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. ********** "It is holiness that makes your doing have the power to change the world." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 51. When I read that quote above I feel kind of uneasy. Why? Because it sounds like to me that in order to have real impact in this world I had better get my act together and be that perfect little Christian soldier. If holiness makes what I do have impact in the world I had better get my self as holy as I can or I'm going to feel like a failure.  That last paragraph is filled with victim thinking possibilities. Did you catch that? I'm hoping you can begin to see and hear the words that come from a victim thinking perspective. Recognizing by what we hear or see in our words that might be fueled by victim thinking is a great way to help keep us from going too far down this destructive path. What that quote from my book seems to be saying is that it is all up to us to have the impact in this world we all hope to have. That quote looks to be a formula for success. In other words, if I do holiness well enough then I'll be able to tap into the power needed for real and lasting change. I hate to say this so bluntly, but anything that seems to be the result of direct of a connection we can control is typically a short cut to victim thinking. This is particularly the case when the formulas we lean on are tied in any way to those things we think we can control when it comes to issues that will ultimately reflect on how the world views our identity. With all that said, I completely stand behind my quote from earlier. It IS holiness that makes our doing have the power to change the world. The kind of change that is noticed in this world needs a power that we simply aren't able to muster up on our own. It is God's power that makes impacting change happen. Tapping into that power comes as a result of holiness. The beauty of this truth is that it isn't up to us, this thing called holiness. It all goes back to the doing vs being discussion. Holiness isn't necessarily the result of our doing. It is something we are and therefore something we just have to be. Boy, have I gotten it all wrong in that regard for most of my life. That's why when I read that quote above I can start to feel the victim thinking tendencies rearing their ugly head in my life. In the past I would have done holiness in order to be the victor that comes with God's power for change in this world.  Take a look at today's Bible verse for more on the subject of holiness. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time. 2 Timothy 1:9 (NIV) "... not because of anything we have done." I don't think I can hear those words enough. The more and more I think it is up to me to walk out this identity of mine with any success the less and less capable I feel. I need to have the fact that it is all up to God tattooed on my hands so that when I put my efforts towards anything in this world I will remember where the power is coming from. The same goes for holiness as far as I can understand what God is saying in my life. Holiness is up to Him. I can never be perfect enough to relate to Him. In other words, even if I live an absolutely perfect or holy life from this point on I still fall short of the benchmark of perfection because of my past. Holiness is really a characteristic that God transfers to me as a result of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Of course it is my responsibility to make choices that will honor God. I hope you have gotten to the point where I am and realize that there is no way in the world I will be able to always get this "doing" right in my 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. ********** “I am more and more confident that ‘right before God’ means that we know who we are in His eyes. Life comes to us when we put down our roles and live “loyal and steady believing” that we are a Child of the King’s.” As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 19. Nothing opens the door to the possibility for victim thinking more than working to “be right” before someone. The constant worry as to whether I’m doing enough to measure up to someone else’s expectations for me, and the potential for not being able to do all I can to meet those expectations, make victor living a more and more difficult proposition. This is exponentially more the case when we try to live up to some self, or Church imposed expectations of what it means to “be right” before God. Truth is that we can’t ever do enough to “be right” before God. Does that depress you? Good, it should! I hope it depresses you enough to absolutely STOP “doing” in order to “be” when it comes to our standing before God. That’s the only way you and I will ever be in a position to choose to live like the victors we were created to be. Today’s reading comes from the book of Lamentations. This is a book that was suppose to be about bringing to light all the things God’s people had done to let Him down. In the midst of this sad and depressing book are nuggets of who God is that points to who we are. Take a look at today’s reading; GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,  his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning.  How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over).  He’s all I’ve got left. Lamentations 3:22-24 (MSG) New every morning; God’s loyal love, His mercies are new to us each and every day! That’s a powerfully uplifting message for victors to hold onto as we fight off the drive to “do” all we can to “be” what we want to be today. Doing will never amount to what we want it to be. It doesn’t mean that we are to stop doing. It just means that our reasons for doing have to be challenged daily, maybe even on a moment by moment basis. Why are you doing what you will do today? Is it to make your identity more clear to yourself, your loved ones and, maybe even to God Himself? If so, you are walking the fine line between victim thinking and victor living.  We can’t straddle that line for long. Victors doing out of any motive other than living out the fullness of their identity as God’s Child will eventually sink into victim thinking if their actions have self-centered motives behind them. How do you know if your motives for doing are steeped in self-centeredness? Think about how you would feel about yourself if the things you are putting your efforts into were to not turn out how you want them to. Is there any remnant of a small voice in your head that says you would be less than you are in God’s eyes if those tasks you take on today don’t work out to your advantage? If so, your motives are mixed up and victim thinking is knocking at your door. Today is a new day. God’s loyal love and mercies for you are brand new in your life. You have the opportunity to get so much done today. Do these things with as clean a set of motives as possible. The difference you will feel doing what you need to do today with a victor living perspective will set the course for you to help keep victim thinking at bay in your life. Go today and “do” from the place of “being-right” with God. That’s the victor’s place of honor that shapes our identity and empowers all we will put our hands on today.

