How to Shift from being a Victim to a Victor
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How to Shift from being a Victim to a Victor

By May 13, 2021September 5th, 20233 Comments

You want to overcome, but you feel like you just can’t get a break. You feel like all of hell just won’t stop harassing you, and if you are being honest with yourself, you feel like a victim most of the time. That’s how I felt most of my life, especially when I met today’s guest author Tom Cole.

He was one of the first people to ever show me that just maybe, I am a victor in Christ.

I’ll never forget the night I smashed my phone in a field. Tears were streaming as I let out a scream that the entire campus could hear. Moment’s later, I looked up to see the silhouette of Tom, racing through the dark field towards me. I didn’t even try to put myself together.

Tom embraced me with the most incredible Father hug I have ever felt. The Father heart of God rushed over me like never before.

“I came the moment I heard you.” He said.

That moment changed the course of my life.

I was supposed to be the staff, helping Tom and Donna minister during their weekend Pure Heart Seminar. But as they spoke, it became evident, very fast, that this seminar wasn’t just for the students but also the staff.

The more they taught about the Heart of God, the more my heart began to burn. God wanted to deal with the pain I had stuffed in my heart for a decade. The only problem was I didn’t want to deal with it.

Wanting to escape the moment, I ran out the room’s back door into the neighboring field. I made it halfway across the field before I broke, collapsing to the ground and screaming and smashing my phone on a nearby rock.

Tom and Donna stayed and ministered to me for hours. The freedom I gained, the healing I experienced, and the love of God I encountered through their ministry forever marked me.

Ten Years later, I still teach their curriculum to my students. Because of their teaching, we have seen students set free from suicide, depression, and even homosexuality. We have seen families restored, salvations occur, and physical healing in students’ bodies.

My life, and the lives of all I now minister to, will forever be linked to the international ministry of Tom and Donna Cole.

I was so blessed when Tom agreed to write a post for the Fireplace Faith Audience, because I know what they carry can dramatically shift the course of lives.

Today Tom is sharing one of his core messages, our identity as Victors in Christ. This single mindset shift from victim to Victor changed my life, and I know it can transform yours as well.

I John 5:4-5 – Everyone that has been fathered by God overcomes the corrupt world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. Who is the person conquering the world? It is the one who truly trusts that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus the Anointed is the One who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.

We are victorious.

That is a fact, whether we realize it or not. We are the family of God. Again, we are His children whether we recognize it or not.

The greatest strategy of the enemy is to get us to question whose we are and who we are.
If Satan can get us to stay in a place of a shattered identity, then he will keep us from all that God has for us and from living a victorious, love-filled life.
So how is it that the enemy has been so successful in blinding the eyes of God’s children?
We live in a world where people are given free will to choose God and His love. They are also able to choose to use their wills to hurt themselves and others.
This leaves each of us in a position to be sinned against. Since the fall all families have suffered from the effects of sin. All too often our homes are not safe places. Instead, they are the root of pain and sorrow.
In addition, we are wounded by friends and strangers; classmates and teachers. Opportunities for hurt and offense abound in this life. Jesus gave us this promise (which you will not see on a refrigerator magnet or cross-stitched and framed in the living room) in John 16:33-33
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
Jesus warns us that we will have many opportunities to be hurt and wounded by others. Each of us has a choice as to how we will respond to being wounded.
The teachings of Christ show us to not only forgive the one who has wounded us but to bless them as well. This goes against fallen human nature and against many cultural norms.
When we hold a debt against another and refuse to forgive and release them from the debt completely, we keep ourselves imprisoned. We become victims.
Victimization can be personal, cultural, racial, or national in focus. All of this leaves us in a place of surrendering our wills and our hearts to be held captive.
We don’t ignore the wrongs done to us. We need to bring the sins done against us, and the grief and pain we feel as a result of those wrongs, and place them into the wounded body of Christ. He faithfully takes those sins into Himself and heals our broken hearts.
Once we are forgiven, we ask for the grace to forgive those who have wounded us. When we forgive, we lay that person’s sins at the feet of Jesus and leave all judgment in His hands. This will bring us the freedom we so long for.
I have seen victimization cripple many people throughout the years. I have seen the devastation it has caused people groups, cultures, and individuals. As believers, we are free to stand knowing that we have been set free from victimization and walk into the victory that Christ has paid for by His birth, death, and resurrection.

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Our Identity

How we identify ourselves will determine how we respond to the world around us.
Paul the Apostle tells us in Romans 12:2 –
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind”
We are changed through the renewing of our minds to the eternal truths of God’s word. If we believe ourselves to be victims, then we will live life with a dreadful expectation of being used and abused.
We will see every circumstance as an opportunity to reinforce the belief that our lives are nothing but pain and abuse. Remember that Jesus promised us that we would have difficulty in this life. This is true of every one of us, not just some of us.
But we are not playthings of the evil circumstances of life. We are triumphant sons and daughters. Christ has purchased our freedom and victory. We need to believe and walk in these time-tested truths. Here are a few scriptures to meditate on in the days ahead:
II Corinthians 2:14 – Yet I am so thankful to God, who always marches us to victory under the banner of the Anointed One; and through us He spreads the beautiful fragrance of His knowledge to every corner of the earth.
1 Corinthians 15:57 – But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:37-39 – But no matter what comes, we will always taste victory through Him who loved us. For I have every confidence that nothing—not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the present, the future, spiritual powers, height, depth, nor any created thing—can come between us and the love of God revealed in the Anointed, Jesus our Lord.
I John 5:4 – for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith
The victory is in Him. Not in our strength, ability, or persistence. This is a humbling reality for some. But true freedom will come through His finished work on the Cross and through His resurrection.
The battle for truth begins in our minds. We must believe that we are His sons and daughters. That we are loved with an everlasting love. That we already have the victory. That we are victors, not victims!

Tom and Donna Cole are the co-directors of Pure Heart Ministries International.

They are parents to four incredible children and five wonderful grandchildren. They have shared the message of God’s transforming love in over 43 nations.

Get their life-changing book “Pure Heart”

Get in Contact with their Ministry

 

Taylor Jensen

Author Taylor Jensen

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