Repost…
Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
This verse became my life verse very early on in my walk with the Lord. I did not know much, but I knew that this one was core. It is so practical! It is so simple! BUT its depths really cannot be fathomed. The longer I walk with Him the more I see that it truly is all about Him in every way. That is exactly as it should be. The longer I know Him, the greater my love for Him...the more I love Him, the more I think about Him and the more I love, think and know about Him the more I trust Him. Colossians tells us in Chapter 3:17 that "... whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." Acts tells us that "In Him we live and move and have our being." Girls, your lives should be manifestations of your love for Him. He wants your single-minded devotion and love.
Every moment is Jesus....every situation is Jesus....every circumstance is Jesus and He should be the basis for every relationship we have. He is called Jehovah Shalom (God of Peace) and the Prince of Peace. He is the Great I AM. Chuck Smith has said that the name "Jehovah" can be interpreted as "The Becoming One." The One who becomes to people just what they need. I love that...the Becoming One...Wow! He becomes our peace when we focus our minds on Him.
The first peace we obtain is the peace we find at the moment of our salvation when we look to Him in faith and in His grace justifies us. We are now at peace with God...prior to salvation we were at war. (Col 1:21) Make no mistake, each one of us craves this peace with God. We live in a world filled with grief, problems and an absence of peace and each one of us searches for it. I distinctly remember the peace that flooded my soul when Jesus filled it with Himself. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced and changed me from the inside out through no effort on my part. I now had a Rock on which I could stand. Jesus is the Prince of Peace...The chastisement for yours and my peace was upon Him. Someday He, the Prince of Peace, will return and reign in Jerusalem and there will be true and lasting peace on the earth.
We can have this peace now, inside of us, when we surrender to His Spirit and allow Him to rule our hearts. As we look to Him our desires are changed and our priorities re-ordered. James 4 tells us that wars and fights come from the battle that rages inside us...we get angry when we do not get what we want. We are at war with God. Because we are at war with God we are also at war with ourselves and others. The Spirit inside of us yearns jealously. I love that...He wants ALL of me..He wants my heart to be completely controlled by His Spirit. James tells us how to do this a little further on .
James 4:7-8: Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
Girls...this kind of relationship with Jesus Christ is built over time. It is built as you abide in Him. It takes courage to take that first step and ask Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior. As you walk with Him day by day it takes courage to yield your desires to Him. But His grace is always there. You never have to worry about disappointing Him...your success is assured...He performs all things in accordance with His plan not yours. And His plan is from a heart of love. (Psalm 33:11) Again, as I have said before in other posts, stay close to Jesus, abide in Him by staying in His Word. Gaze into it...allow it to show you His good and perfect will, to convict your heart of sin, to renew your mind and to transform you into His image. As you do this you will love Him more and more with each passing day and consequently trust and obey Him more and more. Stay the course...immerse yourself in His Word...and His peace which is an outflow of the fruit of His Spirit...love...will flood your heart.
From a practical standpoint,we live our Christian life moment by moment. Paul in Philippians 4 says something very helpful
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 9 The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.
A Christian is not suppose to worry, is to pray about everything and is to be thankful in and for everything! As we do this the peace of God will fill us and guard our hearts and minds. Worry is the opposite of peace....It pulls us apart. Our MINDS need to be stayed on Him. Why? Because our mind is where thinking takes place...If we are thinking wrong thoughts our feelings are not going to be right either. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. God's peace secures our mind. It takes our thoughts captive and brings them into obedience to Him. Again, none of us is capable of this on our own. You can't do this outside a relationship with Jesus Christ. You can only achieve this kind of peace by keeping your mind stayed on Him. Stayed on Him...although I didn't look it up I am pretty sure it means keeping your eyes steadily focused on Him and who He is, on what His desires are for you and allowing His example to guide you. Proverbs 3:5-6 comes to mind here as does Philippians 4:9 above. Warren Wiersbe calls these verses (Phil 4:7-9) the prescription for a secure mind....a mind free from worrying. 1. right praying, (Phil 4:7) 2. right thinking (Phil 4:8) and 3. right living. (Phil 4:9)
My prayer for each of you today and every day:
Ephesians 3:16-21
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— 19
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Love
Mom
