changing ways.

The answer to "have to" living is to live in a place of "get to." Nothing empowers our ability to live a "get to" life like realizing that we are not alone. Our scripture points out what makes "get to" living possible in the first place. It is the fact that God's Spirit hovers over us. That spirit brings wisdom and understanding. It brings direction and strength. It instills knowledge and that is what is needed to make the power of living in the fear of God something that makes our souls come alive.

A lot is going to come your way today. Some of those things will make you think that you have no choice but to be where your are. Though there will be little you can do to change you situation, you can change your thoughts. It is when we change our thoughts that getting through what we face something that is filled with a power that is outside our ability to muster up all on our own. It is when we realize that God is right there with us, watching over us, empowering us and cheering us on that our thinking changes in ways that make even the most arduous task a "get to" opportunity for our souls to shine.

That's the epitome of victor living. It is when our souls take on the power of God through the spirit's direction that victor living really takes shape. That shape has so little to do with whether our circumstances can be described as victorious or not. The fact that God's presence is guaranteed for the victor is what makes that person a victor in the first place.

Make today all it can be by taking on all your tasks with an attitude of "I get to...". You may be surprised at how, even the hardships that come your way might be sightings of God in your life for yourself and for all those around you.

Day 266 - Reshaping Life

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"Victims have been trained by this world to grab for all they can and be sure no one takes more from them than they deserve to receive. Who is the judge of how much is enough to give out? The victim thinker."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 125.

In the 70's a beer company use to have a series of TV commercials that had a line something like this. "You only go around once in this world so why not grab for all the gusto you can?" Even for something as mundane as selling beer, ad agencies work to appeal to our victim thinking ways to help their product get noticed. Amazing thing is, that strategy works!

We have been conditioned to grab for all we can. After all, can we trust that there will be enough to go around when so much is required from this world to satisfy our growing appetites for stuff? That's a victim thinker's way of approaching the world that does nothing but spawn victims all around them. 

This is especially the case with whatever it is that we find in this world that makes our lives be in that place where we are OK with who we are. You know what I mean by that, don't you? Aren't there times in your life where everything just seems to be good? I don't know about you, but when those times are there I will do almost anything to make them stay that way. As those times change, I find myself grabbing for more of what I think will make those times last. 

Amazing thing about this life and a life with God is that EVERYTHING changes. Good times change. So do the bad. Unfortunately, we aren't all that good at dealing with the ramifications to change. Even when things are changing for the better, victim thinking can make it so that we grab for all we can to make the status quo be more of what we have, even when what we have falls so far short of what is to come. 

I came across an interesting quote that made me think recently. In his book, Beyond Sundays by Wayne Jacobsen, the following statement really caught my attention. Mr Jacobsen said, 

"He (meaning God) has to reshape internally the ways you were taught to live—twisted by indulging your desires, haunted by the insecurities of not knowing you were loved, exploited by the selfishness of others, or manipulated by the lies and fears of religious obligation." There is so much in that statement that we need to unpack. 

The author was making a point about the status quo that I think those of us wanting to live this life as the victors we would like to be, need to take to heart. You see, I don't believe where we are right now holds a candle to where God is taking us in the future. I don't care how great your times are right this moment, they are but a poor reflection of the amazing times that are to come. It is as we jealously guard this moment, and grab for all we can because of the fear of the next, that victim thinking takes root in our lives. 

I love what Mr. Jacobsen said about God's work in our lives. He is reshaping us from the inside out. When I think of the implication of that I come to realize what a big job God has in order for that reshaping to happen. No wonder it takes so long to transform us from where we are today to where He knows we will be in the future. If God reshaped all that needed changing in our lives, at one time, it would kill us! Step by step, God is changing those things in us that once defined us but now are holding us back from the victor's life He has called us to. 

That's why it can feel so disconcerting, this life we lead. When we are in the middle of the kinds of changes God does in our lives that life can feel so strange. On one had we want to grab for all we can to try and hold on to what we know all too well. It doesn't matter that what we know is killing us. Even if we have come that conclusion, we still grab for anything to hold onto as we try and maintain the status quo. 

Then there's the other side to this middle ground of change. We know we are going somewhere but, darn if we know where or what it will look like when we get there. I have to tell you, there is a lot of fear in that place of the unknown. With all this reshaping, what will life look like when God is done? Will I even like who I am as God changes me from the inside out? The fear of the unknown is a terrible thing to deal with. When it comes to our identity, fear of the unknown can be just about too much to bare. 

