Today, we are going to take a posture of peace
by letting peace rise up within us.
Posture is a short, audible fist bump
to remind you God is with you in everything.
Together, we're going to be emboldened
to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
I'm gonna be reading from Ephesians chapter two today.
And just a quick side note,
Ephesians is a wonderful book to dive deep into.
Ephesians highlights the beauty of our kingdom identities
and just how unique and counterculture the kingdom is
compared to the world, compared to religion.
It is such a freeing, empowering book.
And Ephesians chapter two,
in the beginning of the chapter,
it's talking about grace through faith,
which is super empowering.
And then at the end of the chapter,
it's talking about our oneness in Christ.
It's talking about unity empowered
by nothing other than our kingdom identities.
It's awesome.
So I'm gonna be reading from Ephesians chapter two,
verses 19 through 22.
It says,
"'So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens,
"'but you are fellow citizens with the saints
"'and members of the household of God,
"'built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
"'Jesus Christ himself being the cornerstone
"'in whom the whole structure, being joined together,
"'grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
"'In him, you are also being built together
"'into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.'"
Now, many people today,
they live as though
they have a visitational relationship with God,
and therefore, they have a visitational relationship
with who they are in God, their kingdom identities.
They have a visitational relationship with the kingdom,
meaning it comes and goes.
Based off of how they're behaving that day,
based on their own performance,
they live as though they are the initiators
of their relationship with God,
as if it's up to them to get to God
by their own effort, by their own works,
by their own rituals.
But you are not the initiator of being with God.
There's no place to get to in him.
That's actually an Old Testament mindset
that robs us of the relationship with him
that he promised us and that he initiated with us.
It's really an old way of viewing how God is with us,
how God relates to us,
that he would only visit us in a temple,
in a particular place, or in a particular moment of time
when we have finally proven ourselves worthy.
But because of Jesus, we are new covenant people.
We have a habitational relationship with God.
We abide in him, and he abides in us, John 15.
Now, Ephesians chapter two, it's telling us here
that the dwelling place of God
is no longer in brick and mortar.
It's on a physical location
that we can only visit every once in a while.
No, the dwelling place of God is flesh and blood.
He dwells in us.
And that means all of who he is is now in us.
And the most powerful news is that he never leaves us
nor forsakes us, the Bible said.
So we always have his presence in us.
This means we don't have a visitational relationship
with any part of God.
This means his very nature,
his very characteristics dwell within us.
So let's think about the implications of that for a moment.
That means peace doesn't come for a visit.
Jesus said in John 14, 27, my peace I give to you,
not as the world gives do I give to you.
Now, peace in the world is gained,
influenced by external means.
It's somewhere out there.
We've got to figure out how to grab it, bring it to us,
and then hold onto it as long as we possibly can,
which usually is not very long
because in a broken, troubled world,
there's always something to be anxious about.
But in the kingdom, peace is already in us.
So we must allow it to rise in us.
We don't have a visitational relationship with peace.
We have a habitational one.
Peace is dwelling within us.
So let's practice letting peace rise in us today.
How do we do that?
Well, Colossians 3, 15 says,
let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Can it really?
be that simple. Well that's what I've been practicing. I've been practicing letting peace
rise within me, resisting, in rest, the anxiety, the fear, the temptation to panic,
the temptation to worry about the future, and instead letting the peace of God rule my heart,
not letting the anxiety of the world rule my heart, rule my mind, rule my emotions,
rule my thoughts, rule my words, rule my actions. I'm letting peace rule. And so I just want to
encourage you today. Peace is not coming for a visit. Peace lives in you. It's time that we learn
as kingdom people to allow and let the peace of Christ rise up within us.