It is a new year with many days ahead of endless possibilities. The past week the Lord illuminated a word to me, and I could not get it out of my thoughts. When He does this, I know I am to pay attention to what He is trying to convey to me. The word is stance, and the Lord is asking, "In this new year that I have given you, what will your stance be? You have a choice. You decide your stance. Your circumstances do not decide your stance, you do!" I didn't realize how much power I had been giving to the circumstances that surround me until God gave me this word.
So, what does stance mean exactly? Stance is a rationalized mental attitude. Our stance is made up of what we believe, the feelings we have, our values and dispositions that give us permission to act a certain way. I particularly like the word rationalize, because that is exactly what we do to justify our poor stance. I am the first to admit that I rationalize my wrong stance because of the circumstances I am facing, or a particular person I am dealing with in that circumstance. Rather than facing the truth that I may have a wrong belief, or weak values, or I am allowing my feelings to control me, I rationalize that it is the circumstance I am in. Stance is also a physical posture, and you often can tell a person's mental stance by their physical stance. The two are hard to separate. Wow, that is a much-needed reminder, Lord! Thank you for giving me the word, stance!
In this new year, God is challenging me, and He is challenging you, to adopt a stance with respect to Him. Meaning, look to the Lord and behold His stance. Learn of the Father. His stance is one of love, determination, commitment, faithfulness, joy, and peace. He is unmoved by what we do, and the circumstances we put ourselves in. His stance does not change towards us. His stance is constant, and unmoving! So, we can trust that when our stance begins to crumble under what we face, we can look to our Father's stance, His perfect example, and we can immediately assume the right stance, once again. Let us make this year, the year, we deliberately chose what stance we will take.
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