Our reading from the Bible is a pretty familiar one to many of us. It says,

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18 (ESV)

So much of what I fear in my life comes as I consider what love might look like in light of what I think I need at that moment. If I'm stuck in a place where I find it necessary to lean on particular coping mechanisms that might not rise to the level of perfection of a perfect God, fear comes in knowing that God might change me in ways that those coping skills won't work in the future. That's a scary place to be. Looking ahead from where I am now, that seems like punishment. To take away what gives me comfort doesn't seem like love to me. 

That's why God's shaping is from the inside out. That's why His shaping takes time. He slowly infuses His love in us in ways that help us to see fear for what it is worth. Fear about the future based on God's love for us now is grabbing for all we can to try and make today stay the same even though we know change is a coming. 

We have a lot in our lives that need to be unlearned. There are a lot of insecurities that haunt our lives. The selfishness of others has matched up with our own selfish ways that has made it possible for us to be used in hurtful ways. The well meaning Church has allowed a level of damage to occur in our lives through the rigors of obligation. All this makes it so that victim thinking can slip into our lives. When it does we tend to grab for all we can, hoping that the goodness of this moment won't be overshadowed by the fear of what might come. 

Perfect love drives out that fear. As the victor you are, that love is in you. It is hard at work, reshaping who you are and who this world will see you to be in the next moment. Let that love do its work. Stop grabbing for all this life has to offer as the fix to the uncertainty you feel right now. Take another breath and let God's amazing love make you more of the victor you long to be.

Day 265 - Storms of Life

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"Jesus knew that no matter how bad the circumstance, he could trust God to provide the kind of peace in the soul that can only be described as prosperity."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 114.

Jesus was the most prosperous person to have ever lived. If you look to money for how prosperous Jesus was, you will be sorely disappointed. If you consider his significance as to how prosperous He was you will be shocked at how little impact on the immediate world He had when He was alive. If you take into account any of the many things you and I might think makes us prosperous, there is no way that Jesus should be considered the most prosperous man to have ever lived. Yet that's what He was. 

Jesus had this ability to have peace in the soul unlike anyone who has ever lived. That peace came from the fact that He knew God wouldn't do anything that would make their relationship be less than it had been since the dawn of time. Money will come and go. Significance will shine brightly, then it will fade. All the other attributes we are so quick to pursue, when it comes to prosperity, are here one day and gone the next. Peace in the soul is something that makes the other things we settle for in this world pale by comparison when it comes to prosperity . 

If that is the case, then what is peace in the soul and how do we get it? I don't know if I can definitively answer those questions, but I do have some thoughts on the subject. 

Let me start by describing what I think peace in the soul is NOT. Peace in the soul is not that feeling of comfort, satisfaction, security or well being that the world is so quick to assign to what peace is suppose to look like. Each and everyone of those things are not permanent. One moment it is hear and the next moment we have lost our peace because that characteristic is MIA (missing in action). Peace in the soul is not something we can get by what this world offers. Peace in the soul comes as we seek something extra-worldly for the prosperity this quality brings to our lives. 

Peace in the soul is a calm and quiet in the storm. Jesus displayed this peace in the soul as he slept in the back of the boat during that stormy day out on the lake. His disciples were scared to death. They were afraid the terrible storm they were in was going to kill them. They looked to Jesus and saw Him peacefully snoozing His and, as they thought, their lives away! Take a look at this story with me now. 

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” Matthew 8:22-25 (NIV)

Can't you relate to the disciples fear and angst? Even though these were experienced sailors, this storm had them all afraid for their lives. It must have been a pretty bad blow, if they were that scared. How is it that Jesus could be so sound asleep when experienced sailors were at the point of panic because of the storm? That's what peace in the soul does for us when we let it be what takes over our lives. 

You see, Jesus didn't have a care in the world. First of all, He knew that he wasn't going to die in a boat, in the middle of a lake on a stormy day. Jesus knew He had a destiny with death but that kind of death on a lake that day wasn't what He would face. There is a peace that the soul gravitates to when purpose is at stake. Jesus knew He was part of a plan bigger than just succumbing to a passing storm. That knowledge let His soul rest in ways that made His body follow suit. 

Then there is the fact that Jesus knew who He was. You see, even if God decided to let Jesus die in that boat, what did it matter to Him. The sooner He died, the quicker He would be reunited with His Father and all those who loved Him so in Heaven. Either Jesus was going to live through the storm with God or He was going to die and more fully be with God for eternity. The prosperity Jesus was exhibiting as peace in the soul came as He lived a win-win kind of life. That kind of prospect is something the soul loves and peace in the soul is a natural result. 

