Victim or Victor

When by God's grace we are regenerated, we receive a new self-image. He replaces self-hate with self-love. He replaces self-doubt with self-esteem. He replaces bitterness and hatred with compassion.  

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view (2 Cor 5:16)  

Dragging others down with us is one major way we deal with our own inferiority feelings. To have victory we must get to the place where we no longer let others drag us down. If approval is still withheld, let Christ bear your burden. Abandon your bitterness against the one who withholds his approval.  

If you feel like you’ve been deliberately cut back or pinched off, or experienced some seasonal winter-kill, then you have the option of choosing to believe for a coming season of fruitfulness in those very same areas. It is your choice, and it won't happen until you choose it.  

Come on man! We all know that it never helps to allow these experiences to mold us into the role and identity of ‘the victim’. It is true that sometimes we are victimized, there is no reason to deny this. But we have a choice as to whether it will be temporary or if it will become our identity. We should be able to say, “I was the victim of blah blah blah….", "But now I’m a specialist in blah blah blah."  

A victim mentality will keep you bound to that trauma or frustration and will sabotage any hopes or attempts to prosper. A victim mentality is resignation to weakness and powerlessness, and it becomes ones 'modus operandi'. It automatically disqualifies you and dictates what you will or won't do.  

While it only feels like a weakness, a victim mentality is so much more - it is actually a powerful mechanism that blocks, deprives and binds. It steals strength. This is where Satan wants you to be. The GOOD NEWS is that the very area in which you were wronged can become a calling and destiny.  

There is strength and empowerment to be found when you have been wronged. There is a more true ministry in righteousness.  

The truth is that we are all creative. We all have memories. We can all love. We can all imagine. We can all be brave. We can all communicate thoughts. We can all express our emotions. We all have some measure of confidence. We can all exercise self-control. We can all think abstractly. We can all use language. We can all be a friend. We can all plan ahead. We all have bodies that heal. We all have some sense of rhythm. We can all appreciate some form of art. We can all do math in our head.  

We can all do at least some of all things - you know you can!  

Given that we’re all running on a small fraction of our mental capacity, it’s only logical that whatever we need more of can be located, dialed up, intended, cultivated, commissioned and encouraged to excel. Because God placed that deposit in us: His image, including whatever you needed when that crisis came, waylaid you and left you feeling like a victim. You just weren’t in touch with it at that time.  

The image of God, Christ in you, the mind of Christ, whatever term you want to use, the Lord has gifted you with the antidote you need. You need to intercept that faulty circuit in your victim mentality – the self-fulfilling belief/feeling that came out of a bad situation in which you were victimized and cancel it by tapping into your God-given resources.  

Let peace of Christ be the arbiter.  

The challenge is whether you identify yourself as the victim, or the victimizer - or admitting it. How can you see what is in front of you if you fail to recognize what is inside of you? When our own hearts condemn us, there is no power in prayer, no power in preaching. We are just "sounding brass or a clanging symbol" (1 Cor 13:1).  

It is Paul’s encouragement to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)  

To be a victim or the victor - it is your choice. God is waiting and He will never give up on you! He loves you that much.