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Welcome to season seven of Posture.

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We're going to just jump right into the content today.

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No intro or anything, because I have a lot to say today.

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I want to focus this episode on sharing with you my heart

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and what season seven is going to be all about.

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But first, I just want to take a quick minute,

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because I know we have some new people

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and I want to just refresh us and remind us what Posture is all about.

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Some of you might even be wondering, like, why is this podcast called Posture?

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Well, this podcast was birthed from the promise that we find in Isaiah

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26, three that says, You, Lord, keep in perfect peace

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those whose mind is stayed on you because they trust you.

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And that word stayed.

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Other translations say things like a mind that is fixed or a mind

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that is steadfast, but it means to lean, lay, rest upon.

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And that original meaning, it's so captured my imagination

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because I could visualize taking this daily posture of leaning on the Lord

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positioning myself in total trust and dependency on him,

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on him, on the one who keeps me in perfect peace,

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not living a life dependent on the promise of peace itself.

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And that's what we're going to talk about in this episode today,

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because the Christian life is not a formula to follow or a standard to achieve.

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It's not a code to crack or a wage to earn its relationship.

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And from that relationship

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with God himself emerges a lifestyle of perfect peace,

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even in the midst of an imperfect world,

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an imperfect life and imperfect circumstances.

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Perfect peace, by the way, this is just a fun truth.

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In the Hebrew, it's Shalom, Shalom.

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It's a double emphasis, and it means complete completeness.

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Nothing missing, nothing broken.

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This is the life that we have been gifted by Jesus.

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Now, some of you know my story.

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It was anything but perfect or peaceful.

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A few years ago, when I was in the chokehold of anxiety and panic

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and I was living this lifestyle that was fueled by the fumes of hustle,

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I was captured by these promises that I found in the word of God

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that Jesus gave us for peace, specifically the promises in John 1427

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and in John 1633.

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But the promise for perfect peace that I found in Isaiah 26, three,

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it sealed the deal for me because I was so odd

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that my God is a God who gives me peace,

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not just any peace, but perfect peace, complete completeness.

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I thought, what kind of God does that?

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And so my heart for every episode of Posture is not just to remind you

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of the promise of peace, which you have full access to in Jesus Christ,

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but it's really to explore together the God who gave himself up for us

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so that we could live in complete completeness

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with nothing missing and nothing broken.

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Now, David wrote in Psalm 16, five, he said, Lord, you are my portion.

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He didn't write the promises you give me are my portion.

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He said, you are my portion.

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He said, Yahweh, you alone are my inheritance.

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You are my prize, my pleasure, my portion.

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And then listen to this position, this posture of trust.

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He says, you hold my destiny and its timing is in your hands.

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In my journey of overcoming anxiety, I discovered what David discovered,

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and that is peace is not the prize, the promise is not the prize.

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God is him.

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His never leaving, never forsaking presence in our lives is everything.

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It's more than enough for everything we will ever face in this life.

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But here's how I used to live.

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When trouble of any kind came into my life,

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you know, any circumstance that did not line up with the promises

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that I knew were in his word, I would lean on the promise.

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Specifically, I would lean on my understanding of what that promise

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needed to look like on what I believe the solution to the trouble should be.

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You know, if there was conflict, I leaned on anything that I could find

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that I thought this would bring the resolution to the circumstance.

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If there was pain, I leaned on, you know, the manifestation

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I believed would bring relief.

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And I thought this was the Christian life applying promise to pain

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and promise to pain and promise to pain.

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However, living this way

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kept me focused and had all my trust placed on the promise.

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So let's say peace, for example, I was totally focused and trusting

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in what I thought the promise of peace needed to look like, how I believed it.

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needed to manifest for my anxiety to go away instead of living in total trust and surrender

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to the one who gave the promise in the first place. The one who says he is my prince of peace.

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I used to think that the Christian life was all about figuring out what the promise giver

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wanted me to do and if I figured that out then he would make good on the promise he gave me.

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I thought this was what my relationship with God was all about and I did this with healing,

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I did this with provision, I did this with peace. And can I tell you something? That made my battle

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with anxiety so incredibly terrifying because I thought it was my responsibility to figure out

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the creator of the universe in order to be free. And I thought if I didn't figure him out,

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if I didn't say the right prayers or declare the right things or have enough quiet time or

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understand the scriptures well enough that I was going to lose the battle with anxiety.

