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Today, we're going to take a posture of peace

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by letting peace author our prayers.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay VanZale.

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Posture is a podcast that serves a short,

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audible fist bump to remind you that God is in everything.

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Together, we're gonna be emboldened

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to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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We've been in Romans chapter eight before together,

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and I wanna take us back there today

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because this is such a rich chapter.

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In Romans chapter eight, verses 26 and 27, it says,

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"'Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness,

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"'for we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

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"'but the Spirit himself intercedes for us

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"'with groanings too deep for words.

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"'And he who searches hearts

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"'knows what is the mind of the Spirit

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"'because the Spirit intercedes for the saints

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"'according to the will of God.'"

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And then we can jump down into verse 34.

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It's a verse we've covered in a previous episode.

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You may remember, who is to condemn?

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Christ Jesus is the one who died.

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More than that, who was raised,

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who is at the right hand of God

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and is also interceding for us.

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Now, I touched on this a little bit last week in episode 45.

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You have a divine prayer team.

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Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit

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are praying for you and with you today.

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Now, admittedly, I was not always aware of this truth.

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In fact, I've been on a very precious journey,

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even recently, unlearning some old prayer habits

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and some things I thought I knew about prayer.

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And my devotional life has shifted

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from just praying for an answer

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to praying with the answer.

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And this beautiful truth about prayer

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was illuminated to me by one of my spiritual mentors.

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His name is Graham Cooke.

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And Graham wrote a book called Crafted Prayer,

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The Joy of Always Getting Your Prayers Answered.

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How about that for a title?

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And it's not a very thick book,

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which I find super encouraging.

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I highly recommend this book.

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It'll change your prayer life.

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I will leave a link to it

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in the description of this episode

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if you're interested in checking it out.

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I hope you do.

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In this book, Graham encourages a different way

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to think about prayer, a different way to see prayer

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through the lens of this, what he calls,

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brilliant partnership that we have with God.

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And in fact, next week,

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Graham and I will be having a conversation on Facebook

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about this brilliant partnership.

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We're gonna be talking about God's empowering presence in us

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and it's what Graham calls three plus me,

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which I just love.

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I will be sharing details

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for how you can join that conversation

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on Posture's Facebook page later this week,

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facebook.com forward slash Posture podcast.

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There you'll find the link

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on how you can join in on that conversation.

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But today's thought based on Romans eight,

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here's what I want us to be thinking about.

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While you're shut in, locked down,

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self-isolated due to this pandemic,

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what if, what if you're not ever actually alone

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or without access to a ministry team?

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What if instead you have the best prayer team ever

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already living inside of you?

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According to Romans eight, you do.

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And true confession,

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here's what I wanted us to talk about prayer today,

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because I have found myself in this season

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with this pandemic, starting to feel weighed down

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by all of the prayer requests that are coming at me

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and are surrounding me.

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I mean, anytime I jump on social media,

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my newsfeed is just filled with real need

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and so many prayer requests from my community

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all over the world.

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I'm sure you're experiencing the same thing.

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And I realized I was feeling weighed down.

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I was even feeling burned out on prayer

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because all of my prayers were a reaction

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to the problems being presented

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instead of a response to the answer who is already present.

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I also realized this,

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I realized I was praying as if I was praying alone,

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as if I was carrying the sole responsibility

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of concocting an ideal situational outcome

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for the person I was praying for.

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And then I was striving to find the right words

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and feelings to conjure up that outcome.

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And let me just tell you from my own experience,

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that kind of prayer will burn you out real quick

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because desperation causes an identity crisis in us.

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We forget who we are and whose we are,

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and we forget who we are with.

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And we can let go of our peace

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in those moments of desperation

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and instead produce prayers from our own strength.

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So I had to step up.

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I had to step away from quickly throwing up prayers that were birthed from my own panic

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and desperation or fear about a situation, and instead I'm now learning to make the starting

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point of all of my prayers be thanksgiving to God.

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Because I was being pushed into prayer by the urgency of the need, and therefore my

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prayers were being birthed from all of the head noise, all of the chaos and thoughts

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about the circumstance, instead of being birthed from the peace in my spirit.

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Thanksgiving reminds me what I can expect, because thanksgiving disrupts hopelessness

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because it causes an awareness in us of where our hope actually lies, which is not in a

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specific situational outcome, no, our hope lies in a living God who is always magnificent

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no matter the situation.

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I cannot trust the ever-changing circumstances and facts that are swirling around me, but

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I can always trust my never-changing God.

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So every prayer, every burden of a need, every request, I start with thanking God for who

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He is.

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By the way, this doesn't change God or move God, it changes me.

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It aligns me with the truth.

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And so then it's from that place of thanksgiving and trust where the panic of the circumstance

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loses its grip on my heart and my mind, I become aware of the presence of the Prince

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of Peace himself, and then it's with a sound mind.

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I am then able to ask my divine prayer team, what are you praying about this situation?

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And then I pray that.

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Prayer is not a last resort, and it's not our sole responsibility.

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We are in partnership with Jesus and the Holy Spirit in every prayer that we pray.

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So today, try it.

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Don't focus on praying for an answer.

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Pray with the answer.

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Start your prayers today with thanksgiving to God.

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Thank Him first for who He is.

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Don't allow panic or desperation to dictate your prayers.

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Instead, allow your prayers and your peace to dictate the silencing of all fears and

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unbelief.

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Today, let peace author your prayers.

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The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26.3.

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And in Hebrew, it is shalom shalom, meaning complete wholeness.

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Nothing missing, nothing broken.

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This is who you are in Jesus.

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Let's declare this together.

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Today, I am kept in perfect peace.

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With my whole heart, I trust the Lord.

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I am strong.

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I am victorious.

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I am whole.

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Remember friend, you are a living testimony of Jesus' ultimate win.

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Not because of anything you did, but because of what He did for you.

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With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus' victory on display and Satan's defeat

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on replay.