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 the key to generosity. Grace, by definition, is when we receive something totally undeserved. Generous people are generous because they have a grace about them that makes it possible to give freely." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 129. Have you ever considered what in your life you totally don't deserve? That list of mine is getting longer and longer. At first, just about all I could think of was my salvation is a gift that is totally undeserved. By the way, that is a truly undeserved gift. We have done nothing that merits God taking such drastic steps to save us. Other things in my life I kind of feel some element of deserving. That's what I would like to focus on today. I kind of feel like I deserve most of what has happened in my life. My house, my cars, my family, my status in the community, my abilities to do what I do, all these and more have a lot to do with the efforts I have put in to get to where I am today. Unlike salvation, the physical things of life are items that we can claim we have had a hand at making happen. This gives us the opportunity to discount grace in ways that, I believe, really limit the effectiveness of generosity. Let's dive into this thought a bit. It is when I think that I deserve the life I have helped to make for myself that I turn my back on God's grace. Sure, I realize that God has played a role in everything I have done. But, I have had to play a roll in all the physical blessings I currently enjoy. The fact that we are such a results based species makes it that much easier to take credit for the goodness of our lives, especially when we have worked so hard to help make that goodness happen. Maybe that is why victim thinking is so easily achieved when things just don't go the way we want. Could it be that failure in what we do makes us think that we are not worthy of the grace God gives? When we think that there is something wrong with us due to the failed attempts at making the good life we want happen, victim thinking can't help but be the result. I think it really all goes back to grace. We defined grace as receiving something that we didn't deserve. It is as we see a good portion of our lives as something we deserve that we set ourselves up for victim thinking. Let's use an example from the list I gave earlier with regards to what I feel I deserve in my life due to the hard work I have put in. Consider my house. No one could argue with the fact that it has taken a lot of hard work for my family to live in the house we currently own. Housing in California isn't all that affordable. The house we currently live in valued at a level that would be considered obscene in most of the rest of the United States. God didn't just give us this house. It took a lot of money and a bunch of blood sweat and tears to make this house the amazing home it is today. If grace is getting something you don't deserve, then by all accounts, my house is completely deserved. Just the amount of work alone we have put into this place makes it abundantly obvious how deserving we are to be in this house. Add in to that fact all the money we have spent on the purchase and renovation of this property, no one could ever object with how deserving we are. Now, I'm completely open to allowing victim thinking to take over in my life. It is when I feel deserving that challenges in life, particularly challenges against the object of what I feel I deserve, makes me feel like a victim. It isn't too difficult to realize how negative my thinking would be were something to happen to this home that I feel so deserving of. At the very least, thinking I am deserving of my home might make it so that I am less generous with what I have. Why would I open my home to others

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** The world tells us to let our actions be what defines us. "Actions speak louder than words" gets applied to identity in ways that cripple us when it comes to trying to live out our victor status. Although it is true that actions are more powerful than words, when it comes to relationships, actions do nothing to add a permanence we need to make identity be what it is to be in our lives. I believe that actions can't be trusted when it comes to identity because of the issue of flesh and blood. I know that sounds weird, but let me go into that a bit. First let's take a look at a Bible verse that talks about flesh and blood. Today's reading says... Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. Matthew 16:17 (NIV) Jesus made a very emphatic point to commend Simon Peter for the answer he gave to an identity based question. Jesus had asked His disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter shot his hand up and said, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus commended Peter for the fact that this answer wasn't one that was taught to him by man, but was revealed to him by God Himself. In fact that answer is what Jesus told Peter he would build the Christian church upon. This was no small moment in the life of this man that followed Jesus. I think Jesus commended Peter because he had come to a crossroads at that moment. Peter, just like the rest of us, had been conditioned to determine who someone is by