Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********365 days done. What an amazing journey this year has been producing this podcast. I sure have had a lot of fun doing this project. I have learned a great deal in producing these podcasts this past year. Much of what I have learned has come out of the circumstances that made this podcast possible in the first place.Right after I wrote my book called Victor - Breaking Free From A Victim-Based Society, I started writing what I thought would be a daily devotional. I had intentions of writing this devotional using quotes from my book along with a daily Bible reading to further explain the process of moving from victim thinking to victor living. It was my intention to publish this work and see how God might use it to help others on this journey to victor living.After writing almost three months of this daily devotional, life got in the way. The project was put on the back burner. Over a year later, I hadn't even touched the project at all. My thinking was that maybe God didn't want me to publish this work. Maybe He had different plans. Some pretty good devotions were left to collect dust on some server in the cloud.Over a year later, I injured my hand. I was working on a project for a friend of mine. On a day like so many before I was using a grinder to cut some metal. As I was busy doing what I do, the grinder bound up in the piece I was cutting and jumped back seriously slicing the top of my hand in three different places. I knew immediately I needed to go to the ER to get the wounds cleaned up and stitched. Little did I known it was going to be a bit more complicated than that.As the ER doctor was cleaning up the wounds and prepping it for stitches, she saw in one of the cuts that the tendon to my pointer finger was sliced in several places. Though it wasn't severed, the extent of the damage to the tendon made her realize that some more attention was going to have to be given to this injury. She sewed me up and refereed me to a hand surgeon. A week later I was in surgery so that they could repair the multiple chunks I had taken out of my tendon.Being the injury was to my right hand and that I am right handed, I became quite incapacitated. Eating, personal care, driving and even the computer work I do became things I literally had to relearn. I wasn't able to use my right hand for almost two months and after that found that it took several more months of physical therapy to get somewhat normal function to return to my hand.During this down time, I needed something to do. One of my greatest cheer leaders in life is my niece Gini Joy. Gini is a busy mom of four amazing kids, one of whom is a precious special needs child. She had asked me if I would record my book for her so that she could listen to it when she found time to go out for a run. What else did I have to do? I could read and record my book one handed. So, I took a few weeks to record the entire book for her. I really enjoyed the process of creating an audible book for Gini Joy.When Gini Joy finished listening to my book she asked me, "What's next?" She wanted more! There's not much more in this world that makes us feel like a victor than does being wanted! It was at that point that the few months of the daily devotional I had started writing so long before came to mind. What if I turned those writings into a daily podcast? I had never done anything like that before. Just like recording my book, I could put together a daily podcast one-handed. Why not? I figured out how to make a podcast happen and off we went.What I didn't expect was to be impacted as deeply as I have been by taking on this project. I really don't know if Gini Joy has heard all 365 days. I don't even know if there is any other people who might have listened to this thing. I do know that I have listened to each and every one of these podcasts on a daily basis. I can't tell you how many times what I heard being played on my podcast app was speaking directly to my soul. Time and time again, I would think, "Where did that come from?" I have needed to hear the words I recorded to help me live like the victor God has made me to be.I estimate that I have written over one half a million words in producing this podcast. That's equivalent to writing five-250 page books! Not once did I feel like this project was a burden. Not once did I dread sitting down at my computer to write, record, edit and publish this daily podcast. I thank God for Gini Joy's boldness in asking me to take on such an ambitious project. I can say with absolute certainty, this project has changed my life.Isn't that just like God? He used a time challenged mom to help an injured, prospect lacking, get-it-done kind of person do something that has had impact in this world. That impact might not rise to the level of victory this world looks to when it tries to define what a victor is suppose to look like. Remember, victory can't be the sole characteristic of a victor or victim thinking will ultimately be the result. All I know is that God wanted this victor to realize more completely the power of his victor status. This podcast has done exactly that for me.I can guarantee that there are things you are doing right now that are having the kind of impact I'm talking about when it comes to this podcast. That impact might not be universal. It might not make it so that you are sought after as an expert at what you are doing right now. If you expect that kind of result to feel like the victor God made you to be, you will be disappointed in ways that make victim thinking a real possibility in your life.All we can do is do what we are able to do and let the chips fall where they may when it comes to victory. As for being a victor, that's a cinch. All we have to do is take another breath. We are a victor because God says so. Our identity as God's Child makes us a victor whether we achieve the victory we think we need in life or not. This year of listening to this podcast has helped make that message something I truly believe. I'm hoping any success I face in the future or any failures that come my way are filtered through the fact that I am a victor whether I experience success or am in failure. Win or lose God loves me. That alone is all the victory I need to make victor living a power in all I do in this world.God is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the beginning and the end. In each podcast I usually incorporate a Bible verse that helps to drive home the point I want to make about victor living. I typically take time to explain how the scripture we read connects to the subject of the podcast for that day. Since God started this project, I think His Word should end it. As I read today's Bible verses, I pray that He show you what it means for you as you live out your victor status. May God's word richly bless you and make you stand out as His Child in all that comes your way today.Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. Colossians 3:15-17 (MSG).

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Our children are just as much victors as we are. We often forget how hard the world works to get our kids to believe they are less than who God seems them to be. Our kids represent the future of the world we live in. Not only is it important for us to make victor living the foundation of our lives, it makes sense to help our kids see just how much of a victor they are as well.As far as the way the world sees our children, society has taken a turn that just doesn't make sense. The world says that we need to dumb things down to a common level so that no one will feel bad about themselves. Youth sports has gone through a phase where the score isn't kept and there aren't any winners or losers. It was thought that some kids might think less of themselves if they lost at the sport they were playing. How does that kind of thinking make it possible for us to grow into the belief that we are victors no matter how things turn out in our lives?Those who have promoted this philosophy when it comes to protecting our children from the damaging effects of keeping score have bought into the victim thinking principals that I have spoke against for almost a year now. It is when we tie what we do to who we are that victim thinking comes rushing in. That's why people can think that by not keeping score they can make everyone feel like a victor. That's so counter intuitive to the reality that our kids are going to have to face for the rest of their lives.Fact is that you win some and some you will lose in this world. It is when we connect who we are to whether we win or lose that we set ourselves up for victim thinking ways of dealing with the world around us. Whether we win or we lose, we need someway to help us realize that we are still victors. The only way I have found to make victor living possible is to know what God says about us.I love today's Bible reading. I have used it as part of our birth announcement for our kids many years ago, It says....One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: “Let the children alone, don’t prevent them from coming to me. God’s kingdom is made up of people like these.” After laying hands on them, he left. Matthew 19:13-14 (MSG)I see three things God is asking when it comes to raising little victors. First of all we are to bring our kids to Jesus. In the days Christ walked the earth, that meant seeking out where Jesus was and making the trek to bring your kids to Him. Such is the case today. We have to seek where Jesus is and bring out kids there to Him. That might be your local Church. It might be a particular set of friends who are really drawn to living like victors. Seeking Christ might mean you finding him yourself and sharing who God says you are to your children. Raising little victors start as we take seriously the call to bring our kids to Him.The second thing I see is that we are to expect our kids to be touched by what they encounter when we bring them to Christ. Coming to Christ should be more than just a head based experience. I believe our kids need to be touched in their hearts when it comes to the good news Jesus wants us to know about who He sees our kids to be. This requires that we keep our eyes open for opportunities to point out qualities we recognize in our kids that have come from the hand of God.Don't know what that might look like in your kids lives? Start with the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. Look for when your kids exercise one of these gifts and call them out for it. Remind them that it is the very spirit of God working in them to make these traits happen in recognizable ways. Where the spirit of the Lord is is a freedom that comes with victor living.Not only are we to bring our kids to the Lord, and when we do, we are to expect His blessing to be on them, we are to remove any barriers to our kids finding their victor status before the Lord. That means that we might have to change some of the activities that we are quick to fill our kids time with. The distractions of life are obstacles for you and for me when it comes to recognizing what God is saying about us. Don't you think that the busy schedules we fall prey to are just as distracting when it comes to our kids learning what God thinks of them? Be on the lookout for obstacles in what you do that might make it more and more challenging for your kids to grow into the fullness of their victor status.It is as we bring our kids to God, expect God to bless them with His presence and remove any of the obstacles that might hinder our kids from seeing themselves in God's eyes that we make victor living something our children might seek all the days of their lives. What I love about today's reading is that it is not only for our kids, the truth in today's word is just as real for you and for me.What really touches me about our reading today is how much Jesus wants the kids with Him. The disciples tried to stop the kids from getting in our Lord's way. Kids can be messy. They can create a chaotic environment. They can be distracting. The disciples didn't want Jesus' work to be hindered by a bunch of kids tripping Him up. Jesus saw things so differently.He didn't care how messy or loud or distracting the kids could be. He seems to relish the fact that kids loved being around Him. I think we need to realize something from this truth so that we too can live more like the victor God made us to be. It is as we come to Jesus just as we are that we stand the best chance for the blessing of His presence to have the kinds of impact we need on our lives.The Bible says that we are to come to God as a child. That means we don't have to clean up our mess, tone ourselves down or be unnoticed when we step into the thrown room of God. We should barge in like we own the place, the way a child would do. Kids don't worry about what others might think when it comes to getting the attention they need from someone they love. They go after that object of their love in ways that make even the most powerful of us melt. God loves to melt as we come barging in expecting the love He is so ready to pour out on us. Victors are nothing more than kids who want the love of a loving father and aren't afraid to go to great lengths to find that love.Victor living isn't just for us, it is for our kids as well. Unfortunately, victim thinking is just as likely in our kids lives as it is in ours. It is as we fight for our kids to see themselves in God's eyes that victor living becomes something our children can learn is for them. We have to be intentional about making happen all our kids need to build a life on victor living so that their future is as free from victim thinking as it can possibly be.Next time you look at your children, see them as God does. They are just as blameless and without fault as you are. Let them know how much you love the victor status you see in them each and every day. Resist the temptation to let what they do be proof of that victor status. Let God show you how to bring your kids to Him for His blessing of presence. May your kids grow up to be the power houses of victor living this world needs for them to be.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Not too long ago a friend of mine turned me onto the Enneagram (spelled ennagram) personality testing program. You can check it out for yourself by going to The Enneagram Institute online. Link to their website by going to the text of this podcast.https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/I have taken personality tests many times in my life. All of them have done a very average job at identifying a personality type that made any sense to me at all. This one nailed me in ways I find a bit unnerving. There are a lot of people who put way too much stock in these kinds of tests when it comes to who we are. I'm not one of those folks. With that said, this personality test really opened my eyes to some things I'd like to discuss as it relates to victor living. The Ennagram test helps you determine your personality type as it relates to the nine different personalities they consider. I'm a 6. This personality type is called the "Loyalist." Here's a description of the Loyalist as quoted from The Ennagram Institute web site mentioned earlier. "The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others."When I read this description of my personality type for the first time I was shocked. Those who know me know each and every descriptive term fits to a tee. Those that really know me now have an appreciation as to why I have exhibited the quirks in my life that don't seem to make sense at times. Like most personality traits, there is always a tension between opposing forces that can create behavior that is less than advantageous to living like the victor God calls us to be. What I find truly amazing about the Ennagram testing is that they are champions of being the best personality type you test out to be. They know that when we try to be something other than what our wiring dictates that short circuits happen in ways that cause damage to us and to those around us. It is when we know who we are that what we do takes on a meaning like never before. If I let the results of this testing be the end all/be all of who I am, I'm going to be just as victim thought driven as if I had never taken the Ennagram test. I'm not a Loyalist that is working to serve this God of mine. I'm a Child of the King's that happens to be wired to react to this world the way a Loyalist does. What God wants for me is to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I do that as I understand who God says I am and let my personality come into alignment with His definition of identity.One of the most amazing parts about the Ennagram testing information is their levels of development discussion. Not only are there nine personality types, there are also nine levels of development each type might find themselves in at any given moment. When we are performing at a level 1 we are living as fully as we can in the power of what I call victor living. When we are at level 9 we are being controlled by victim thinking in self damaging and victim causing ways. For my fellow Loyalists, here's a brief description of optimal performance and performance that causes damage to occur. Again, this was taken from The Ennagram Institute website. Level 1 (The Loyalist At Their Best): Become self-affirming, trusting of self and others, independent yet symbiotically interdependent and cooperative as an equal. Belief in self leads to true courage, positive thinking, leadership, and rich self-expression.Level 9: (The Loyalist At Their Worst) Hysterical, and seeking to escape punishment, they become self-destructive and suicidal. Alcoholism, drug overdoses, "skid row," self-abasing behavior. Generally corresponds to the Passive-Aggressive and Paranoid personality disorders.I can't tell you how many times I have found myself at level 9. That word hysterical is so real to me. So are so much of the other really harsh, scary and, frankly embarrassing descriptors. What I want to share with you today is that even when I'm performing at my worst, this isn't who God made me to be. This is what happens with we let the world dictate who we are for too long. Even when I'm stuck at this level of victim thinking, God still sees me as the best because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. It is when we come to that place of surrender to the amazing love God has for us that we are in a position where we can move up the scale when it comes to how our behavior reflects the kind of personality we have been given. I don't like me at a level 9. Others don't like me at that level either. Good news is that God loves me at whatever level I have allowed my life to emulate at that given time. That love He has for me makes me want to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I'm starting to see that the words used to describe Level 1 are more and more what my reality looks like. I'm not becoming a Level 1 because of a lot of hard work on self improvement. I'm becoming a better Loyalist because I'm starting to believe more in who made me to be in the first place. It is as I lean into who God says I am that my personality type reflects positively in the behavior the rest of the world comes into contact with in my life.Today's Bible reading holds the key to being the best victor you possibly can be. Let's read the scriptures now.May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (NIV)Love is the key for me to be the best Loyalist I possibly can be. I need to learn to love others and to learn how to love myself. I think I can do this as I let the fact that God loves me sink in to my soul more and more. It all starts with God's love. Where it ends is only limited by how much we want to live like the victor God made us to be.No matter what your personality type, no matter at what level of performance you live out that personality type, know this - God loves you! Take that with you into all that you do today. Let that fact be the driving force behind how you are wired to take on your day. It is then and only then that your personality comes alive in ways that make victim thinking a thing of the past.