Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”
Notice what God says through His Word. He will not only give us peace, but will keep us in PERFECT peace!
Not just peace but PERFECT peace.
I love that!
It is the peace that is complete, sound, and thoroughly excellent in every way.
And the reason this peace is perfect is because this PEACE is based on a PERSON!
Listen to what Jesus said in John 14:27 (italics added)
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
The very peace that Jesus gives to us is this very own! And because he is perfect, so is his peace!
But the question is, how do we appropriate this peace and experience it daily in our lives? There are three principles of peace I want to outline for you in this three-part blog series. Here is the first principle…..
Principle of Peace #1-PERSPECTIVE
Isaiah 26:3 tells us that this perfect peace is available to those who keep their minds fixed on Him. That is square one. We must keep our minds and spiritual eyes on the Lord.
When we do so, we are able embrace His perspective on any given situation or season of our lives. Let me give you an example.
Recently I was praying for someone in our church. Their family had already been under some stress and they had just received the news concerning a medical expense that was going to cost them quite a bit of money out of pocket. (How many of us can relate!)
The temptation would be to respond in a way that is common to all of us when experiencing a setback:
“Here we go again. Just when we thought we were getting out of the woods, this happens!”
Let me ask you: Have you ever uttered the phrase, “here we go again” out of sheer frustration concerning any area of struggle in your own life? I sure have. But as I was praying for this individual, I feel like God gave me a different perspective to this all too common phrase. Here it is:
“Instead of saying, “Here we GO again” let’s decide right now to say, “Here we GROW again!”
I affirmed her with the truth that she had already grown so much in her mindset in recent months and that this struggle would just be another opportunity to GROW again. I believe it ministered to her and this change of perspective might have triggered a release of peace in her mind.
In fact, I bet many of you reading this blog just read that quote and something resonated in your own heart as well. That’s because seeing something differently can be the single biggest contributing factor to walking in peace through any season of life!
In fact, something Jesus said has become another one of my life verses the last few years.
Matthew 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.
Jesus said the eye is the lamp of our bodies. If we look to Him and see things the way He does, the lights are on and we have a sense of wholeness and direction for daily living. But if our eyes are bad, the lamp is off and our life is prone to darkness and directionless despair.
Therefore if we are going to walk in PEACE, we must embrace and discern His PERSPECTIVE. Remember:
You can SEIZE the season if you can SEE the season through the eyes of Christ.
- My prayer for you is that you will see God as “the God who sees you” and that you will have a growing sense of His peace in this season.
- I pray that God will also show you how he sees the season you are in and how He is at work in the midst of it.
- I pray that through the Holy Spirit you will hear an on time Word from heaven in the midst of any chaos.
- And I pray the words of Jesus and the principles of His word will jump off the pages of Scripture and into your heart to frame your perspective in the hear and now of your life.
I’m praying peace, His PERFECT peace for you, over you, and within you even right now!
Here we GROW again,
Mike
P.S. Another email will come your way soon with principle of peace #2. Stay tuned!