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Today, we're going to take a posture of peace by refusing to believe that we are alone.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale. Posture is a podcast that serves as a short audible fist bump to remind

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you that God is in everything. Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture

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of perfect peace. Galatians chapter 2 verses 20 and 21 says, I have been crucified with Christ.

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It is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh.

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I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify

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the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

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You and I have been given a stance in every circumstance, and that is Christ is in us.

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This is our starting point in every situation we will ever face. We are not striving to get

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through the struggle so then we could have Christ. No, we have Christ to get us through

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the struggle. I used to work myself into such a panic because I felt as though I carried the sole

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responsibility for managing, well, I mean pretty much everything, but especially my spirituality

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and relationship with God. And let me just tell you, that wrong belief of sole responsibility

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planted in the middle of a hard situation or suffering will mess you up because the lie

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of isolation isolates us from the truth. This is why the self-empowerment movement is so popular

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today because too many of us are out there believing the lie that we have been left alone.

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And if you think you're alone, then it is so easy to believe that you're going to have to be your

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own hero here, that it's up to you to figure it out and get through it because no one is coming

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to save you. And you know, God challenged me on this one day. He said, Lindsay, why do you believe

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you have a savior for eternity, but you struggle to believe that you have a savior

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for the suffering that you're facing today? You know, striving to get God's victory by our

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own works or, you know, staying away from his victory by our own sins, those are really two

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paths going in the same direction because both disregard the power of Jesus's finished work on

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the cross and they lead us to self-righteousness. Here's the truth. You cannot get off the cross.

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There's no saving yourself. There's no redeeming the current hard circumstance on your own.

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There's no victory over your suffering by your own creative genius plan because if there were,

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Jesus wouldn't have had to die. You needed a savior. And the good news is, is that you have

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one. We've talked about this before. Jesus didn't just die for you. He died as you. So your old,

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sinful, failing nature is dead. And you have been raised with him to live his totally victorious

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life. Even here on earth, you know, speaking about responsibility again, Jesus takes responsibility

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for who he raised. The plan wasn't for him to save you. So then you would go live this lonely,

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isolated life where you would then be responsible to save yourself day by day over and over again,

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as circumstance and struggle came your way. No, you and I have been crucified with Christ and a

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new you has emerged together with Christ. So you are never alone. It's impossible for you to be

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alone. And I wanted to talk about this today because I'm hearing this a lot right now. While

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we're sheltered in and locked down in this quarantine, I'm hearing, I just feel so alone.

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And friend, while you may feel that it just isn't the truth because Christ now lives in you. He

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doesn't just live around you. He's not just beside you. He is in you. You carry the empowering

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presence of God everywhere you go, in every season, in every circumstance, in every battle,

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in every quarantine. And here's what's even more amazing. As He is in us, He is making us

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more like Him. So we are being upgraded in every circumstance by His very presence in us.

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We're not being depleted by our problems. This is good news. This week, I'm actually going to be

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joining my spiritual mentor and dear friend, Graham Cook. I've spoken about him before.

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We're going to be doing a five-day challenge on Facebook called Three Plus Me. And we're

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going to be exploring the depths of God's empowering presence within us. If you don't

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know Graham, let me just tell you, he carries such a profound revelation of walking with God

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in this life, not just waiting around for the life to come, but how we live in His presence,

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how we live in His power today. And I honor Graham for not hogging this revelation to himself,

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but sharing it with us all, especially for such a time as this. The challenge starts today,

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Monday, April 27th. You can join anytime this week. The link is in the description of this

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episode. Just click for all the details. I hope you join this. I want you to know this.

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No matter what your day holds, you have Christ's empowering presence in you. And He's never

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leaving you. He's never forsaking you. So today, ask Him to make Himself known to you in a fresh

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way. He is always there at the ready, ready to share His victory with you. The promise of perfect

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peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3. And in Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness,

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nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus. Let's declare this together.

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Today, I am kept in perfect peace. With my 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 Jesus' ultimate win,

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not because of anything you did, but because of what He did for you. With every step you

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take today, you're putting Jesus' victory on display and Satan's defeat on replay.