You might have read that title and assumed this would be a Joel Osteen highlight reel. I can assure you it is not.

One of the greatest hurdles to growth in life is choosing to believe you are a victim. This is not to say people have not been victimized by others in the least. However, in the case of spiritual growth or change, many of us (myself included) have a victim mentality. In people with OCD, this is amplified.

Can you relate to the following:

• “I wish God would come down and just tell me exactly what I need to do.”
• “When God finally intervenes and changes this situation, then I’ll be okay.”
• “I can’t move forward until I feel ready.”

I’m assuming many of us feel that way at least some of the time. No judgment. I feel the same way, too. But what if there was something better for us?

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I’m currently reading one of my favorite books on spiritual growth, The Green Letters.

I was really digging the content, until I read what I presumed to be the Prosperity Gospel anthem. The author, Miles Stanford, quotes Dr. S.D. Gordon as he writes

“When you are in the thick of the fight, when you are the object of attack, plead less and claim more, on the ground of the blood of the Lord Jesus, I do not mean, ask God to give you victory, but claim His victory, to overshadow you.”

The Complete Green Letters

I almost threw up in my mouth as I pictured the Creflo Dollars of the world erupting into thunderous applause as their bank accounts soared to new heights by way of the giving plate. Woof.

Then it dawned on me. The author was not prescribing a “name it and claim it” method of spirituality. Far from it! Rather he was describing God’s way of spiritual growth. Namely, taking my stand on what God has already declared to be true of me. He wasn’t encouraging baseless claims on material goods. He was highlighting the right I have to everything God has given me. My problem, according to Stanford and Gordon is not that I am not doing enough. Rather, it is that I don’t believe what God has declared true of me.

Think of it this way….

Imagine you are spending time with your parents for your birthday. They give you several gifts, including a gift card to Amazon. You receive your Bezos bucks with gratitude and proceed scrolling through random Amazon items looking for something to purchase. You finally find what you are looking for and want to buy it. Instead of buying the gift however, you turn to your parents and ask them for a gift card to buy the gift…

What’s the problem here?

YOU ALREADY HAVE THE GIFT CARD. YOU DON’T NEED THEM TO GIVE YOU WHAT THEY ALREADY GAVE YOU.

Sadly, many of us treat God in this way! We ask, we plead, we beg for Him to give us peace, grace, forgiveness, joy, freedom. All the while, Ephesians 1:3 declares that He has already “given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.” Peter echoes this when he writes that God has already given us “everything we need for life and godliness.” If there was anything I was still in need of in regard to spiritual growth, that verse would be a lie. My problem is not that I don’t have what I need, it’s that I don’t believe I already have it in Christ!

(I can hear some of us with OCD say, “Yeah, that’s true for some people, but I don’t even know if I am a Christian. I don’t even know how to believe.” You need to treat that as OCD and act as if you are and you do. That is a step of real faith for you.)

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When I screw up, as I often do, my tendency is to want to do something to appease God, or take some time away from Him to give Him space to cool down. As if he didn’t know what I was going to do already! This communicates several things about my belief/misbelief, but one thing it really communicates is that I don’t trust Jesus’ forgiveness! When the author of Hebrews declares that I can go boldly before God with confidence in Christ, he meant it! The basis for this access is not that I performed adequately…I didn’t. It’s not that I have given God enough cool down time…He doesn’t need it. It is only and always that Jesus has already forgiven me for what I have done and will do.

My role is not to ask for forgiveness. My role is to thank Him for already forgiving me, allowing the Holy Spirit to work the experience of forgiveness into my experience later. The pressure is off of me to feel forgiven. I just need to trust the infinite forgiveness in Christ and move forward.

I’d encourage you to ask God to reveal ways in which you are asking for things he has already provided. No need to beat yourself up! Instead, start thanking God for the promises and the blessings He has declared to have given you!