Today, we're going to take a posture of peace
by raising our expectations.
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.
In Psalm 57, verse seven, David writes,
my heart is fixed, oh God, my heart is fixed.
I will sing and give praise.
Before we dive more into each fruit of the spirit,
I just want to talk today about expectation
because what we give our expectation to
has our attention, has our focus.
So my question for you today is,
what did you wake up expecting from God today?
Are you expecting him to be angry with you
or disappointed in you?
Are you expecting him to be distant or temperamental
or not quite enough to overcome your situation?
Are you expecting him to be overshadowed
by all the pain that's happening in the world right now?
Who do you anticipate him being to you,
for you, and through you?
Who do you anticipate him being for other people
in your life or other people on your screen?
Who do you anticipate him being for that person
who posted that social media post that drove you crazy?
Each fruit of the spirit that we find in Galatians 5
reveals an aspect of the nature of God
and with each one of those comes a perception,
a mindset, and a language that transforms us
from an earthbound perspective to a heaven-based one.
Did you know that it's not that God is just joyful,
it's that he's the most joyful.
He's the most kind.
He's the most peaceful.
You'll never know someone more gentle than your God.
And I'm learning right now in every situation
to carry that expectancy.
Even in the hardest situations,
I expect to see his joy, his peace,
his gentleness manifest somewhere in that situation.
With that expectation, I'm looking for it.
It has set my gaze on him.
This kind of expectation, it gives us God's perspective
and it opens us up to recognize what he is doing
and who he wants to be for us right here, right now,
in the midst of whatever we're facing.
And I'm telling you, don't fall for the lie
that this is positive thinking.
It is not positive thinking.
This is kingdom living.
This is what we have been set free to live.
We should be carrying a greater expectation
for who God is for us
than who the enemy could ever be against us.
Jesus deserves that honor.
He deserves all of our expectation, all of our trust,
all of our attention and focus.
He deserves our belief in his finished work.
He deserves all of our worship, not just parts of it.
So let's not downgrade God
to match our low-level experiences here on earth.
In the midst of all that is happening right now in our world,
I expect my risen King Jesus
to continue to rise in glory.
And so I am living on his level.
He is not living on mine.
I am partnering with him.
I am not partnering with worst-case scenarios.
I'm not partnering with media reports.
I'm not partnering with the comments section
of a hideous post on social media.
I am aligning myself with who he is,
not with the world's way of seeing or thinking.
I will not align myself with fear
or hopelessness or despair.
And I am not taking Satan's bait of offense
or hate or rage.
Alignment with the nature of God
will create a sensitivity in you.
It will create a greater awareness in you
to his wisdom and his ways.
And what that does is it opens our eyes and our minds
to bring kingdom solutions
to a world filled with problems.
David understood this when he wrote Psalm 57, 7,
when he said, my heart is fixed, O God.
My heart is fixed.
A literal translation of that verse says,
prepared is my heart, O God.
Prepared is my heart.
Expectation, it fixes our hearts and our minds on the Lord.
It prepares.
hearts for whatever we may face in this troubled world. It doesn't make us blind
to the issues, it makes us a solution to them. If it wasn't possible then Jesus
was not telling us the truth in John 14 27 when he said, I give you my peace and
it's a peace that overcomes this world. So today let's not allow negativity to
form a resistance in us to truth or to wisdom or to being a display of the
genuine nature of God. Let's raise our expectations above what is only possible
to the world and let's engage on a kingdom level. Let his love, his peace, his
joy, his kindness saturate you. Receive it first, receive it from him so that you
can then give it, so then you can be a display of his glory here on earth. And
let me tell you from experience it takes practice. I am actively practicing this
every day. I don't always get it right but he's not failing me, he's not giving
me an F, he's not giving you an F. So I'm not going to fail myself, I'm not going
to step out of this joyful process of being transformed into his image and
likeness. Instead I want to continue in this with a great expectation of who he
is and who he has empowered me to be. Remember there's never anything you face
that is too much or has been going on for too long that he can't overcome. He
delights in being your deliverer and he is enjoying every part of this
transformative journey with you so plan on enjoying it with him today. Raise your
expectations of who he is for you, in you, and through you. And know this, he plans
on making you not just a conqueror but more than a conqueror in this world.
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.