Today we are going to take a posture of peace and take back any power that we may have given
to our circumstances. 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.
We're going to spend a little bit of time today in Isaiah chapter 43. If you have time today,
I was about to say if you have time today, even if you don't have time, make time and read Isaiah
43 in its entirety. It is such treasure. We're going to read, starting in verses one and two,
it says, but now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel,
fear not for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through
the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.
When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Same chapter, chapter 43, but going down to verses 10 and 11, the Lord continues. He says,
you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant who I have chosen, that you may know
and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any
after me. I, I am the Lord, and besides me, there is no savior. So in the last episode, episode 127,
I shared about how I am learning and practicing this promise we find in Jeremiah 29, seeking the
Lord with my whole heart, with my whole self, and it's changing everything. It's changing how I now
read scripture. When I, when I come to the word of God, I'm not looking for me, I'm looking for
him. I'm seeking who he is, you know, his nature, his ways, his perspective. This, um, has changed
how I pray. I'm not coming to him to lay out how I think and feel about things, but instead I'm
coming to hear what God thinks about things, and then I'm aligning my thoughts and my emotions
and my actions to his. And through this seeking him wholeheartedly, I'm no longer
viewing the Lord through the lens of my circumstance, but I'm viewing my circumstances
through the lens of him. Meaning, you know, when I'm facing negative circumstances, I'm not using
them to inform me about who my God is, you know, using them as proof, like, to say, oh, well, I got,
God must be distant, or he definitely must not care, or he's definitely punishing me right now.
Instead, I'm relying on the nature of God to inform me about my circumstances. We, we see this
all through scripture. Lamentations 322, it says, because of the Lord's great love, because of who
God is, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. Romans 8 28, it says, we know that in
all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
Jesus told us in John 16 33, he said, I have said these things to you, that in me, you may have
peace in the world, you will have trouble, but take heart or have courage because I have overcome
the world. You can have peace because of who I am. This is who our God is. This is who our God is,
not in theory, but in truth, not some of the time, but all of the time. So he tells us in Isaiah 43,
he says, before me, no God was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Meaning there is no other
God, but me. This includes whatever circumstance you may be facing today. That circumstance
is not your God. It is.
not the ruler of your life. Let's just let's just sit with that truth for just a minute and soak it
in. No matter what you're facing today, financial distress, sickness, grief, betrayal, the the
circumstances that feel all-consuming and seem everlasting, they are not your God. They don't
rule over you. They don't determine your destiny. They don't hold your future in their hands.
The only power that circumstances, whether they're positive or negative, ever have over us
is the power that we choose to give to them. Here, have my emotions. Here, have my mind space.
Here, have my attention. Here, have my affection. Here, here's my peace. Here, take my joy. Here,
have all of my trust. Now, I'm not picking on you. Again, this whole lens change has been a practice
for me, so these are not hypotheticals that I'm throwing out. These are real things that I have
chosen to surrender in the past to my circumstances. I've chosen to allow my circumstances
to take that power over me. And if you can relate, if this is resonating with you, if you've also
surrendered those things over to your circumstances, if you've given them the power,
if you've treated your circumstances, again, whether good, bad, or ugly, like they are your
God, like they determine your destiny, I have great news for you today. You can get back
what you surrendered. You do this through worship, worshiping the only God. You know, worship is not
letting a song play through while you close your eyes and more seriously contemplate all your
issues. Again, I'm not picking on you. I speak from experience. Worship is surrender. It's saying,
Lord, here, you have my emotions. I want my emotions to be aligned with you, with the truth.
Lord, have my mind space. I receive the mind of Christ. Lord, you have my attention. You have
all of my focus. Lord, you have my affection. You are my peace. You are my joy. You have all of my
trust. In worship and in thanksgiving and in praise, we rid ourselves of that lens of self,
the lens of our circumstances that we talked about in the last episode, and we take on the lens of
him and we begin to see ourselves and our world and our future through the lens of him. Worship
the only God. Worship your only God today and allow him to inform you about everything
you're currently facing. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3. In Hebrew,
it is shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken.
This is who you are in Jesus, because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus's ultimate
win. With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's
defeat on replay.