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Today we're going to take a posture of peace by dwelling in the secret place.

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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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It's no secret that you and I have been invited into the same relationship that the Father and

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Jesus share, empowered by the Holy Spirit. It's Jesus' prayer for all believers in John 17,

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starting in verse 20. Listen to what Jesus prayed for us. He said,

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I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

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that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one

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in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And listen to this. And the glory which you

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gave me, I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me,

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that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved

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them as you have loved me. Did you know that the Father loves you like he loves Jesus? Did you know

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that you are not the initiator of being with God? He initiated our relationship with him from the

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very beginning, just like we talked about in yesterday's episode. So there's no place we

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have to try to get to in him. That's actually an old mindset that robs us of the relationship with

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God that Jesus prayed for and died for. It's an old covenant way of viewing how God is with us,

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that he will visit us in a temple or in a particular moment of time when we finally

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have proven ourselves worthy. Look, if we could have done it, if we could have pulled it off,

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Jesus wouldn't have had to come. We needed Jesus. And in Christ, everything becomes new.

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He is the one who makes us worthy. He is the one who opened the door over 2,000 years ago

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to the same relationship that he and the Father shared. It was done by his finished work,

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his perfect performance, not yours. Because of Jesus, the secret place is now within you.

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It's where the Spirit of Christ lives in you, where the oneness and unity of the Father,

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Son, and Holy Spirit engage you in the victorious life of fullness. So maybe you're wondering,

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okay, Psalm 91, how do we dwell? How do we remain in the secret place? First,

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we must recognize that in Christ, the who always precedes the how. We talked a little bit about

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this in episode 76. Because Christ is in us, we are being empowered to see through the lens of

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who he is in us. In every situation, we must make being aware of the who our priority.

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So here's a beautiful question to ask God today. God, who are you in me in this situation?

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Here's how I used to handle situations. I would be fully focused on the situation,

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sometimes obsessed over every detail and how it affected me. And I would take all of that

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to the Lord in prayer, totally consumed by the situation and myself. And I'd want God to just

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bless it and fix it somehow. So my level of engagement with his presence was always

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desperation or exasperation because I was overwhelmed by the current need and not

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overwhelmed by who he is. But now here's what I'm practicing, abiding, remaining in the who

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of his presence so that I am fully engaged with how his revealed presence is transforming me

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and my world. Here's an example. Jesus is my Prince of Peace. That is who he is. I am in a

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relationship with the Prince of Peace. I live in peace and peace lives in me. So even in a worrying,

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stressful situation, I am engaging with who Jesus is, my Prince of Peace. And that gives me eyes to

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see how peace himself is growing me and leading me through the situation. And as I engage with

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who he is, I become a display of his peace to the world around me. That the world may believe,

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that the world...

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may know. I'm responding to him and he's giving me the right response to the

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situation as I relate to people, you know, take the necessary steps needed for

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resolve or fixing or whatever the situation may be. It's not magic. It's not

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some complicated law or formula. It's not a mystery. I used to think it was all of

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those things. It's relationship. The secret place is not a secret to you. It's

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a secret to your enemy. Satan can't access this place. He remains unaware

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while we remain in the secret place by becoming fully aware. Think about Romans

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12 to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. When the spirit of truth who

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is living in you rises up into your conscious mind, you become fully aware of

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his presence. It's not that he's now showing up. It's not that he's finally

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arriving from some distant place because he never leaves. It's that we are

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finally becoming aware of his presence that is always with us and we are

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responding to his presence, not the problem. By living this way, we always

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give God preeminence. And by the way, you're not alone in this practice of

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becoming aware and staying aware. The Holy Spirit is our helper and he's a

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genius. So today, ask for his help. You're never stuck. You're never alone. You're

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never powerless. You are in a relationship with God, not a religion. A

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relationship that he initiated, not us. It's not our perfect performance God

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wants. It's our response to his nature and the relationship that he initiated.

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The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3. In Hebrew, it is shalom

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shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. This is

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who you are in Jesus because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus's

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ultimate win. With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on

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display and Satan's defeat on replay.