what they do. Peter had seen Jesus do a lot of wild and crazy things up to this point. Reality is, that it wasn't enough for him, or anyone else to recognize God's plan for the world through Jesus. That had to be seen in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Up to this point, all people could say about Jesus, when it came to identity, was based on what they saw. Peter gave an answer that came from someplace else. Jesus told him where it had come from. It wasn't from flesh and blood that Peter's answer came. It was from what God had revealed personally to Peter that made this answer be what Christ saw was to be the foundation of all that was to come. I believe we too need to have answers about identity questions that come from what God says, not what humans (flesh and blood) might say about who we are. We rely on flesh and blood so much to determine who we are. We look for the words and actions of others to be the basis of our identity. We go out of our way to help others find words and actions that will make our identities be what we think they need to be. So much of our time is spent on making flesh and blood be more than what God wants it to be in our lives.  We need the rock solid footing that is the revelation of the gospel to be the basis of identity. Flesh and blood revelation - what others say is powerful but it isn’t complete. Flesh and blood often times fails to tell the truth. Flesh and blood is prone to change. Flesh and blood opinions don't have the power of perspective so they can’t be trusted. Relying on flesh and blood revelation sets us up for failure. God’s revelation is what we need and that’s the gospel. The world wants us to just follow our hearts. It wants us to look to how we feel, what we think about and what we want for guidance in our actions. My pastor reminded us what a very old cartoon series character, Jiminy Cricket use to say "Always let your conscience be your guide". This is the the essence of flesh and blood revelation. Not only does relying on flesh and blood make it possible for us to taste failure in our lives, flesh and blood revelation can be the basis of evil of all kinds in our world. Aaron reminded us that serial killers are basically doing what is in their heart when they do the unspeakable things we see as the evil that those actions represent. If the heart is your guide for who your are and what you do you are heading for trouble.

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 so hard for my soul to just be quiet; to calm down so that the peace that is prosperity can flourish in my life. I found myself saying to my soul, 'cling to God, just cling to God!'" As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 115. The quote form my book today came from an experience I had as a result of reading the following verse a while ago. Before I go into what this verse means to me, let's take a look at it together now. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:8 (NASB) Simple and to the point. Today's reading is a favorite for me. I came across this verse during a particularly difficult time. Looking back from my vantage point now, I clearly see how victim thinking made this particular time in my life so challenging. I woke up one morning after a really bad day the day before. Bad, in this circumstance, happens to mean that I was really, really depressed. Like so many other days during this period of my life, I just couldn't see how goodness would ever be a part of my life again. Fortunately, I woke up this day with a little brighter attitude than I had the day before. As I sat down to try and get my bearings for the day, I felt like God wanted me to read His Word. When I came across the Psalm 63 verse I stopped in my tracks. It was like a light bulb went off for me. It made such sense to me that my soul needs to cling to God. I ended up reading this verse over and over again. I go back to this verse many times now in my life. It is when I allow my soul to cling to God that victor living is more apparent in my life. Our souls are what can either propel us toward who God sees us to be or hinder us from ever seeing our identity through His eyes. Our will, intellect and emotions need help when it comes to trying to make identity something we can understand. If we pursue an identity based on what we do, our soul gets behind that strategy with passion and commitment. Problem is, that as the world makes it so that our actions don't always bring about what we expect, the soul gets drained and dejected. When our will, intellect and emotions are beat up by the challenging times that come at us in this world, we can easily fall into victim thinking tendencies. When we are stuck in victim thinking, our will, intellect and emotions are driven to implement strategies to help us cope with how badly we feel. Victim thinking makes it possible for our souls to allow damaging and victim making behaviors to be a part of what we do in our world. Sooner or later the soul gets exhausted and just gives up. That's a dangerous place for a person stuck in victim thinking to find themselves. That particular morning when God wanted me to see our reading for today was a prime example of what I described so far in my presentation. My soul was so tired those days. Coping