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Yesterday we read from 1 Corinthians 15. There was a line in there that has stuck with me. It goes like this, "...by the grace of God I am what I am..." There is something powerful about that verse that I think we need to consider in order for victor living to play the role it is suppose to in our lives.That line speaks of acceptance. It takes guts to accept who we are. The world is always telling us we aren't enough. The church is often guilty of echoing the worldly message. All the rules and regulations religion loves to hold up as proof of something about their walk with their god does nothing when it comes to the grace of God making us what we are.I am what I am and God seems to be OK with that. This doesn't mean that I won't be something different tomorrow. It just means that I need to lighten up on bad mouthing myself because I fall short in some way or another. This doesn't give me a license to do whatever I want to do and reason away bad behavior with the easy grace that cosmes with God's forgiveness. He does forgive. For me to use the fact that he forgives to act in ways that challenge my identity in worldly ways is akin to manipulation the likes of which would offend us to no end were the table turned.This grace that makes me what I am isn't a cheap grace. It cost God everything. For me to cheapen that grace in ways that flippantly excuse my victim making ways is something that seems totally unforgivable. Yet, even this sin is forgiven by God. His grace goes way beyond anything I have ever seen offered up in this world.That's why I have spent the better part of this last year talking about identity. We spend so much time doing things to try and prove something about ourselves. It is when we fail to achieve all that we think we need in this world that identity becomes something that threatens to crush our souls. God wants things to be so different for us.Victor living is all about knowing who we are no matter what might be happening in our lives. It is when we can look in the mirror on our worst day and muster up the strength to say, "God loves me!" that the power of victor living starts to take hold in our lives. If God's grace is there when things are going our way, I have to believe that same grace is there when the world turns against us. Grace is the basis of identity that makes victor living a possibility in a world so adept at making victims of us all.When things are bad, the line from 1 Corinthians isn't saying that we deserved the badness that came our way. It is as we accept that we are still the loved child of God in the good times as well as the bad that identity plays the role in our lives God intended it to be. That's what the Corinthians verse is saying to me. It is saying that God's grace makes me worthy of being called His Child. My circumstances have nothing to do with this status. When I look to what I do to prove who I am, I turn my back on the power of God's grace in my life.I have shared in my book and several times in these podcasts the fact that I hate any question asked pertaining to identity. It is when I meet new people in my life and they ask, "What I do for a living?" or any kind of question used to try and identify me, I am at a loss as to what to say. Those questions use to scare and frustrate me to no end.I have to be honest with you, I'm still not good at answering those questions. What this past year has done for me is to help me see that I'm OK with myself in the fact that I still don't know how to answer the, "Who are you?" kinds of questions I will face. Maybe I'll have the guts to say one day, "I am who I am because of God's grace in my life." I really don't know how to describe who I am outside of the vague and religious sounding "Child of God" answer. Maybe God will give me a finely worded answer in the future. For now, I'm at peace with being able to accept that I am who I am.I think what brings that peace is the fact that God knows who I am. He knew me before I was even born. He knows my beginning. He sees my end. There is something strangely comforting to me about those facts. I'm so much more at ease with simply being who I am because God is there every step of the way as I discover more and more of what that identity means in a world so identity conscious and identity confused.Our Victim-Based Society is one that wants what we see, what we do and what others think of us to be the foundation for who we are. Though this strategy may work for some people some of the time, I have yet to see anyone make this way of approaching identity work for the long haul. There comes a time when what we see, what we do and what others think of us falls short in ways that challenge us to the core. That's when victim thinking is waiting to rush right in.Our society likes to talk a big game when it comes to acceptance. We demand to be accepted but are quick to reject anyone who thinks even the slightest bit differently than we do. That kind of hypocritical thinking has made our Victim-Based Society something that turns just about any cause into another victim making proposition. Acceptance is so hard to understand, let alone apply in our lives when we look to who we think we should be as the foundation for what we think are our righteous ways.Our Bible reading ends with a promise that is so lacking in how we have allowed our society to evolve. Take a look at today's reading with me now.Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29 (ESV)Peace or rest for our souls. That's what we aren't seeing to the extent needed in today's world. I believe it is because the yoke we have elected to carry is way to onerous for us to maintain. Whether that yoke be social justice, identity politics, sexual equality, race relations or any number of hot button issues that we use to define who we are, the burden is too great for us to carry. As we are weighed down by the overwhelming burden of these and other important issues, it is so easy to fail to accept others and eventually fail at accepting ourselves. By the grace of God I am who I am. What a powerful way to live. I want to be able to live this way even with people who choose to not see the power of living this way. Fact is, God's grace made them who they are right at this moment as well. When I take the time to realize that they too are just as loved as I am, the frustration and the anger that I might feel at how people react in our Victim-Based Society tends to diminish quickly in my life. It all gets pretty simple when I trust what God says about me for an identity that has power in this world. That power might not make all my dreams for a good life come true. That power will make God's dreams for my life happen. I'm starting to realize and accept that this is the best for me, even when that best isn't the good I really want. As you go after all you will in your world today, remember who you are. You are who God says you are. His grace has made you exactly what you need to be at this moment for God's presence to be seen and felt in and through you. Make your victor status have meaning in a world seeking victimization as part of their identity. Let God's grace flow through you and watch things change in your world today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Amazing grace... How sweet the sound... That saved a wretch like me. "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognized hymns ever written. It was penned by an ex-slave trader who realized the extent of forgiveness Jesus had given to him. If God could forgive this man who was responsible for devastating the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children, then maybe God's grace is something that is truly amazing.I have come to realize how powerful this word grace really is. It is when we extend grace to one another that the power of change begins to be something that we are open to working in our lives. Without grace, change is almost impossible to make happen. I find it very interesting that only Christianity builds its religion on the issue of grace. Without grace, what Christians believe is completely worthless and actually quite dangerous. So goes any religion that doesn't have as its cornerstone the incredible gift of grace.You have to remember that grace happens when we don't receive what we deserve. All other world religions are busy telling you what will happen if you don't do what you are suppose to do. In other words, you had better tow the line or you will get what you deserve. Christianity is unique in that our God knows we can't tow the line perfectly on this side of heaven. He has chosen to NOT give us what we deserve. Though our failure to tow the line makes us just as guilty as it does in any other religion, Christianity is all about forgiveness in spite of how far we miss the mark.I don't believe that we can possibly live this life as the victor God made for us if we don't understand the importance and appreciate the significance of grace in our lives. Were it not for grace, you would be doomed. Today alone, you will fall short in ways that absolute demand your destruction. The fact that you get to take another breath is a gift of grace way to many of us miss on a moment by moment basis.I know some will want to argue with me the fact that our actions aren't all that bad. It is easy to justify our relative goodness when compared to some really bad people in our world today. Problem is that God doesn't look at our missing the mark that way. He doesn't say that us missing the mark a little bit is OK since someone else missed it so badly. The fact that God is a perfect being means that even a slight miss of the mark is deserving of death. I know that sounds harsh, but that's the reality of dealing with perfection. That's why grace is such a powerful force for change. It is as we realize that we are NOT doomed to get what we deserve that we are so much more open to changing our ways.What I have seen is that we can sometimes twist grace into something that we deserve. When often we think we have earned the grace we have been given. When we live in this fallacy, we negate the power of this amazing gift in our lives. Grace can never be deserved. Grace is given and can never be earned. The world has done a really good job of making us think things about grace that ensure the power of grace will be absent in our lives.Even the Apostle Paul realized the power of grace in his life. Check out today's Bible reading with me now.For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 (NIV)"...by the grace of God I am what I am..." If we could get that line into our everyday thinking, grace would be a powerhouse unlike anything else we could ever expect. Paul was no slouch when it came to who he was. His life was on a crash course with destiny. Some think that Paul would have ended up leading the entire Jewish nation later on in his life. He was a zealot for God. He did things to make victims of those who dared go against his interpretation of what God was doing in and around his life.Much of Paul's life was spent doing in order to be who he thought he should be. He took radical, risky and dangerous steps to make his life count for something he thought would make who he was have impact for the God he served. Then he encountered Jesus.Things changed dramatically for Paul after that chance meeting. Doing took on a different perspective for Paul. Our reading today shows us that Paul now saw what He did in a way that was empowered by grace. It wasn't what Paul did that made him something in this God's eyes. It was what God did through Paul that made all the difference for him.More than that, it is what God didn't do that made Paul fall to his knees in worship. God didn't destroy Paul for persecuting those who followed Jesus like Paul was so famous for doing in that day. Grace saved Paul. He knew it. Grace changed Paul so completely that many didn't believe he was telling the truth when he spoke of Jesus the way he did the rest of his life. Paul's past actions couldn't be forgiven by those victimized by his being so zealous for God. But, God could forgive Paul. That kind of grace changed Paul's life. That same grace stands at the ready to change your life as well.Paul never became the leader of the Jewish nation like many thought he was destined to be. In fact, Paul's life fizzled out by how the world measures things. Paul was executed for preaching the good news of grace through Jesus Christ. Yet, grace made Paul's life count for something. Though Paul never achieved what many thought his destiny would be, God's destiny happened through a man who's life was cut short by the hatred of this world. Much of what the Christian church studies and learns from came from this man who was changed by the power of grace in his life.How amazing is grace in your life? If you are like me, grace doesn't always rise to the level of amazing often enough to make change happen. I'm trying to change that. I change as I stop and realize how much what I deserve has been held back in my life. Whether my life turns out to be what I think it was destined for, I want to live like Paul did. I hope it is as I believe "...by the grace of God I am what I am..." that no matter what my day turns out to be, grace can have the power to make who I am shine like the victor God sees me to be. 

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********We spoke yesterday about the difference between creating and discovering your destiny. It is when we expend our time and effort at creating destiny that victim thinking takes over in our lives. As we go along with God on the journey of discovering the destiny He has placed in our hearts, we find this life to be more of what God intended it to be.Today, I want to replace the word destiny with the word story. There are so many of us worried about what our life story will be when all is said and done. Though our story and our destiny are similar in many ways, I think that people are talking about two different aspects of their lives when they talk about destiny as opposed to their story. Where destiny speaks of purpose and results of a life well lived, story speaks more of how we got to that place of destiny, if you ask me. Our story is more about how the things we did shape how we got to where destiny was the outcome. In some respects, our story is more about the points along the way on our journey to destiny. As different as these two things may be, working to create our story is just as damaging to who we are as working to create a destiny to support our identity. I happen to believe that the story of our lives isn't something that we should have to think much about. Sure, there are times where we need to help make BIG decisions when we come to major crossroads in life. Choosing a spouse, picking a career, having kids, even making a major job change can all be crossroad decisions that we need to be aware of when it comes to how these events shape our story. However, even these kinds of major decisions shouldn't be something that paralyze us in identity crushing ways like I have seen it do so many times in my life in the past. When it comes to our story, even the wrong turns make our story more of what it is suppose to be. That's the power of believing in an all-knowing, all-powerful God. If He is part of our lives the way I think He is, we just can't go wrong. Before you go off the handle as a result of that last statement, let me explain a bit more what I mean. I live with the philosophy that God knows where we started and he knows where we will end up. I don't believe that He is a puppeteer in the sky pulling our strings to get us to go here and to go there so that we end up where He wants us to be. If that were the case, our story wouldn't be all that much to be concerned with. No, God isn't directing our every step. What He is looking to do is be part of all our steps on this journey of life. In other words, He doesn't' want to control us, He wants to be with us. It is the fact that God desires to be with me more than He wants to direct me that makes me think we just can't get it wrong. If God is part of all that we do, even when what we do isn't exactly what God wanted for that moment, I think God's blessing is still with us in ways I'm not sure we will fully appreciate until we get to heaven. If you think God's blessing is success in what you have decided to do, victim thinking is but one step away. If you think God's blessing is absent because what you decided to do didn't turn out the way you thought, then victim thinking is what will cloud every decision you make in the future. Blessing tied to the absence or presence of success is one of the most well worn strategies that make victors step into victim thinking ways that this world has ever seen. Blessing is so much more than success. God's blessing is all about His presence. Read the Bible and you will quickly see that blessing came in the middle of godly men and women being successful in what they did less often than that same blessing being there in the times the world would define their efforts as being a complete failure. Jesus, God's own Son, is the shining example of that last statement. It isn't that we need God to direct our each and every step. It is that we need God to be there with us as we take any step in our lives. Whether that step takes us on the path to success or to failure has no bearing on whether we are blessed or not. If we have chosen to let God into the process of deciding what step to take, His presence is all the blessing we will ever need. That's why I don't think we can ever get it wrong. If God's presence is with us if we succeed or fail then why wouldn't His blessing be there if we brought Him into our decision making process even when what we decide isn't exactly what God wanted for that particular circumstance. This begs the question, what if what we decide to do makes it so that God's plan for where we are to end up can't happen? All I have to go by to answer that question is the Bible itself. The vast majority of the decisions people made in the Bible really didn't matter when it came to God's plan. For those few, and I mean maybe one in a lifetime kinds of decisions, that might actually alter the course of God's plan for this world, God made it abundantly clear with His presence how that Biblical character was to proceed. Moses and the burning bush, Joshua and the captain of the Lord's army, Jonah in the belly of a whale, Paul and a blinding appearance of Jesus Himself, Peter and a vision leading the way.... These are but a few of the many examples of where God's presence was so unmistakable that God's plan moved forward is world changing ways. Most of our story making decisions really don't have any impact on whether we will get to where God has planned for us to arrive. If we do come to a crossroad where we might alter God's plan for our life, I think He will make it abundantly clear how we are to proceed. We still have free will to make any decision we want, but I believe God's presence makes our decisions something that fits in exactly with what God wants for our lives. What's your story? I hope that question weighs less and less on your life as you realize your story is happening as you go on this journey of life blessed by God's presence. Don't try and make a story happen in your life. Let God take the steps with you that make the fullness of your story develop. That story takes time. It happens as you let God into your life in ways where His closeness becomes more and more of a blessing. Just like your destiny, your story is guaranteed! God put it there for us to be a part of discovering and seeing happen in the span of life we have on this earth. All I can say is enjoy the process of your story coming into focus. Don't worry about what that will look like. Trying to figure that out is such a victim making proposition. Make all you do today be all about walking with God by your side. In that way your victor status will have the power needed to make whatever happens fit perfectly with the plot God put into action even before you were born. 

