“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3
The results of all the things we have been talking about the last few weeks, truth, faith, trust, joy and yes praise bring about peace! And what Isaiah is talking about here is perfect peace. In Hebrew it is actually translated shalom shalom. Shalom is peace, This isn’t just peace it is perfect peace. And it is ours for the taking IF we keep our minds on Him. God will keep us in the middle of shalom shalom when we focus our minds, our thoughts on Him and not on our circumstances.
Believe me I know that this sounds so simple but it may feel like it is unattainable. But I promise you it is. I have dealt with fear and anxiety. That’s what we started this little series off with, talking about fear. And out of necessity at times, I have had to dig in to scripture to keep my mind on Him in the midst of some hurtful and hard circumstances. But I can promise you too that when I do that, when I keep dragging my stuff to the cross, and I keep laying it down to Him and I keep digging in to scripture and I keep trusting Him, that there have also been times when I could actually think “I should be falling apart about now.” And I’m not! And the only thing I can attribute it to is Jesus!
I love the way the Message puts this verse:
“People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don’t quit. Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.” Isaiah 26:3
Keeping our minds set on Him takes action on our part. You have to take captive those thoughts that bring you anxiety. You have to fight them with scripture and trust in the one who can and will keep you. There are ways to do this. We talked about praise and worship last week, keep praise music going in your background to combat the fear and anxiety. Also, when I find a scripture that means something to me, I will write it on sticky notes and/or index cards to keep with me. I love those little index cards that are spiral bound. If I am going through a season where I am praying intently for something or someone I will get me one of those and I will write scriptures that speak specifically to my situation and I will pull it out and just read through scripture whenever I can. And it’s practices like this that I feel are keeping me completely whole, and steady on my feet.
Friends we all know that life can be hard sometimes. We weren’t promised an easy life just because we started following Jesus. But the fact is life would be hard even if we weren’t following Jesus. We live in an imperfect world. But because we have Jesus and when we keep our minds and our focus on Him, and we keep at it and we don’t quit, we can have shalom shalom in spite of our circumstances. Because we have a sure thing in God.
Restore 