was about all I could do and even that strategy wasn't working that well for me any more. The words, "cling to God" were like a drink of fresh water to my parched soul. As I said those words over and over again, I started to feel something that had been long missing in my life. The thought of my soul clinging to God gave me hope. I think our souls tend to run out of steam as hope is harder and harder to see in our lives. Hope is so important for identity to really have meaning. Identity based on the hope for what this world might provide is nothing more than a fast track to being soul tired. The feeling of losing hope and victim thinking often go hand in hand. I think the hope that seemed to re-energize my soul that day came from the promise from our reading. It says that as our soul clings to God, He upholds us with his right hand. I know I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. For most of us, our rig

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** Today's Bible reading is short and to the point. It says... For we live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV) I have found that, when it comes to victor living, we can't trust all we see in the way we thought we could. Our eyes play tricks on us when we trust what we see as proof of who we are. The things that happen to us in this life just don't cut it as far as identity is concerned.  It's like that mirage in the desert. What looks to be a wonderfully refreshing body of water just on the horizon is actually the heat playing tricks on your eyes. So it is in life when we look to the things we do and/or our circumstances as proof of who we are. What looks to be so perfect for our situation turns out to be nothing more than this world playing tricks on us.  I love how The Message takes today's reading and expands on it. Check out what verses 7 and 8 say from The Message. That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming. 2 Corinthians 5:7-8 (MSG) The first few sentences of Eugene Peterson's view of our reading today really smacks of victor living. Cramped conditions here don't get us down because they remind us of the spacious conditions ahead. That's how a victor sees the challenges that come their way. Bad times are but a temporary thing. The bliss of heaven is eternal. What may seem cramped now will be traded for what you will come to know as being spacious when this life ends. It is when we choose to live by sight that victim living can take such a hold in our lives. I'm not talking about walking around like a blind person with that last statement. Living by sight means that we look to the success of what we do and to the relative goodness of our circumstances as proof of who we are and who this God is in our life. That way of living is what will make victim thinking much more of a reality in our lives. It is when we choose to live by faith and not by sight that life starts to make a lot more sense. Faith is believing in something we are not yet able to see. Faith is holding onto a hope for something better that what we may be experiencing right at this moment. Walking by sight is such a roller coaster way of living. One moment we are high as a kite with all the goodness in our lives. The next we are lower than low when life seems to be coming against us from all sides. When we walk by sight we are doomed to let our circumstances dictate our behavior in ways that can cause others pain. Walking by sight makes it possible to let victim thinking make victims of those around us. Walking by faith is so much easier said than done. We are such a sight based species. It is so much easier to trust what we see than what we can't see. Problem is that, we really can't trust what we see when it comes to who we are. Faith is all that I have found that works when it comes to making this life more of what I think God wants it to be for me. The last line of Peterson's translation of our Bible reading highlights why faith is so important in this sight based world. We are currently living in exile. We really don't belong here. There is a homecoming waiting for us that will put this life into the correct perspective. Until that homecoming happens, we can make the best of this exile by believing what God says about us is true. Circumstances don't define who we are. God does. It is when we let our view of identity be shaped by how good our life is that life becomes less and less tolerable. God has said we are His Child. That makes us the victor our souls long to be. Walk in the faith that what God has said

