There is nothing more needed today than peace. Sincere peace. Deep peace. Peace no matter what is happening around us.
You and I can walk in a deep and sincere heart peace even when circumstances around us are not peaceful. Only God offers us this supernatural peace. Let’s look at a few keys to having true peace in our hearts and mind, especially in these challenging and perilous days.
Supernatural Peace
God’s peace is experienced as quietness and rest. It is not merely as the world defines peace, as the ‘absence of conflict’. Rather, it is a deep quietness and assurance in our hearts and minds that can exist and sustain us even when people are upset, and circumstances uncertain. This supernatural peace exists OUTSIDE of circumstance and therefore gives us the ability to OVERCOME anxiety and stresses around us.
So this peace is POWERFUL! God’s peace is SUPER or ABOVE the natural. It allows you and I to live a supernatural life. Jesus walked in this supernatural peace. He lived out of the peace when accused and questioned by religious people. He walked in divine peace during natural storms, people dying, great sickness, and even His own arrest and trail. We see this same supernatural peace in Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, David, Paul and the others. And you and I can walk in it as well.
Supernatural peace from God is given to us even if he circumstances around us are not peaceful. Even if the people around us are not walking in peace themselves. This is a supernatural, overcoming, over-and-above-the-circumstances peace.
A mind at perfect peace. Isaiah 26:3
I will keep at perfect peace the person whose mind is set on me. Isaiah 26:3
Do you know this Bible verse? I hope it becomes one of your favorites, as it is one of mine. This verse hold a major key to living in God’s supernatural peace. Peace is a matter of learning to keep our mind attended to God, His Word and His purposes in our lives.
God’s promise in this verse is that as we keep OUR mind on Him, HE keeps OUR hearts in peace. That is a GOOD EXCHANGE!
A mind at peace is a quiet mind. An experience of our minds being relaxed, free from anxiety and able to think in order, think creatively, purposefully and productively. A mind at peace can consider a situation by the Word and respond and not react. A mind at peace is not concerned with situations that are ‘still in process’. It is a mind PRE-OCCUPIED by the Word, God’s love and care for us, and His ability to work through any situation and bring it to good. It is a mind NOT pre-occupied by the past or the future, but a mind engaged in the business of today, enjoying the task at hand and God’s help and presence in it. That is a mind at peace. And that is what God’s Word offers all of us, no matter what we are walking through.
The Mind set on the Lord
To have our mind set on Him, it means to lean in to Him. Have our frame oriented toward Him. Have our purpose set in Him. It is meditating the Word, considering God’s ability and thinking according to who He is and what He can do. To set our minds on the Lord means that as we read the Bible and doing our daily Bible study, we are picturing the stories, reflecting on what God said and did toward the people needing help.
Then we continue to meditate and take time to transfer what He did for them to OUR situation. The Bible says that what He has done for ONE, He will do for ANY. So, and IMPORTANT key to meditating on the Word is to not just read and reflect on what HAS BEEN DONE, but to APPLY it to OUR SITUATION and mentally picture or rehearse God doing the same in ours.
We can write out confessions based on the Word. For example ‘this situation is just like with King Jehosophat and like there was no way out for them, but God provided an escape, He will for me as well.’ 2 Chron. 20. We can write out confessions based on a Bible verse like “my God always supplies all of my needs and will in this situation as well.’ Phil. 4:19.
We can also mediate the Word by listening to praise and worship songs that are based on the Word and meditate on heaven, the goodness and nearness of God. Praise and worship is so helpful because it rests our minds on the Kingship of God and His rule over our hearts and situations. But there is much more involved in keeping our minds set on the Word.
Additional keys to meditating the Word
Meditating the Word needs to be a daily effort, decision, habit and lifestyle.
Since our minds are daily bombarded by life, we need to purposefully expose and DIRECT our minds to the Word every day. I find putting them on the Word first thing in the morning helps train/corral/direct my mind in the right direction from the beginning. This ‘first focus’ on the Word goes a long way to keeping my heart and mind set on God, His principles and promises. Setting time aside to picture the Lord, read the Word, talk to Him about it and see how what you are reading applies to your situation.
The Psalms and Narratives are wonderful parts to meditate on and picture. As we read the Psalms we can try to visualize the turmoil, angst, excitement or questions that the psalmist is writing about and relate it to times we felt or are feeling that way. It helps to be able to identify with other believers who knew and loved God and wrote about their life challenges. We can use their insights into God’s faithfulness to help us grab hold of faith and commitment toward the Lord as well.
Proverbs are wonderful to read and meditate on as well. We can read the time-tested wisdom, and then again pause, reflect and ask the Holy Spirit how we can apply it to OUR situation. The Holy Spirit is your teacher on the inside of you and He is an expert at revealing truth from the Word and wisdom or how to apply it to our daily lives. A life guided by the Holy Spirit and wisdom will bring blessing and honor.
Accounts of Jesus. These are probably some of my favorite to meditate on. It still is amazing to me to meditate on the reality the Jesus Himself came and lived on the same planet that I do. He walked on the same dirt, and breathed the same air.
When we read the gospels, we are reading first hand accounts of Jesus. Read those with the Holy Spirit and talk directly to the Lord about them. One thing I like to do is ask the Lord what it was like when He was for example preaching on the Mount of Olives, walking on the water, healing the blind man, when He was being whipped, or mocked, or the Pharisees attacked Him verbally.
When we meditate and picture and put ourselves in the scene, the Holy Spirit will help us to see Jesus and His heart, His thinking and how He dealt with each situation with kindness, patience, wisdom and in obedience to what His Father was telling Him to do and say. The accounts we have of Jesus are LIVING accounts and never grow old. We can and need to go back over them at every age we are and grow in our knowledge and understanding by the Holy Spirit of how Jesus lived. We are designed to live in the same manner.
