God is already doing a new thing. He gives you the choice to perceive it and partner with Him. The partnership is about your perception. Perception is how you think about what you are thinking about. It is developed out of what you believe, past experiences, culture, environment, etc. To perceive what God is doing, our perception must be influenced by God. Fear, misunderstanding God’s heart, and victimhood mess with perception and prevent people from stepping into the new thing God is doing. God wants to transform our realities, but first He must change our perceptions, change the way we think so we can see what we’ve never seen before.
Victimhood–the state or perception of being a victim; a diagnosis, bankruptcy, disability, failure, abuse, etc. all can produce this perception. God wants to move us from victim to victor; no matter how hard you’ve been hit, winning is still possible with God. In John 5:1-9, Jesus has a showdown with the spirit of victimhood. Jesus asks the lobster-minded man with thirty-eight years of being a victim if he really wants to be healed. Jesus tests his mental state, his perception, to see if he will receive Jesus’s way in the wilderness. This “way” is an invitation to walk and it comes with necessary changes; it means a person will live a new way and do things they’ve never done before.
Jesus asks if the man wants what He is able to do. The man’s reply indicates that he’s been a victim so long that he doesn’t think he can be healed. Jesus simply replies “get up.” Jesus tells him the “way.” The man has the choice to obey or not…then faith rises up in the man and he likewise rises up and walks! Do you perceive what the Lord is doing? If you want to, you can be in on it. Now it springs up–get up!
At the cross Jesus experienced the greatest victimization. He came out wearing the Victor’s crown. Romans 8:11 the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you: if Jesus can get up, so can you. The same Spirit that told Jesus to get up out of the tomb on the third day is telling you to get up. Lord, we are perceiving the new thing that You are doing and we want to get up and walk in it!
