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Today, we're going to take a posture of peace by completely believing that we are completely loved.

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Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.

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Posture is a podcast that serves as a short audible fist bump to remind you that God is in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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In 1 John 4 verses 18 and 19, it says,

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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, for fear has to do with punishment,

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and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

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We love because He first loved us.

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We love because He first loved us.

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I have made my poorest choices, my worst decisions, and for a long time,

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I lived with constant anxiety because I got this backwards.

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I have often forgotten that I am loved by God and that He loved me first.

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He doesn't love me because I love Him, and my love for Him doesn't move Him to love me

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any more or less.

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His love for you and me is complete.

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I mentioned this before, I believe at the root of every anxiety is an accusation.

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The main accusation being, I am not completely loved.

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For years, I strived for more love from God and to try to maintain His love for me by

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trying to be more and trying to do more, you know, volunteer here, work hard over here,

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represent Him well here, don't quit, don't give up, don't screw it up,

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and I settled with living with a constant low-grade condemnation because I didn't believe

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that I was completely, totally, sufficiently loved by God.

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What do you think the world would be like if we all completely believed we were completely

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loved?

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We see the possibilities in Jesus's life.

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You know, the Father called Jesus, my beloved Son, in Mark 1 at His baptism and in Mark 9

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at the Transfiguration, and Jesus, He carried that complete love with Him through the wilderness,

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through the temptation.

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He carried the Father's love for Him with Him through every miracle, every impossible

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situation He came across.

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He carried the Father's love for Him through the praise of the crowd, the insults of the

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religious leaders.

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He carried it with Him into the quietness of the garden, through the betrayal and the

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abandonment of His closest friends, through the injustice of a political and religious

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system that wrongly accused Him.

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And He carried it to the cross, where He laid it down to carry our sin, our sickness, and

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our shame, all the things that once kept us separated from God and His love.

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It was broken once and for all on that cross, and there is now nothing you can do to finish

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Jesus's finished work.

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We talk about that.

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I'll link some of those episodes below in case you missed it.

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When you believe that you are completely loved, you will live differently.

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You live powerfully because you're no longer living in contention with the truth.

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You're empowered to step away from striving for perfection because you can now rest secure

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in Jesus's perfection, His finished work, His perfect peace.

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Today, believe that you are completely loved.

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Let me tell you from experience what's going to happen when you walk in that direction.

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Accusation is going to try to rise up and talk you out of it because the enemy, who

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the Bible says is the accuser of God's people, he's going to try to get you to focus on your

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behavior, your past.

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And if he can't do that, he may try to get you to just compare yourself with others in

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your newsfeed, what they are doing, what they have accomplished, how they seem to have much

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more blessing and favor and love in their lives than you might.

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He may try to bring up a painful situation or circumstance that has happened to you where

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it seemed God was distant or not available to help you, maybe an unanswered prayer, a

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grief, or a loss.

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And when accusation rises up, the Bible says in James 4, 7, resist the devil and he will

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flee from you.

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So here's what I did in my deepest valley, when it seemed like everything in my world

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was trying to reason away this truth that I was completely loved by the creator of the

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universe.

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Instead of trying to reason with the accusation, I resisted it. I gave it no mind space. Instead,

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I focused completely on receiving this complete love of God. And let me tell you, this love,

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sometimes it seems unreasonable, but it is so irresistible. You are so loved by God. Jesus is

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your proof. John 3, 16, a familiar scripture, but too often we overly familiarize ourself with it

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and we miss the point. God loved you so much that he gave his son for you. Park there this week.

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Hold on to this truth. Go no further until you completely believe that you are completely loved.

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The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26, 3. And in Hebrew, it is shalom, shalom,

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meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus.

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Let's declare this together. Today, I am kept in perfect peace. With my whole heart,

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I trust the Lord. I am strong. I am victorious. I am whole. Remember, friend, you are a living

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testimony of Jesus's ultimate win, not because of anything you did, but because of what he did

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

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defeat on replay.