Today, we're going to take a posture of peace by discovering and identifying with our most
authentic selves. 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 going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
In John chapter 8, starting in verse 12, it says,
Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
And the Pharisee said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself.
Your testimony is not true. But Jesus answered, even if I do
bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where
I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
And then skipping into verse 29, Jesus says this about the father. He says,
He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone.
For I always do the things that are pleasing to him.
And it says that as Jesus was saying these things, many believed in him.
So he said to those who believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,
and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Jesus knew the truth. Jesus knew who he was.
His identity was so firmly rooted in his father's love for him.
It was so rooted in what his father said to him and about him.
I've been telling you every day this week, you are a restorer.
Let me ask, has that been hard for you to believe about yourself?
Has there been a resistance or a hesitancy to identify with being a restorer?
It used to be very hard for me to believe about myself.
I just didn't feel like I had the evidence in my life to back it up,
especially when I was in the chokehold of anxiety and panic,
which I've shared a little bit about my story before.
It just didn't feel authentic to say I am a restorer
on days when I was just so burned out that I couldn't seem to get the simplest task done.
You know, the thought of being a restorer wasn't even appealing to me during that time
because I was just trying to survive and get through each day.
And on a particularly bad day, I sensed the Lord asked me this question.
He said,
Linds, why do you identify most with the sickness, with the anxiety, with the bad days?
Why do you believe that your good days are an exception and your bad days are your normal?
And I was honest with him.
I said, because it doesn't feel authentic to pretend that the good days are my normal.
I just don't feel authentic when I do that.
And so he asked me gently,
what are you trying to be authentic to?
Are you being authentic to the permanence of your identity in Christ, your kingdom reality,
what I have said about you, what I have promised to you,
or are you being most authentic to your temporary pain?
And again, there was a gentleness in his voice.
He wasn't condemning me.
He was calling me up because somewhere along the way,
I had begun to believe that authenticity meant cleaving to my brokenness
instead of fully embracing and identifying with Jesus's wholeness,
even in the midst of brokenness.
How did that happen?
Honestly, I think it happened because it was the path of least resistance.
I mean, the hardest thing to do in the midst of pain and suffering
is to go against the tide of despair and believe in a greater destiny.
But I had to.
I had to.
You should do this too.
I mean, we have to start believing what God believes about us.
This is what God says about you.
This is what God's word says about you.
And by the way, this is a download that I'll make available
in the description of this episode.
Ephesians 1-4, I chose you before the world was even created.
Ephesians 1-3, I blessed you with every spiritual blessing.
Romans 8-17, I made you a co-heir with Christ.
Romans 8-11, I put my very spirit in you.
First Corinthians 2-16, I gave you Christ mine
so I could share my ways and my thoughts with you.
Isaiah 41-10, I made you strong.
Romans 8-37, you are more than a conqueror.
Romans 3.22 you are righteous. 1st John 5.4 you are victorious.
Colossians 2.10 you are whole. 1st Peter 2.24 you are healed. 2nd
Corinthians 3.12 you are bold. John 8.36 you are free. Matthew 5.14 you are the
light of the world. Galatians 5.22-23 we've talked about this one before. You
have my characteristics. You have God's joy, his peace, his patience, his kindness.
1st John 3.1 you are his child. 1st Corinthians 3.9 you are his partner.
2nd Corinthians 5.20 you are his ambassador. Ephesians 2.10 you are his
masterpiece. John 15.15 you are his friend. Jeremiah 31.3 you are God's
beloved. And Zephaniah 3.17 says he delights in you. 2nd Peter 1.3 his
divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. You have
everything you need to reflect God's true nature and your true identity in
every circumstance. I bear witness to this because I know where I came from
and where I am going and I know what that means for the here and now. For the
power that I can walk in today, the favor, the victory, the holy tear that I'm
going to be to the enemy today. You know for too long Satan has gotten away with
convincing us to live less than the life that Jesus paid with his life for
us to have. I have been so quick to identify with my ever-changing issues
but I have been too slow to identify with what my never-changing God calls me.
Let's ask ourselves an honest question today. Are we making our suffering sacred
in our hearts and minds? Have we set it on a pedestal higher than Jesus in our
lives? Brokenness is not your final destination. It is an invitation to
authentically experience the breakthrough of heaven and to be a
carrier of the redeeming, restoring, resurrecting power of Jesus
Christ in the here and now. You know Jesus was broken on the cross so that
you could be whole. That is authentic. Do not settle for anything less. You are a
restorer. 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.