We can all point to seasons in our lives when different parts of the Word fed our souls in a living and unique way.
Sometimes our hearts and minds need to be set on the wisdom of Proverbs. At other times, on the eloquence and emotion of the Psalms. At other times the correction and counsel to the Churches in the letters of the Epistles. Most of us find that in these last days, meditating on aspects of the book of Revelation, seeing the awesome Kingship, power and Holiness of Jesus as the Commander of the Church and the Heavenly Hosts, as the Lord of Lords and Kings of Kings, is what puts our mind at rest, at peace.
These are all examples of facets of the Word that will produce supernatural peace as we read, study and meditate on the goodness, faithfulness, power and nearness of our God.
Especially if you are dealing with persecution or trials and tribulations. Meditating on Jesus and His Promise to right every wrong on our behalf, will put our minds at supernatural peace. It will give US the faith to FORGIVE those who have come against us, and to live in constant gratitude and worship for the One WHO will see us through until His return and then our enemies will be seen no more. 1 Thess. 5:23-24 We might not always feel capable of forgiving, but Jesus has already forgive us and all others on our behalf, so that we can walk by faith in forgiveness towards others as well.
Guarding our ears and eyes
Guarding our ears and eyes helps guard our hearts for peace, and keeps our minds set on the things of God.
Whet are we exposing ourselves to every day? It needs to be the Word and NOT an excess of news, entertainment and certainly nothing counter to the Word. Keeping your ears and eyes OFF of stressful topics, doom and gloom, negative attitudes and faithless banter is key. You can spend hours a day in the Word, but if you also choose to put the lesser things in your ears and eyes, it will serve to choke out the Word. The Word will not have the impact God wants it to in our lives.
Guard the company we keep
No matter what your age or maturity level in the Lord, our closet relationship and most intimate relationship needs to be with the Lord Himself. He needs to be our Alpha and Omega. The Person we give first preference to. The bulk of our attention to and our heart and mind to. Living with Jesus as Lord brings a supernatural peace. Being yielded to Him and His purpose for us will serve to be a sure anchor that keeps us grounded and stable as the world system continues to fail around us.
After the Lord, the company we chose needs to be a company of faith. This is the company we choose. So make good choices. We can not pick our families, and sometimes not our co-workers, but we can all choose to be part of a house of God that is a house of faith. And that is essential to living in supernatural peace.
Psalm 92:13 says that the person planted in the House of God flourishes. Is the house of God a priority? Do we get there before service to help set up, greet others? Do we pray for the pastor and giving generously into the vision of the house? Do we look for people at the church to encourage? Is prayer and worship a priority every week? When we make the house of God our priority, it helps keep our hearts committed to the Lord and the things of God. If there is not a church that you feel connected to, pray and ask the Lord to move on your heart to connect you to a specific church to plant and sow into. It does not have to a perfect church. No Church is perfect. It just has to be the church that the Lord calls you to.
Avoid grumbling and arguing
Phil 2:14 says that we are to do all things without grumbling or arguing.
Making a conscious effort to break negative speech is well worth our time and effort. It will bring an ease to your day and energy and a spring in your step. It is difficult to stay in faith if you are complaining, but very possible to stay in faith, when we are thanking God for His help in all situations and relying on His Word and Holy Spirit to help us. If we are in faith and focused on the Word, we will not be grumbling and complaining.
We can not avoid completely all negative people, but we should make some healthy boundaries, and while in prayer for ‘difficult people’ set clear boundaries. This includes how much time we are around them and what kind of time. You do not have to continue to listen to complaining or whining from others, even if they are family members. We are not required to try to change people who do not want to change. We are required to pray for them, be loving toward them, be wise and live at peace with them as much as it depends on us, meaning, that we choose to be around them to the extent that WE can maintain our peace.
Praise the Lord and stay in Peace
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:6-7
People of God are people of praise. When we praise God and thank Him for His help and His solutions, then our minds are guarded with a supernatural, over-the-circumstance peace. So be a person of daily praise. We do not thank Him for the trials, we thank Him IN the trial for His help, strength, guidance, victory, peace, and His ability to turn all things to our good.
The Lord keeps the person at perfect peace whose mind is set on Him
REMEMBER, God keeps at perfect peace the person whose mind is set on HIM! Not on ourselves, not on our past, not on the vision of our future, or on others, but on HIM.
YOU can learn to live a lifestyle of keeping your mind set on the Word, because God will help you. The Holy Spirit will show YOU how to carve and guard your daily time with the Lord and start lining up your thoughts, speech and actions on the Word.
Peace is precious. And God wants you to have it. No matter what.
If you need help setting your mind on the Word, join us every weekend day morning for Frame Your Week with the Word, our 15 minute daily confession of God’s Word on Identity in Christ, Healing, the Power of the Holy Spirit, Prosperity, and Overcoming. And then check out Victory in the Word our teaching show every Tuesday at 9 CST on LIFE NETWORK for WOMEN! See you there!
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Sara, I really like how you take Biblical stories and apply them to your messaging. I also agree with you about the importance of avoiding negativity, especially since so much information comes through the eye and ear gates. Beginning each morning in the Word really sets the tone for our day and it makes a difference in how we respond to others in daily living. Thank you for your helpful article.
Thank you Cynthia for your encouragement! Everything about us, our heart and our minds works best when we are in a state of peace. God designed us to live that way! Until we get to heaven, it will take purposeful effort on our part to live in peace, but the supernatural peace of God is always available, and always necessary it seems most days! And you are so right that beginning the day with the Word sets the tone for how we interact with others for the rest of the day.! Have a wonderful week in the Lord!