Interesting thing is that the exact things that made it possible for Jesus to have peace in the soul is just as true for you and for me. It was also true for the disciples as well. That's why Jesus was so quick to confront them on their faith after He had calmed the storm. He said to them, "Where is your faith?" I believe He was asking them why they couldn't see their destiny and identity as clearly as Jesus could in His life. 

It is during those times that panic is driving all the peace out of my soul, I need to be asking the same question. Where is my faith? Don't I believe I am who God says I am? Don't I believe that He has a destiny for me? Why am I letting this storm make me doubt my identity and the destiny that is empowered by that identity? 

Maybe, the next time a storm hits my life, I need to ask myself where my faith is. Then I need to realize that the object of my faith is curled up in the back of the boat we both are in. Why not go snuggle up with my faith and just ride out the storm letting the heavenly rest wash over me. I'm just as destined as Jesus. I'm just as much identified as He was. I'm a Child of the King just like my big brother Jesus. There a power in that fact that promises peace in my soul unlike anything else I have ever seen in this world. 

Let peace be what guides you today. That peace won't let you down. Sure you might be in for a rough ride. Fact is you might not come out the other end. Either way, you just can lose. God is with you now and will be with you whether you get to the other side of the lake or not. That's the power of victor living that we have at our fingertips. Don't let the storms of live drive you to question who you are or your destiny as the victor God has called you to be. Let the rest of God sweep over you and bask in the prosperity that is peace in the soul that God has made a way for your to have this fine day.

Day 264 - Overcoming This World

Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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"In fact, He might find that our discomfort is better for His plan of salvation for this world than our demand for a good life."

As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 94.

I don't like that quote above. Even though I wrote those words, I don't like what they say. The implications of those words scare me. How could a loving God think that anything other than my comfortable life be what He could ever want for my life? 

God's plan is something I don't think we will ever fully appreciate. You see, God's plan isn't to make our lives nice and comfy. God doesn't have anything against us having a good life. It just isn't His plan to make comfort be the focus of a life well lived. 

This life is about something more. This life has more to do with the battle waging right now between the forces of good and the forces of evil. I just can't understand how Satan keeps His fighters so motivated to fight. The results of their efforts are so abundantly clear in God's Word. God wins! Light overcomes darkness. The forces of good prevail. 

Why in the world would anyone keep fighting in spite of knowing that the outcome is assured? I believe the reason they continue to fight is based on nothing more than that terrible characteristic we sometimes live out in our lives. Evil is motivated to fight out of the simple word spite. 

Satan knows that he will be defeated. He knows He will be separated from God for all eternity. All He can do is to take as many of us with him in the hopes that this will cause God some pain. Want to know something really amazing. That fact does cause God pain. The fact that even one of God's creations would choose to live without Him is a thought that, I believe drives God to do reckless and desperate things. You don't have to go any further than God offering up His own son to see what I mean by that. 

Jesus' death on the cross is nothing short of reckless and desperate. This plan doesn't guarantee that all of God's Children with choose to be with Him. That's Satan's motive for continuing to fight. He knows that God's plan won't work unless we choose to accept that plan. He wants to make it hard for us to make that choice. He does so by making our life difficult at times in ways that can only be descried as hell on earth. 

That's why discomfort in our lives can sometimes be viewed as God's plan. He may need us to be in some pretty dark places for His light to be seen. Living in a place where we expect God's plan to always make our life what we want it to be is a victim thinker's paradise. God is God. His plan is what will make this world be all it is suppose to be for His Children. Sometimes that plan makes it possible for our comfortable lives to be forfeited whether we like it or not. 

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

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 1 John 5:4 (ESV) 

Victory is described in such a different way in today's reading. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the evil in this world. It isn't the defeat of evil that is our victory. It isn't the fact that our live turns back into what we want that defines victory for the victor. Faith is what John says victory looks like.

John also says that any of us that are Children of God overcomes the world. That's a powerful promise. It doesn't say that that victory will be the comfortable and pain-free life in this world. It says we will overcome. God will show us what that looks like. It might be that our overcoming will be when we pass from this life to the next. Victors have to come to grips with that being a real possibility as God's plan unfolds in their lives.

I wish I could read the Bible and see how it is God's responsibility to give me the life I want. I dream of the day when I can say that God's obligation is to make my life be all I long for it to be. I'm sad to say that just isn't the case. It isn't that God doesn't love us that He would stand for anything bad to happen in our lives. It is that evil is in this world. Badness is going to happen. Truth is that we might be the only chance for the light of God to be seen when evil has darkened the world around us so completely like it does from time to time in our lives.

The only way I know how to live in this reality is to let God be God. That strategy only works when I have the faith needed to believe I am all He says I am in spite of how hard Satan is working to get me to believe something different.