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. ********** "Provision viewed from God’s perspective is the only way a victor can expect to see God’s goodness when the good things of this life seem to elude them." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 94. What's does it look like when it comes to God being good. I have lived in a place for way too long where His goodness has to look like the kinds of good things I want for my life. Victim thinking has been in control for large portions of my life because I have found God's goodness couldn't be trusted as I failed to get what I wanted from this life. Victor living only happens when we can see God's goodness from His perspective. Our circumstances can never be enough to prove that God is a good God. We were not created to have a good life. We were created to relate to a good God. Mixing together God's goodness with what we know to be good in our lives is a recipe for disaster. I'm not saying that God has destined for us to live out a bleak existence. What I am saying is that this world will do things to us that will make it hard to believe God's goodness can be trusted. Even one bad thing in a string of good experiences can get us to doubt that God can be trusted. That's exactly what Satan wants us to believe. He will use the things of this world to help with that strategy. The Bible is filled with verses that extol the goodness of God. Here's one such example. You are good and do only good;     teach me your decrees. Psalm 119:68 (NLT) This verse promises that all God does is good. Nothing bad can come from Him. Why, then, is there so much badness in this world? Satan controls this world. He is using the bad things of this world to get us to doubt God is good. This is his "go-to" play when it comes to fighting God's goodness. When we doubt God is good, victim thinking is so easy to take over. When we are controlled by victim thinking it is so easy to be part of the badness that this world makes happen in the lives of those around us. Here are some other promises and characteristics of God's Love from the Bible. 1 Timothy 4:4 says, that everything from God is good. Psalm 145:9 says God is good to everyone. Psalm 107:1 shows us that God's goodness lasts forever. Genesis 1:31 indicates that everything God made is good. Psalm 34:8 makes it clear that we are impacted by God's goodness. Romans 8:28 promises that God's goodness can come from all circumstances we face. 2 Peter 1:3 states that because of God's goodness, we have everything we need to live a godly life. That's a pretty compelling list of attributes and characteristics of God's goodness. The goodness of God goes a long way in the life of a victor. Can you start to see why Satan works so hard to try and get us to doubt God is good? If he can get us to think that God's goodness isn't for us, so much of the power promised by God for our lives goes out the window. It is when we believe in and act from the power of God's goodness that we can be a part of change in this world. Change happens in our lives and in the lives of those we come into contact with when goodness from God is the foundation of our identity. When we attempt to make our identity all about goodness that we generate on our own, that trouble starts. The victimizing ways of victim thinkers empower Satan's attempts at getting people to doubt God's goodness when we look to our own good as proof that we are decent people. Matthew 19:16-17 is another set of verses that define God's goodness. In these verses we learn that no one other than God is good. You aren't good. Your pastor isn't good. Your teachers aren't good. Your most trusted friend isn't good. If all that isn't shocking enough, it is Jesus Himself making this claim. Jesus is actually saying that compared

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** Pastor David Whitehead said this about freedom. "We often think of freedom as the ability to do whatever we want to do, but that is not the case. True freedom is the ability to do what we were created to do, which is fully expressed in a relationship with Jesus Christ." It is when we think of things like freedom from the wrong perspective that victim thinking becomes so easy to introduce in our lives. Thinking that freedom is simply being able to do anything we want when we want to to that thing is such a failed strategy for trying to live out this life as a victor. Freedom is one of those words that can seem so contradictory at times. You have heard the saying that "Freedom isn't free." haven't you? It is statements like that that make the fact that freedom is filled with oxymorons that sometimes confuse and frustrate us to no end. It is when we surrender to the power of a freedom that lasts that we begin to be able to weed victim thinking out of our life. Freedom that we look to as a result of getting what we want when we want it isn't a freedom that lasts. Think about that last vacation you had that was so amazing. Wasn't that time a freeing experience for you? But, guess what? It came to an end. Remember how it felt walking away from that time? Transitioning back to "real life" after a time like that can be a challenge for sure. That's the problem with trusting freedom we can control for what we need to feel free. It just doesn't last! God is permanent. Living in that place of being what He made us to be is the only kind of freedom I have found that seems to last in my life. Problem is that, that freedom is so hard to trust at times. The quote I started today's presentation with came from an email devotion Dr. Whitehead sends out every day. He started today's devotion with this verse. I think this verse has the reason why it is so hard to trust God's freedom at times. Check it out with me now. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) God is spirit. It's hard to see a spirit at times. You can't nail a spirit down like you can the more tangible things we have grown accustom to in our lives. Spirits can be nebulous, mysterious and unpredictable.  