Today and all this week, we are going to take a posture of peace by exploring the
power that we have in Jesus to prevail in every single circumstance.
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.
Okay, we're back in Romans 8.
If you are reading along with me today, kiss the page.
I love Romans 8 so much.
And we're going to be reading today verses 35 through 39.
So it says,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword
as it is written,
For your sake we are being killed all day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor
things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will
be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You know, it struck me that there are believers who go their whole lives without experiencing
the depth of this truth because they haven't experienced tribulation and distress,
extreme suffering and sorrow.
They haven't experienced famine and nakedness,
finances, possessions, relationships, networks being stripped away.
They haven't experienced danger and sword,
things like death threats and diagnoses and attacks on their well-being and health.
You know, how could Paul, who's the author of Romans, who wrote this,
how could he be so sure that absolutely nothing could separate him,
could separate us from the love of God?
Because he writes in verse 38, he says,
I am sure, other translations say,
I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor
things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation
will be able to separate us from the love of God.
Well, Paul was convinced because none of this was theory to Paul.
He wasn't just uttering platitudes to try to subdue our hurt and suffering,
trying to make us feel better.
No, Paul had the privilege of experiencing the immense power of God's love and Jesus'
victory because he faced such intense circumstances
that God's love was the only thing that could sustain him.
God's love was the only thing that had remained, you know,
circumstances he faced that literally separated him from everything else,
friends, reputation, well-being, possessions, and yet God's love remained all powerful,
unchanging, never depleted, and always full of victory.
You know, hardship is not proof that God doesn't love you.
It's in the hardship that God's love for you is proven.
Remember, God chose intimacy.
He chose relationship with us.
First John 419 says he first loved us.
Don't ever, ever underestimate his passion for you.
Today, don't allow your circumstances to be the thing that informs you about who God is
and how he loves you and who you are.
No, allow God to inform you about your circumstances
and to tell you who you are becoming in him because you are more than a conqueror.
And we're going to be talking more about this later this week.
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 in Satan's defeat.
On Replay.