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********It is so easy to get destiny intertwined with our expectations and our ability to make those expectations happen, that victim thinking can't help but to be the result. I came across a quote from a daily devotional I receive in my email that put destiny in just the right context. Pastor David Whitehead said, "Part of our journey on this earth is not to create our destiny, but to discover it."Destiny can tie us up in victim making knots when we choose the wrong action when it comes to what destiny is suppose to be. When we think our job is to create our destiny, we set ourselves up for repeated failure. It is when we fail over and over again, particularly when it comes to something as important as destiny, that we begin to take on the identity of a victim. When we see who we are connected with victimization, it is so easy to do and say things that will ultimately victimize others. It is when we see this life as a process in discovering destiny that victor living becomes much more possible. I don't know if you are this way or not, but I love to discover things. It is one of my greatest dreams to find a piece of a meteor on the ground or to stumble across some lost artifact. It isn't about the money that these things might bring. I just like the idea of finding something kind of unique. Many of my greatest treasures are worthless trinkets that I have discovered as I have gone through this life.My wife and I were on vacation a couple years ago with my brother and his family in South Carolina. We all were walking the beach one day looking for sharks teeth. This particular year was a banner one for this task. We found a bunch of them! On one particular day I came across something that seemed to stand out on the shore. I almost walked past this little item. On a whim I picked it up and took it home to try and figure out what it was. After some investigation I found that I had stumbled on a petrified shark's vertebra. I had never found anything like that in my life. I was so excited and, admittedly a little bit proud. That little discovery really made my day. That's what drew me to the quote I shared earlier about destiny. There is something so right to me about destiny being something we discover rather than something we make happen. Discovery takes time. It takes effort. Discovery comes at a cost and isn't always rewarded like we might think it should be. Even with those shortcomings surrounding the discovery process, I think that our efforts are better suited to be in discovery mode rather than the creation of destiny. I love how today's Bible reading puts it when it comes to discovery. It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2 (ESV)God concealed that sharks back bone on that beach that afternoon. It was my glory to search and find that bone. Such is the way I think God wants us to look at destiny. God has placed a destiny in our hearts. It is hidden away so that the world can't steal or corrupt that destiny. As we search for that destiny in all that we do, we discover things about ourselves and things about our God that bring glory into our lives. In a sense, God's glory is hidden with our destiny that has been placed in our hearts. We unlock the power of God's glory as we go with him on the journey of discovering our destiny. I have spent the better part of my life trying to make what I thought my destiny should be. I took who I wanted the world to see me as and formulated as best a supporting destiny as I could devise. Then I set out on making that destiny happen. All my efforts were spent trying to create my own destiny. That is so completely backwards and counterproductive. Discovery takes a lot of effort. We don't have the time or the energy to go on the journey of discovery if we waste all our time and energy trying to create destiny. In essence, we make destiny something that stays hidden when we try to make a destiny we devise happen in our lifetime. How can one tell if they are creating or discovering destiny? Ask yourself this one question. "Do you need destiny to be something that makes who you are more of what you want the world to see?" If you answer yes to this question, your time and efforts will be used on creating destiny. Though you might have some success at creating a destiny that bolsters your identity in worldly ways, that just isn't enough. Need proof of that last statement? Just think of the latest high profile people who recently committed suicide. Those people had all the money, power, prestige, prominence and significance my identity longs for, yet it wasn't enough. In spite of all the things we think one would need to make identity be what works for us, these high profile people still took their own lives. Worldly proofs of an identity built on destiny have shown themselves to be untrustworthy in tragic ways. I'm not saying that you will kill yourself if you are unable to create your own destiny. Suicide is an extreme action based of victim thinking. What I am saying is that victim thinking can become deeper and deeper ingrained in our lives when we put our efforts into trying to make destiny be the foundation of our identity. Suicide is a real possibility when victim thinking has so infiltrated our identities that we just can't see any hope of who we are making a difference any more. Identity has to be something that stands on its own. We need to know who we are so that as we go on the discovery process for destiny we don't get discouraged by the ups and downs of this process in victimizing ways. It is when I believe in who God says I am that the meandering path that is the discovery process doesn't take it's toll on my life like it can when I fail at creating my destiny. I think God loves it when we find those little treasures along the path of this life He made for us. That rock, that piece of bone, that strange artifact - they all help to weave a story that is uniquely yours. That's how it is to be with the discovery process surrounding our destiny. The little discoveries you stumble across along the way help to piece together the puzzle of the destiny God has hidden in your heart. When viewed in this light, it really is about the journey more than the destination. I don't know if I will ever find that piece of meteor or some other unusual artifact in my life time. Thing is, I'm not going to let that fact stop me from trying. I'm also not going to be so driven by the need to find those things that I lose the power of what I might discover in this moment right here and right now. I pray that your day be filled with discovery after discovery. I also pray that it be the little things that bring you the most joy. God's glory is waiting to be unleashed as you open your eyes to the treasures all along your path today. May your glory be the basking in God's glory in all you discover with Him today. 

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********The world can seem so upside down at times. The crazy antics of a world filled of those succumbing to the false teachings of a Victim Based Society make it seem that the future is so bleak. Left in the hands of mankind, it is! But, that's not the end of the story.Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm achieved salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:15-16 (NIV)That first line from our reading really captures the current climate when it comes to how we treat one another when trapped in victim thinking. Truth is the victim of those seeking their own way. Those who want to stand up for the truth in loving ways are shunned and persecuted by evil. Such is the way when we pledge allegiance to our Victim Based Society. Looks to me this has been the case from day one.Our reading today was penned by the prophet Isaiah some 2500 years ago. You would think that over 25 centuries, we would be in a better position for change. Victim thinking was alive and well long ago. It is just as alive and well in today's age. Fail to learn from history and you are doomed to repeat historical events. Why can't we learn from that age old fact in ways that make victor living more of a possibility?God, Himself is the He in today's reading. God is appalled at our apparent lack of ability to learn from our damaging and hurtful ways. It is as though He couldn't believe His eyes. That no one would be willing to step into their victor's role so completely as to bring salvation to the world was a fact that just didn't compute for our God. Amazing thing is that He chose to do it Himself. Salvation became the mission of our God. It so completely consumed Him that He gave of Himself with eternal backed consequences for you and for me.God didn't condemn us for failing to learn from our past. He could have made things a lot easier for Himself were He to just give up on us completely like I'd have done to such an unruly and ungrateful creation. Not only did He not give up, He gave His all to make salvation possible for each and everyone of us caught in victim thinking. Why did He go to such lengths for us? One word describes God's motives - Love.Our reading today points out an important fact about our efforts that we need to pay close attention to or we will fall right back into victim thinking ways. Righteousness is such a critical word for the person considering any path as a basis for being the foundation of who they are. It doesn't matter if you have a religious belief or not, thinking that your goodness is enough to make who you are have the kinds of impact on your live you so need is such a victim's way of thinking. Sadly, thinking that our righteousness is enough makes it so easy to cause victims of those who don't hold to what our righteous ways espouse a being truth.You see it in religion after religion, including the Christian way at times. Thinking that our "truth" is paramount makes it so easy to disregard and even cause others pain in the process of defending that truth. The most obvious example of this fact is radical Islam. Truth, other than what is taught by radicalized leaders of this faith, is thought to be so divisive as to require death of those who hold an opposing truth.Those that call themselves Christian aren't immune to such radical views either. From the Crusades to the bombing of abortion clinics, horrific acts of victimization have been done in the name of the truth we have taken and turned into a weapon against those who don't believe as we do.If anyone listening to this happens to be cheering because they hate religion, you too are just as prone to atrocities in the name of your truth as is any religious person. Our views can drive us to do things that kill the spirit, if not the body, of those who dare to think differently than we do. Religious or not, letting our actions empowered by our truths turn our Victim Based Society into something that is filled with victim making opportunities.I think that's why today's reading says, "...his own righteousness sustained Him." Our righteousness is as though filthy rags to this holy and untouchable God. This doesn't mean that we can't do good things based on the truth we hold. We can and we do. It is when we do from a place of love that a level of goodness happens that catches God's eye. That goodness will never be enough to prove who we are, but it is a start that I think we are missing today as fully as it was missing in Isaiah's time.So, what's a person to do? I think that the ultimate action is applying trust. It is as we trust the arm of God and be covered by His righteousness that we begin to see the fullness of who we are. Identity based on something bigger than ourselves makes it easier to understand who we are when this world does things to make us doubt what we think salvation and right ways are to look like. Placing our trust in anything less opens the door to allowing our truths to drive us to do things to support that truth in victimizing ways.Don't believe this truth that I'm sharing today? Your unbelief use to offend me to no end. It made me uncomfortable that you could believe something different than me. I wanted to think that there was something wrong with you and that it was my job to prove you wrong. I now realize my attempts at converting you were nothing more than the vestiges of victim thinking working into my relationship with those who dared to disagree with the truth as I saw it. I was willing to say and do things that might victimize you in ways I had experienced as I was victimized by others defending their truth. That strategy just doesn't work for me any longer.I have come to a place where I see how far short all my actions at defending a truth has been. I am tired to working to make this world believe what I think my identity is suppose to look like. I'm finding that there is a peace in surrendering to the truth that I'm not enough and I need more. That peace just hasn't been matched by anything I have tried throughout my life.I think my almost 60 years of proof of a truth shared 2500 years ago is evidence enough for me to want something different. If my choosing God being that difference isn't your cup of tea, I am completely OK with that. I would hope that we could have deep and meaningful conversations over our differences without having to defend ourselves like we might have done in the past. It isn't our job to convert one another. It is our job to relate to one another. We can't do that as we are stuck defending our position in ways fueled by victim thinking.Our Victim Based Society is alive and well because of the fact that our truth has blinded us to a truth that matters. The reality is that we aren't capable to the kinds of love this God wants to lavish on us so completely. In fact, trying to make the kind of God's love happen in our lives is what takes truth and turns it into something damaging to those who might not hold to our truth. I sure do hope we can change this way of thinking. We change as we let God's love be more of the foundation for truth even when what we think is truth is challenged by those around us.Whatever you believe or don't believe, I know this to be true. We have to stay open to each other. It is as we endeavor to relate to those who don't believe as we do that the world takes on a different appearance. This is so hard to do. It's a moment by moment kind of thing. It is so easy to get off track when we hold the truth we see up as being the end all and be all of what we think is behind that truth.We aren't being asked to compromise on our truth. We are being asked to compromise on our defense of that truth. That's so hard to do because we have allowed our success at defending truth be what makes our identity be something we want the world to see. This is the pattern that makes our Victim Based Society something that is unmistakably alive and well.As you go about your day today, realize that your truth will be challenged over and over again. When this happens, lean into God, not God's truth, but God Himself. If it is His arm that saves and His righteousness that sustains, then doesn't it make sense that we need Him? That's a good thing. Needing God is so right because His truth about us needs no defense. We are His victors because He calls us His Child. Let all you do today stand on the merits of what God says about you. Then you won't need to be in the victim making position of defending your truth to those you come against today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********A friend of mine asked me a thought provoking question the other day. We were talking about the love God has for us. He stopped in the middle of our conversation and asked, "Why can't I get this, why can't I understand God's love in ways that would make my life totally different?"This friend is a seasoned follower of Jesus Christ. He is in his seventh decade of life. He started this Jesus thing a bit late in life. He's only been at it for just 30 years now! The older I get the more I connect with what my friend was asking.You see, my friend knows how God's loves changes things. He has seen first hand how people make miraculous and instantaneous changes when they come face to face with the fact that God loves them. His question that morning comes from the realization that, even with as much experience and knowledge as he he has in his life, he has so much further to go.You don't have to be in your seventies to be asking that question. Have you ever felt dumbstruck when it comes to accepting and living in the fullness of God's love? Join the club! I believe that feeling is a uniquely human attribute.Why is is so hard to understand, trust and apply God's love in our lives? I can think of three reasons why this might be the case. Crazy thing is that simply mastering each of these areas won't make it so that you fully live in the love God has for you. It is a we master one of these areas, another weakens in ways that demand our attention. It's as though the cards are stacked against us when it comes to fully knowing God's love on this side of heaven. Maybe they are. Let's take a look at each of the reasons I see why God's love seems to be so missing in our lives at times.The first reason I think that God's love is so hard to understand is that we have no ability to generate the kind of love God gives all the time. I have spoken on this before but it is important that we come to grips with this fact. We simply cannot love unconditionally on our own. We weren't made to produce that kind of love. We were created to be conduit of unconditional love, not the source of that love.God's love can be so hard to understand because of the fact that we are designed to be conduits of His love. It stands to reason that something we can't generate is likely to be quite difficult to understand, trust and apply in our lives. The more we simply give in to how God wants to love us, the more we will be able to experience unconditional love for ourselves. It is as we get use to seeing unconditional love being dispensed in our lives that the love of God starts to make more and more sense.We find it challenging to understand God's love for us at times because His love isn't something that we naturally have at our fingertips. God is the source of that love. He has unlimited supplies of unconditional love for us to enjoy. Problem is that we put conditions on receiving that love God so freely gives to us. The second reason we find it difficult to understand God's love is that we work to box God in with our conditions on His love.What are our conditions? We often see God's love in light of our circumstances. We have come to believe that God loves us when our lives are going well. Our expectations put conditions on God's unconditional love. Doesn't that sound completely illogical? Well it is! When you put conditions on something unconditional it kind of negates the power of that thing in the first place.That paradox makes the power of what God's love is suppose to look like in our lives so confusing and so easily missed. We are a conditional love based kind of species. Sure we are able to love the unlovable in some pretty remarkable ways. But, even in loving the unlovable, there are areas we won't go. Those areas, as right as they might be for the situation, are conditions. When we approach God's love with conditions of any kind, the power of His love gets lost in the shuffle.Want more of God's love? Stop making God meet your expectations of what that love is suppose to look like. He is offering an unlimited supply of His love. Our conditions do nothing but limit how much of His love we can accept and apply in our lives. The more we can lay down our expectations of what God's love is to look like in our lives, the better we will be at seeing that love in action.The last reason I want to consider today when it comes to God's unconditional love has to do with our home. I'm not talking about the house you live in. I'm talking about this world. Christians tend to forget that they are nothing more than aliens in a strange land. This world will never be capable to fully understanding the love God has for us all. Sure we are able to drink in gigantic portions of that love from time to time, but reality is that it won't be until we are home in heaven will God's unconditional love make perfect sense.That doesn't mean that God doesn't want us to grow in the knowledge and experience of His love here on earth. He longs for us to let that love be the driving force in our lives. I think that we need to realize that this place is too small to contain the vastness of His unconditional love. We were made to take in all we possibly can handle and let the excess spill out into the lives of those around us. The more we live that kind of life, the better we are able to see what unconditional love looks like on a moment by moment basis.Problem is that even is we were capable of being filled completely by God's love every moment, there is so much more that this world will never be able to understand. That's the challenge when it comes to serving a loving God that is unlimited. His love is too big for us to ever completely understand, at least in our present condition.Our Bible reading really highlights the power of God's love. It says...And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 (NIV)Never feel shamed that you don't fully understand the love God has for you. You are in great company. None of us will fully understand His love on this side of heaven. Today's Bible reading says the answer to any shame we might feel over God's love is hope. God is pouring out His love on us constantly. Hope is only hope when what we hope for is sometimes missing in our lives. Hope is not needed when we have all we need.The same goes for God's love for us. Sometimes we might need to feel the sting of wondering whether we are living in God's love so that we can exercise the muscle of hope. Our reading today reminds us that God is pouring into our hearts all we need. It is as we hang on to hope and listen to our hearts that the quiet whisper of love can be heard in our lives in life changing ways.Want more of God's love in your life? So do I. It is as I drop my expectations, be the conduit for the love God made me to be and live a life of just passing through that His love becomes more and more visible to me.Take time today to drink in all the love God has for you. He has more than you can handle. The excess will work through your life to change people's lives all around you. Let God's unconditional love for you be the power behind who you are in all you do today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I have been really drawn to John chapter 1. The book of John is a must read for Christians and non-Christians alike. It really is an encapsulation of how Jesus modeled God's love for mankind. You just can't go wrong letting John's view of Jesus sink into your life. I am amazed at how John penned the words he did. The first 18 verses of John 1 is nothing short of melodic in how it reads. I have to admit that I find it necessary to go back and read the words John wrote over and over again. I sometimes miss the meaning as I enjoy the skill in which this disciple was able to communicate the message of Jesus in his writings. As an example, take a look at today's Bible reading from John Chapter 1. