Our newsfeeds are filled with what people THINK about the state of the world, but what actually has a great effect in both this realm and the spiritual realm is what we are choosing to BELIEVE about who God is and the state of His Kingdom.
Transcript
Today, we are going to take a “Posture of Peace” by believing big.
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.
Okay, so I’m taking us right back to Isaiah 43 because I just can’t get enough of this treasure of a chapter, going back to verses 1 and 2. If you remember from our last episode in verse 1, the Lord says here, “fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.” Now I’m not even really planning on talking about this today but I can not say it. Isn’t it such a cool thought that when the Lord calls you by your name? He’s not calling you a failure, He’s not calling you lost cause. He’s not calling you anxious or depressed or broken, or disappointment. He calls you “mine”, that is your name to Him. That is a powerful, powerful truth. And then in verse 2, the Lord says, “when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; and the flame shall not consume you.”
And I just want to read one quick other scripture here. We’ve been here before. Colossians 3:1-3 says, “if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on Earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
So, all this week we’ve been talking about a lens change. No longer viewing God through the lens of self or the lens of our circumstances but choosing to view ourselves and our circumstances through the lens of Him. And you know one thing I know about our Posture community is we are a people of great faith. I’ve talked about in past episodes this week how this lens change has affected really everything the way I read scripture and I talked about how it’s changed the way I pray, so I thought I would end the week by sharing how this lens change has affected my believing. Because you know, right now our news feeds, I know are filled with what people think about the state of the world but what actually has great effect in both this realm and in the spiritual realm, is what we believe; about who God is in the state of His Kingdom.
Before I had this lens change, before I began to practice taking on this new lens, I used to limit my belief to just trying to have enough faith to cover my circumstances. And it reduced God in my eyes to just being enough to bring me some relief and resolve from the negative things happening to me and around me. But Ephesians 3:20 says, you know “God is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or think”. So here’s what I’m practicing now, instead of just making my believing as big as my circumstances are; I am making my believing as big as God is. My beliefs are not set in what I’m currently facing and what’s currently happening in our world but in whom my God has promised me through His word who He would eternally be.
Instead of looking at a year like 2020 and asking, “what is this and why is this happening”, and being solely focused on those questions and allowing my faith to be formed by whatever answers my limited understanding can produce; I’m asking and seeking Lord who are you in all of this? And this shift, it’s taken me beyond the limited realm of my own understanding about the state of the world and it’s placed me in a deep abiding trust in the Lord; which if you remember our Posture foundational verse, Isaiah 26:3. That kind of trust keeps me in perfect peace. So going back to Isaiah 43, the Lord says, “when you pass through the waters; I will be with you.” God is not found on the other side of our circumstances, He’s not found on the other side of right decisions and good behavior, He’s not waiting on the other side of a nation getting its act together. He’s right here in the middle of it all with us; our circumstances, our learning, our development, our low places; He never leaves us or forsakes us, this is who He is.
And seeking Him doesn’t make Him show up, it makes us more aware of this truth, and just to be clear, I’m not preaching passivity, okay. God does not plant you somewhere for you to just sit on your hands and wait for the end of the world. You are called and equipped to be more than a conqueror in your nation, in your community, in your spheres of influence. So be active and be engaged but don’t be limited, don’t reduce God in your eyes to be just as big as your circumstance. Practice this today make your believing as big as He is.
In a year like 2020, based on who I know the Lord to be, here’s what I believe God is doing. I believe He is inviting His people to have a greater awareness of the security and rest to be had when we journey with Him. He is a big God who has promised big things, and He is the only God, the only Savior. Therefore, His word, His nature is the only thing we can without a shadow of a doubt rely on in every circumstance, in every year.
The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26:3. In Hebrew, it is “shalom, shalom”, meaning complete wholeness. Nothing missing, nothing broken. This is who you are in Jesus. Because of Jesus, you are a living testimony of Jesus’s ultimate win. With every step you take today you’re putting Jesus’s victory on display and satan’s defeat on replay.