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. ********** "The result of Adam and Eve’s decision to go against what God saw as good for them was for them to feel guilt and shame. This is something that had never been felt before, but which today is a characteristic of our lives that threatens to control us through victim thinking." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 109. Shame is such a deadly motivator when combined with victim thinking. Remember, there is a big difference between shame and guilt. Where guilt is the feeling we get when we have done something that disappoints us, shame is believing that what we did defines who we are. Guilt is about the action, shame is about the identity. As I have said over and over again, anything in this world that we allow to shape our identity is a killer to our ability to live the life of a victor. For those of us caught in victim thinking ways, shame can really make it hard to ever see the truth of who we are. It is really hard being the first at anything. When something has never been done before that first time it is done can often be awkward and filled with missteps. Just think back to that very first time you felt something for someone else and acted upon those feelings. I can guarantee that there were some instances in that situation that you would handle completely different with some experience under your belt. Adam and Eve were first at everything. They were first at being created, first at communicating with God, first at working, first at having human relationship, first at having children - the list can go on and on. Everything they did had never been done before. When Satan entered the picture and tempted them, they were the first to fall. Falling is something we all have had lots of practice doing since Adam and Eve pioneered the way for us in the area of sin. Sadly, Adam and Eve were also the first to face the debilitating effects of shame. Shame literally crushed their spirits in a way that we are still feeling the impact of today. When shame crushed Adam and Eve's spirit their souls were the first to pick up where the spirit left off. This has made it so easy for us to do the same and this fact can make it Oh so hard to live the life of a victor as we carry on in the shadow of Adam and Eve's firsts of life. The fact that Adam and Eve let shame influence their identity is a tradition that we have firmly entrenched in our lives as well. It is when we let shame define who we are that the power of identity is lost in ways Adam and Even were the first to feel. I think this breaks God's heart. He never intended for us to suffer the crushing weight of shame. He knew what that would do to us and I believe He knew what it would do to His relationship with us to boot. God has been doing all He could to get us back into relationship ever since Adam and Eve were launched into their lives of firsts. The Bible uses the Adam and Eve story a lot from beginning to the end. In fact Adam and Jesus are contrasted and compared in many ways in the Bible. Here's one such example. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45 (NASB) The last Adam referred to in today's reading is none other than Jesus Himself. Adam is linked to the one who makes it possible for us all to step back into the garden of relationship with God that was forfeited so long ago. God never gives up on any of us and even our wrong turns in life can be used in powerful and eternity filled ways. The first Adam became a living soul. I think that means that when Adam's spirit was crushed it became as though dead. The soul had to come to life to fill the void left by their crushed spirit. That living soul is alive and well in each and everyone of

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. ********** "Jesus’ qualifications meant nothing in this world. His position as the Son of God made it possible for him to completely fail at worldly prosperity and still be prosperous in God’s eyes." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 117. We rely way too much on our own qualifications in ways that I think really causes us damage. I know amazingly successful people who don't have a college degree who feel like they are somehow second class citizens when compared to those of us with a degree. I also know people with degree after degree that don't feel they are qualified enough in ways I just don't understand. It all boils down to identity and comparison. When I compare who I think I am to who I think someone else is, I easily fall into the victim thinking trap. The key word in the explanation given in that last sentence is the word "I". Listen to that sentence again. When I compare who I think I am to who I think someone else is, I easily fall into the victim thinking trap. I, I, I. When we focus on the great I in our lives it is so easy to be deceived in this world. If I don't know my true identity then of course I'm going to feel insecure when I compare myself to someone who might have been able to do something that I wasn't afforded the possibility to do. It is as though all the abilities I have, all the qualifications God has given me has little or no worth to me just because I see someone with more worldly qualifications. That makes me feel inferior - why? Because I've been trained to let the world define who I am even when my status isn't being challenged in any way by others. This scenario gets even worse when someone or something comes into my life that really does work to challenge my identity. Then victim thinking really takes over in my life. Jesus is a good one to compare ourselves to. His worldly qualifications didn't seem to mean a thing to those around Him. Even more profound than that is the fact those worldly qualifications didn't seem to phase Jesus in any way either. He knew who He was. Whether someone called Him rabbi, teacher, savior, even Messiah didn't seem to matter one bit to Him. He knows who He is and that's what God wants for us as well. Identity is such a powerful force as long as we choose an identity that can't be questioned  and/or destroyed by this world. The only identity that Jesus seemed to really promote and stand behind is "Son of God." In other words, Jesus seemed to view all He was doing in the light of being a child of God Himself. Take a look at what God says about our identity in Christ. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - John 1:12 (NIV) If I read this scripture right, we have just as much of a right to claim the identity of Child of God as Jesus did. Jesus didn't allow his qualifications to be anything in this world to sway Him from the fact that His connection to God sprang from one thing and one thing only - the fact that God called Him His Child. We have that same right because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Jesus' identity as God's Child is all that mattered to Him - I believe that it should be the same with us as well. All the worldly qualifications a person might have will mean nothing when they are laid in the ground at their death. It won't matter how many degrees a person has, how much money they have, how successful they were in their jobs, or how much good they did in this world. When that person's heart stops beating, qualifications will mean nothing to the world. When our time is up qualifications will mean nothing in our world either. If, on the other hand, Heaven is real like I think it is, then there is something more important when it c

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. ********** "Victims use past trials as proof to justify their jealous ways of hoarding and doling out whatever it takes to get what they need to find fulfillment." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 132. Sitting in Church today I did something that always seems to get me into trouble. I actually listened to the words we were singing during our worship time. Have you ever done that? So often my worship is simply regurgitating the words back out of habit. What happened to me today is that I listened to the words in a way where I had to take a close look at those words and let them penetrate my heart in a manner that might actually have some real impact in my life. I happen to believe that music, spiritual and secular alike, has real power in this world. There is just something about the creative process required to make a song come to life. I'm not a musician, sometimes that fact really bothers me. But I have gotten to know some amazing musicians over the years and I am blown away at how making music of any kind is a deeply personal and, dare I say, God filled process. It is times like today when I can see behind the words and go beyond the melody that I believe music has it's way in my life. At Church we sang a beautiful song called, "Build Your Life" by Housefires. The chorus of this song says the following; And I will build my life upon your love it is a firm foundation. And I will put my trust in you alone Oh Lord and I will not be shaken What does this have to do with our topic today on trails and generosity? Good question. I was thinking about being shaken in my life from time to time. Trials really have a way of doing this to us don't they? It is when the things of this life turn against us that we can really find ourselves shaken to the core. I have found that when this happens those things I have used to be generous with really come into question. It might be money or time or a host of any other things that I have poured out in what might be seen to be generous ways. When I'm shaken it is so easy to hoard those things in my life and generosity can become less and less of a trait. Listening to today's worship songs, this fact just didn't sit well with me on so many different levels. Why would I get to a place where generosity and the things I'm generous with is hoarded because of challenging situations in my life? The answer is in the words we sang. It is because my trust is in other things than God alone. See why I might not listen to the words I sing that often - that's a conviction that is really hard for me to hear. Trust is a commodity that is so hard to come by. It is more precious than silver and gold when it goes missing in our lives. Having a trust in God is something that is so valuable, particularly when the bad times come. Trust is one of the most powerful means of getting to a place where we can weed out the victim thinking ways that seem to grab hold when we face a series of trials in life. Today's Bible reading is short and to the point. It deals with the essence of how to trust in God when things go south. It says, When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. Psalm 56:3 (NIV) Fear plays such a critical role in life when things get shakey. It's no wonder that I start to hoard the those things that I use in acting out in generous ways - I am afraid I might not have those things for myself. Today's reading gives us insight on how to get back on that solid foundation of God's love. It says "PUT" my trust in you. That word "put" is such a simple and seemingly insignificant word. Yet it has a power to it that we need to grasp in order for our victor status to really take flight during the shakey times of life. When I put something somewhere it requires me to act in a defin

