WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.120 Today we are going to take a posture of peace and take back any power that we may have given 2 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:16.000 to our circumstances. Posture is a short audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in 3 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:21.280 everything. Together we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace. 4 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:32.560 We're going to spend a little bit of time today in Isaiah chapter 43. If you have time today, 5 00:00:32.560 --> 00:00:38.160 I was about to say if you have time today, even if you don't have time, make time and read Isaiah 6 00:00:38.160 --> 00:00:46.960 43 in its entirety. It is such treasure. We're going to read, starting in verses one and two, 7 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:54.720 it says, but now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, 8 00:00:55.440 --> 00:01:06.240 fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through 9 00:01:06.240 --> 00:01:13.760 the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. 10 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:22.880 When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 11 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:29.040 Same chapter, chapter 43, but going down to verses 10 and 11, the Lord continues. He says, 12 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:37.280 you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant who I have chosen, that you may know 13 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:52.880 and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any 14 00:01:52.880 --> 00:02:06.720 after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me, there is no savior. So in the last episode, episode 127, 15 00:02:06.720 --> 00:02:16.000 I shared about how I am learning and practicing this promise we find in Jeremiah 29, seeking the 16 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:24.000 Lord with my whole heart, with my whole self, and it's changing everything. It's changing how I now 17 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:30.080 read scripture. When I, when I come to the word of God, I'm not looking for me, I'm looking for 18 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:39.120 him. I'm seeking who he is, you know, his nature, his ways, his perspective. This, um, has changed 19 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:47.360 how I pray. I'm not coming to him to lay out how I think and feel about things, but instead I'm 20 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:54.160 coming to hear what God thinks about things, and then I'm aligning my thoughts and my emotions 21 00:02:54.160 --> 00:03:01.680 and my actions to his. And through this seeking him wholeheartedly, I'm no longer 22 00:03:02.320 --> 00:03:10.240 viewing the Lord through the lens of my circumstance, but I'm viewing my circumstances 23 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:17.120 through the lens of him. Meaning, you know, when I'm facing negative circumstances, I'm not using 24 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:24.160 them to inform me about who my God is, you know, using them as proof, like, to say, oh, well, I got, 25 00:03:24.160 --> 00:03:29.040 God must be distant, or he definitely must not care, or he's definitely punishing me right now. 26 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:38.880 Instead, I'm relying on the nature of God to inform me about my circumstances. We, we see this 27 00:03:38.880 --> 00:03:45.360 all through scripture. Lamentations 322, it says, because of the Lord's great love, because of who 28 00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:55.840 God is, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Romans 8 28, it says, we know that in 29 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:03.840 all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. 30 00:04:04.880 --> 00:04:14.640 Jesus told us in John 16 33, he said, I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have 31 00:04:14.640 --> 00:04:22.480 peace in the world, you will have trouble, but take heart or have courage because I have overcome 32 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:29.440 the world. You can have peace because of who I am. This is who our God is. This is who our God is, 33 00:04:29.440 --> 00:04:38.640 not in theory, but in truth, not some of the time, but all of the time. So he tells us in Isaiah 43, 34 00:04:38.640 --> 00:04:46.720 he says, before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Meaning there is no other 35 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:56.960 God, but me. This includes whatever circumstance you may be facing today. That circumstance 36 00:04:57.760 --> 00:04:59.840 is not your God. It is. 37 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:08.400 not the ruler of your life. Let's just let's just sit with that truth for just a minute and soak it 38 00:05:08.400 --> 00:05:20.560 in. No matter what you're facing today, financial distress, sickness, grief, betrayal, the the 39 00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:32.080 circumstances that feel all-consuming and seem everlasting, they are not your God. They don't 40 00:05:32.080 --> 00:05:40.000 rule over you. They don't determine your destiny. They don't hold your future in their hands. 41 00:05:41.840 --> 00:05:48.000 The only power that circumstances, whether they're positive or negative, ever have over us 42 00:05:48.960 --> 00:05:56.880 is the power that we choose to give to them. Here, have my emotions. Here, have my mind space. 43 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:07.360 Here, have my attention. Here, have my affection. Here, here's my peace. Here, take my joy. Here, 44 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:16.080 have all of my trust. Now, I'm not picking on you. Again, this whole lens change has been a practice 45 00:06:16.080 --> 00:06:23.200 for me, so these are not hypotheticals that I'm throwing out. These are real things that I have 46 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:30.080 chosen to surrender in the past to my circumstances. I've chosen to allow my circumstances 47 00:06:30.080 --> 00:06:36.400 to take that power over me. And if you can relate, if this is resonating with you, if you've also 48 00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:41.920 surrendered those things over to your circumstances, if you've given them the power, 49 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:48.160 if you've treated your circumstances, again, whether good, bad, or ugly, like they are your 50 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:55.680 God, like they determine your destiny, I have great news for you today. You can get back 51 00:06:56.400 --> 00:07:06.400 what you surrendered. You do this through worship, worshiping the only God. You know, worship is not 52 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:13.600 letting a song play through while you close your eyes and more seriously contemplate all your 53 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:23.440 issues. Again, I'm not picking on you. I speak from experience. Worship is surrender. It's saying, 54 00:07:24.880 --> 00:07:33.520 Lord, here, you have my emotions. I want my emotions to be aligned with you, with the truth. 55 00:07:34.480 --> 00:07:43.440 Lord, have my mind space. I receive the mind of Christ. Lord, you have my attention. You have 56 00:07:43.440 --> 00:07:55.120 all of my focus. Lord, you have my affection. You are my peace. You are my joy. You have all of my 57 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:05.760 trust. In worship and in thanksgiving and in praise, we rid ourselves of that lens of self, 58 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:13.600 the lens of our circumstances that we talked about in the last episode, and we take on the lens of 59 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:21.520 him and we begin to see ourselves and our world and our future through the lens of him. Worship 60 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:32.480 the only God. Worship your only God today and allow him to inform you about everything 61 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:41.039 you're currently facing. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3. In Hebrew, 62 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:48.320 it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. 63 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:57.040 This is who you are in Jesus, because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate 64 00:08:57.040 --> 00:09:03.200 win. With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's 65 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.640 defeat on replay.