Today, we are going to practice peace.
Posture is a short, audible fist bump
to remind you God is with you in everything.
Together, we're going to be emboldened
to take a daily posture of perfect peace.
In Psalm chapter four, verses six through eight,
David writes,
Many people say, who will show us better times?
I feel like a lot of people
are asking that question right now.
Then David writes, let your face smile on us, Lord.
You have given me greater joy
than those who have abundant harvest of grain and new wine.
In peace, I will lie down and sleep.
For you alone, oh Lord, will keep me safe.
Peace is very different in the kingdom of God.
It's not elusive like the world's peace.
It doesn't have to be conjured up.
It doesn't have to be contended for.
It can't be lost.
It can't be broken.
It can't be stolen from you.
Because in the kingdom, peace is not a calming feeling
or a calming environment or a calming circumstance.
Our peace is a calming presence.
Our peace is not circumstantial
because our peace is a person.
Jesus is our Prince of Peace and he never changes.
The Bible says in Hebrews 13, five,
he never leaves us nor forsakes us.
The Bible also says that we are now one with Christ.
You are in Christ.
Ephesians chapter two is a great place to read about that.
And Christ is in you.
Romans eight is another great place to explore this truth.
So you are one with peace himself.
You are in union with peace,
which means you always have peace in any circumstance.
If you're in a place right now
where peace just doesn't feel very real to you
or there doesn't seem to be any evidence of it in your life,
it's not an access issue,
meaning you have no access to this peace.
And it's not an availability issue,
meaning there's no peace available for you
or there's no peace available in this situation
that you're facing or peace has left you.
It's none of those things.
But it could be an awareness issue.
It could be that maybe you're not aware
that peace is right there with you right now.
This was my story.
I always thought that peace was something outside of myself
that I needed to try to grab and get into me,
get into my head and heart.
Like it was an external that I needed to make internal.
I wasn't aware that I was in union with the Prince of Peace
and that peace was in me and that peace could rise within me
and then saturate my external circumstances.
I didn't realize that peace was with me
and he was never leaving.
I thought it was something that would come and go, right?
Depending on the circumstance
or depending on what I was facing or feeling that day.
But when I discovered this truth
of being in relationship with peace himself,
I started practicing peace.
I started partnering with this peace,
with this truth about peace.
I started practicing becoming more aware of who my God is
and who I am becoming in him in every circumstance.
It's what we're encouraged to do in Colossians 3.15,
which says, let the peace of Christ rule.
Let, just let.
I've been practicing letting for years now.
And my awareness, my habits, my response,
my reflex of letting peace reign
is becoming more and more permanent.
And here is what is so awesome
about practicing into permanency the truth of God's word.
There's always upgrades.
There's always more territory to take.
In just the past few weeks,
there have been a couple hard circumstances
that quite honestly would typically cause me major stress
and anxiety.
But instead, I have walked into these circumstances
in perfect peace.
And I have stayed in perfect peace
in the midst of the circumstances.
It's amazing.
It's amazing the upgrades that I've been experiencing,
even in just the last couple of weeks,
after years of practicing this,
it's just more and more and more and more.
And here's what's so cool.
Peace is a driver.
Did you know that?
I think sometimes we think of peace
as just this gentle breeze
that like comes and maybe sits on our shoulder
if we're still enough.
But peace is a powerful force.
The presence of Jesus is an empowering force in our lives.
He doesn't just sit there.
Peace drives.