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. ********** "Grace is realizing that God’s kind of love is a gift of enormous proportions. Armed with this knowledge, we can go forward and let our generous ways be fueled by God’s love itself, not our need for something in return." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 131. If we really understood the enormity of the issue of grace when God is concerned I don't think we would ever have any issue with living like a victor. Grace is such an easy term to throw about in conversation. It is when we come face to face with the cost of what grace really expresses that we begin to understand how much this God really loves us. Where as mercy is "not getting what you deserve," grace is "getting what you don't deserve." It is God's mercy that makes it possible for us to not be stuck down by lightening every time we choose to turn our backs on Him. It is grace that makes it possible for us to have relationship with him when our imperfections completely disqualify us from ever coming near this perfect being. We don't deserve His love! We don't deserve Him giving us an identity, a purpose and a destiny. We deserve destruction. Sorry if that is a little too black and white to you but even the mere fact that you would find this discussion too direct is an indication that you don't appreciate the enormity of the issue of grace. I think we can more readily understand the topic of mercy. We see examples of mercy happening all the time. Grace is a little more challenging because examples of grace look to be so crazy that we are actually turned off by what this might mean in our lives. Let me give you and example to help clarify these two concepts. Let's say you are the absolute ruler in a strange and far off land. There is a criminal in that land that was finally caught and convicted to pay the ultimate price for the crimes he committed. Mercy is saying to that criminal, "Even though you committed the crimes I'm going to pardon you - you are free!" That's not too hard to understand - right? That seems to happen with a frequency that makes this kind of action not all that strange. Grace would be if you then told that tried, convicted and pardoned criminal that you wanted nothing more than for him to come live in your castle and to become your son! That's completely crazy. You don't know this person - what if he comes into your home and takes everything of value from you? How often do you see this kind of grace being modeled in our world today? I think that's why grace is taken so lightly. The enormity of this amazing concept is just not seen except through relationship with God. The Bible has this to say about the issue of Grace. ... to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,... Ephesians 1:6-8 (NIV) God treats us just like that convicted criminal in my little example before. We are just like that convicted person - we deserve punishment. In spite of that fact, God gives mercy - we don't get what we deserve. That in of itself is a gift of enormous proportions. But then God does the unthinkable. Through grace, He invites us to be come part of His family. Not a family member that has no rights or responsibilities. No, a family member that has full authority to all God has and all God is. It is when we begin to appreciate the overwhelming gift grace is that generosity in our lives starts to take on a power that is so much beyond what it has been in the past. Grace and generosity are tied together in ways that I don't know if I will ever totally understand. It is when we are generous out of obligati

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. ********** "Here’s an important key for us all to grasp. We don’t need to practice love to get love. We are already loved." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 136. The world has done an amazing job of ruining so many of the important concepts that we need in order to feel secure in our God-given position as a victor. Take for example the concept of love. We have been taught by so much of this world that we have to earn any love that might be part of our lives. What a sad and warped view of something as important as the issue of love. From God's perspective, what the world has taught is so far from the truth. Love isn't earned. Love is given. In that respect, love is just like our identities. We don't need to work to find our identities, our identities are given by God. Somehow we have been co opted by this world in some important areas of our life in ways that make it harder and harder to stay out of victim thinking. If we live under the impression that we have to practice love in order to be loved then there will be times when we will feel very unlovable due to the fact that our ability to show love is not working as powerfully as we would like. It is the same with our identities. If we live under the lie that we have to do in order to figure out how to be, we will find disappointment will linger in ways that will usher in victim thinking from time to time. From God's perspective, love is something so radically different from our performance based teachings on the subject. He isn't waiting for us to clean up our act or to figure out how to better love before He loves us. Love based on condition isn't really a love that is worth working towards, let alone sacrifice for. Today's Bible reading is a familiar one. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV) The New Testament of the Bible was originally written in Greek. Greek is a very precise language, much more so on a word for word basis than English. The word "love" in today's reading is a prime example. In English I might say, "I love hotdogs" to express my fondness of this particular food and then use the same word to express my devotion to my wife by saying, "I love my wife." It is up to the listener to be able to distinguish that my fondness for hotdogs isn't the same as my devotion to my wife. See how, even down to the actual language we use, we are being trained to view love in a way that can cause us problems in our world? In the Greek there are at least three words that can be translated as "love." Each one gives a different view of what the speaker is trying to communicate. In the case of our Bible verse for today, the word love has to do with loving in a way that has no conditions. The reader of this passage in the original language would know that God loved us in a way as to not have any strings attached to that love. And, that love was so great that He would sacrifice His own son to express that love, again without any stipulations for showing that love. Unconditional love is something that we really have a hard time coming to terms with in our world. As I said earlier, we have been taught, either purposely or unintentionally, that love is earned. At the very least we might believe and act on the belief that I can't love someone unless they first love me. We have been shown that there are a lot of conditions to being loved and we better live up to those conditions or we will feel the fullness of the lack of love in our lives. This is such a victimizing way to live out love in our lives. Victim thinking can't help but to be a part of our lives when we live the lie that performance is the foundation of any loving relationsh

