Experiencing the Perfect Peace of God

(Overcomer Wu)

“ You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind stayed focused on You, because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3

In a world where perfect peace cannot be found in any corner of this globe, God’s Word tells us that His “perfect peace” is available to us. No other peace remotely compares with or even comes close to God’s perfect peace. It is total, complete and absolute--a perfect peace that never changes. The following verse of Scripture tells us exactly how to experience God’s perfect peace in our lives. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee" (Isa 26:3). Our Father will never fails to do His part if we will do our part simply to cooperate with Him. His part is to keep us in perfect peace. Our part is, 1) to keep our minds stayed on Him and, 2) to trust/have faith completely in Him. Isn’t this exactly the opposite of what most of us do when we’re faced with a crisis? Don’t our minds remain primarily "stayed" on the problems that's before us? Don’t we turn these problems over and over in our minds, focusing on them almost constantly and trying to find our own solutions to the problems? Don’t most of us worry about how these problems can be resolved? In crisis situations, isn’t it true that many of us do exactly the opposite of these two requirements of God for perfect peace?

Perhaps many more of us experience “partial peace.” We keep our minds partially on the problem and partially on God. We trust partially in ourselves and partially in God. This is an improvement over doing exactly the opposite to the instructions of Isaiah 26:3, but it leaves us a long way from the perfect peace that we can experience. We need to realize that our spiritual battles are fought primarily in our minds, because the mind is the leading part of our soul. Satan got to Adam and Eve by cunningly seducing and corrupting their minds. We must be on guard against this same device. "...even as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, so your minds may be corrupted and seduced from wholehearted and sincere and pure devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3, The Amplified Bible).

The Lord wants us to keep our minds stayed on Him because He wants us to be single-minded at all times. Christians who aren’t single-minded risk the problems that attack people who are double-minded. "...a man of two minds --hesitating, dubious, irresolute--[he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything (he thinks, feels, decides)" (Jam 1:8, The Amplified Bible). Double-minded Christians are variable. One day they’re full of faith--defying the problem that they’re faced with, boldly claiming the promises of God, praising Him and thanking Him. Yet, a few days, weeks or months later, these same Christians often are filled with doubt and are very hesitant and wavering. God’s Word warns us about the penalties of being double-minded (offering a half-hearted commitment for trusting God one day and being filled with anxiety another day). "...ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (Jam 1:6-8). Our Father wants us to look only one way--at Him! No matter what problems come into our lives, He wants us to take our eyes off the problem and keep them on Him. If we take this simple step, the glorious light of our Lord Jesus Christ will shine in our hearts. “...if therefore your eye be single, your whole body shall be full of light” (Matt 6:22).

God’s Word places great emphasis on the importance of being single-minded. However, this is easier said than done. Exactly what must be done in order to become single-minded? How do we keep our minds on God at all times regardless of circumstances and regardless of what our emotions may feel within us? The answer is that our minds have to be made new or the proper term in the Bible is “renewed”. They have to be constantly refreshed day after day after day. “...be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind...” (Eph 4:23).

We wouldn’t think of trying to feed our bodies on one or two meals a week. Yet, this is exactly what many of us try to do with our minds. The only way to keep our minds "stayed" on God is to renew them each and every day through continual feeding upon and meditation on His Word. If we are willing to pay this price, we’ll soon find that constant renewal of our minds will transform us to think with the mind of Christ and live by the life of Christ. Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to “...be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.” Thus, by having our minds renewed with the Word of God, we shall not only be able to know the perfect will of God, but also live accordingly.

God is always at peace. Nothing disturbs Him. It’s always quiet deep inside ourselves where the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirit. If we set our mind constantly on Him, the storms of life that take place outside of us won’t be able to get down inside of us. Think for a moment about a storm at sea. There is no disturbance in the depth of the ocean. It all takes place on the surface.

The second step that we need to take to experience the perfect peace of God based on Isaiah 26:3 is to trust in or have faith Him. These words give us the key. We will be able to keep our minds stayed on the Lord in the midst of severe pressure only if we truly and completely have faith in Him. For this reason, we are told in Ephesians 6:16: "Take up the shield of faith, by which you shall be able to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one.” As we put our full faith in the Lord for all that He has allowed in our lives, for the provisions that we need, and for the solutions to our problems, we shall wield a shield of faith that effectively shields us againsts the fiery darts of the evil one aimed at bringing us confusion, anxiety, and unrest.

Instead of focusing on the problems in our lives, we need to look to our Lord. This is where our help will come from. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth" (Psalm 121:1-2). If we look away from everything unto our Lord Jesus and focus constantly Him, we won’t be moved by the circumstances of life. Rather, we will be at peace no matter what is going on around us. “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my body too shall rest in hope” (Psa 16:8-9).

Have you noticed when we’re exhausted or when our resistance is down how frightening and out of proportion our problems can become? When we focus constantly on the obstacles, they will always seem to be bigger than they really are. This is when we must keep our minds on the Lord. Too often we place our trust in money, government, human intelligence, human abilities, family members and friends. It isn’t wrong to trust in those things at times, but it is definitely wrong to trust in them more than we trust in our Lord. We’ll never be able to keep our minds stayed on the Lord unless we trust Him much more than any worldly security. The Hebrew word that is translated "trusteth" in Isaiah 26:3 means to "have no fear because of our security." If we trust deeply in the Lord, we believe that He is completely reliable, that we are absolutely secure and we have no fear of anything because we know that His power is greater than anything that will ever come against us.

God is our source. All worldly security is temporary and changing. God is permanent. He never changes. This world is changing faster today than ever before and change can create anxiety. We must not allow change to rob us of our peace. God never changes. God’s Word never changes. Our peace will only be constant to the degree that we focus on our unchanging Father and His unchanging Word. The peace of God will rule in our hearts based upon the amount of His Word that lives in our hearts. The key to trusting Him is to have our hearts filled with His Word. Hence, Psalms 119:165 says, “ Great peace are in possession by those who love Your Law(in reference to God's Word), and nothing causes them to stumble.” Proverbs 4:4 also says, “...Let your heart retain My words....” Our heart is the seat of our beliefs. Since our lives are controlled by whatever we deeply believe, we should be very careful about what we allow to get deep into our hearts. For this reason, we are exhorted to: “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov 4:23). Our hearts need to be so full of His Word that it dominates our souls (our minds, our emotions and our will) in times of crisis. If His Word that is deeply rooted and firmly established in our hearts, we will automatically react to what His Word says instead of reacting with fear to the crisis that we are faced with. If our hearts aren’t filled with God’s Word, we’ll falter when the going gets tough. If our hearts are filled with His Word, we won’t budge one inch!

The mind that is stayed on the Lord is always calm and poised because our Lord is always calm and poised. Nothing can sway this mind because nothing can sway our Lord. The more our minds are centered upon the source of all peace, the more His peace will be manifested in our lives. Furthermore, by allowing our minds to be renewed by the Word of God richly indwelling us, we shall then experience the peace of God guarding our hearts and our thoughts in Christ Jesus. Praise the Lord for the practical ways for us to experience His perfect Peace revealed to us in His Word!