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. John 1:4 (NIV)This is one of John's more brief and to the point sentences describing Jesus. As short and sweet as it is, there is a lot to unpack in today's reading for those of us looking to live a victor's life. Let's take a closer look at this verse now.In Him was life... Such an important concept for victors to get from their heads to their hearts. Life can be lived to the fullest when it is In Christ. It isn't that a walk with God through Jesus makes life easy. It is that as we lean into who God says we are through Jesus, that life seems to just make sense. In Christ we have purpose. In Christ we have identity. In Christ we are valued. In Christ we are wanted. In Christ we are eternal. In Christ we are accepted. In Christ there is love. I can't think of a single thing in this world that brings to the table this list of benefits. Can you? Does you job bring universal purpose, identity, value, want, eternity and/or love? Sure there are times your job might fit the bill on one or more of these benefits, but can you completely depend on your job for all these things? How about your marriage? Your kids? Your friends? Your Church? I have yet to find a worldly endeavor that brings the kind of peace a relationship with Christ has brought to my life. In Him I have found life. John really nailed it with the first four words of today's reading. Amazing thing is that he isn't done yet. John goes on to say that the life in him is the light of all mankind. That's a pretty bold statement. to make. For those who find that their own efforts are enough to bring the peace they need in their lives, this light John introduces here is of little use. For those of us who have been overwhelmed by the darkness of this world, this light is a total life saver. This life is the light... as a statement is beginning to make more and more sense in my life these days. I love the fact that John uses light as a descriptor of the life we have in Christ. I took a look at the Greek word used for the English translation of light. In the definition section of the tool I used to translate the Greek word for light, they used several metaphors to help identify the subtly of this word. One of the metaphors used was the following. God is light because light has an extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality. Light can be harsh and abrasive. Light can also be soft and alluring. In the performance world, light plays a critical role in creating the right atmosphere for what is trying to be communicated. Implement the wrong lighting plan and the message often gets lost on the audience. Same goes when using the word light to describe the life God promises for us through Him.For those stuck in trying to make this life be all about who we are, what we do and how the world sees us, the light of God will seem harsh and unappealing. The message will surely be lost when it is bathed in a light that is the light of God. For those who have seen the futility of trying to make this life prove anything about who they are, the light of God is a safe and welcoming sight. John goes on to talk a lot about the light of God in John chapter 1. He makes some points about God's light that make it so that we have to allow what He says sink in a bit. Today's reading opens the door to the possibility of viewing our life in a light that helps life be something that we are more able to understand. It is when our identities are illuminated by the light that is God, that a power becomes available to us like never before. That power comes as God's light opens our eyes to a different perspective in life. As we view who we are and what we do from God's perspective, the outcomes we face don't have quite the impact they did when our light source was something other than God. Life can be such a roller coaster when we try to light our way by what we do. When things are going well, things seem bright and easy to see. When things take a turn for the worse, the darkness can make us feel lost and afraid to move forward. Life will always be filled with ups and downs. It is such a shame to let those ups and downs be overly impacting on who we are. We allow that to happen when we look to a light other than God to make this life be what it was intended to be for us. When we allow God to light up our life, the highs are so much more impacting and the lows don't take quite the toll on who we are they once use to. The last thing I see in today's reading is purpose. If life is in Christ and that life is the light to all mankind, we become something appealing and alluring to those around us as we let that light shine from our lives. We all want to be significant. We all want our lives to count for something. It is when we settle on letting worldly objectives be enough to make us feel significant or to have impact that victim thinking can't help but to be something we will have to deal with. When we are living a life in Christ, we exude a light that is different in this world. That light is what the rest of the world longs for but are looking in all the wrong places to find. Your life can not be more purposed then when you let God illuminate who you are through what Jesus did for us on the Cross. It is as we live out our identity as God's Child that victor living becomes a distinct possibility. As God's light shines in your life, know you are empowered to do more than you could ever dream or imagine. All mankind is looking for that kind of light. You may never be called to preach from the mountaintop as to what that light means in your life. What you are called to do is to let that light shine... let that light pour out of you in all that you do. Think about what kind of light is working in you. Let the life in Him be a light to all mankind. Shine like the victor God made you to be and bask in the extremely delicate, subtle, pure, brilliant quality of God's glory in your world today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********There are times when it is so easy to believe that we just don't measure up. The world is really good at making us think that our talents, our abilities, our resources, our education, our relationships will always fall short when it comes to who we are. As we stay in that place of doubt, it gets easier and easier to let victim thinking take over in our lives.I came across a Bible verse this morning that made me think about what it takes to make those times of doubt something different in our lives. Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now.His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV)At the beginning of our presentation today I used a word several times. That word was "our". I said that the world is really good at making us think our talents, abilities, resources, education and relations will always fall short when it comes to who we are. I went on to say that it is when we stay in that place that we thing our stuff won't be enough to make us who we want to be that victim thinking takes over.Our Bible reading also uses the word "our". Interesting thing is that it is only used once. Peter says that we have all we need in this world through our knowledge of Him. The difference between victim thinking and victor living can be seen as we change the focus as to what we think we can control.In my opening paragraph I listed things that I typically look to when it comes to identity. I lean on my talents and abilities and resources and education and relationships to make who I am be seen in the light my fragile ego needs so completely. This is such a failed strategy of making identity be what it was meant to be.I'm not saying that talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships aren't important when it comes to who we are. What I'm starting to realize is that these things need to be secondary. They need to come under the power of something more lasting when it comes to making these important items do all they need to do to make us live out who we are in this life. Peter hits on what it is that empowers all these important traits of life. It is when we allow the knowledge of God be what fuels the fire behind talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships that victor living comes out of the truth of who we are.Our reading today highlights a reality that I think we too often miss. God's divine power has given us everything we need to life a godly life. That word "godly" comes from a Greek word that means reverence and respect. It can also be translated as holiness.I saw something in this word today that really changed the meaning of today's reading for me. I have always saw being godly as living in a place where I have reverence and respect for God. I think this is an accurate view of what this word means, but today I saw something more for us to consider. What if reverence and respect was meant for us as well? In other words, what if the fact we have been given everything we need from God to live in this world in a way that we receive the reverence and respect our souls hunger for? That is something that I find simply amazing.Isn't that what we look for through trying to make our identity be all it can be in our world? Aren't we yearning for a little bit of respect. Some may call it acceptance. Others may look to being loved when it comes to respect. Reality is that we want our identities to work for us in ways that make who we are be respected by others we come into contact with. Today's reading promises that that will happen. It happens as we get to know this God that empowers who we are through all He is in our lives.I love how Peter puts it in today's reading. We get to participate in the divine nature of God Himself. There is power in God's divinity. That power is promised to us. That power comes as we get to know who this God is that calls us His Child. When we are focused on the traits of our life we always fall short at reaching who we want to be. When we focus on the power behind those traits, life turns in a direction that makes victor living possible irregardless of what our circumstances might be.We have been given everything we need. The world tells us we are falling short. Which are you going to believe today?Let the power of God's divine nature flow into who you are. Take time to ask God to show Himself to you. Learn about Him. Make that knowledge of Him be yours! Let that knowledge turn your talents, abilities, resources, education and relationships into what they were meant to be when it comes to who you are. On your own, these traits aren't enough. With God, these traits are more than enough to make your identity do all it was destined to do in your world today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Victor Borge, famed comedian, conductor and pianist once said, “Humor is something that thrives between man's aspirations and his limitations. There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.”I have often heard it said that God has an amazing sense of humor. I think Mr. Borge would agree, judging from his quote above. I love the thought that humor resides between what we think we can do and what we are actually capable of doing. I happen to think it is precisely in that place of humor that victim thinking can sneak in if we aren't too careful. Let me explain what I mean by that.I wish it were always funny when I can't do what I think I'm capable of doing. How many times have you come to that place where your abilities seem to be dwarfed by your challenges? This is where I think God's sense of humor comes into play. You see, we have been instilled with dreams and aspirations way beyond our means. We are made in the very image of God. God is gigantic! It stands to reason that, if we carry the image of God inside of us, when why wouldn't we have dreams and aspirations that match His size? Here's where Mr. Borge's quote comes into play.It is comical to watch something the size of an ant try and carry a dream as big as the universe. Yet, that's what we often think we are suppose to be doing in order to let victory be what defines our victor status. Thinking that it is up to us to make an identity that can make happen the God-sized aspirations placed there by Him is such a victim making proposition.It was quoted earlier, "...humor is truth." When it comes to the humor in thinking that we can make our identities be what they need to be in order to make our destiny all it is suppose to be, truth is the foundation for this kind of comical thinking. As silly as this is, we tend to fall victim to this kind of humor over and over again. It just doesn't have to be this way.God isn't like an adolescent bent on pulling off the perfect practical joke in you life. He isn't up there belly laughing at our failed attempts at making happen the profound ambitions in our hearts come to reality. He wants us to recognize the unbridgeable gap between our aspirations and abilities and let Him be all we need to make happen the big things He has placed in our hearts. Surrendering that gap to Him is the only way we can live like the victors He has called us to be all the time in our lives.Victim thinking can't help but to be the result when we come face to face with the fact that we just aren't able to make happen all the dreams that are in our heart. It is when we think we have somehow failed that we surrender to victim thinking ways.God sees it so differently. He lives in us. He is there to make those impossible dreams a distinct possibility. It is when we forget that He doesn't need us to make those dreams happen that we tend to get ourselves into trouble. God doesn't need us to make dreams happen. He longs for us to go on the journey with Him to make those dreams come to life. With God, it is always about relationship. It is never about getting things done. God is perfectly capable to do all He wants to get done in this world. He just wants us to go with Him as He gets done all He wants in and through our lives.Today's Bible reading helps me see life from God's perspective. Take a look at our reading with me now.He forgives your sins—every one.    He heals your diseases—every one.    He redeems you from hell—saves your life!    He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.    He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.    He renews your youth—you’re always young in his presence.God makes everything come out right;    he puts victims back on their feet. Psalm 103:3-6 (MSG)I almost didn't put that last line in today's reading. It is way to easy to turn today's reading into a formula for success. It sounds as though God is saying that those things that make us feel like victims will be taken away. Funny thing is, they will! In heaven, we will never be victimized in any way, ever.God's sense of humor is very obvious to me in today's reading. When it says he makes everything come out right, I have to laugh. I can list off ten things in my life right now that aren't coming our right at all. Most of those things are not happening the way I want because of the gap between my aspirations and my abilities to make those aspirations happen. It is when I focus my eyes on the real prize that this gap becomes something jokes can be made of without it seeming so hurtful to me.What's the real prize? It is a walk with God. Our prize isn't success. Our award isn't making this life be all we want it to be. Sure, that's the award I want, but that just isn't what is guaranteed on this side of heaven.It is this walk with God that is the complete fulfillment of what God wants for us in this world. When it comes to making our dreams happen, God's presence is the only aspiration where our ability doesn't strike our funny bone as we strive to make our aspirations happen. God's presence is always there, no matter how good we might think we are at making His presence happen in our lives.Next time you think or say, "God has a funny sense of humor." remember what makes it possible for humor to be seen in what you do in your life. Stop thinking that it is up to you to make the dreams in your heart happen. Settle into the unforced rhythms of God's grace. Let Him lead the way. Trying to make happen all God has put in your heart with the abilities you have been given makes you nothing more than the punch line of a joke you just weren't meant to get in the first place. Be all God says you are by resting in what He does. Let your victor status come alive by allowing God to do all He wants to do in and through your life today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I have spent the better part of this year talking about how we add to the plan God instituted when it comes to who we are. It is easy to think that it is Jesus plus success. We look to Jesus plus holiness when it comes to walking out this life with God. We seek after Jesus plus purpose to find meaning in this world. We yearn for Jesus plus our comfortable life as proof that God loves us in life changing ways.Anything we add to the fact that Jesus did it all for us become stumbling blocks when it comes to walking out our victor status. This is the case with our identity as God's Child. It is just as true when it comes to our ability to relate to this God that made us. When it comes to who we are, and who this God is in our lives, it is a Jesus plus nothing strategy that makes victor living something we can experience no matter what our lives look like.I have a friend who has suffered a moral failure. His entire world is crumbling around him because of the sinful things he has been doing that have come to light. Right now this friend is battling the natural thoughts that it is Jesus plus getting his life back into order. In other words, this friend is being told that until he gets this mess cleaned up, he isn't worthy of much in the Christian world. That's a lie from Satan that I don't think the Christian Church is too good at recognizing.Many of his Christian friends have abandoned this fallen man. Some are even advocating that others leave him high and dry as well. I totally get their anger and frustration at the craziness of this situation. I'm angry too. What I don't think they can see is that they are living a Jesus plus something kind of life that just isn't part of what I see the good news of Jesus is to be all about.I think this is why Christians have been accused of shooting our wounded at times. You see, this man who has fallen is wounded. It is my guess that he has been so for quite a while. He has been living a Jesus plus something kind of life by allowing sinful coping mechanisms to help him deal with the feelings that something is missing in his life. That emptiness in this friend's life that led to sinful coping mechanisms are in us all. It is when we turn to things of this world to help deal with the pain of feeling that emptiness in our lives that we let victim thinking take over in victimizing ways.It is much easier for us to just pretend that everything is OK. I have to look as holy as my other friends in the church seem to be. I can't share how unholy I feel at times because that might make the fragile identity I've worked so hard to build and maintain collapse in ways I just can stand. I pretend it is Jesus plus nothing but let my coping mechanisms be the plus that dulls the pain of loneliness and shame that are too deep to share. If I were to share them there is a good chance I'd be shot! Not literally, but figuratively. I'd be rejected. I'd be labeled. I'd be sidelined. I'd be judged and sentenced in ways the church has been way to quick to do to too many of its own.You see, even in the aftermath of this friend's sin being uncovered, God still sees him as blameless and without fault. I know how shocking this sounds, but it is true. Jesus died for ALL our sins. This includes the sin of friends that betray us in the right here and the right now. That's why I can say with confidence, that for my friend who is disgraced by sin, it is Jesus plus nothing. It isn't Jesus plus repentance. It isn't Jesus plus restoration. It isn't Jesus plus reconciliation. It is simply Jesus that makes it possible for this man to walk as the victor I know him to be in spite of the consequences of the failures he has lived out in his life.This doesn't condone what he has done to bring such disgrace on him and his family. What he has done is so completely wrong! This friend will face serious, and potentially irreparable, consequences due to his actions. But, for us to treat him with such disdain is a sin in of itself. It is telling this friend and the world that it is Jesus plus a perfect life that is required to be the victor God calls us to be. I'm sorry, that just isn't something that the Bible supports. Praise God it isn't because we all would be doomed to victim thinking if it was.There is nothing wrong with being angry at my friend as a result of his actions. There isn't anything incorrect with being frustrated to the point of needing to take a break from relating with this fallen man. Maybe that's what this man needs right now - time alone with God. But expecting something other than what God expects is adding to the powerful message of Jesus Christ in ways that I just can't be a part of.This begs the question, "What does God expect?" Take a look at today's Bible reading with me now and let's see if we can't see some of what God expects from us.Thank God! Pray to him by name!    Tell everyone you meet what he has done!Sing him songs, belt out hymns,    translate his wonders into music!Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,    you who seek God. Live a happy life!Keep your eyes open for God, watch for his works;    be alert for signs of his presence.Remember the world of wonders he has made,    his miracles, and the verdicts he’s rendered Psalm 105:1-5 (MSG)I have to be honest with you. