Photo Credit: El Centro Network
Are you living with an impossibility? An insurmountable challenge that you’re powerless to change? Maybe it's a life long dream that has never come true. Maybe it’s a chronic pain, maybe a wall you’ve slammed into in your career. Whatever it is, you’ve run out of options. No pastor, no professional, no friend—not even you, yourself—can bring the change that’s needed. You’re stuck. If you feel that nothing good has or will ever happen in your life you may be have a victim mentality. If you are a Christian you are a child of God and He says that you have the victory.
Romans 8:31-39 NIV What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (emphasis mine)
However the choice is yours. You can choose to live in victory, no matter the circumstances, or you can choose to live as the victim. The choice is yours.
The Victim Mentality
From Victim Or Victor—It's Your Choice Reading Plan by Scott Wilson in collaboration with El Centro Network
When we allow the vicious Victim Mentality to take over our mind, we only notice that things just keep getting bad and going wrong. We see bad things happening so many times, that we let negativity get in our head and highlight the difficult times. We have a Victim Mentality, like a doomsday mentality that no matter what happens, it's eventually going to go bad, even if it's good right now. Here's the worst thing about a victim’s mentality: it's so powerfully negative that it's like a wall that doesn't allow any positive thoughts to get in. Even if something positive happens, the victim’s mentality just says, “Ha, give it a minute… bad things are coming to steal that away. It’s just a matter of time; it always goes bad.”
The victim mentality will suck the life out of you, the joy out of you, the peace out of you, and the hope out of you. It will leave you in despair and in depression. Sometimes we see even Christians that have allowed the Victim Mentality to get in their head, and it has stolen their joy and their peace. These people whom you never thought would do bad things turn out to having affairs. You say "What?! How did you end up having an affair?" Depression and despair make you feel like everything goes bad and you feel like there's never going to be anything good. You kind of throw your hands up and say, “Well, forget it… there is no hope!” Then people move into substance abuse, self-medication, pornography and you can think, “Hey, maybe this is going to help me.”
What I'm talking about is that the Victim Mentality will take you down the road of self-destruction. That's why today I want to talk about how to destroy the Victim Mentality that wants to get in your head. Forget what I want; consider what God wants! He wants to rip out the victim mentality, those lies which the enemy wants you to believe and make you think doomsday negative victim thoughts. God wants you to be free from that. He does and you know what?
It is possible.
Philippians 4:12-13 NIV I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Romans 8:31-39 NIV What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (emphasis mine)
However the choice is yours. You can choose to live in victory, no matter the circumstances, or you can choose to live as the victim. The choice is yours.
The Victim Mentality
From Victim Or Victor—It's Your Choice Reading Plan by Scott Wilson in collaboration with El Centro Network
When we allow the vicious Victim Mentality to take over our mind, we only notice that things just keep getting bad and going wrong. We see bad things happening so many times, that we let negativity get in our head and highlight the difficult times. We have a Victim Mentality, like a doomsday mentality that no matter what happens, it's eventually going to go bad, even if it's good right now. Here's the worst thing about a victim’s mentality: it's so powerfully negative that it's like a wall that doesn't allow any positive thoughts to get in. Even if something positive happens, the victim’s mentality just says, “Ha, give it a minute… bad things are coming to steal that away. It’s just a matter of time; it always goes bad.”
The victim mentality will suck the life out of you, the joy out of you, the peace out of you, and the hope out of you. It will leave you in despair and in depression. Sometimes we see even Christians that have allowed the Victim Mentality to get in their head, and it has stolen their joy and their peace. These people whom you never thought would do bad things turn out to having affairs. You say "What?! How did you end up having an affair?" Depression and despair make you feel like everything goes bad and you feel like there's never going to be anything good. You kind of throw your hands up and say, “Well, forget it… there is no hope!” Then people move into substance abuse, self-medication, pornography and you can think, “Hey, maybe this is going to help me.”
What I'm talking about is that the Victim Mentality will take you down the road of self-destruction. That's why today I want to talk about how to destroy the Victim Mentality that wants to get in your head. Forget what I want; consider what God wants! He wants to rip out the victim mentality, those lies which the enemy wants you to believe and make you think doomsday negative victim thoughts. God wants you to be free from that. He does and you know what?
It is possible.
Philippians 4:12-13 NIV I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Xan Griffin www.unsplash.com
Good News
If you have a victim mentality I’ve got great news.
The answer is truth
If You Want to Change, Then Face the Truth
By Rick Warren
“You have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him”(Ephesians 4:21 NLT).
The secret to personal change is not willpower. The secret is to know and face the truth. You must know and face the truth about yourself and your nature if you want to change.
Nothing will change in your life until you know and face the truth about your weaknesses, your relationships, your successes and failures, and your past and future.
Nothing changes until you know and face the truth. And that truth is found in Jesus Christ.
Why is it necessary to learn the truth before anything can change in your life? Here’s why: Behind every self-defeating habit in your life is a lie that you believe. If you get in debt, it’s because you believed some lies like “I can spend and get away with it” or “I can always pay it back.” You might have overestimated how much you were going to make, or you believed the lie that you needed a much bigger house.
But do you? Are you sure it’s the truth? Can you prove it’s the truth? Are you absolutely certain that what you believe you’ve said about your finances is true?
What about your relationships? What about the things you say to yourself about yourself? Is the way you think about your past or about some event the truth, or is the truth what God says about it?
The Bible teaches that personal change starts with truth. It is the truth that sets you free. Who is the truth? It’s Jesus, and because Jesus is the truth, he will always tell you the truth. His word is the truth.
John 8:31-32 NIV To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
The Bible is his Word, and that means the Bible is truth.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
What you hear on television or read in books isn’t always going to help you, because it’s not always the truth. Have you learned that? But what God tells you is always going to be the truth. God’s Word shows you how to get back to the life you were created to live, and then it shows you how to stay on God’s path.
This is why it is so important for you to have a daily quiet time in the Word of God. Nothing will change until you get the truth into your heart. As long as you build your life on a foundation of lies, misconceptions, deceptions, or half-truths, you will never change. But when you face the truth and respond to the truth, you will begin to see change in your life.
Photo Credit: Creative Commons - Peach Church
Change The Way You Think
The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel determines the way you act. If you want to change the way you act, start by changing the way you think. In addition, if you want to change the way you feel, you must start with the way you think. You can’t fight your way into a feeling. You must change the way you think about your spouse, about your kids, about the rest of your family. That will change the way you feel, which will then change the way you act. The Bible says,
Ephesians 4:20-24 NIV That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (emphasis mine)
The renewal of your mind is related to the word “repentance.” I know repentance is a dirty word for a lot of people. They think it means something bad, something they don’t really want to do, something painful. They think of a guy standing on a street corner with a sign that says, “Repent! The world’s about to end!”
Repentance is about more than changing your behavior. It is about changing your mind and learning to think differently. “Repent” simply means to make a mental U-turn.
You turn from guilt to forgiveness. You turn from frustration to freedom, from darkness to light, from hatred and bitterness to love.
You may also need to change the way you think about God. He’s not mad at you; he’s mad about you! You’re deeply flawed, but you’re deeply loved.
Start with your mind, and change the way you think about your relationships, the economy, the world, and your past, present, and future.
Romans 12:2 NIV Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Philippians 4:8 NIV Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (emphasis mine)
Too often our thoughts take on a life of their own, wandering freely and sometimes landing in dark places. Changing the way you think will then affect your emotions and your behavior. If that sounds daunting or even impossible, remember that when God calls us to do something, He enables us to do it.
Philippians 4:12-13 NIV I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
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