Today, we're going to take a posture of peace by exploring the kind of life
that being completely loved launches us into.
Hi, I'm Lindsay Van Zale.
Posture is a podcast that serves as 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 Romans chapter 6, verses 6 through 11, it says,
Now, if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
Death no longer has dominion over him, for the death he died, he died to sin once for all.
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There is only one you.
The you who is alive to God and dead to sin.
Jesus did this.
He didn't just die for you, he died as you.
And it was a finished work, done in complete love.
There is nothing that you can do to finish his finished work.
So, we're not living lives performing to get a relationship with God.
We're not working to earn his love or his approval because we already have it all.
Because of the work of Jesus.
Okay, so what are we doing?
Because if Jesus did all the work, then what is our work?
Doesn't James 2 say,
When you become aware that you are completely loved,
fully alive to God, and totally dead to sin, you live differently.
You're no longer wasting time wrestling with condemnation and shame,
staying small and stuck in sin or under the weight of accusation.
You're not striving to get a better position with God
because you know you are placed securely in Christ.
The power of sin has been brought to nothing in your life.
It has been broken over you.
So, the question to ask now is,
Who am I free to be?
What kind of living has this complete love launched me into?
Everything in God is a gift.
We don't earn gifts, we receive them, right?
So, I can't earn freedom, I receive it.
I can't earn peace, I receive it.
I can't earn salvation, I receive it.
I can't earn joy, I receive it.
I can't earn righteousness, I receive it.
The gift is God and all he is in you.
1 Corinthians 2.12 says,
We have not received the spirit of the world,
but the spirit who is from God,
so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
So now, I'm free to live in peace and joy.
I'm free to have a high capacity and unshakable confidence
in the work that I put my hands to
because it's all founded in my being completely loved
and fully accepted by God.
I'm free to receive innovations from heaven.
You know, my spirit of excellence is not driven by
Facebook likes or perfectionism or somebody else's approval.
No, instead it's driven by my partnership with the Holy Spirit.
And let me tell you, when you accept
how completely God accepts you and loves you and approves of you,
people will matter, but it won't matter what they think.
My performance, my work, my productivity
is not birthed in striving to win God's approval or affirmation.
Instead, it's all simply my relational response to who God is for me.
You can't keep from living this way
when you're so focused on receiving all of his good and perfect gifts.
This life is exciting because let me tell you,
there is ground to take in every sphere of influence in this world.
There are movements to be led.
There are people to serve.
But we will burn ourselves out doing those things
if we think
I think those are the kind of things that make God love us.
God is permanently passionate about you.
There is no coming and going of his love or presence.
He is in you to stay.
So today, fill up on your awareness of how full his love already is for you.
If you find yourself contending with condemnation today or struggling with sin, read Romans
6 and receive the truth.
There is newness of life for you to walk in today.
You have been totally set free.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26.
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' 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' victory on display and Satan's defeat
on replay.