Breaking Free from Victimization
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007By Alice Smith
Whether it’s battery, betrayal, accident prone, dishonor, injustice, poverty, abandonment; or one of the various forms of sexual abuse; abuse is abuse. And it’s a sin against the victim. But first and foremost it is a sin against God. Why? For two reasons …
First, because God has created each of us in His own image. The victimized person bears the image of God and has been created to share the love of God and fulfill the purposes of God.
Second, because God uniquely identifies with us (His creation). Jesus is acquainted with our grief. He hurts when we hurt. And Jesus said, "if you do it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me" (Matt. 25:40).
Since Satan victimized Adam and Eve in the garden, and where God had given them dominion over the earth, (see Gen. 1:28) sinful people have sought to dominate others. As they have, Satan and his demons have enabled and empowered their lawless abuse.
Man’s basic nature is to tear down, dominate, and exploit. Man left to his lower nature leans toward manipulation and control. God never intended for man to rule man. God would rule man. The kingdom authority He authorized man to exercise was for the purpose of restoring, building up, and planting.
We were to live as godly influences on the earth, as kings and priests. "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21) so "go ye therefore into all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I will be with you always" (Matt. 28:19-20).
A believer’s kingdom authority is the antithesis of victimization. In victimization, evil people and demons try to damage others to keep them trapped in a cycle of despair so they will never step into their destiny.
God’s design is to make you dangerous against the kingdom of darkness. God’s way is to use us to build-up, restore and speak life into situations through acts of righteousness. We are to be life-changers so God’s kingdom authority can come on earth as it is in heaven. That’s His plan for you. No reason to be discouraged.
There have been many influential men and women who’ve suffered through traumatic situations, and have risen above them. If you press forward, you too can defy the hindrances that affect your destiny.
Time-management expert and author Ted Engstrom says, "Cripple him, and you have a Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have a John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge, and you have a George Washington. Raise him in abject poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Strike him down in infantile paralysis, and he becomes Franklin Roosevelt. Deafen him, and you have a Ludwig van Beethoven. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, a Marian Anderson, a George Washington Carver… Call him a slow learner; "retarded," and write him off an uneducable, and you have an "
Albert Einstein."