They can do things that just don't make since in our physical world. Their movements and even their words can confound and confuse us. It's no wonder freedom that comes from the spirit of God can be so hard for us to accept in our lives. As challenging as it can be to trust God's idea of freedom at times, it is truly the only freedom that makes victor living possible on a consistent basis. Freedom from God is directly connected to who we are. Pastor Whitehead said that true freedom comes as we live out the creation God has made us to be. It is when we stop looking to our actions to provide freedom and let who God says we are be what drives our actions that a renewed sense of freedom comes into our lives. That kind of freedom is something that this world just can't match. That kind of freedom is something that is promised to last. Staying in that place of freedom isn't easy. This world will do all it can to try and get us trapped in things that we think look like the kind of freedom God really wants us to have. Where the Spirit of the Lord is is freedom. The Spirit of the Lord is with you. It always is and always will be with you. That means His freedom is for us always. Isn't it time to begin trusting that freedom in your life more than things you can make happen that might bring you another kind of freedom? What were you created to do in this world? Pastor Whitehead says that true freedom comes as we live out the purpose God created for us to be a part of. Problem is that it is rare for any one of us to completely know our God given purpose. I still struggle with that question. It is when I take things into my own hands and try to make a purpose happ

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. ********** "My God doesn’t need me, HE WANTS ME! Wow! That’s a game changer." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 81. Which would you rather be? Do you find it more appealing to be needed by someone or wanted by them? I have to admit, it is very nice to be so capable in my abilities to be wanted by others. It feels really good when what you do is so appreciated that you are in high demand. But when it comes to victor living, nothing beats being wanted. When we are needed, our connection with others is based on what we do. When we are wanted, our connection springs from who you are. Sad thing is that, we settle for being wanted so often because of the fear that if people really knew us, we wouldn't be wanted. That's the amazing thing about a relationship with this God through Jesus Christ. He doesn't need us. Pastor Aaron at my church said the other day that God is completely self sufficient in his triune being. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are complete. We don't bring anything to the table that they need. There is nothing we can do that comes close to all this being called God represents. Then why did God create us in the first place if He didn't need us to be a part of His life? I have thought about that question so many times in the past. All the answers I have come up with have their basis on my broken filters of life. When I try to find the because behind the why when it comes to me being created, all I get are dysfunctional responses based on the brokenness that has been part of my life. When Aaron said that God is complete, it made things get a bit more clear to me. God didn't need me - He wants me! I believe that God created because it is in His nature to create. Where do I get that thought. It comes from the fact that humans are an extremely creative lot of beings. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to who we are and who this God is that loves us. If we are made in the image of this God, then why wouldn't we be as creative as our creator? No, we weren't created because God needed something from us that He was missing. He created us because He's a creator. We tend to get into places where victim thinking can take hold when we try to prove our worth to God and to others by what we do. When our actions don't turn out the way we thought they would, this strategy makes identity becomes something it never was intended to be in our lives. Victim thinking happens when we use our creative abilities to try to make an identity for ourselves. Aaron made a comment about us being created that really drove home the fact that we are wanted. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now and I'll explain what Aaron said about this verse in a minute. At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn’t yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul! Genesis 2:5-7 (MSG) Aaron reminded us that up to this point, everything God created was spoken into existence. When it was time for dry land to be made, God said the words and dry land appeared. Same went for the stars, the oceans, and even the animals. When it came to humans, God did something very different. God got His hands dirty in a very personal and intimate way to make you and me come to life.  It says in today's reading that God formed man from the dirt of the ground. Have you ever watched a sculpture work a piece of clay? It is such an interesting process. Sometimes the sculpting is very quick and extreme. Other times, the clay is carefully and meticulously worked.

