You're called not to be a victim. You're called to be a victor, a winner, a conqueror in life! It is hardwired into you. That's why when you're not winning, when you have a losing mentality, you are miserable. It is impossible to have a victim mentality, a losing mentality and be a happy person. You cannot because you're malfunctioning. You're operating against how you're designed. You are designed - the Bible says Jesus spoke to unsaved people, said the kingdom of heaven is within you. The principles and the values and lifestyle of the kingdom are hardwired in. When you violate them you get trouble - but when you walk in them things naturally just seem to flow much better, so you're made - it says the first one, you're created to win. Tell someone, you're born to win! [You're born to win!] You were born to win. You say well how come I'm losing so much and I'm such a failure? Well that's a little bit of a challenge isn't it aye? Well it's because of how you think.
Okay, here's the second thing and we'll read it in Genesis 2:15-16. Now the Lord took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord commanded the man, of every tree of the garden you may eat freely; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat you shall surely die. Now here's the second thing. You were created with the capacity to choose. You were given a free will to choose. You've got to know that. You were created to choose. God wanted a relationship with man. He had to give him free will to choose. You were created with capacity to choose. You can always make choices. You can always make choices. You have power to make decisions; you can make good decisions, you can make bad decisions, but never say you had no power to choose. No choice, no decision is a choice. No decision is a choice to give up your right to do something and to allow things to cruise along.
Everyone, no matter what situation they're in, there are certain areas of choice available to you. So God's made you with the power of choice. Now we always have choices; sometimes they're difficult because they require us to change. Some choices are difficult, see? Now you can't choose about family relationships, but you can choose how you will participate in them. You can't choose your family of origin, you can't choose your father and mother, can't choose your children usually. You just can't - but you can choose how you function and relate to them. Don't blame your parents, don't blame your kids, make better choices! Victim blaming people as we'll see in a moment is all part of this whole culture of victim mentality. It's not my fault! Listen, you're carrying on like a victim. Don't you know you have the power of choice? Why have you given your choices up?
Why have you resigned from influencing what's there? You've got to think about this see? So you can choose to stop being a victim of your past. You can change your life by changing your choices. You can change your life by changing your choices. I love it in the pre-school what they do. They're just so great. When the kids are young, very, very young, they teach them was that a good choice or a bad choice? They're getting the child to think that they make good choices and bad choices. Now of course coming on from that is every choice has consequences. You can make the choice but you can't choose the consequences. Now it's a very, very simple thing that one isn't it aye? Every choice has a consequence. So you notice here then, here's the third thing then, Genesis 3. We'll pick this next one up, verse 9.
Now the Lord God called Adam and said where are you? And he said I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. And the Lord said who told you you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you should not eat? The man said don't look at me, not my fault. It's that woman You gave me! There's a victim. That's where it first appears in the Bible, the first victim statement - not my fault! It's that woman You gave me - and notice who gave her. Do you hear me asking for one? It was Your idea. Don't - speak to the hand, I'm you know, nothing to do with me. So there it is then, so all choices have consequences. Notice God said to Adam here's all the trees in the garden. There's - look at them, there's heaps of them! Oh, trees as far as you can see. Now see that one there, now that one you don't eat of that one okay, because if you eat that one then you die.