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Today we are going to take a posture of peace by believing big.

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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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Okay so I'm taking us right back to Isaiah 43 because I just can't get enough

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of this treasure of a chapter. Going back to verses one and two, if you remember from our

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last episode in verse one the Lord says here, fear not for I have redeemed you.

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I have called you by name. You are mine. Now I'm not even really planning on talking about this

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but I can't not say it. Isn't it such a cool thought that when the Lord calls you by your

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name, he's not calling you failure, he's not calling you lost cause, he's not calling you

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anxious or depressed or broken or disappointment. He calls you mine. That is your name to him.

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That is a powerful, powerful truth. And then in verse two, the Lord says when you pass through

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the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.

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When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you.

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And I just want to read one quick other scripture here. We've been here before,

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Colossians three. Oh, Colossians three. Colossians three verses one through three says,

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if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated

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at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,

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for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So all this week we've been

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talking about a lens change, no longer viewing God through the lens of self or the lens of our

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circumstances, but choosing to view ourselves and our circumstances through the lens of him.

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And you know, one thing I know about our posture community is we are a people of great faith.

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So I've talked about in past episodes this week, how this lens change has affected really

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everything the way I read scripture. And I talked about how it's changed the way I pray. So I

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thought I would end the week by sharing how this lens change has affected my believing. Because,

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you know, right now our newsfeeds I know are filled with what people think about the state

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of the world, but what actually has great effect in both this realm and in the spiritual realm

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is what we believe about who God is and the state of his kingdom. So before I had this lens change,

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before I began to practice taking on this new lens, I used to limit my belief to just trying

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to have enough faith to cover my circumstances. And it reduced God in my eyes to just being enough

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to bring me some relief and resolve from the negative things happening to me and around me.

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But Ephesians 3.20 says, you know, God is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask

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or think. So here's what I'm practicing now. Instead of just making my believing as big as

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my circumstances are, I am making my believing as big as God is. My beliefs are not set in what I'm

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currently facing and what's currently happening in our world, but in who my God has promised me

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through his word, who he would eternally be. Instead of looking at a year like 2020 and,

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and asking, you know, what is this and why is this happening? And being solely focused on

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those questions and, you know, allowing my faith to be formed by whatever answers my

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limited understanding can produce. I'm asking and seeking, Lord, who are you in all of this?

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And this shift it's taken me beyond the limited realm of my own understanding about the state

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of the world. And it's placed me in a deep abiding trust in the Lord, which if you remember our

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past

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foundational verse, Isaiah 26 3, that kind of trust keeps me in perfect peace.

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So going back to Isaiah 43, the Lord says, when you pass through the waters, I will

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be with you. God is not found on the other side of our circumstances. He's not

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found on the other side of right decisions and good behavior. He's not waiting on the other

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side of a nation getting its act together. He's right here in the middle of it all with us,

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our circumstances, our learning, our development, our low places. He never leaves us or forsakes

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us. This is who he is and seeking him doesn't make him show up. It makes us more aware of this

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truth. And just to be clear, I'm not preaching passivity, okay? God does not plant you somewhere

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for you to just sit on your hands and wait for the end of the world. You are called and equipped

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to be more than a conqueror in your nation, in your community, in your spheres of influence.

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So be active and be engaged, but don't be limited. Don't reduce God in your eyes

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to be just as big as your circumstance. Practice this today. Make your believing as big as he is.

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In a year like 2020, based on who I know the Lord to be, here's what I believe God is doing.

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I believe he is inviting his people to have a greater awareness of the security and rest to

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be had when we journey with him. He is a big God who has promised big things, and he is the only

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God, the only savior. Therefore his word, his nature is the only thing we can without a shadow

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of a doubt rely on in every circumstance, in every year. The promise of perfect peace is found

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in Isaiah 26.3. In Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing,

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nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus because of Jesus. You are a living testimony

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of Jesus's ultimate win. With every step you take today,

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