out panic and it drives us, it propels us forward even if the circumstance seems
unmoving, we move. Because we're going from glory to glory and there is grace
upon grace in the process of practicing that. So I thought I want to share today
three ways that I practice peace every day and these are just three ways that I
partner my awareness with the Prince of Peace and I'm having so many
upgrades guys I can't even share it all with you right now but these are three
things that you can start doing today. Today. So the first thing is I set my
expectation. I expect peace in my life every day. Every day. Good days, bad days,
every day. In tasks that I enjoy doing and things I really don't enjoy doing
and facing hard things and hearing bad news and dealing with conflict, I expect
peace to rise within me and saturate the space and the people around me every
time. And here's what's key, my expectation is not set on a particular
outcome, it is set on my source, my Father God. In lack, I know he is my
provider, that's my expectation. In vulnerable places and spaces, I know he's
my protection, that's my expectation. In illness, I know he's my healer. In grief,
I know he's my comforter. I already know the outcome because I know the Lord. And
so instead of fixating on what I believe the journey to the outcome
should be or what it should look like, like this needs to happen, that needs to
happen, and that better happen, I'm gonna be really angry with God, I release
myself from that pressure, I release him from that accusation, and I set my gaze
on him alone because he, not the outcome, is worthy of my trust. In the journey, in
the middle of a circumstance, in the middle of the pain, the disappointment,
the grief, he is worthy of my attention, my focus, my trust, my attitude. So I am
I'm placing my expectation on him and I expect and trust that peace will rise
within me every time. And it's all founded on this truth, he loves me. He
loves me because he loves me because he loves me and he loves you too. And so my
expectation is founded, it's rest upon, I know that he loves me, I know that he's
for me, and I know that he will keep his word. The second thing I do is I live in
denial. Now let me just say, there is an accusation out there that the enemy uses
to target those of us who live by faith, and that accusation is, you live in
denial, you're making this up, you're not in touch with reality, you're not being
realistic, you're not paying attention. When you choose to trust God, when you
choose to take him at his word, to believe what he has said, you're gonna
live in denial of some things. You're gonna live in denial of hopelessness. You
don't have to ignore the facts, you don't have to ignore the diagnosis, the bad
news, the grief, the conflict, absolutely not, I'm not talking about living denial
of those things, but what I'm talking about is when you live by his word, you
will see the facts that you're facing very differently. You'll respond to them
very differently. You have the facts, but the facts don't have you. You're not
subject to them, they don't have the final say over your life. Not because you
said, not because I said, but because he said. And when we deny hopelessness in
our circumstance and situation, we agree with what he said. Now I know that this
is easier in short-term circumstances, but what about those long circumstances?
What about the circumstances that have lasted months or even years? The lie of
the long battle, or the lie of the recurring battle, says there's no hope
because it's always going to be this way. But the enemy's intentions hold no
weight against the purposes of God, and his primary purpose is found in Genesis
126. It's to make you and me and his image and likeness, and as he is, so are
we in this world, 1st John 4 17. So it won't always be this way, because you
won't always be this way. You're changing, you're transforming, you're becoming more
aware of who he is in you and who you are in him. There are circumstances that
I have been dealing with for years, and it's hard and it's painful, but in these
I have become more aware of the truth and there is an unshakableness that has formed
within me that wasn't there at the start.
I am walking in my true identity like never before and the long battle has not depleted
me because he has been my strength.
Even though the circumstance is still there, it already isn't what it was at the start
because my eyes have opened and I'm seeing it differently and I'm walking in it differently.
And you can walk in your circumstances differently too.
Now the third thing I do is I give thanks.
I really live thanks.
Now before you roll your eyes and bounce away and go to the next video, please hear me.
This is not about pretending that you're fine and trying to cover your pain with platitudes.
What I'm talking about is wholehearted, targeted thanksgiving based in the truth of who our
God is, not in what we may be feeling or not feeling.
Now I have been scared.
I have been in some terrifying, tormenting situations and I know that some of you watching
right now are in some very scary situations right now.
Some of you that are watching are in life-threatening situations and I know what that is like.
So I do not play light here.
What I am sharing with you is not a theory to me.
It's the truth and it's a truth that has been tested and proven over and over again.
I have not found a more powerful disruptor to fear and torment than thanksgiving.
Nothing shifts in the spiritual realm when the people of God gives thanks.
Thanksgiving not only sharpens your awareness and aligns you with the truth, but it completely
disrupts the plans of the enemy.
It disrupts and disengages discouragement in our life.
It disempowers fear.
It drowns out torment and engages our hearts in the victory of Jesus.
It makes us participants.
It's something that is released that makes us partakers of that divine nature.
So give thanks for what is true today and what is true is that he is with you, he is
for you, and you belong to him.
I want to encourage you that the proof of his presence, the proof of peace, is not found
in what you may currently be feeling.
The proof is found in his word and it's found in what he has promised and he has promised
to never leave us nor forsake us and he's promised to be our prince of peace.
He's given us his peace.
So I want to encourage you this week to practice peace and do these three things wholeheartedly.
Set your expectation, live in denial of hopelessness, and live out thanks.
Now there is no reason to get legalistic with this.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
So don't use this as something to beat yourself up about.
Don't be upset if you have to, you know, if you've let go of the practice and then you
have to pick it back up again and start again.
That's okay.
It's practice.
This is about being invited into living in a greater awareness of what is already yours
in Jesus.
You already have peace.
You're becoming more and more aware of that peace each and every day.
Place your attention on the right thing.
This is not about perfect performance.
It's about patient practice and I'm here to tell you, I am living proof that practicing
peace will make it permanent in your life.