I am on an email list for Lana Vawser who has a prophetic ministry in Australia. Almost every time I receive a prophetic email from her it speaks directly into my life about where I have been and where I am now and where I am headed spiritually in the future.

Even though she has hundreds of followers, her emails often address issues I am facing at the moment.  She recently sent out a prophetic word about an issue that has controlled my life for many years:

“The enemy has tried so hard to place false lenses on you in your battles and attempt to cage you in fear …

“You see not through eyes of defeat, you see not through eyes of a victim mentality, you see not through eyes of fear, but you are now arising and seeing with greater clarity and vision through My eyes.  The enemy has tried so hard to place false lenses on you in your battles and attempt to cage you in fear, but now you are arising in greater boldness, courage and the breaker anointing to usher in.”

She was addressing the “victim mentality” that cages us in fear, doubt and unbelief about ourselves. Lana encouraged us to put on glasses with the lens of truth and remove the false lenses from our past that reflect fear and doubt.  When we do that everything changes.

How do you know when you are operating in a “victim mentality?”

One of the indications is when we lock ourselves into a survivor mode and like a caged animal act out of fear, because everything in the present is filtered through what happened in the past.

Because of this, you expect the worst in every situation. This is a tell tale sign of a victim mentality because the fear lens not only distorts how we feel about ourselves, it also causes us to question the motives of others we interact with.

The “victim mentality” changes the way we see life. Even good things get bent out of shape when we are wearing this lens of fear.

The most innocent comments or interactions become about us. Our fears and insecurities rise to the surface and distort our perception of what is really taking place.

What is your identity anchored to?

Is your identity anchored to everything bad that happened to you in the past?

Are you still playing in the mud of unbelief, fear and doubt?

Or are you going to allow Jesus to heal your past hurts, change your perceptions and remove your fears about who you are? Are you willing to shake off the past experiences that have chained you to the ground and keep pulling you back into dark places.

Or perhaps, you don’t fully understand your value as a child of God.  Possibly, there is a journey to emotional healing that needs to take place.

One Christian therapist said that we are only as sick as our biggest secrets. Are there things that you are afraid to share with anyone? If so, then they may have a hold on you.

The Apostle James tells us:

¹⁶ Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16 King James)

If we have secrets, they function as chains holding us back and James says confess them to others to start our journey to healing.

If we are not willing to be 100% honest about the bad and even dark events of our past we will not heal and become fully engaged in a relationship with our Heavenly Father.

The chains of the past will keep us imprisoned until we choose to break the power of  shame, guilt and fear that keeps us anchored to our past.

Break the chains!