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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by practicing peace.

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Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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In Romans chapter 8 verse 6 it says,

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For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

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So I'm going to tell on myself in this episode. I hope that's okay.

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I've shared my story here before about how years ago I was in the choke hold of anxiety and panic

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and in that season I was feeling so hopeless and really so afraid that I would be battling

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with this anxiety and panic the rest of my life. And I used to pray these prayers out

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of desperation and they were prayers for peace to come to me, for me to have more peace,

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for me to be more peaceful. And I was kind of expecting through those prayers like an

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instant resolve to all of my problems, worries, and fears, like that I would just instantly feel

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more peaceful and peace would just wash over me and wash over my circumstances.

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And when it didn't happen that way, when it didn't come instantly, I would just get more

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hopeless and I would start to think these lies like prayer didn't really work and God didn't

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really care and I didn't really have what it took to get better, to get stronger, to walk in the

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truth of my identity in Christ. And it was in that crazy season that I came across these two

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beautifully disruptive promises in God's word. The first is was in John 16 33 when Jesus said,

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I have told you these things so that in me, you may have peace in this world, you will have

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trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world. And then in John 14 27, when Jesus said,

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my peace, I give to you. And those two promises kind of prompted me to pray a very unholy sounding

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prayer that when something like Jesus, if you gave me your peace, where the heck did it go?

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And I felt him in my spirit say, I'm right here. And it was then that I began to understand

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the truth that peace is not a calming feeling. He is a calming presence,

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a presence that promised he would never leave me nor forsake me a presence that the Bible says

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now dwells within me. So instead of praying for peace to show up in my life, instead of

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praying for something that was already true, I started practicing peace, practicing the presence

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of peace in my life. We practice the presence of God by believing he is present. So when anxiety

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shows up, I practice keeping my mind set on the truth. I remind myself that I have peace because

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he is always present. And then I partner with the presence of my prince of peace by asking this one

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simple question, what would peace do right now? Meaning if I'm living in peace, not having to

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face any of the anxiety and panic right now, what would I be doing? What would I be doing in peace?

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Some of my go-tos have become Thanksgiving, worship, and laughter. And I have found that

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those three things are some of the greatest disruptors to anxious or panicky thoughts.

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But you know, I've been practicing this for a while now, right? Because it's been a few years

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that I've been practicing this. So it's starting to get even more fun because practice makes

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permanent. So peace has become my norm these days. I still practice peace. I still practice

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the presence of peace, but what used to feel like contending and struggling and fighting for peace

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and fighting to believe the truth now feels like restful resistance. So can I give you a recent

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example of what this looks like in my life? I'm currently 33 weeks pregnant. So my sleep

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hasn't been as sound in this season. I'm usually up in the middle of the night at some point,

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and sometimes it's hard to fall

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back to sleep. And that is so frustrating. And at times it can, it can, I can just feel my thoughts

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start to spin right at like 3am and anxiety tries to creep in, tries to show up and have me thinking

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about all I have to do the next day. And if I'm even going to have the energy to do all the things

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I need to do. And then it has me thinking about this conversation I had with this person and this

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relational issue I've got over here. And I'm sure you know how it goes. But I've been practicing

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peace for a long time. So I know to instantly ask that question, what would peace do right now?

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Well, forget the time of night, forget the anxiety trying to take over my thoughts.

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If I'm at peace, what would I be doing? I really enjoy reading novels. So you know what I do

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at 3am when I can't sleep? I read enjoyable books. Sometimes I make tea because I enjoy tea.

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And I'm not needing to contend or shout at the devil or pray my anxiety away. Because my mind

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has been set. It's been made up that the truth is the truth. And the truth is that peace

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is always present. So in that place of total trust and restful resistance to any temptation

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to be anxious or stressed out or worried, I get to just soak in the presence of my Prince of Peace.

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It's been really beautiful guys, even at 3am. You know, you won't always feel it at first,

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but you can always believe it. And I have found that my feelings follow my belief.

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So today or, or tonight, whenever you are watching this, I want to encourage you to try this.

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Practice peace.