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** As I quickly approach my sixth decade of life, I am starting to believe the old adage that says, "Getting old isn't for sissies!" There's a lot of truth to that statement.  One of the most troubling things that I have found with aging is how our hearing and eye sight diminish. Of these two, the one I struggle with the most is failing eye sight. I swear that I woke up on my 40th birthday and couldn't read anything anymore without glasses. Over these past 20 years since that fateful day, my eye sight has slowly gotten worse. Now, seeing things from a distance, especially in my right eye, is starting to become an issue. I just can't get my eyes to focus as sharply as they use to when I was younger.  The Bible talks a lot about our focus and our vision. Focus and vision play an important role in what I think it takes to make us live this life as the victors God sees us to be. It is when our focus turns fuzzy over certain things, and when our vision ins't as sharp as it needs to be in particular areas of our life, that victim thinking can creep into our everyday activities.  Take a look at what our Bible reading says today.  People with their minds set on you,     you keep completely whole, Steady on their feet,     because they keep at it and don’t quit. Depend on God and keep at it     because in the Lord God you have a sure thing. Isaiah 26:3-4 (MSG) In other translations, that first line talks about those who have their focus on God. Focus plays such an interesting role in how we view life and the circumstances that come our way. I have found that we can only focus on one thing at a time. When we focus our attention on one thing, everything else goes fuzzy around us. My father use to take us outside to look at the stars when my brother and I were kids. He would tell us not to focus on the brightest star in the sky or we wouldn't be able to see those stars that are less bright. It was when we let our eyes adjust focus in the darker areas of the sky that a bunch of stars became visible that seemed to not be there before. It wasn't that those stars were hidden. It was that our eyes were focused on something more obvious, making the less obvious that much harder to see. That's the way it is in life as well. It is when we focus on things that are more pressing that we tend to miss other circumstances all around that focal event. When bad times hit, it is so easy to focus on the demands of that situation and miss the miracles that are happening all around us. Victim thinking happens as we become so preoccupied with one event that other, sometimes more meaningful events, appear to be absent. Focus makes it so easy to believe the lie that goodness from God isn't for us because of a bad situation in our lives. Believe me, I know how bad, bad times can be. I'm not saying shifting our focus will make the badness go away. What I am starting to see in my life is that focus shifts bring a perspective that might make what I am facing more tolerable. Please don't ever think I believe that God sees bad times as something good in our life. They aren't. Just as true as that last statement is the fact that bad times are NOT evidence of God not loving us as fully as we need at that moment. Victim thinking makes it terrible easy to focus on one thing at a time. It is when I have come to the point of believing that victimhood is a part of  who I am that my vision blurs in ways that make me miss so much of the goodness that happens, even in the midst of the bad times I face. Our vision can be a problem that makes it very easy to see life in a way God never intended. When our natural eyes take a turn for the worse, some type of correction is in order. That correction is usually introducing a different lens through which we look to make our vision as sharp as it is suppose to be. With our eyes, that lens comes in the form of glasses. 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. ********** "We often find ourselves spouting off just as many absurd statements as the Pharisees as we try to justify our belief that the comfortable life we have right now is enough freedom for us." As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 64. Have you ever heard yourself say something that you wish you could take back? Maybe you came across a statement you made in writing some time ago that, in today's light, seems quite absurd. I believe that many of the "foot in mouth" times in life come as we are trying to find the words to defend an undefendable situation. The Bible is filled with instances where people said things about themselves, their situation and/or their god that just didn't make any sense. At the time they said what they did, it seemed to make a lot of sense to them. Such was the case with the Pharisees during the time Jesus walked the earth. The Pharisees were the ruling class of the Jewish nation. Not only did these men run the government, they were the religious leaders of the day as well. I don't envy the Pharisees. They really did have it tough. Not only were they tasked with running a nation, that happened to be under the strong hand of the Roman Empire, they were pitted against God Himself in Jesus Christ. These guys had victim thinking opportunities coming at them from every direction. In the conversations recorded between Jesus and the Pharisees, we see example after example of foolishness being said as a result of these men trying to defend their position, their power and their status. I know that has never happened to you, but, I sure have been in that position where my words have come back to haunt me. It is when we feel we have to defend our reputation or our identities that foolishness can come out of our mouths as well. You see, the Pharisees felt that Jesus might just be