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Welcome to episode 24.

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Today, we're gonna take on a posture of peace

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by stepping away from fear

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and standing firmly in perfect love.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.

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Posture is a podcast that serves a short,

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audible fist bump to remind you that God is in everything.

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Together, we're gonna be emboldened

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to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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Psalm chapter 34, I'm gonna be reading verses four,

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five, eight, 17, and 18.

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Trust me, it is so good.

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Verse four says this.

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I sought the Lord and he answered me

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and delivered me from all of my fears.

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Those who look to him are radiant

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and their faces will never be ashamed.

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Verse eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

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Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

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Verse 17, 18, when the righteous cry for help,

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the Lord hears and delivers them

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out of all of their troubles.

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

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and he saves the crushed in spirit.

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With all that's happening in the world right now,

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are you afraid?

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If so, I just want you to know

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that there is an abundance of grace

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and love for you to rest in today.

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In our most vulnerable state,

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the Lord promises to draw near to us and save us.

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If you find yourself brokenhearted or totally crushed

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by all that's going on in the world

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or perhaps how it is directly affecting

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your world right now,

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I just want you to know that the Lord is coming close

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not to reprimand you for your fear

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but to rescue you from it.

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He is always at the ready to exchange what torments you

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for perfect love and his perfect peace.

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You know, we as people of the kingdom

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have not been given a spirit of fear

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but one of power and of love and of sound mind

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which is good news.

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However, it leaves us who are right now fighting fear

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or just feeling fully afraid with a tension

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because how do we live into that identity?

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How do we become unafraid in a time

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where fear itself has become very viral?

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Well, we look to what David talks about here

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and we seek the Lord.

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And I also wanna remind you of a promise

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that we talked about back in episode five

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that in it's first John chapter four verse 18

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that says perfect love cast out fear.

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You know, David goes to love himself in these scriptures

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for his deliverance from his fears.

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And there's an expectation from David here

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that when he goes to the Lord,

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he's gonna taste and experience God's goodness in his life.

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I don't know about you,

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but I have found that I am most afraid

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when I believe that I am most unloved.

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You know, we don't become less afraid

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by denying that we're having problems

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or that the world is having problems.

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I believe we become unafraid

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when we become fully convinced

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that because of Jesus's love for us,

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all of those problems are denied from having us.

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I don't know about you,

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but there have been times in my life

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where I have allowed fear to question God's love for me.

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Instead of letting God's love for me put fear into question.

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I have also been guilty of holding my fear up

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to news reports and fact sheets to verify my fear

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instead of holding my fear up against the word of God

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for his vindication.

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I've also at times sought friends,

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sought social media influencers to validate my fear

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and condone my worry instead of seeking the Lord

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like David did in chapter 34 verse five.

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or to prove his faithfulness to me.

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So what about you? Are you feeling afraid right now?

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Let me ask you another question. Are you feeling,

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are you believing that you are completely

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and relentlessly and passionately loved by the Lord?

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It makes a difference because Satan knows that it's God's love for us

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that makes these promises possible and available to us.

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And so he knows that if he can convince us

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of this one thing, that we are not totally loved by God, then he can also

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easily convince us that none of these promises are possible.

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You know, we've been practicing possibility as a posture community this

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week and I believe that the Lord grows

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relentlessly after impossibility because of its potential to breed fear

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in our lives when it goes completely unchecked.

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So if you're feeling afraid, there's no condemnation,

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there's no shame, but there is freedom available. Let's practice

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possibility right now with this one question.

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What if today was your last day living afraid?

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What would be possible tomorrow? Here's an even better question.

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What if yesterday was your last day living afraid? What then would be

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possible? I want to pray for us right now. Lord,

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give us eyes to see how you see things.

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Lord, your word says that we have the mind of Christ, so

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Jesus, I'm asking for you to share your thoughts with us today. We want to

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think the way that you think. Lord, give us the boldness to speak only

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the truth in love and give us the boldness

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to not speak anything beneath that standard.

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Father, I pray right now for everyone watching that you would give us the

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wisdom to be proactive in staying healthy and in protecting our

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communities from the spread of this virus.

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Lord, I pray over everyone right now that you would

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give us the wisdom to diligently guard our hearts

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from the destruction of unbelief. And Father, I pray right now

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over everyone watching or listening. Lord, you break the hold of the poverty

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spirit that says we will never have enough.

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Break the hold of the orphan spirit that says we will never

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be enough. And Father, I pray that you would break

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the hold of the foreboding spirit that says,

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Lord, you will never be enough. We rebuke and reject those lies and we

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fully embrace your truth. And Father, I pray for everyone watching

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right now that they would experience a tangible encounter of your love today,

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meet them where they are, draw near as your word says,

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and saved those right now who are crushed

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in spirit. Father, I pray that we will all be emboldened

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today to break free from fear, to fully embrace your perfect love

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so that we can be the salt and light to a world who is threatening to go dark

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right now. And I pray all of these things in the

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authority that was given to me by Jesus Christ.

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Amen. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3, and in Hebrew

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it is shalom shalom, meaning complete wholeness. Nothing missing,

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nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus.

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Let's declare this together. Today I am kept in perfect peace. With my

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whole heart, I trust the Lord. I am strong,

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I am victorious, I am whole. Remember friend, you are a living testimony of

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Jesus's ultimate win. Not because of anything you did, but

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because of what he did for you. With every step you take today, you're

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putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat on replay.