Welcome to episode 25.
Today, we're gonna take on a posture of peace
by rising up and partnering with promise.
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.
Before we dive into the episode,
if you are feeling especially fragile or vulnerable
with all that's going on in the world right now,
I just wanna encourage you,
there is no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus, okay?
Do not let your fear put you to shame.
You are victorious.
That is who you are.
You are well able.
That is who you are because of who Jesus Christ is in you.
But there are days, there are moments
when we feel especially vulnerable,
and those are the perfect times to tuck into the Lord
and allow him to minister his grace, his peace,
his gentleness, and his affection towards you.
The Bible says that he is our comforter
and he is our counselor.
And today, if you're feeling fragile,
it's the perfect time to allow him
to be your comfort and your counselor.
So if that's you, today's episode is not for you today.
Save it for another day, okay?
I would encourage you to watch or listen to episode 24,
and then again, like I said, get alone with the Lord
and allow him to minister his peace to you.
Okay, I'm gonna give you a chance to turn it off.
All right, if you're still watching or listening
and you've got a bit of fight in you,
even if it's just a smidge,
if there's something stirring in you
with all that's going on in the world right now,
even if it's unexplainable,
but there's something in you that feels like it's rising up,
I wanna speak to you today warrior to warrior, okay?
And just so you know, not apologizing for it,
you're gonna see warrior Lindsay today, okay?
So I might come across a bit passionate, a bit forceful.
I want you to know I'm not confronting you.
I'm not angry with you.
I'm confronting our enemy because I'm angry at him, okay?
So we're gonna jump in.
Numbers chapter 13.
I'm gonna be reading verses 30 through 33.
So it says in verse 30,
but Caleb quieted the people before Moses.
And he said, let us go up at once and occupy it.
Meaning the promised land that God had given
to the nation of Israel.
For we are well able to overcome it.
Then the men who had gone up with him said,
we are not able to go against these people
for they are stronger than us.
So they brought to the people of Israel
a bad report of the land that they had spied out
saying the land is a land that devours its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw in it were of great height.
They were giants.
And we seem to ourselves like grasshoppers.
And so we seemed to them.
I would encourage you read all of numbers 13 today
to get familiar with the story.
Really quick summary.
The Lord had promised the nation of Israel
a land that was magnificent.
They arrived after a long journey
and they sent 12 spies to go scout it out
to see what it was going to take
for them to inhabit the land
and take full possession of what God had promised them.
Two spies, Caleb and Joshua,
came back with a report, a good one,
saying we are well able.
And the other 10 spies came back with a bad report.
And here is what extremely,
it was extremely sobering about the story.
10 spies, one bad report,
talked an entire generation out
of what God had promised them.
Meanwhile, I would want you to note
that Caleb and Joshua never denied
the details of the bad report.
They never got up and said, there's no giants,
or they're not as tall as you said they were,
or the cities aren't fortified like you said they were.
No, they all went to the same land.
Okay, they all saw the same thing.
However, Caleb and Joshua saw the land
through the eyes of promise
while the other 10 could only focus on the problems.
And it made a huge difference.
Why am I bringing this up?
Every time I go to the Lord in prayer
about what's happening right now
in our world with this virus,
this story comes to mind.
Because what I believe is happening right now
is we, the people of God,
are going to be held responsible
for what we report during this time.
What eyes are we going to see with?
Are we going to set our gaze
on the never-changing, most certain God,
or are we going to set our eyes only
on the ever-changing, uncertain circumstances of our time?
Here's why I feel like we're gonna be held responsible.
I feel like the Lord right now is roaming the Earth
looking for who he can entrust with platform and influence
to advance his kingdom here on Earth.
And I believe this is a testing ground, okay?
So the question for us today, again, warrior to warrior,
is what are we going to report?
What are we going to post?
What are we going to think?
What are we going to say?
How are we going to act?
Will we partner with promise today
or will we empower the problems?
You and I, as people of God, have been given a mandate
to lead our generation in possessing every single promise
the Lord has given us,
no matter what the giants are in the land.
And there are giants.
There is no denying that.
But here's what I do not like about this viral fear.
In addition to the torment that it is giving people
right now, I do not like what it implies about my Jesus.
Because my Jesus is a warrior
and he has never lost a battle that he has faced.
And he has gifted us that victory
so we can walk every single day
putting his victory on display
and putting Satan's defeat on replay.
Are you going to see yourself as a grasshopper
in this land, small and insignificant?
Or are you going to see yourself rightly
as a son or daughter of the Most High King
who has been given the mind of Christ,
access to the unlimited wisdom of God,
and the very spirit that has resurrected Jesus
from the dead lives in you.
The question is, what will you report?
You are well able and I am well able
to demolish anything, virus, anxiety, fear,
that comes up against the knowledge of God.
And we are well able to possess every single promise.
So today is not the time to regurgitate and retweet fear.
Today is the time to proclaim the good news of the gospel,
to broadcast the promises of the kingdom,
and to give a people who are hungry for hope
and desperate for salvation,
the good news of a great king and a perfect loving father.
We are well able.
This is possible.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 three.
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.