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that speak to obeying God's laws and keeping our lives pure that could be taken as what God expects of us. Of course God wants us to walk with Him in purity and honesty. What we too often do is make these self focused actions be what it takes to make relationship with Him something we can attain to. That's a failed way of living that Jesus came to replace.Think of it this way. If your relationship with your spouse or your child was dependent on them doing everything you expect them to do perfectly and without question, do you think you'd be in relationship with those people right now? There is no way! Our spouse and our kids are just like us. They are prone to failure. They are prone to going in their own direction. This fact makes our works based strategy so completely useless when it comes to the foundation for relating to one another in any meaningful and long-term way.Same goes with God. Our reading today points to something that can be so hard to define. Love is the basis from which we are to be in relationship with this God and with others. We are to look for the works of love God performs in our lives. We are to share those works of love with one another. Why? So that we all will be better able to let doing take a back seat to being when it comes to who we are. Love is to be the foundation of a Jesus plus nothing kind of life that makes us victors at every turn.My friend who has fallen did so because he failed to see God's love in his life. That makes him no different than you and than me. We are lousy at seeing the love God has for us. That's why we add so much to the Jesus plus nothing equation. When we are in that place where we doubt the love God has for us we can be driven to do some pretty victimizing things as a result of our victim thinking fueled ways.Those friends of this fallen man that are rejecting him are failing to see God's love just as completely as my fallen friend. The sad reality is that they are leaving as wide a wake of victims in their failure as this sinful man has wound up leaving in his life. When we add to Jesus, anything in this world, the results aren't something God is all that pleased for us to be a part of in this life.It's Jesus plus nothing. That's it. That's all we have when it comes to who we are. That's all we have when it comes to who this God is in our lives. The troubles we face can easily be traced back to adding something to the Jesus message. You are a victor because of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Stop adding to that amazing sacrifice and live in the power of who you are as God's Child today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I came across this Bible verse this morning.For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 (NIV)For some reason, I really stopped and thought about what Paul was writing in today's reading. When you think about it, this is an impossible standard for us to live up to. Paul, was in essence saying, that this life has nothing for him. He so banked on the promise of what was to come that whatever came his way in this life didn't impact him quite the way it did before he met Jesus.I think this is how we all are suppose to be when it comes to viewing our lives. Let me ask you a pretty direct question. How are you doing at living this kind of life right now? In other words, how much of death being a gain do you believe given where you are at this moment?I have to tell you, that question has been on my mind quite a bit after reading this verse this morning. Do I really see leaving this life as a gain? Less than three weeks ago my second granddaughter was born. Would I really see death as a gain if I knew that I would die tomorrow? I'm not so sure I could hold on to this view.I really want to live. I want to see my grandchildren grow. I want to be there for those milestones of life that they will get to experience. I hope to be part of helping them see love in action as the love God has given me for these precious little gifts of life blossoms into something even more beautiful than what it is now. I want the time to see that love come alive in these kids's lives. That makes death seem like an obstacle, not the opportunity Paul seemed to see it to be. Is there something wrong with me?There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to live. I think Paul make that clear in today's reading. He said, "...to live is Christ..." I take that to mean the wanting to live is totally a God centered thing to do if we make God the center of the life we want to live. It is when I use this life as proof that I'm somehow OK in the eyes of this God that loves me that life becomes the center, rather than God being that center. It is when I depend on how this life turns out to make it so that my identity be what I expect it to be that victim thinking tendencies come rushing in.We often look at life as being the blessing and death as being a curse. I think Paul is trying to get us to see things differently. Paul isn't saying that life is a curse. I think he is trying to get us to see that being with God is the biggest blessing we can ever expect to have. He can be with us in the joys and trials of this life. He will certainly be with us when our final breath comes. It is as we learn that God is always there that life and death can take on a different perspective.We have allowed what we do in this life to be the basis for our victor status. Show me a person with a good life and I can more easily understand how they have lived victoriously. Today, Paul helped me see that victory has so much more to do with God than with the life God has given us. Isn't it always about the giver of the gift more so than it is about the gift itself?I think that is why Paul could see death as a gain. When his time on earth was up, he knew that God's presence would be more readily available to him than it is in this life. Win or lose, life or death, Paul knew he was a victor. He knew his victor status came as a result of God' calling him His child. What Paul did might have been important for the moment, but his eternal position before God was secured no matter how what he did turned out in this world.To live is Christ...to die is gain. This is a victor's way of living. God isn't asking us to give up on our dreams for this life. He doesn't expect us to not seek the joy of watching our children and grandchildren grow into the people He has made them to be. He is asking that we see things the way He does. Just like we long to be here for the long haul with our offspring, God longs to be with us forever!I want to see death in a different light. I want to be like Paul and see passing from this life to the next as a gift, not a curse. Though it may be a gift that I don't want too quickly, it is a gift that I don't want to fear and be driven to avoid at the expense of the important relationships around me. It is as we waste time worrying about death that life turns in directions that God never intended. There are way too many victim thinking actions being driven by those of us dreading death in life robbing ways. God wants that to change.Live big today! Live like it is your last moment. Let the joy of this life fill you in ways God wants for you, His child. But, don't let life be all you have. There is so much more. As the victor God sees you to be, death isn't a punishment. Death is a gift that we all get to experience. Let the presence of God be what your life is based upon. When your time here on earth is up, God's presence is exactly what we all will experience every moment of every day in eternity. May you walk in the power of God's presence in all you do to live your life today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********It is so easy to believe we are victims when we expect God's hand to be what we exclusively see in our lives. I equate God's hand to the goodies we want from our God. Blessing, prosperity, health, a good life, these and other important things are absolutely something God provides. His hand is in our lives in some pretty significant ways.It is when we don't get what we thought blessing would look like that God's hand seems to be absent. Those are the days victim thinking can take over in ways that might cause victims in our wake. Today's reading points out a different way to look at God. Let's look at our reading now.Many, Lord, are asking, “Who will bring us prosperity?” Let the light of your face shine on us. Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound. Psalm 4:6-7 (NIV)I believe the psalmist is allowing us to see the comparison of God's hand to His face. The many who are asking about who will bring prosperity have settled for God's hand as being enough. They are the ones who are dealing with the challenges this world provides in ways that make it very easy to see God as being absent and maybe even a victimizer.Contrast this to those who seek God's face. It is that light that radiates as we see God's face, that often times makes the darkness of this world tolerable. When God's hand seems to be missing, His light can be what makes it possible for us to take one more step into that light. The light of God so much more of what the victor needs in this life than is His hand. Trusting what we think God's hand looks like is a failed strategy. Leaning into the light that shines from God's face is a strategy that makes whatever comes our way in this life something that we are able to move though with power and purposeOf course we still need God's provision. Our reading asks God to fill the psalmist's heart with joy when those asking for God's hand see Him move in mighty ways. We are to look to God for provision. What makes victim thinking a distinct possibility is when our expectation of what provision is to look like doesn't happen quite the way we thought it would. It is when we are trapped in that place of victim thinking that God can begin to take on a role in our lives that just doesn't match up with who He actually is. Those are also the times when who we are comes into question in troubling and debilitating ways.I think it really comes down to this interesting fact. Our expectation is easy to describe. It is simple to quantify what we need and even what we want God to provide. In that sense, it gets easy to box God in when it comes to who He is. When we consider God for only the things He provides, it is easy to paint a picture of God's Hand that is simple for us to understand.Problem is that God isn't all that easy to comprehend. He can't be reduced down to a single human's ability to describe with words based on personal wants and needs. At times, this fact brings me great comfort. When my wants and needs go unmet, this fact frustrates and scares me to no end.The comfort comes as I realize I really don't want a God that I can easily describe and understand. I want a God that is big, certainly larger than what I might be able to comprehend. Why? Because, we live in a universe that is big. I need a being that is bigger than all I know in order for me to trust that there is a plan. This is especially the case when things don't go the way I thought they would. I need to know God's bigness is there directing all things to help me endure the challenges that might come my way.Light takes on a very different meaning for me when I consider who God is. Light isn't all that easy to describe. Light can be a challenge to understand. Light has a power over darkness that is unmistakable. Light paints God in a view that allows room for His bigness to be experienced in a  personal and intimate way.It's really hard to live a life focused on being satisfied with the Light of God over the Hand of God. I am growing in the understanding that light trumps hand in the long haul of life. Of course I want the goodies God might be able to provide. However, the light of His presence is what promises to sustain us even when the goodies we expect don't come about quite like we thought they would.How do we live a life that leaves room for the entirety of God to operate? In other words, how do we balance our need for God's Hand with our desire for God's light to be there? I think that comes as we allow God to be God in our lives. At any given moment, He might need us to call for and see happen powerful works of His hand. At other times, His light might be what He knows is needed for us to impact this world in world changing ways. We just aren't that good at knowing when His Hand or His Light is needed. It is when we allow God to be God in our lives that our victor status takes on the power we want and need.Look for God's Hand in your life today. Celebrate it's presence when you know it is there by the blessings that come your way. But, don't let the seemingly absence of the goodies of life equate with the absence of God. He is there. His light is shining on you whether you receive what you want or not. His light is always more powerful than His goodies. Live in that place of power as God's light illuminates your victor status more an more in your life today,

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I love it when totally independent events align in a way that reveal something really important. One Sunday morning a friend sent me a text with the following Bible verse.But as for me, afflicted and in pain—    may your salvation, God, protect me. Psalm 69:29 (NIV)She said that she saw something that she never thought of before in this verse. It's in the last line of what we just read. She said that she had always seen salvation as being hers. It was a gift that God gave but it was given to her. Today, she thought something differently. Our reading today made her realize that salvation is God's. Though it is a gift from God, it is His. It is uniquely and unquestionably His. She really had my attention with this statement. I had to ask her to explain why that perspective was so important to her. The answer she gave made me realize how, even with salvation, the wrong focus can make it so easy to slip into victim thinking.My friend told me that thinking of salvation as being hers mad her focus on the gift this amazing thing salvation is. That's not necessarily a bad thing, please note. She went on to point out that focusing on the gift isn't always the best thing for us in our lives. It was when my friend realized that salvation was God's that she started to focus more clearly on the giver of the gift. Now, that's a victor's perspective if I've ever heard one.That's a pretty interesting piece of knowledge that would have kept me ruminating on what my friend learned for a while. It didn't stop there. I then went to church and, wouldn't you know it, the message tied in perfectly to this concept.This particular Sunday service had Pastor Aaron Jayne speaking on how we are to walk in line with the truth of the gospel. He told us that Christianity isn't about behavior modification. Christianity is all about heart transformation. He went on to say that we are stuck in behaviors that aren't best for us because we aren't able to walk in line with the truth of the gospel. It is when we can't live a life of Jesus plus nothing that our behavior is something that the Bible might call sin. Stay with me a bit. I'm going to show you how this all connects in just a moment.You see, our coping mechanisms are nothing more than our adding to the good news of Jesus. It is when the pain of this life causes us to lean on coping mechanisms to dull the pain we feel that we are living out the fact that Jesus isn't sufficient in our lives. Amazing thing is that God still loves us when we fall short in this way. He doesn't condemn us. He forgives us. That forgiveness comes with love that is unexplainable and often times not able to be duplicated in this world.God has us on a process of transformation. That transformation happens as we let God do what He does in a process called sanctification. It isn't that God is working to change our behaviors. It is that our behaviors reveal the need to be completely transformed. That's a universal condition for human beings. Jesus is the only human that wasn't in need of transformation. We aren't falling short when we live a life of Jesus plus some coping mechanism. We are being loved as God works miracles in our lives to make Jesus be enough for us all.This made me think of my friend's revelation this morning. It's God's salvation, not ours. If it were our salvation, we would be working harder and harder to make behavior modification a goal we might achieve. We don't have a behavior problem. We are being challenged by salvation.God's salvation is a gift that really only pays off when we keep our focus on Him. It's the same with our identity. Working to prove who we are is just as useless an endeavor as working to make salvation be proven by how good our behavior has become. Focusing on behavior modification makes it way to easy to live a Jesus plus something kind of life. That kind of salvation isn't God's salvation. That kind of identity isn't God's gift to us either.Sanctification is what makes it possible for things to get weeded out of the Jesus plus nothing equation. The more we live in that place where Jesus is more and more sufficient in our lives, the more we see the giver of the gift of salvation. God's salvation is a perspective that takes the victor to new heights of heart transformation.Behavior modification is a works based approach to the free gift of salvation. When we focus solely on our ability to live a godly life, we cheapen the gift of salvation. We make the focus be something other than the giver of the gift. Focus is shifted to us. Our efforts become the most important thing in our life. Isn't that place of prominence suppose to be reserved for God alone? I think shifting our view of salvation from something that is ours to a gift that belongs only to the giver of that gift helps us shift focus. God is the focus. We are the benefactor of that focus. Transformation is the result of having our eyes on the right thing when it comes to salvation.This doesn't mean that a walk with God will be effort free. There is a lot of work to this thing called sanctification. There is a lot of change that will happen in our lives as our hearts are transformed. The thing is that we aren't to be the focus. When we make our effort the focus we feel victimized when our efforts don't result in the kinds of transformation salvation should make happen. Behavior modification objectives have the potential to let us slip into victim thinking. Heart transformation takes God's salvation and makes it so that we can be loved into change in ways our efforts just can't duplicate.My friend made me think differently about this gift of salvation. It is God's. As I stay focused on the giver of the gift, I change in ways that make this life so much more powerful to live out. My victor status is made possible through the gift of salvation. My identity is completed in the process of sanctification. Allow who you are to be driven by the fact that God is your focus. Let that focus make it more and more possible to live a Jesus Plus Nothing kind of life. In doing so you will find that the less than godly things that use to have such impact in your life will begin to fade in importance. That's the freedom God promises. Live in that freedom as you enjoy the power of God's salvation in your life today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********A friend of mine use to have a college professor that would always ask this question. He would say, "Who's fool are you?"This wise man would often talk about the fact that we are always willing to be someone's fool. How many times have you done or said something to impress someone who you thought held a higher position in life? I have been in plenty of situations where foolish didn't even come close to how I acted because of who I was around. When I think back on those times, I realize how much I allowed victim thinking to drive my foolish actions because I really didn't have an appreciation for who I was.Not only are we willing to act foolish for others, things can make us look the fool as well. Money, power, position, possessions and a whole host of other things in this world can drive us to do and say things that we might later be sorry of. It is when we let the things of this world work to bolster who we want the world to see us as being that foolishness springs out of victim thinking.My friend's college professor was alluding to today's Bible reading when he asked, "Who's fool are you?" Take a look at our reading with me now.We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! 1 Corinthians 4:10 (NIV)Do you see the sarcasm in Paul's writing today? He is contrasting what it looks like when we are settling for being a fool of the world. It is when we fight to feel wise and strong and honored that we embark on a fools errand. When we tie our identities to the need to be seen as wise, strong and honored, we have made it clear that we have chosen to be a fool for the world. People will always think that your choice to follow Jesus is a foolish thing. If you think about it, they are absolutely right! We are following an invisible God, born of a virgin who raised Himself from the dead. That's about the most foolish thing I have ever heard! Yet, that sequence of foolish sounding events gives me a peace like nothing I have chosen to be foolish over that the world has ever been able to match. I have tried to impress people in all stations of life. They have all failed me in one way or another. I have tried for all I'm worth to make money and power and impact be what defines me. There has never been enough to fill the bottomless pit of need when it comes to who I am. People and things just can't do for me what a foolish sounding savior has done. Jesus has made it so that my identity has a standing that can't be taken away by success or by failure. My victor status is empowered by the fact that I am God's Child. I don't have to do a single thing to impress Him to have the power of that status. I don't have to jump through hoops to make that status be mine. He gives it to me and all He asks in return is for me to get to know Him. If that sounds foolish to you, I am proud to say, "I am a fool!"If chasing people and things makes your identity be all it needs to be in your life, I can honestly say I'm happy for you. I wish that that strategy worked for me as well. For some reason it just doesn't work any more. My advise to you is work it for all you are worth. But, be honest with yourself. When the doubts come, don't sweep them under the carpet. There might come a day when people and things aren't enough anymore. When that day comes, think about who you are in God's eyes. I plan on going after as much of a good life as I have the energy to pursue today. What I'm not going to do is step over the line into foolish antics to try and make that good life happen. I'm trusting God that what He says about me is enough for who I am. I'm going to let my victor status do the talking in my life, even if the rest of the world calls me a "Fool for Christ!"