Please don't let today be about allowing your circumstances to determine your position before God. If Jesus did that, none of us would be able to claim our victor status. No, do something totally different today. Let your faith be what provides all the victory you need in your life. Have faith in who God says you are. Have faith in the fact that God's plan is something that is good, even when your life is filled with bad. Have faith that victory is assured. That's the only way I know of to make victim thinking less of a distraction in all you have planned as God's Child today.

Day 263 - Recognition & Thanks

Click here to link directly to the audio file.

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This is the second in a series of four presentation on the issue of "thanks." Not too long ago, I talked about how the words "thank you" all of sudden confused me. It was as though I couldn't come up with a reason why those important words have such meaning and power in our lives. When this happens to me I have to take time to look at what the world thinks and what God thinks for a perspective that helps me get back on track.

Last time I spoke on the connection of thanks to confession. You might remember that I found that, when it comes to thanks, confession is so important. We have to get the words "thank you" out of our heads and, at times, out of our mouth. Thank you is an obligation. It is an obligation that is a good thing. Thank you gives us the ability to confess our gratitude for things that have been done for us that provide a future, even when our present is so messed up. The confession of thanks gives our soul the ability to get involved in things eternal as they fight the weighty things of the temporal.

Today we are going to focus on another element of thanks that I discovered as I studied the word "thanks" in the Bible. Not only does "thanks" have an element of confession to it, there is an element of recognition in the word "thanks" that we need to be aware of. We are to recognize the need to give thanks. Recognition is what makes confession even possible when it comes to the word "thanks."

When I took a look at the times the word "thanks" was used in the Bible I found an interesting flavor to this word that caught my attention. There is an element of the meaning of the various words translated to the English word "thanks" that has everything to do with recognition. What is it that we are to recognize when "thanks" is at issue? We have to recognize the amazing grace that we have been given. More to the point, it is so important that we recognize the presence of that grace whether our life is good or not at any given moment.

We have, somehow, taken the concept of grace and turned the meaning of this beautiful word on its ear. We have come to the belief that grace abounds when our life is good here on earth. If we are ever going to live in the power of thanksgiving, the victor has to get it when it comes to what grace is and what grace isn't. Put simply, grace isn’t that we get a good life. Grace is that we get an eternal life.

Today's Bible reading shows us the way when it comes to recognizing grace in our lives.

But continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18 (GNT)

There is a fullness to this life that comes when we realize that this moment of pain, that might be weighing us down so completely, isn’t what we are destined to forever. Victim thinking is so much more possible when we think that grace means we will never have challenges in our lives.

Getting to a place where we recognize that grace in our lives happens when we go on a journey with God in this life. Peter said that we are to continue to grow in the "grace AND knowledge" of our savior. It is as we face the good times and the bad times of life with a heart that recognizes those things to be thankful for that grace and knowledge become the foundation for all we have to give thanks for.

Look, I'm just as adverse to pain in my life as the next guy. I will do and say anything to make my life the comfortable thing I want so badly. When times are good, of course I can thank God for the grace He gives. When times are bad, I should be able to thank Him just as completely. It is when I begin to think that God owes me a good live because He promises grace that this world will make me feel like a victim at every turn.

When bad times hit, grace is just as sure as when good times are all we know. Sure we there are times when it will feel like a marathon as we endure the of pain that comes at us in this life. Even in that place of pain, we still need to recognize the truth of the grace that promises the fullness of an abundant life, free of pain when this life comes to an end. When recognition of the truth of grace is combined with the confession of thanksgiving big things start to happen in heaven and on earth.

It is when we let the burdens of this world blind us to the fact that we are destined for so much more that we stagnate. I can’t help but to believe that so many of us are stuck in our pain because we have given up. Giving up is typified by our failure to give thanks.

Sure, our painful circumstances stink. There is no doubt that they are hard. No one could blame you for missing the fact that there is so much to be thankful for. God doesn’t think anything less of you for that fact. But, there is so much more than just being stuck in a place that will ultimately take us to victim thinking.

The reality is that there comes a point when it is time to wake up. Do you hear that call in your life now? I do. It is time to recognize who you are and who this God is in your life. There is a sweetness, a loveliness, a delight, a pleasure, a joy in this very moment that needs to be seen for all it is worth.

As hard as life is right now, there is so much to be thankful for. If nothing else, the fact that God calls you His child is enough to make thanksgiving be all it needs to be in our lives. It is time to let that recognition be all it needs to be to be thankful. Thankful for the promise of the future. Thankful for the hope of tomorrow. And, Yes, even thankful for the moment.

Open your eyes and see the promise of your future. Thankfulness that comes from that promise is what makes this moment be all it can be in your life.