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. ********** "..you and I, along with the choices we make, are actually the creators of evil." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 146. Have you ever been caught up in a conversation about the bad things that happen in this world with someone who is questioning a relationship with God? Without fail the questioner will say something along the lines of, "Well, if God wanted to He could eliminate the evil in the world that makes all this bad stuff happen." Oh, if it were only that simple. The reality is that evil is a bit more complicated than separating the good guys from the bad guys. See, if you really know what it is to relate to a perfect God you would realize that there is no one who can be called good. With the exception of Jesus, no one can claim to have lived a perfect life. I'm sorry to state it so plainly but God doesn't judge based on a scale weighing out the good against the bad in one's life. Any evidence of bad is deserving of death even if the goodness way outweigh any bad in a person's life. That fact leaves us all out in the cold. Thank God for His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. Even more basic than the fact that this world can't be separated into good and bad is the actual source of evil when it comes to one person victimizing another in evil and hurtful ways. When you come down to it, we are the actual creators of evil. That's a pretty shocking statement isn't it? Think about this for a second. It is through the power of choice that evil has any chance of rearing its ugly head. God didn't create evil, our choices are what gives evil life in this world. Consider it this way, every evil thing one person does to another happens out of choice. If I break into your house and steal your possessions, my victimizing action isn't an accident. I had to choose to enter into a process that you would find very violating and victimizing. God didn't create the opportunity for me to do this evil, my choices made this evil come into your life. Same goes for each and every evil action that one person has done to another since the dawn of time. Evil isn't the responsibility of God. Evil is the creation and the power that is unleashed when we choose to do something that brings harm to another person in this world. Check out what the Bible says about where evil comes from. "The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out." Jeremiah 17:8 (MSG) Evil comes when we decide to speak against, act out towards or do something to another person that is a result of the victim thinking ways that are driven deep into our hearts. God didn't place the evil that comes out in this world in our hearts. It is the power of choice that we all have that gives evil its life. The Jeremiah reading makes it clear that we need a bit of a heart surgery if we stand any chance of figuring out this life of ours. Good thing is that Jesus is the great physician. His death and resurrection is all the surgery we need to begin to face the dark and deceitful ways that live in our heart. It is by accepting Him that our position as God's Child makes it possible for us to live like the victor that He made us to be. Today you might face a bunch of evil as you deal with people that come across your path. Know this, that evil didn't come from God. It has come from victim thinkers, just like you. Evil you will battle today is a result of people who haven't discovered their true identity choosing to do things those that result in actions that cause victims at every turn. These people haven't let their God-given identity come alive in ways as to unleash the power of light to fight the darkness that can be so much a part of our choices in life. Good news is that God's light always prevails when it

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. ********** "Thinking that we have done what we need to do in the spiritual realm to reap the rewards of a God blessing us in the physical realm puts us in a place to relate to our God in “proper and appropriate” ways rather than “real and alive” ways." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 160. There is nothing more disheartening to me than to meet a Christian who has been blessed with worldly success when they attribute their success to the fact that they have been blessed by God as a result of their following Him so closely. I want to scream at the top of my lungs, "Are you kidding me? Have you not read the Bible at all?" Are they really so delusional as to believe that God rewards people who follow Him with and easy life? Have they ever heard of the name Jesus? Surely the son of God was just a little bit better than these successful Christians will ever be at following God the Father. What was Jesus' reward? Was it money? Was it long life? Was it a successful ministry? No, no and no!  The reward Jesus was given for following God better than any man, woman or child has in the past or will in the future is failure, isolation, bankruptcy, persecution and death. I just don't get it when people chalk up their cushy life to walking so completely with God that He can't help reward them for their stalwart dedication when God's own son didn't even come close to that kind of reward in spite of the fact He deserved so much more then we will ever enjoy in our lives.  