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I recently attended a memorial service for a friend of mine. The pastor gave a wonderfully passionate message about how this friend believed in Jesus as His Savior. The room was packed. This friend lived in a way that made his faith real to those of us who knew him. My friend didn't struggle with sharing his faith. In fact, I don't think he even thought much about the need to share. He simply lived his faith in a way that made words almost completely unnecessary. I think that's why so many people were at this man's memorial service.My friend wasn't all that great of a communicator. He wasn't all that versed on the intricacies of Biblical interpretation. He wasn't all that polished and perfect. What he might have lacked in the skills we sometimes attribute to great evangelists, he more than made up for with his life. I've said it two times before. I'm going to say it again. This man lived his faith. The fact that he lived his faith turned out to be more powerful of a witness than any words one might use to describe his faith.As the pastor spoke of my friend to the group that knew him so very well, he used one of the most recognizable verses in the Bible. This pastor quoted the following...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 pastor went on to talk about how my friend lived this verse. He focused on two words that really struck me. The pastor said that my friend believed into Jesus. If you go back and check the verse we just read you won't see the word "into." Our reading says "believe in", not believe into. The pastor went on to teach that the original language should have been translated "believe into". He then went on to talk about how it is easy to believe in. Believing into is something totally different.To explain what he meant by that, he pointed to the podium in front of him. He said that it is easy to believe in the podium. You can see it. You can touch it. We so often simply think the proof our senses is enough when it comes to belief. Trusting our senses so completely is such a failed strategy in life.The pastor then did something really amazing. He climbed up on the podium and hung on. He pointed out that believing into is different than believing in. He needed a faith and understanding that that podium would hold his weight in order to believe into the podium. That faith and understanding allowed the pastor to shift from the goodness of believing in the podium to the greatness of believing into that same podium. The pastor told us that our friend believed into Jesus rather than just settling to believe in Him. That's why this simple man had such impact on the lives of so many of us in that room that amazing day. His faith came from believing into something, not just believing in that same thing.My friend believed into Jesus. He trusted that Jesus could hold the weight of his life. He understood the love Christ has for Him is worth all the hell this world happened to throw at him and his family. His belief into Christ made it easy for him to share his faith by simply living his life.My friend's identity as God's Child was something that he believed into. His job wasn't ever going to catapult this man to greatness. His accomplishments weren't never going to amount anything important enough to fill a room full of people weeping over this man's death. This friend did more than believe in who He was. He lived in the faith of believing into what Christ says about him. That kind of life changes the world. His life changed mine and a lot of other folks sitting in that room that day.It made me think about how I approach my life. Do I just believe in or am I also someone who believes into who I am? I'm not sure this man would have been able to see the difference in his life were he sitting in that room listening to this same sermon. I would be willing to bet that he thought himself falling short of believing into who he was just as profoundly as I feel at this moment.Maybe God made it that way. Maybe we just can see the impact our identity is having in real time. Maybe it is through the lives of a room full of people who were changed by a life of one who believed into Jesus that this man could have seen the proof needed. Maybe that proof is best seen from heaven looking down.All I know is something changed for me this day. I don't know if I will ever be able to prove I'm believing into who I am or not on this side of heaven. What I can do is to know that there is a difference between just believing in my victor status and believing into that same status. I want the best for my life. That best is when I choose to believe into who God says I am rather than just believing in the identity God has given me. How do I do that? I think it is like tying to tie your shoe. You just do it. Somehow you learned how to tie your shoe. Now it is like a secondary function in your life. Trying to put into words how you do it is almost impossible. Though it is hard to describe how it is done, you just know how to do it. Such is the way I think it is when it comes to believing into who we are. Today, I think I came into contact with the fact that I just know how to believe into. Whether I can describe it fully or be able to prove that I am doing so to the fullest might not be something all that easy for me to do. All I know is that I can believe into. Judging from this room full of people at this man's memorial service, I think that realizing that we can believe into has a power to change many, many lives. I hope today's presentation opened your eyes to something different. I pray that you see how much power there is in letting your life rest in the belief into something bigger than yourself. It is when we believe into who we are as God's Child that I think this world becomes something completely different. Let who you are be founded and supported by the love God has for you. Then the challenges of this world might not be as impacting is they are when we choose to simply believe in who we are. 

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Comparing and competing. Do these actions ever do anything good for the individual? I'm beginning to see how comparison and competition in ways to one up others makes it so hard to keep out of victim thinking. Today's Bible reading seems to confirm this notion. Check it out with me now. For who do you know that really knows you, knows your heart? And even if they did, is there anything they would discover in you that you could take credit for? Isn’t everything you have and everything you are sheer gifts from God? So what’s the point of all this comparing and competing? You already have all you need. You already have more access to God than you can handle. Without bringing either Apollos or me into it, you’re sitting on top of the world—at least God’s world—and we’re right there, sitting alongside you! 1 Corinthians 4:7-8 (MSG)On the surface, it could seem like Paul is making a case that we are nothing more than misfits. It seems that he is arguing that all we have accomplished, even those things God has had His hand on, aren't all that much to take notice of. Knowing Paul as I do, this couldn't be further from the truth.You see, Paul was quite an accomplished man. He was a hard driver. His type A personality got him into some amazing opportunities as well as in some deep trouble to boot. Not only is Paul heralded as the most prolific church planter of all times, he was also a very successful business man. This guy worked his tail off! Not only did he stay busy, he was pretty good at all he put his hand to.With that kind of pedigree, why would Paul write words that seem to condemn all that we do? I think it is because Paul saw the damage that happens to each of us when we let our accomplishments be what bolsters our identity. It was when Paul compared his ministry, his work or his life to any one else that trouble started for this man of God. It was when Paul gave into the notion that he was in competition with others that his work drained the life out of him and those around him.We can't help but to think badly or ourselves or others when we compare what we do with what others might be doing in their lives. Jealousy and all sorts of other ill feelings happen when we feel life is a competition. This is particularly the case when we approach our spiritual life with a strategy of comparison and competition.After his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul settled into a mode of aggressively pursuing what was right before Him. He didn't worry about what others might be doing in the next town over. He let the Love of God flow through Him right were He was at. Though others might appear to be doing more, Paul settled into the rhythms of following what His God was doing. He didn't let others dictate his actions quite the way he use to before Jesus revealed Himself to this man of God.Today's reading holds the secret to Paul's ability to let comparison and competition not take hold as badly as it use to in his life. I believe it was contentment that made Paul so effective in the tasks God gave him to do.When we compare we are driven to be discontent. When we see life and others in this life as competition we can't help but to be discontent with what we have, who we are and what we do. The lack of contentment makes it possible for us to get on a treadmill in life that is so difficult to recognize and eliminate. What usually makes us get off the treadmill is a catastrophic event. A massive health scare, a family crisis, a series of troubled relationships, a total breakdown, these and other events make contentment something that we usually pay attention to when life takes turns we didn't expect.I don't think contentment means that we don't have dreams and desires. I don't think contentment eliminates that natural drivenness some of us have been given. Paul continued to be one of the most driven men in the Bible right up to his death. We can be driven and still content. How? It is when we disconnect what we are driven to do from who we are that contentment plays the powerful role it is suppose to in our lives.Think about the last thing you have been driven to achieve. Wasn't there a lot of comparison and competition wrapped up in what you were doing? Wasn't some of the drivenness coming from a place of wanting the success of whatever it was you were after to be part of bolstering the way the world would see you? That's the danger of drivenness when contentment is not in our lives. Drivenness leads to do and say things that can cause victims around us. Worse than that, when what we are driven to accomplish doesn't turn out like we want, victim thinking is quick to take over.The world doesn't make it all that easy to be driven without out letting discontent control what we do. I have to believe that, just like Paul, it took a lot of practice in order to let contentment be what tempered his driven nature. Paul practiced living in that place of his true identity. Paul let the fact that He is God's Child be all he needed in this world. Everything else that he was driven to accomplish was nothing more than icing on the cake as far as Paul was concerned.That's how we are to live our lives. If nothing more comes our way than the amazing gift of being God's Child, we are incredibly blessed. I guaranteed there is more for you to accomplish. What we need to be doing is letting our God-given identity as His Child be the fuel for the contentment that kills comparison and competition in our lives. That's the only way I have found that my victor status takes on the power needed to make things happen in the world around me.What are you driven to get done today? How much of that drivenness is being directed by discontent? It is easy to judge this situation by looking at how much comparison you are doing in your life. You can also tell how much discontent is driving your live by how much you feel pressured by the competition in your life.Live in the power of who you are. Let the fact that your victor status is guaranteed because God calles you His Child be all the force you need to drive you to get done what God wants for your life today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I was thinking about some friends today. I have a couple different families I'm close to that just can't seem to catch a break. If it wasn't for bad luck they wouldn't have any luck at all. When it comes  health, finances, jobs, cars, home problems - you name it, it seems like these friends have a sign on their back that says, "Kick Me!"Both these families are amazing examples of being followers of Jesus Christ. They are also perfect examples of what I have been talking about all these times with this podcast. These families are victors even though victory seems to be so far from their reality it isn't even funny. I have to admit, I wouldn't trade places with either of these families for just about anything. I don't know how they do it. Well, maybe I do. That's what I want to focus on today. I want to explain what I think people who have decided to live like victors do when victory just isn't happening in their lives. For both of these families, I have seen one trait that they exhibit in powerful and unmistakable ways. That trait is that they seem to be able to live in the moment in ways I admire. They don't look too far down the road when it comes to their situation. They are just able to focus on the here and now in ways that make what they are going through something they can do their best with at that given time. I'm not saying that this strategy makes what they are going through OK. It isn't! I have been with members of both these families when they were at their wits ends. And, why wouldn't they be? If I had to deal with 1/10th what they do, I'd have checked out a long time ago. I believe that's why these families are so good at dealing with life in the moment. It is simply impossible for them to look ahead because of the distinct possibility that their current condition will actually get worse. This isn't negative thinking. It is realistic thinking due to how things have gone in the past. They aren't dreading the future, they are just doing their best to thrive in the moment. The hardships in their lives make it so that they have no choice but to live for this moment. I want that kind of attitude without having to go through the pain of the craziness that they deal with each and every day. It isn't victim thinking that is making them live in the moment. It is that they just don't have the mental or physical energy to worry about tomorrow. Today has enough worries for them to have to contend with. They don't have the luxury to think about tomorrow like you and I do. Even though times are tough, there is a peace in the lives of these families that I want in mine as well. I believe that that peace comes as they simply be in the middle of living out what is in front of them at that moment. That's the epitome of victor living if you ask me.So much of the mental anguish you and I suffer from comes as we try to project ahead when it comes to what our lives will be. This is a self imposed suffering that my friends with their plates full right now don't have the luxury of bringing into their lives like we do.Anthony de Mello, Jesuit priest, author and speaker put it this way. "The present moment is never intolerable. What’s intolerable is what’s going to happen in the next four hours. To have your body here at 8 pm and your mind at 10:30 pm, that’s what causes us suffering."It doesn't matter if times are good or bad, trying to live in the future, even one second in the future, is a torment that we just don't need to endure. Yet, victim thinking is the result as we try to ignore what it happening now and live for what we hope will come in the not so distant future. It is when what we hope will come next doesn't materialize that victim thinking threatens to take hold in victimizing ways.My friends have been forced to deal with this reality in ways that has changed their lives. In spite of the horrific things they face, their ability to stay in the moment makes victor living happen without all the trappings of victory being in their lives. These friends are living with a different foundation. That foundation is summed up in today's reading. Check it out with me now.Surely God is my salvation;    I will trust and not be afraid.The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;    he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 (NIV)These friends can't trust their lives to be the foundation for who they are. There has been so many challenging times in their lives that they have decided there has to be something more than a comfortable life from which to build off of. My friends can't rely on their tomorrow to bail them out. They need something more substantial from which to build their lives. That foundation is God Himself.I use to pity these friends. In this light, I envy them in some pretty significant ways. I have the luxury to build my life on what I think I can do. I can let my identity be based on actions because my actions seem to turn out positively more often than not. I can look to the future with a longing that gets me off track in so many ways because tomorrow seems to always be better than today. What if all that changed? What if my tomorrow didn't turn out better than my today? My foundation would be rocked. When our foundations crumble, victim thinking can't help but to be there to take over.Look, I'm not saying that we have to ruin our good life in order to live in the power of the victor status God has given us. What I'm saying is that this trait of living in the moment is a powerful way of letting the foundation of God take over more and more in our lives. It is when we live in the moment that we see things for what they are worth. The good times can be enjoyed even more and the bad times might not have such a negative impact on who we are as it does when tomorrow is all that we have.If times are good, it is perfectly acceptable to do what you can to maintain that goodness in your life. It is when we come to expect that goodness be a proof that we mean something to this God that made us that troubles start to happen. Circumstances don't prove a single thing when it comes to who we are and who this God is that loves us. Enjoy the good times, but don't expect them to be the proof of anything about who you are or who this God is in your life.If times are bad, it is perfectly acceptable to hope for a better day tomorrow. Just like the good times, don't let what happens tomorrow be proof of anything when it comes to identity. You are who God says you are. God is who He has always been in your life. Those two identity driven realities don't change based on whether what we expect comes to fruition or not.What ever is happening in your life today, live in the moment. Even in the worst of times there is plenty to be thankful for. My friends are living testimonies of that fact. Live in the moment and let God's power of identity