Today, we're gonna take on a posture of peace
by setting our minds and our expectations
on what God is doing in the world right now.
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.
In John chapter 20, verses 19 through 22,
it says, on the evening of that day,
now that day was the day
when the empty tomb was discovered.
It was the day that Jesus had risen from the dead.
It says, the doors being locked where the disciples were
for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and he stood among them.
And he said, peace be with you.
And then he showed them the wounds in his hands
and in his side, and he said,
and the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
And Jesus said to them again, peace be with you.
And he told them, just as the father has sent me,
I am now sending you.
And then he breathed on them and said,
receive the Holy Spirit.
I come back to this moment in our history often,
especially when I feel like my expectations
have been blown.
When hopelessness is trying to creep in
and I'm tempted to stop expecting God's goodness
in my life because of disappointments
or circumstances that I'm facing,
or broken relationships, all of those types of things.
When I'm facing those kinds of days,
I come back to this moment.
This moment in John chapter 20 was days
after Jesus had been arrested and brutally murdered.
And his disciples were absolutely devastated,
as you can imagine.
And here's what I find so interesting
because I used to think that the disciples
did what they did, you know,
abandoned Jesus when he was arrested in the garden,
scatter amongst themselves, you know,
Peter denying even knowing him,
and then them locking themselves away.
I thought all of that happened
because they were blindsided.
They were so caught off guard by Jesus's death.
However, when Jesus was arrested in the garden,
they were so caught off guard by Jesus's death
that they were so caught off guard
by Jesus's death.
However, Jesus told the disciples
he would be killed and raised again.
In Mark chapter eight, we can read that story
starting in verse 31.
It says,
and Jesus began to teach them that the son of man
must suffer many things,
and that he would be rejected by the elders
and the chief priest and the scribes and be killed.
And after three days, he would rise again.
And he said this plainly.
So it says in verse 32, he said this plainly.
This was not a parable.
This was not a metaphor.
This was not a riddle to be misunderstood.
He told them exactly what was going to happen.
And Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him.
And it says in verse 33,
Jesus saw the disciples and he rebuked Peter.
And he said,
get behind me, Satan,
for you are not setting your mind on the things of God,
but on the things of man.
Perhaps, perhaps,
the crucifixion wasn't devastating to the disciples
because they didn't know it was coming.
Perhaps it was so devastating
because it wasn't what they had wanted.
It wasn't the dream.
They wanted,
they had been expecting a Messiah who would rise,
become an earthly king and set them free
from the oppression of Roman rule.
They were dreaming of something reminiscent
of what their nation and their people had experienced
in the past with past earthly kings.
They had wanted a king who would fight for them,
rise in power and reestablish a kingdom on earth
that would be a hub of salvation for their people.
But instead of recreating some past breakthrough,
Jesus was actually establishing
a much more glorious future.
He was a king who would die for them,
serve them in total humility
and establish his heavenly kingdom here on earth
that would bring salvation to all people.
The disciples understandably wanted rescue,
but Jesus was offering them a resurrected life
and permanent residence in him.
What Colossians says is a life hidden in Christ,
sharing his victory, his power, his peace and his presence.
So the disciples locked away in that room,
hopeless, grieved, so disappointed.
They could not see.
today. They didn't know that over 2,000 years later there would be a global church that you
and I are part of, all proclaiming allegiance to a risen King Jesus. They were not expecting
that billions of us right now all over the world would know their story. What to them seemed the
end of their story, we now call actually the beginning of our story. They didn't see that
today all over the world the kingdom of God would be rapidly advancing through many nations,
many tribes, many tongues. I know today we're all locked away right now with this coronavirus still
prevalent and we're possibly feeling confined and constricted as we're still quarantined.
My prayer for you today is that you allow yourself to anticipate what Jesus is doing
in the midst of this trouble. Jesus didn't hold on information from us. He told us in John 16.33
that we would face trouble in this world, but he also told us to be courageous because he has
overcome the world. Whatever trouble you're facing today, and I know it's not light stuff,
some of us are facing things in our personal lives that honestly make the global pandemic
the least of our worries, but Jesus still has overcome even that that's happening in your life
and he is not going to leave you out of the victory lap. If you are wrestling with blown
expectations, if you're facing circumstances that were not the dream, I want you to know first of all
you're not alone in feeling that. I have been there too, but standing on the testimony of Jesus in my
life and his resurrection and his breakthrough, I want to infuse you with a fresh expectation today
based on the testimony we find in John chapter 20. Jesus is going to come straight through the
doors that fear and blown expectations have tried to lock you behind. He's going to give you his
peace. He's going to show off the impossible made possible. He has commissioned you to a victorious
life and he has breathed his very spirit into you. You are not alone. You are not without hope and
your future is still glorious. Can you see it? My prayer for you today is that you anticipate
with everything in you the power of a resurrected king. 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.