Welcome to episode 24.
Today, we're gonna take on a posture of peace
by stepping away from fear
and standing firmly in perfect love.
Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.
Posture is a podcast that serves a short,
audible fist bump to remind you that God is in everything.
Together, we're gonna be emboldened
to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
Psalm chapter 34, I'm gonna be reading verses four,
five, eight, 17, and 18.
Trust me, it is so good.
Verse four says this.
I sought the Lord and he answered me
and delivered me from all of my fears.
Those who look to him are radiant
and their faces will never be ashamed.
Verse eight, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
Blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Verse 17, 18, when the righteous cry for help,
the Lord hears and delivers them
out of all of their troubles.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted
and he saves the crushed in spirit.
With all that's happening in the world right now,
are you afraid?
If so, I just want you to know
that there is an abundance of grace
and love for you to rest in today.
In our most vulnerable state,
the Lord promises to draw near to us and save us.
If you find yourself brokenhearted or totally crushed
by all that's going on in the world
or perhaps how it is directly affecting
your world right now,
I just want you to know that the Lord is coming close
not to reprimand you for your fear
but to rescue you from it.
He is always at the ready to exchange what torments you
for perfect love and his perfect peace.
You know, we as people of the kingdom
have not been given a spirit of fear
but one of power and of love and of sound mind
which is good news.
However, it leaves us who are right now fighting fear
or just feeling fully afraid with a tension
because how do we live into that identity?
How do we become unafraid in a time
where fear itself has become very viral?
Well, we look to what David talks about here
and we seek the Lord.
And I also wanna remind you of a promise
that we talked about back in episode five
that in it's first John chapter four verse 18
that says perfect love cast out fear.
You know, David goes to love himself in these scriptures
for his deliverance from his fears.
And there's an expectation from David here
that when he goes to the Lord,
he's gonna taste and experience God's goodness in his life.
I don't know about you,
but I have found that I am most afraid
when I believe that I am most unloved.
You know, we don't become less afraid
by denying that we're having problems
or that the world is having problems.
I believe we become unafraid
when we become fully convinced
that because of Jesus's love for us,
all of those problems are denied from having us.
I don't know about you,
but there have been times in my life
where I have allowed fear to question God's love for me.
Instead of letting God's love for me put fear into question.
I have also been guilty of holding my fear up
to news reports and fact sheets to verify my fear
instead of holding my fear up against the word of God
for his vindication.
I've also at times sought friends,
sought social media influencers to validate my fear
and condone my worry instead of seeking the Lord
like David did in chapter 34 verse five.
or to prove his faithfulness to me.
So what about you? Are you feeling afraid right now?
Let me ask you another question. Are you feeling,
are you believing that you are completely
and relentlessly and passionately loved by the Lord?
It makes a difference because Satan knows that it's God's love for us
that makes these promises possible and available to us.
And so he knows that if he can convince us
of this one thing, that we are not totally loved by God, then he can also
easily convince us that none of these promises are possible.
You know, we've been practicing possibility as a posture community this
week and I believe that the Lord grows
relentlessly after impossibility because of its potential to breed fear
in our lives when it goes completely unchecked.
So if you're feeling afraid, there's no condemnation,
there's no shame, but there is freedom available. Let's practice
possibility right now with this one question.
What if today was your last day living afraid?
What would be possible tomorrow? Here's an even better question.
What if yesterday was your last day living afraid? What then would be
possible? I want to pray for us right now. Lord,
give us eyes to see how you see things.
Lord, your word says that we have the mind of Christ, so
Jesus, I'm asking for you to share your thoughts with us today. We want to
think the way that you think. Lord, give us the boldness to speak only
the truth in love and give us the boldness
to not speak anything beneath that standard.
Father, I pray right now for everyone watching that you would give us the
wisdom to be proactive in staying healthy and in protecting our
communities from the spread of this virus.
Lord, I pray over everyone right now that you would
give us the wisdom to diligently guard our hearts
from the destruction of unbelief. And Father, I pray right now
over everyone watching or listening. Lord, you break the hold of the poverty
spirit that says we will never have enough.
Break the hold of the orphan spirit that says we will never
be enough. And Father, I pray that you would break
the hold of the foreboding spirit that says,
Lord, you will never be enough. We rebuke and reject those lies and we
fully embrace your truth. And Father, I pray for everyone watching
right now that they would experience a tangible encounter of your love today,
meet them where they are, draw near as your word says,
and saved those right now who are crushed
in spirit. Father, I pray that we will all be emboldened
today to break free from fear, to fully embrace your perfect love
so that we can be the salt and light to a world who is threatening to go dark
right now. And I pray all of these things in the
authority that was given to me by Jesus Christ.
Amen. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3, and in Hebrew
it is shalom shalom, meaning complete wholeness. Nothing missing,
nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus.
Let's declare this together. Today I am kept in perfect peace. With my
whole heart, I trust the Lord. I am strong,
I am victorious, I am whole. Remember friend, you are a living testimony of
Jesus's ultimate win. Not because of anything you did, but
because of what he did for you. With every step you take today, you're
putting Jesus's victory on display and Satan's defeat on replay.