fuel your victor status in all that comes your way today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I hope this isn't coming off as beating a dead horse, but I want to spend one more day on being a safe person. We have taken the past three days to talk about what a safe person is to look like. We have seen that it takes a willingness to dwell with another, show grace to that person and be able to give the entire truth to those we are honored to be part of offering counsel to. It is when we fail in any or all of these areas that we become unsafe and I believe ineffective at having impact in this world.Today I wanted to spend some time going over a couple situations where I have seen my safety go away quickly. Please don't take today's talk as gospel when it comes to being safe in another person's life. These examples are nothing more than experiences I have be a part of where the results I think God had in mind fell short because I was quick to act in what I now see as being unsafe ways. Let's take a look at a couple situations and see what we can learn.Did you know that prayer can actually be unsafe! I know you prayer warriors out there are ready to burn me at the stake for such a heretical statement as that. Hang with me a second and let me explain what I mean.Prayer is a powerful weapon we have been given. But just like weapon, we have to know when it is time to bring out the big guns. Have you ever heard the expression - "Don't take a gun to a knife fight?" Just like any tool, weapons of war were meant for certain circumstances. Using the wrong tool at the wrong time can actually cause more damage than good.Prayer can be used incorrectly when we simply jump to prayer rather than letting God do what He wants to do in that person's life. We should be praying all the time. Even when a person is explaining their situation to us, prayer should be happening in as unobtrusive and non-conscious way as possible. It can be very damaging to offer up prayer before prayer is meant to be the weapon of choice. Here's such an example.Let's say you are new to a Bible study group. Let's go on to say you are known as a real prayer warrior. Maybe in this particular study group someone is there who has been dealing with a really serious issue in their lives. That issue might have been something that has plagued them for years and years. Maybe for the first time tonight, they feel the courage to open up and discuss what has been going on.This is a crucial moment for the person opening up their heart. They are actually testing the waters. They want to know if they are going to be loved and accepted in their current state or if religion is going to rule the day. Jumping right to prayer short changes this precious moment. You are already praying, or you should be. Do we really need to stop this highly relational time of bonding to get into some standardized posture of prayer?Like I said before, you should already be praying in the spirit. What is God saying? What questions are coming to mind? What is the story of this person's soul that has lead them to this point this particular evening? This is what God wants to happen. It rarely does when we convert this time to a conventional prayer experience. There will be plenty of time to pray. Now's the time to listen. Listen to God. Listen to your brother or sister sharing their heart. Listen and learn. The safety you establish now will make it so much easier to go down some pretty difficult roads later in this person's life.I have ruined many moments by going to prayer too quickly. I have basically told total strangers that I don't have time for them by taking their situation to God before I took time to get to know what is really going on in their lives. Plus, my words in prayer can sound so condemning."Please help this person" - sounds like they are helpless and without power when coming from someone they don't know is safe. "Please heal their condition" - sounds like there is something wrong with them in ways that create a them and us kind of atmosphere. "Please show them your love" - sounds like the person doesn't know the love of God - that they are somehow on the outside of our little club when these words come from an unsafe place. Satan loves to take our prayers and use them to shame and condemn those we pray for. He can't do so when we have earned the right to be safe with the person we are praying for. That happens as we take time to know them and their situation and show them how much God loves them just where they are at.If praying for someone can be an unsafe strategy, hang on to your hats because my next example will blow your mint. Sharing Jesus before it is time is one of the most unsafe things we can ever do. That's right we even have to be extremely aware of our words when we are in a position where we might be tempted to share who Jesus is in our lives.I was at a Church event one evening. The teacher had just finished one of the best talks on the love of God I had ever heard. Up comes a young woman friend of a friend of mine. My friend was someone I have known a quite a while. He struggles with drug addiction, so did his lady friend. I noticed this young woman was undone by the message given that night. She talked to the speaker and sobbed over what she had heard. As she pulled herself together, my friend brought her over and introduced her to me.I felt like God was wanting me to ask about what it was that so touched her about that evening's message. She said that she had never thought that anyone could lover her in her current condition. She shared with me her struggles with drugs. She told me how sad she was that her earthly father had died before she was able to kick her habit and live a normal life. The thought that anyone could love her in her mess was more than she could comprehend. Here's where trouble began.Standing there, I thought to myself, what a perfect opportunity to bring Jesus into the conversation. Before I asked God is that was the right thing to do, I turned our talk to Jesus. It was like someone turned off a light switch in her eyes. She simply went dead. One moment she was alive in the love of God - the next was like the lights were off and no one was home. One mention of the name of Jesus and, boom, it was all over.I don't remember what she was saying from that point on. I was too busy praying in the spirit. I was asking God what just happened? I felt Him respond with the question, "Did I say that you were to mention Jesus right now?" Of course He didn't. I didn't give Him the chance to guide me. I just seemed like the logical thing to do to mention Jesus at a Church event about God's great love for us. When it comes to conventional wisdom, God's just isn't. He isn't conventional at all, and His wisdom isn't the same as ours.Fortunately God gave me a means to get back on course. He showed me how to turn the conversation back to the father's love in a way that switched the lights back on in this young woman's soul. Her eyes came alive again. I never saw this woman again. Imagine if I we had parted company with the lights turned off in her life? I became an unsafe person by making Jesus the point when God's love was all this woman needed at that moment.I'm in no way saying that you aren't to pray or that you should not mention the name of Jesus. What I am saying is that you need God to be in control of every moment that you are in contact with another person. That's what makes you safe. If He isn't guiding you, you will be unsafe. It is when we are unsafe towards one another that damage occurs. When we are being safe people, things happen. The power of our identities come out in ways that make impact something we can experience time and time again.I hope these last few days have helped to point out the importance of being safe when it comes to our interactions with one another. It doesn't matter if you are taking with a believer or a non-believer, being a safe person is what endears you to another. Being safe is what opens up another person to you. Being safe makes you a valuable asset to another human being. Being safe takes practice. Being safe starts with the desire to make a difference. Let God work through you today in ways that turn your counsel into the power packed thing is was destined to be.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Yesterday we took a look at a verse that holds the key to being a safe person. Let's read that verse together again.The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend have used this verse as a cornerstone for their book called "Safe People." In this work, Cloud and Townsend highlight what it takes to make our walk with God impact others as we become a safe relationship, like Jesus was when He walked this earth.We spoke on what it means to dwell with one another in yesterday's podcast. This is the most challenging of the characteristics for those of us given the honor of helping others in this life. I'm starting to realize that we really aren't that good at dwelling. We like more of a hit-and-run kind of strategy when it comes to being part of another person's life. Sometimes it just takes time. Am I willing to give God my time the way Jesus was willing in His ministry here on earth? The honest answer is - not as often as I would like. Dwelling is a characteristic of being a safe person that we need to come face to face with in our lives.The second characteristic of a safe person is summed up in today's reading by the word, grace. Grace is giving someone something they do not deserve. Dwelling and grace are closely tied when you consider the definition of grace. Our giving time, extended time to those who need to see God's love is a grace beyond compare. They don't deserve our time. In fact, if you look at their actions, that might be steeped in sin, time is a gift that they really don't deserve.Yet, grace is the hallmark of a walk with God. We have done nothing to deserve all God has done for us. I don't care how holy you think you are, your holiness, right at this moment, deserves complete condemnation and abandonment. It is when we start to get into touch with how much grace we have been given that we realize the grace that we have to give to others.Grace gets exhibited as we dwell with others and accept them just where they are at. That means the person stuck in porn is just as worthy of our time and effort as the person set free from that addiction. It isn't the absent of sin that makes grace powerful. It is when we exhibit God's love in the middle of sinful behavior that makes grace what it is meant to be in our lives. I heard it once said something like the following, "Thank God for sin in my life. Without my sin I wouldn't be able to experience the amazing grace of God."As we dwell with one another we are extending grace. We are able to extend more and more grace as we stand with those we have been entrusted to do life, with in attitudes of acceptance and tolerance. Jesus is a "come as you are" kind of savior. He didn't come to dwell with the healed. He came to be with the sick. Are you willing to dwell in this kind of grace required atmosphere? That's what it takes to be a safe person in this world.The last characteristic of being a safe person from our reading is one we gravitate to way too quickly. The characteristic of truth plays a powerful role in being a safe person if truth is bathed in love.We are way to quick to jump to the truth when it comes to counseling one another. It is much easier to skip dwelling and grace, and just slam one another with truth. Where's the grace in that? Did God slam the woman at the well with the truth of her sorted living arrangements? Did Jesus condemn the woman caught in adultery for her sin? As Christ hung suffering and fading away on the cross, did He shove truth down his killer's mouths? Absolutely not. He dwelt with them. He got to know them. He spoke to their hurts. Then, at the God-directed time, He gave them a Heaven filled dose of truth that they could handle.That's what a safe person does. He waits on God to show him the exact right time to deliver truth. I have to tell you, that time is rarely at the first meeting. It isn't like those we are counseling don't know the truth. Don't you think that that person stuck in porn is filled with guilt and shame. Do they really need us to tell them they are in the wrong? God's truth is that, even in their current condition, they are loved, they are valued, they are wanted and they are needed.People don't really need to be told they are doing wrong. They know they are in the wrong. People need to be told they are considered blameless and without fault in the eyes of a loving God. Though the actions of our sinful ways don't deserve God's love, His grace trumps the truth that we all know to be all too true in our everyday lives. Our actions never seem to rise to the level of the love God has for us. Reminding each other of this truth does nothing but drive us deeper and deeper into our independent ways of applying coping mechanisms to deal with the pain of feeling separated from our God.We are safe when we tell people the whole truth. It is way to easy to show people they are in the wrong. This is just part of the truth. It is when we spend time being the hands and feet of God and loving those stuck in sinful patterns of life that our safety pays off in Kingdom building ways. The whole truth starts and ends with God loves us. The whole truth is based on the fact that God sees us as righteous even though our actions fly in the face of how we see ourselves. The whole truth has to be founded on our standing in Christ. Anything short and we are just kicking a person when they are down as we tell them to shape up and just stop sinning.I just took a moment and read back over everything I just presented in today's podcast. Wow, do I feel guilty! I have failed at dwelling, grace and telling the entire truth way too many times in the lives of those God has given me to be a part of walking this life out with. I have been and will continue to be an unsafe person. I want that to change. It changes as I realize that, I too, am a person in transition. God loves me just the way I am. Best news is that He loves me too much to keep me this way forever. His dwelling, His grace, His Truth is making my life different. I hope I'm becoming a more safe person to be around. I want that because I see how it is making my life better. I hope to be a part of God making the lives better for many others in my world as well.If you feel any guilt from this presentation, please forgive me. Remember that God loves you. He stands with you through thick and thin. He wants the best for you. Hold on to that truth and let His grace pour over you as He tarries with you at this point in your life. You aren't a victor because you are completely victorious over the shortfalls in your life. God sees you as a victor because you are His Child. Let that be the power that drives your being a safe person to others that need to know their standing before this God that made them victors as well.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Yesterday I introduced the concept of being a safe person. I have learned that safety happens as we allow counsel to be given from a place of dependency on God. Way too often we give counsel in a way that makes us dependent on meeting some internal or institutional need. It is when we strive to help others by changing them into preconceived forms that our safety in relationship should come into question.Today I want to talk more about what a safe person might look like. Please don't turn today's presentation into a formula. It is the application of formulas in relationships that make being a safe person go out the window.You have to remember that any person's greatest need is to be known and to be accepted in the knowledge of who they are. We often look at where a person is today and see the need for change in their lives so that that person can be more like what we think God wants our lives to be. I may be completely wrong in my analysis of this strategy, but I think this is such a damaging and shame based way of trying to relate to another human being.Approaching a person as thought they are a project is so demeaning. Making the foundation of a relationship be all about making someone different than what they are today is not a sound approach as far as I can see when it comes to how God relates to us. Through Jesus Christ, God sees us as perfect. He doesn't see any need for change, as far as I understand the gospel of Christ. Christ did it all. It isn't Jesus plus change that makes it so we can have an eternal relationship with God. It is Jesus alone!When we approach another person with the idea that we are there to help them become more Christ like, we defeat the purpose God has for us in this world. Even in the most sinful circumstances, God sees the sinner as perfect through the lens of Jesus Christ. God wants the best for us and that's why He has us on a process called sanctification. Of course we are going to change as we walk with God through this process. But, change isn't the goal. Relationship is. God knows that by being in relationship with Him, His love will make change something that will always be the case. He isn't interested in how fast we change. He desires that we get to know Him better. He is willing to get dirty and take a lot of time in the process of change that happens as we get to know Him.All too often we act exactly the opposite. Our safety in relationship comes into question as we try to short change the sanctification process. We are way to quick to give quick fix, Biblical solutions to common problems that plague many of us in the world today. More reading of the Bible, more prayer, more worship, more fellowship, more of any Christian discipline is definitely a help in the process of change. As important as these disciplines are, they are not formulas for change. Relationship is what empowers the application of disciplines. We become safe when our goal is relationship and not change.I came across an amazing book called "Safe People." Written by Drs. Henry Cluod & John Townsend, this book is the bible of what it takes to find and be a safe person. I highly recommend that you take a look at some of the resources Cloud and Townsend produce. It will change how you interact with others in your life.On their website, Cloud & Townsend have an article describing what it is to be a safe person. They use the following scripture as their foundation for how safety becomes something we all can exhibit in our relationships. Read with me now today's Bible verse.The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 (NIV)Cloud & Townsend point out that there are three elements of Christ's life shown in this verse that exemplify what it looks like to be a safe person in relationship. They are dwell, grace and truth. I'm going to borrow from their teaching on this subject to see how we are to apply these three characteristics with the hopes we too can be a safe person for others looking