The enemy will tell you that your best days are behind you. He’ll speak to the unmet desires of your heart and try to steal your hope. That’s why we must be careful what we allow our minds to meditate on. Our thoughts shape our words, and our words shape our actions. When we give too much attention to our Pain, it’s easy to fall into the trap of a victim mentality. A victim mentality is a poisonous way of thinking that breeds discouragement, resignation, and hopelessness. It’s a dangerous mindset because it keeps us from taking responsibility for our lives and choices. It’s also a breeding ground for resentment, which is like spiritual cancer.
So, how do we overcome a victim mentality?
Remember what Christ did for us when He came to us as "the Word made flesh, tabernacled among us."
Israel is celebrating its Festival of Sukkot, the third holiest feast day of this new year, 5783. And in so doing, we learn again the heart of God and see His handiwork in our salvation. His promises to us do not exclude us from action; they demand our action. And, it is in our actions that our attitude of expectation is proven. Our attitude of expectation should excite watchfulness, watchfulness should produce prayer, and prayer should produce holiness.
Nothing delights the soul like hearing others praising God, the God we love the most. Worship gratifies our hearts and satisfies our need for community. Nothing quickens us to the need of others, and there’s nothing that prompts our souls to reach for those who are lost and without God, then publicly worship with one another.
To Neglect Public Worship with your brothers & sisters exposes you to the most egregious, most terrifying, & the most severe of punishments. The Concept of “You Shall Go Up” in the Feast of Tabernacles is so engrained into the Psyche & Soul of God’s People that the writer of Hebrews would later say, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love & to good works; Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:24-25
Both Zechariah & Haggai were actively urging all Jews, on their return from Captivity, to rebuild the Temple because they said, “Worship is both a Duty & a Privilege.” Second, our Worship is founded on the relationship to which we stand in God.
We worship Him Dutifully because He is our Creator, our Preserver, our Benefactor, our Father, and second, we worship Him as Privileged People because our hearts declare with King David, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, & that will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” Psa. 27:4
