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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by resting in what God has resolved for our new year

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and over our lives. Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in

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

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Today's episode is a little bit different. I'm sharing a clip from a recent conversation I had

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with Graham Cooke all about creating a devotional lifestyle. Now in this clip Graham shares a

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brilliantly fresh way to think about our new year's resolutions and he also shares his own

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story of overcoming anxiety with peace. What I like too about resolutions, I wonder how many people

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understand a resolution is just a declaration. This is what I'm planning to do, but the Bible

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talks about God makes declarations about us all the time. So I wonder if people have ever thought

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to ask the Lord, so how do you see me this year? What is it you want to see me move into this year?

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What have you got planned to empower me to become more like you? What are the specific things

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you know that you want to say to me? Is there a promise? Is there a declaration that I can partner

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with you? And I started to have this thought probably, I don't know, I think it's a couple of

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decades ago or something, when I really wasn't doing well. I had a horrendous year when

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faced with a lot of situations that really threw up a lot of anxiety in me and some fear

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about where I was, about my future and I was struggling and I've been trying, I've been

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talking to the Lord about it, but not really praying about it, more like complaining and moaning

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and then saying amen at the end and hoping, you know, that's a weird kind of prayer, but could

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you just do something anyway? And the question he asked me was, Graham, I'm curious, why are you so

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attached to anxiety? And part of me wanted to deny it, ought to be a little offended.

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Seriously, you're saying that to me? I don't think I...

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Oh, but I am. Why are you so attached? Why are you more attached to anxiety, Graham,

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than you are to my peace? I started to cry, I said, I really don't know. I really don't know.

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Why am I? He said, it's a rhetorical question. We're never going to answer it because it's not

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necessary. What I'm saying to you is, how about we break that attachment? So that's what I want

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to do with you. And he wasn't, we weren't doing this in December, you know, this was like mid-July

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or something, you know, because God isn't, he doesn't have resolutions attached to a calendar

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date, you know, he's just going to bring one and say, how about this? And he said, okay, how about

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we break your attachment to anxiety and to fear? And I said, okay. He said, so this is my resolution

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for you. And he gave me Isaiah 41 verse 10. And it says this,

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do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

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I will strengthen you. Surely, I will help you. Surely, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

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And I read it, and I heard it in my spirit. And I think I must have spent the next couple of days

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just reading that verse and saying it out loud. And then the Lord said, and the Lord just saying,

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say it differently. I said, what do you mean? He said, well, how about you say it like you believe

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it? So then I got all theatrical. And it was like, do not fear, Graham, for I am with you.

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You know, and I could hear him laughing in my heart, which was just amazing. And so after several

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days of speaking it out loud, and just saying, Lord, I believe this. And he said, that's great.

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Right, so now why don't you pray,

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why don't you say the declaration back to me?

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And so I just said, Lord, I am not fearful

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for you are with me.

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I will not anxiously look about me because you are my God.

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You will strengthen me.

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Surely you will help me.

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Surely you will uphold me with your righteous right hand.

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And I sat back and he went, that was so good, say it again.

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So I said it again, and he was like, say it again.

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And then I said it again, and I think I spent

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like about an hour just saying it out loud.

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But every time I did it, something shifted.

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And all I can say is, over the next few months,

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anxiety began to reduce in terms of it being

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a possibility for a focus, life focus.

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Anxiety began to reduce,

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and I began to stop thinking fearfully,

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anticipating something fearfully, you know?

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Or even like backdating my fear.

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Oh, well, I knew that was gonna happen.

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That's like the negative prophetic,

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which I was very good at in those days.

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And so I've been practicing that ever since,

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just like whenever the Lord and I come to a crossroads

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where I know something needs to shift,

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or there's a different direction,

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he just says, let's make a declaration, you know?

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And so sitting there and listening to him

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or getting the scriptural promise,

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because your promises from God are declarations of intent.

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Because when he tells you what he wants to do for you,

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he's like, let's do it now.

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Let's not wait a few months.

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Let's not gradually work into it.

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Let's just dive in.

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Let's just, it's a swimming pool, jump right in.

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And so I began to realize that the declarations of God

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have been one of the most powerful things in my life.

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So it's like, you know, Jesus, John 15, 11,

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you know, they're talking about abiding.

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And Jesus says this,

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"'I speak these words to you

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"'so that my joy might be in you

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"'and your joy may be made full.'"

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What's he doing?

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He's making a declaration.

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John 14, 27,

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"'My peace I give you,'' not as the world gives,

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"'do not let your heart be troubled,

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"'because I've just given you my peace.'"

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So a declaration is where, in the kingdom,

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is where God gives you something,

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talks to you about it,

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and he looks you right in the eye and he smiles.

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And he says, you and me, we're gonna work on this together.

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And every time you get fearful,

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I'm just gonna tap you on the shoulder,

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until you get to a point where you stop yourself

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almost in mid-sentence, Graham,

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and you realize, no, I'm not thinking that way anymore.

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No, it's not gonna be the first words out of my mouth.

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And from that whole time, I began to do things like

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make war on my own negativity, you know,

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because I wanted the language of God so much.

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So what I'd like for people on the challenge today is,

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why don't you ask the Lord what his resolution is for you?

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What's his declaration over you?

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Ask him to give you a scripture.

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Ask him to, maybe you've already got scriptures

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that he's given you.

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Why don't you go back and start with them?

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You know, a scripture that, you know what,

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when God gives you a scripture, you feel it.

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It's almost like the word jumps off the page of the Bible

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and wraps itself around your face,

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and your heart is beating,

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and you know that you know that you know,

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God is talking to me right now.