the one to push them over the edge when it came to maintaining their power and prestige. They were walking a thin line with the Roman rulers as it was. Having this guy come on the scene and speak the way He was speaking made the Pharisees do and say things that turned out to be utter nonsense. Ultimately, their actions defending their identities caused the death of an innocent man. Jesus died at the bequest of the Pharisees as they did what they had to do to defend what they saw as their fragile position in their world. Before we get all high and mighty about the actions of the Pharisees, I want us to consider something very sobering. I believe that we do exactly the same thing when we do and say things to try and protect the fragile facade of the identities we have worked so hard to create in our world. I believe our actions are a kin to killing Jesus all over again when we work so hard to maintain an identity we have crafted to suit our needs. Jesus came to establish a permanent identity for us all. He spoke of a Kingdom that would not be shaken. He pointed to a way of life that is filled with respect, honor, purpose and destiny. He lead the way to an opening for us all to walk as Children of the Most High King. When He walked this earth, these gifts from Jesus' hands were rejected and Christ was put to death. All those offers made by Jesus still stand. It is when we decide to try and make the benefits of those offers happen on our terms that we too reject Jesus' gifts and put to death all that He has made possible for us in this life. In that sense, when we do what we think we need to do to create and maintain an identity, we are no better than the Pharisees in our foolishness and cruelty. Is that too harsh of a commentary when it comes to our self guided efforts? As harsh as it may be, I think it is pretty accurate. God has done a lot for us to be able to live as victors when this world wor

Click here to link directly to the audio file. ********** Today's Bible reading holds a wonderful secret to victor living. It says in God's word... I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, Ephesians 3:16 (NIV) What's the secret? It is that if you rely on God to establish, confirm and maintain your victor status you are rich. That's right. Did you know that you are rich in God's eyes? If we can live in the fact that no matter what our bank account says, no matter what our position in this world might be, we are considered one of the richest beings on the face of the earth. It is when we live from that place of perspective that the things of this world take on a different meaning. Money, status, position, power, prestige - they all are important, but they have nothing to do with who we are. We spend so much of our time chasing those, and a whole host of other attributes, trying to make ourselves and others think that we are victors. In Christ our victor status doesn't need to be proven. I like how The Message words our reading today. It says... I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength... Ephesians 3:16 (MSG) The riches we have in Christ is a strength, a glorious inner strength. Think back to a time when you felt particularly strong in who you were. Remember those times when what you were doing just seemed to turn out in amazing ways? Didn't you feel empowered during that time? It was like you could do anything. It was almost like nothing mattered - all was right with the world and that made you feel amazing. That's the strength God is talking about when He says that in our walk with Him we are rich. When we try to make our circumstances be the driving force behind that strength, we put ourselves in positions where victim thinking will be the result. You see, in this world we will always face failure. Perfection will never be a dependable characteristic in our lives. Stay in that place where our failed attempts to get that feeling of victorious living for too long and victim thinking can't help but to be a part of who we are. God doesn't want that for us at all. It is only when we choose to be who He says we are that our circumstances take on less of an authority in our lives. That inner strength promised by God is worth more than all the gold and silver we might be able to earn in what we do. This statement is so true in our lives because gold and silver aren't permanent! Those who are rich today are often poor tomorrow and vice versa. Depending on circumstances to make us rich just can't work for those of us wanting to live this life as the victors God sees us to be. Thing is that circumstances do influence how I feel. Don't they do the same to you? This doesn't make us bad - it makes us human. If circumstances are going to influence how I feel and that makes victim thinking possible in my life, what's the answer to victor living? I believe our reading has the answer we need to consider. Prayer is the key to being able to sidestep the influence circumstances have in our life. It is when we take time to be with God that His perspective starts to make the things around us strangely dim. Knowing that He is with us makes how things turn out not have the impact that they once had in our lives. Prayer connects us to Him and makes it that much easier to live out our lives in a victorious way independent of the victories we may or may not have. I have found that we are pretty bad at living our a life based on prayer. For most of us prayer looks like bowing our heads and closing our eyes. There is nothing wrong with this posture, but prayer is so much more than that. In it's most general sense, prayer is all about communing with God. It's like a conversation. How many of you have a conversation with your best friend with your head bowed and your eyes closed? Just like that communication with your friend, prayer is a