On to War!!

Picture this scenario:

You wake up from a long, hard sleep and find yourself laying on the floor in a prison cell that resembles a dungeon. You realize that you’re shivering and every breath releases a cloud of vapor into the air while the darkness surrounding you starts to feel heavy on your shoulders. You have no idea where you are or how you got there. As your eyes begin to adjust you look around franticly but all you see are old, charred cement walls and a bolted shut door in the corner. A shiver runs down your spine and sends chills through you that penetrate to the bone. A sweat breaks out and you start pacing, and panting, trying to find a way out. Panic strikes you to your very core as the bitter realization hits you…you’re entirely alone with no hope of escape.  

Can you imagine what emotions you would start to have at this point? You’d probably feel helpless, confused, a loss of control, angry, depressed. The following, “Why am I here?”, “What did I do to deserve this?”, “Why is this happening to me?”, “Is this forever?”, “I give up.”, and “There’s no hope.” would probably be more than frequent thoughts running through your mind and before long you would find yourself held captive to yourself in a self-destructive pattern of negative thinking with the spirit of apathy creeping into your life.

How many times do we feel this in our own day-to-day lives? How many times do those same thoughts and emotions affect our daily attitude and actions and how we view ourselves and those around us? As we go through this thing called life, it’s no doubt that there always seems to be something trying to knock us down. Whether it’s getting fired from a job, a best friend stabbing you in the back, an offense, a sickness, a divorce or even a death, many times it seems like its one thing after another. We may also feel we are being held captive to certain thoughts, emotions, actions or behaviors with no means of escape and no hope of ever changing.

Because of everything we live through and experience, we get caught as the victim in many situations, most of the time without choice. Resulting, many people come to have a “victim’s mentality”.

Let me share some of my story with you. In about 2 months I will be 20 years old (crazy!). Throughout this time I’ve lived through a divorce, death of a sibling, depression, and that’s not even the beginning of it. It’s almost reasonable that I would consider myself a victim, right? A victim of life, a victim of reason, a victim of purpose. I never really thought I was at fault; instead I just blamed everything on everyone else, mostly unintentionally. It wasn’t until the past couple of years I realized I had a victim’s mentality and it wasn’t the right mindset to have. Why? It’s like John W. Gardner says, “Self-pity is easily the most destructive of the nonpharmaceutical narcotics; it is addictive, gives momentary pleasure and separates the victim from reality.”  

The dictionary states that a victim is a person who suffers from destructive or injurious action or agency, a person who is deceived or cheated, as by his or her own emotions or ignorance, by the dishonesty of others, or by some impersonal agency. Another definition is an unfortunate person who suffers from some adverse (difficult) circumstance.

So a person with a victim’s mentality is in the constant state of thinking they live unpleasant lives and their circumstances are never ending and that all the future holds is anguish and tension that will never cease. They blame all of their problems, all of their strife’s and troubles that is going on in their world on others. They usually make little or no effort to change themselves but are quick to judge how others should live their lives to better their situation. Do you know anyone like this? Can you honestly say whether or not you have fallen prey to this appealing yet dangerous cycle? As time passes by the person with the victim’s mentality actually becomes a victim themselves because they start becoming bitter, angry, unforgiving, unable to move forward, depressed and many begin developing a heart of stone whose love has grown cold.

 For the longest time I didn’t really know how to get past this. How was I supposed to grow, how was I supposed to live, not as a victim, but as a victor?

The answer was laid right before me:

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”

1 Corinthians 15:57

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Romans 8:37

In ALL things we already have victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. We have victory in our families, in our jobs, in our relationships, in our problems, in our day-to-day lives. How? Because in this seemingly never-ending battle between good and evil, God and Satan, we already know who wins…God! And if you have given your life to Christ you become a child of God and as children of God (John 1:12, Galatians 3:26), everything that belongs to Him belongs to us. So this means that the victory is ours as well! How exciting is that?!

An old hymn comes to mind when I think about our victory in Christ. In fact, the title is Victory in Jesus! Here’s the chorus:

O victory in Jesus
My Savior, forever
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory
Beneath the cleansing flood

When Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for us, he triumphed over sin and over the Devil. When we accept Christ into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, we have a hope and a peace in us that was inexistent before. He gives us a peace and a joy that, despite any situation we could ever go through, we have a knowing and an understanding that everything with work out for our good (Roman 8:28).

As Christians, we are called to live to a higher standard. We are also called to live by example because, whether we know it or not, people are constantly watching us. With this being said, live a life that reflects Christ and what he’s done in your life. Has he saved you or not? Has he given you freedom or not? Has he done anything in your life? If so, then show it! In the same way, live lives filled with victory!

Check out these things that I believe will help you in your path to living more of a victorious life:

·         Be grateful for things in your life.

o   Think and reflect on all the blessings in your life that you’ve been given. Instead of concentrating on things that you wish could be different, wish you could change or redo, the negative aspects, etc. think of the opposite. Have an optimistic attitude about your life and those around you. I promise you that when you start looking at the glass as being half full and when you strive to be in a constant state of thankfulness, things will start changing for you.

·         Think someone has it worse and is there a hidden opportunity in this.

o   Piggybacking on the point above, remember this: despite what you may believe, there are people in this world who have it worse than you do so always be thankful for the life you’ve been given. Compare your situation to the worst possible circumstance you can think of and be thankful it’s not you without looking down on those individuals. With that in mind, always be keeping people around you and in the world in prayer because you never know what hand they’ve been dealt.  

o   Also, there may be a hidden opportunity in this. Maybe a new friendship or a situation that requires you to grow in leadership and compassion. You may end up helping a person in need or showing someone the love of Christ. Someone may look into your situation and admire the strength you’re displaying. In every situation ask God, “Lord, what can I learn from this? What can I get out of this? How can You use me in this? How can I glorify You?” and watch Him answer your prayers.

·         Think more about how to solve a problem than focusing on why you’re in it.

o   If you noticed that a house was on fire and there was a child screaming for help inside, what would you do first: wonder how you can get that child out of there or question why the house was on fire in the first place? Your natural reaction should, hopefully, be to rescue that little kid. Same with your circumstances and things you go through in your life. Instead of always wondering why that happened or why this is taking place think about how you can get through it, how you can better the situation, and work to the best of your ability to see it happen. This doesn’t always mean everything will work out the way you planned but you can be sure that God’s hand is on your life and He is constantly watching over you.

I pray that in reading this it has helped you in some way or another. I pray that you will start or continue to live a life of VICTORY, not defeat. I pray strength and wisdom in your life and that you will be a lamp on a hill and salt to this earth. Never give up, never stop fighting! Remember, Christ has already won the battle! :)