for answers in the world.The word dwell is such a powerful word in today's reading. Cloud and Townsend said that this word means to encamp. It is like when an army comes and besieges a city. They surround the city. They make it difficult for the inhabitants to come or go. Of course the army's goal is to take over the city. The key to this characteristic is that the army is willing and able to ride out the resistance for long periods of time. They are in it for the long haul. They are willing to sacrifice large chunks of their time, energy and resources to wear down the resistance that they come against.Where a conquering army is making this sacrifice in order to overtake their opponent, Christ dwells with us in this way to help us overcome all the coping mechanisms we lean upon to see our need for complete dependence on God Himself. Fact is, Christ dwelling with us might not be enough to overcome the power of our free will. God is willing to waste His time and resources on us hoping we will give in to Him. That's how we are to be as well.It isn't that those we have relationship with are to give into us. It is that we are to be the hands and feet of a loving God. We are to surround the hurting, not with quick fixes and blame, but with love and tolerance. This process takes time. We aren't in control of when the end will come. All we are called to do is to be willing to be in the process of dwelling with those God brings into our sphere of influence.This is the dirty and time consuming part of relationship that we are way to quick to avoid. It is much easier to just dump a few Bible verses on the hurting and send them on their way. Jesus doesn't do this. He tarries with them. He gets down in the mud with them and shows them His love. How do I know this? He has done this for me more than I can explain. He has done it for you as well. I think He is asking that we be safe people for those He loves so that, they too can experience an abiding, dwelling and lingering love that we have enjoyed in our lives as well.We aren't a dwelling kind of people. We are in constant motion. Other societies are amazed at our need for speed and movement. There is an African Proverb that really speaks to this condition in our society. It says, "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together."When it comes to being a safe person, we have to decide if we want speed or distance. If speed is what is needed, my advice is don't be in a position to counsel others. All you will do is to make more of a mess of a messy situation. I want to go far. I want my faith to be something that lasts. I want my walk with God to have long term implications in my life and in the lives of others. I think this happens as I change my need for speed for a desire for distance. Christ modeled distance as He chose to dwell for the long term with us.That's all the time we have for today. Tomorrow we will look at the other two characteristics of a safe person. For now, think about what it means to you that Christ dwell with you. Then take that feeling and turn it out towards others God brings into your path. I guaranteed the results won't be as quick as they would be with a quick fix, but the impact of dwelling with one another is what makes our victor status have the power to change the world around us today.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********I have had the opportunity to do a lot of study around the subject of counseling inside the Church. I believe there is an effective way to counsel and a means of providing counsel that causes victim thinking to rise up and take over. Unfortunately, too many of us have been trained and impacted by godly counsel that has done little when it comes to substantive change in who we are. It is when we come into situations where we are faced with counsel from people that I am seeing as being unsafe that trouble is bound to happen.When I classify those giving some counsel as being unsafe, I'm in no way accusing them of wrong doing. I have been an unsafe person in way too many situations where I was providing counsel for those having difficulties in their life. I pray that the fact that I was unsafe didn't contribute to the world's ability to make victimization happen in the lives of those I had the honor to counsel in the past.What makes a person unsafe when we are put in positions of offering counsel to others? I believe it is when we aren't fully aware of what is going on inside of us that our safety in any given situation can come into question. It is when we are driven by personal motives to offer counsel of any type that our ability to be objective can quickly go out the window. When it does, we become just as unsafe, in many ways, as the worst victimizer in the world today.I know that last statement is kind of harsh, but it is true. When people come to others for counsel, it is usually as a result of things not working out quite the way they wanted. Just the very fact things are so far down that one person would risk opening up to another with all this is going on is a sign that things must be pretty rough. In that vulnerable state, the down and out person needs counsel that comes from a place of objectivity. That only happens when the one giving counsel is fully aware of their own shortfalls and feelings. We become unsafe when we give advice based on motives we might have, even good motives that come from teachings straight from the Bible.Let me give you an example and show you what I mean. I have shared this scenario in previous podcasts but will give it to you again because it proves my point about the need for safe people.My wife is the main bread winner of our family. She has been for the better part of our 32 years of marriage. As a man, this can be a real challenge to who I am suppose to be. We didn't go down this path lightly. Barbara and I have spent many, many hours of prayer over this issue. God has continued to show us this is the path He has us on - so that's the direction we continued to go after.I wish I could tell you God had the last word on this subject. Time and time again, either Barbara or I would come to a place you might call a crisis of faith. We would doubt that we were doing things "right." It was during one of those times when I was left questioning God's plan when I confided in some godly people at my church about my situation.I hope you know how hard that was for me to do. To admit that I wasn't in a position to be able to support my growing family is not an easy thing for any man to do. By opening up, I was looking for affirmation that we were on the right path. Here's where the difference between safe and unsafe people really came into play.A few of the people I met with came back to me with truth from the Bible. They reminded me that God's plan was for man to be the provider. They were quick to remind me that my wife and I were going against God's plan by not having me be the bread winner of our family. It was alluded that God's blessing just couldn't remain on me and my family if I chose to ignore God's truth from His word.Now I was in a real quandary. Not only was I suffering a crisis of faith, apparently my decisions were dooming me and my family to a life absent of the blessing of God. Can you hear the victim thinking coming out of that last sentence? Where did that victim thinking come from? It came from the godly counsel of well meaning but unsafe people. What that counsel did for me was to drive me underground. It wasn't that I was looking for these people to simply confirm the direction my life took. It was that they seemed to be trying to fix me that really made them unsafe to me.Though their intentions were nothing but honorable, I felt shamed and isolated. They didn't take time to listen to how much Barbara and I had sought for God's direction over the years. They didn't stop to ask about my upbringing that might have played into the crisis of faith I was suffering. They seemed more interested in making sure God's word was upheld at the expense of my suffering soul. Counsel based strictly on the black and white of what God might be saying isn't a safe way of helping anyone when they need help. God doesn't seem to do things that way, why should we choose to counsel in ways that are unsafe?Because I walked away from those relationships thinking that it was unsafe to share challenging times with people, especially church people, I put myself exactly where Satan loves followers of Jesus to be. It is when we isolate that hope for change gets eliminated from our lives. Fact is that we need God in order for change to happen in our lives. God is a safe person all the time. Problem is that we also need people in order for change to happen. People aren't always all that safe. I think things need to change on the people side of the equation.Our Bible reading today highlights the need to be a safe person to those around us. Check it out with me now.Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived. Galatians 6:2-3 (MSG)It is when we share the burdens of others we complete Christ's law. It isn't when we fix a sinner's problem using Biblical truths that we fulfill the law of Christ. Of course, Christ wants us to be obedient to God's Word, but, action happens after safety is established. This is a pattern we see time and time again in God's word. I have failed to mirror this pattern too many times in my life. I'm willing to bet you have too.My friends who were using scripture to point out the obvious to me didn't do a thing to help carry this burden. They seemed more interested in getting credit for fixing my burden with God's Word. It isn't safe when we have motives that come from places other than God's leading. Our reading today seems to be saying that God is more interested in relationship than He is in results when it comes to obedience. I think that is how we, too should be focused as we are drawn into places where one person is sharing their burdens with another.This doesn't mean that we are to ignore sinful ways in a person's life. It does mean that we are to seek God in how we are to be a part of carrying that person's burden that might be driving them into sinful practices. For most of us in the Church, that is an assignment that is too messy and time consuming for us to consider. It is so much easier to just give godly advise and move on. Being a safe person isn't always nice and neat. Being safe takes time. That's why finding safe people is a challenge sometimes, even in the Church. That needs to change.That last statement isn't there to guilt you into anything. If I'm using guilt to get you to do something, I'm being unsafe once again. I'm a prime example that things can change. I'm one of those people who wanted to be the dispenser of quick fixes when it came to carrying another person's burdens. Fact is that I have too many burdens of my own to carry yours too! In the past, I was way too quick to give you fast answers to hard questions because I simply didn't have the time needed to really understand, or even care, what you were going through.That has changed in my life. It is my deep desire to be a safe person. Why? Because God has shown me how safe He has been in my slowness to change. That fact has altered my perspective on what love can really look like. That has changed my view of God and I want to be a part of helping others see God in that light more.All I know is that I need safe people in my life. God isn't enough. Shocking as that last statement is, I believe it is as godly as anything else I have presented in this podcast, including our Bible reading today. God isn't enough when it comes to our lives being different. We need each other. More than that, we need safe versions of each other.Stay with me over the next couple of days and learn more about what it means to be safe in another person's life. In the meantime, think about what a safe person would look like in your life. Rejoice for those people you find safe. Keep them close. Open up to them. Let them carry your burdens with you. That's the only way I know that can work to keep us empowered by our victor status in this world that wants us so over burdened that we are no earthly good. We change that possibility by finding and being safe people who are willing to let God flow through them in world changing ways.

Click here to link directly to the audio file.**********Yesterday we talked about the drive to be known. There is a deep seated need for us to be known and to be accepted in the knowledge of who we are. Problem is that we have been hurt by those around us when we have allowed others into our lives. Being known has driven many of us to rely on false identities in an effort to not be hurt by the people we come into contact with in this world.False identities are epitomized by the strategy of wearing masks when it comes to interacting with people around us. We create facades depending on our circumstances. We only let people see what we want them to know about us. We might have one mask for our family. When it comes to work, another mask is what we wear. Masks present an amazingly effective strategy for protecting ourselves from being rejected but they do little for our need to be known. The better we are at making our masks work for us the more alone we will feel. Some of the most lonely people I have ever met were those with the most, of what they would call, friends. Masks are great at generating quantity when it comes to friends, but masks do little to develop quality in those same friends. If you can relate to what I'm talking about here in any way, you can't blame those, so called, friends for how lonely you are. They are simply reacting to the mask you are wearing. You feel so alone because they really don't know who you are. The mask is blocking them from being able to see the real you. That loneliness you feel so profoundly is because the need to be known is being hindered by the masks you are wearing. Not only is loneliness a result of the strategy of relying on masks when it comes to identity, exhaustion is also the by product of wearing masks. It takes a lot of work to make masks do what we want them to do. This is especially the case when we are forced to wear multiple masks in this life. We have to keep straight all these false identities. The more elaborate our ruse when it comes to who we are the more exhausting the process of maintaining that ruse can be. That tiredness feeds the feeling of loneliness in ways that make victim thinking more and more of a possibility. Problem is that victim thinking makes us put on yet another mask to help protect us from the world really knowing how lonely and tired we are. I have experienced this case first hand. It was during those days when I was suffering form depression so badly that masks played an important role in my life. During those days, I didn't want people to know how depressed I was. Unfortunately for my family, that fact wasn't something that I could hide. For other, however, hide is what I did. The thought that I would be known as being depressed scared me so completely. People who could have been a big help to me simply weren't allowed in. My fear wouldn't let me let them in. I was afraid I would be seen in a light that my self-made identity just couldn't handle. I used masks to help portray an image of my life that was nothing more than a lie. Making that lie look like the truth nearly killed me. I was so tired from being depressed. Toss on top of that the work it took to make my mask work to protect me and you can see how tiredness really took over in my life. Worse than that, I felt so alone. Though I had many people around me I felt like I was completely shut out. My masks were isolating me. I have so many dear friends who would have given more than I could ever imagine where I able to have let them into my life at that time. My not knowing who I am allowed an ailment I was dealing with take me to places God never intended for my life.Today's reading is a little longer than I normally present. I think it speaks so directly to the issue of being known in ways that honor God. Read it with me now.If we die with him, we’ll live with him;If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;If we give up on him, he does not give up—    for there’s no way he can be false to himself.Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul. 2 Timothy 2:13-17 (MSG)Paul says that we are to "repeat these basis essentials over and over TO God's people." The essentials are nothing short of challenging to be sure. Paul is saying that we are to go great lengths when it comes to walking with this God. Perseverance, forgiveness, determination, even sacrifice are the essentials Paul says we are to repeat. I believe he is making this point because of what he quotes does as a result.It isn't about what these essentials does in the world that God sees as important. It is what He does that we need to be focused upon. Masks make focusing on God's actions so hard for us to do. They block our view of God in ways that make these essentials seem meaningless and cruel.Paul knew this to be the case. He wore many masks in his life. Those masks chipped away at his faith. His masks make it possible for Him to nit pick in pious ways that actually caused others to die. The work Paul was doing on behalf of God brought shame into his life in identity crushing ways. The poison in Paul's soul came as he allowed his actions to be driven by the masks He wore. Then Paul encounters God on a road to Damascus.The incredible light of who God was shone through Paul's mask so powerfully it actually blinded him. Though his physical blindness was healed by God, I believe a blindness remained that we all need in our lives. I believe that encounter with God make it possible for Paul to be blinded to the need for masks in his life. I think that Paul came into contact with the inventor and completer of his identity so completely that masks no longer played the prominent role in Paul's life they once did. I want that kind of blindness in my life - I hope you do as well.It is as we trust God in ways that allow us to remove the masks that we use to project an identity we think will be acceptable to those around us that our need to be known can start to be met. Deep down we want to be known but we are afraid. Being vulnerable has cost us in the past. Masks have been shown as absolutely necessary for the protection of who we are. Masks limit our growth. They hinder our ability to live in the power of who we are. It isn't until we are blinded by the light of who God is in our lives that masks will continue to damage us in identity backed ways. What masks are you wearing today? Are those masks doing for you what you really need? Isn't it time to let the light of God reveal who you are? Isn't it time to live in the power of that identity in ways that make this world hunger for the God that makes you who you are? May the fact that you are God's Child be all the identity you need to shed the masks that keep you from being known by those around you today.