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And that fear-filled belief had me in more bondage than the anxiety itself.

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Maybe for you it's not anxiety, maybe it's physical sickness or financial lack or relational

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conflict, but if we live this way, if we live dependent on the promise instead of leaning on

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the one who gave the promise, we're going to end up believing that we're always on the verge of

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total abandonment by our heavenly father. And we're going to live as if we are threatened by

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everything because anything could be the thing that makes our father leave us.

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Our ability to make the right decisions, our ability to pray enough, our ability to

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manage our behavior, our intellect, our education, our family background, generational curses,

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generational blessings, our cultural norms, the people who govern our nation. You know,

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if we live this way, we're going to think if those things are not in order, he's going to

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leave us to our own devices. And it's not true. It's not true because it's not who he is. If you

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read his word, you will not find a God who wants to be figured out. It is clear through his word

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that he's given us that he is a God who wants to be known. Not a God who just wants to be known

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about, but a God who wants people to know him through genuine, intimate relationship, not

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religious rules and rituals. Father, bridegroom, helper, this is how the Godhead describes

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themselves to us. This is the depth of relationship that they desire to have with us. And they are so

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committed to having that kind of relationship with us that they placed Christ in us and they placed

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us in Christ so that there could never again be any separation ever. You don't have to chase

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after peace or healing or protection or provision because you are in a relationship with the Prince

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of Peace. You are in a relationship right now with the healer, with the provider, with the

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redeemer, the protector. He's in you and you are in him. You have everything you need right now,

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today, right now. And you have everything you will ever need for any future circumstance.

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Nothing in the universe has the power to diminish God's presence in you. Not your difficulties,

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not your disappointments, not your abilities or your lack thereof, not your family background,

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not your socioeconomic status, not the country you live in, nothing. I realized that every

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circumstance, every attack from the enemy could be turned on its head in an instant,

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not by some instant manifestation of a particular promise, but by recognizing that in this

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circumstance, I would come to know my God even more. And therefore, I would be leaving this

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circumstance stronger than when I came into it. This is the Romans 828 promise. Overcoming anxiety,

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it didn't happen because one day I initiated a relationship with God. The overcoming took

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place as I discovered the relationship with God that was already there. A relationship that

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he initiated, not me. It's already there. We have full access, not just to the promises,

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but to the promise giver and the promise keeper. Now, we may not have awareness yet,

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But the Christian life is a journey

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of greater and greater awareness

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and deeper and deeper relationship.

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And that is what season seven is going to be all about.

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We are going to become more and more aware

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of who our God is and who we are in him.

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We are gonna uproot the lie of abandonment once and for all.

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We are going to completely let go of condemnation,

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especially that low-grade condemnation

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that we tend to carry with us every day

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when we believe that our lives are all about

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trying to figure out God and set ourselves free.

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We can't set ourselves free because Jesus already did.

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And we are going to set aside ritual

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and we are going to embrace this beautiful, wonderful,

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delightful, awesome relationship

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that God desires to have with us.

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Now, if you're watching or listening right now

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and maybe you really resonate

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with where I was a few years ago,

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maybe you're just feeling so on the edge right now

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because you are in the thick of it,

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facing some kind of battle, some kind of circumstance

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that just does not line up with what God promised you,

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you're in good company.

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Because Romans 8 says this about the children of God.

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It says, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

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We're overcomers.

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You're an overcomer.

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And that means there are gonna be some things in this life

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that we have to overcome.

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But you are in a relationship with the answer

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to every circumstance, every problem, every question.

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You already have everything you need to overcome.

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Jesus told us in John 16, 33,

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the world is gonna give us some trouble.

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It's a troubled world.

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But he said, cheer up, I have overcome the world.

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You're not subject to the thing

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that you're overcoming right now.

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You're not subject to any circumstance.

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You're not subject to sickness or mental illness,

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panic, anxiety, depression, lack, poverty, scarcity.

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You're not subject to it.

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You're only subject to him.

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And here's the good news.

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In this circumstance, you are about to discover more of him.

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You are about to know him even more.

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And as he is, so are you in this world.