Sometimes victors can view victory as something it was never intended to be - a reward for a job well done. The reality is that victors that look to the success they may find in this world as a sign of God's pleasure with their walk are nothing more than victim thinkers wrapped up in the trappings of this world. Oh how far they have to fall when the rug they are standing on gets ripped out from under their feet by evil in this world.  Look, I have no problem with God doting over His Children in ways that are extravagant. I have experienced that in my own life. What proud father wouldn't bless his children with all they need and more. It just doesn't feel right to me to think that I could ever rise to the level of dedication to God that comes anywhere near what Jesus lived out during his short stint in this world. That's what I feel like Christians of means are saying when they think their good fortune in life is a result of their personal dedication to God. Comparing ourselves to God in any way where we can take pride in our life doesn't seem to me to be all that bright of a strategy.  The kind of thinking that makes people believe that they have mastered relationship with the God that made us reminds me of the story of Job. Job is a man who was certainly in the wrong place at the wrong time. God entertains Satan one day and points out the fact that Job is such a strong follower of His. Satan says to God that the only reason Job is so devout in his worship of God is the goodness God has allowed Job to amass in his life. Satan's contention is that if God were to remove all the goodness Job would surely curse God. God is so confident in his son Job that He allows Satan to literally destroy his life. Job loses his family, his riches and eventually his health at the hand of Satan. Not too great of a reward for following God so closely, if you ask me. I wonder what my wealthy Christian friends think of this kind of blessing when it comes to being such a good follower of their creator? Much of the book of Job is story after story of the suffering Job goes through and the conversations that are had as a result of everyone watching this drama unfold. Finally at the end of the Book of Job, God appears. To Job's credit, he

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. ********** "We are hardwired to rebel against the obligation authority tries to put on us." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 177. Don't you just know, deep down inside that we are hardwired to rebel. Take a look at any family that has a child 2 or 3 years old. They don't call them the "terrible twos" or the "traumatic threes" for nothing. It just seems like everything a parent wants to do or say is met with a resounding, and an amazing authoritative, "NO" from that little creature that use to be so sweet and adorable. Where did this defiance come from? I believe it is hardwired in us just like the color of our eyes and the fingerprints that make us each and everyone unique. The drive to rebel is a God-given drive that is there for a good reason - to make it so that we will fight for freedom at any cost. Now, don't get me wrong. That little dumpling of a child that bounces from angle to devil at the drop of a hat isn't necessarily applying that God-given trait of rebelling in ways that are appropriate in all situations. Want to know something really interesting, neither is the fast approaching senior citizen. I often times rebel when the freedom God wants us to fight for isn't the issue. That can cause me to act in ways that can create victims all around me. The freedom God has hardwired for us to fight for is a freedom that is deep down in our souls. It isn't the freedom to be what we want to be, or to earn as much as we would like, or any of the hundreds of perceived rights that we might think are being trampled upon at any given time. The hard, honest truth is that, in the grand scheme of things the things we think are freedom busters don't even begin to rise to any level of importance where God is concerned. It isn't that God doesn't care about what we care for. In so many ways, He does. It is that he wants us to use our hardwired nature to fight for the freedom to be all we can be in His eyes, not to fight for freedom that is a result of anything that we look to to establish an identity in this world. Using our rebellious nature to fight for freedoms that we want from this world is a victim thinking strategy that will ultimately create victims throughout your life. Here's what the Bible says about how we should fight. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12 (NIV) Our fight isn't with this world. Our fight isn't against those things that we think are coming against our rights in this world. We aren't of this world! This isn't our home. Our fight is for faith, the faith we need to believe who God is in our lives and who God says we are in His eyes. We take hold of eternal life when we choose to stop fighting the world for the benefits of being a citizen here and start to fight for the faith we need to believe we are all we need to be, to be the heir of the Kingdom of God we are as His children.  I believe God wants us to fight for all we can in this world. What I also believe is that we have put too much stock in what we might gain in this world when it comes to defining our identities. This is a strategy filled with pot holes and wrong turns that does nothing but waste our time in frustrating and demoralizing ways.  It's no wonder that we are facing an epidemic of victim thinking in our world today. The Victim-Based Society is alive and well because we have decided to use our hardwired rebelliousness to fight the wrong fights in an effort to get to something God has freely made available to us.  You know who you are. You don't have to fight for that next success as proof of who you are. Go after that next success because you want it