Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Isaiah 26:3
Peace is becoming a precious commodity. Like bitcoin, it is not tangible, yet it is very valuable if you posses it. As we enter a new year, the hope of new life in Christ, new births and new marriages is overshadowed by the uncertainty of social change and unrest. While the immediate future seems uncertain for many, those who possess the Spirit of the living God have a peace that passes understanding that is more valuable than anything you can find on this earth.
Now, more than ever, the Christian and the church have the opportunity to draw a stark contrast between the values of God’s word and the crumbling value system of the world, the flesh and the devil. It is not because Christians have not suffered the loss of family and friends due to COVID, war and social unrest and tension. The pain of losing a loved one is just as palatable to the saved as it is to the lost yet what is different is that our sorrow is eclipsed with hope.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13
Though Christians suffer and sorrow just like all humans, we are given a peace that passes understanding. That peace that surpasses human intellect and emotion is not imaginary or the result of Freudian philosophies. The scripture aids in our understanding of how to attain peace in a world wrecked by sin and suffering.
Philippians 4:4-7 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Paul instructed the Philippian church to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Christians are not called to focus on our circumstances but our Savior. If the past couple years have taught the church in the west, it is that we cannot depend on social or political circumstances to bring us comfort, peace or joy. Rejoice in the Lord in 2022 and you will be on your way to having perfect (complete) peace.
Paul doesn’t end there. He goes on to say, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” Paul drops a powerful precept on us in these few short words. What is he driving at here?
First, he is pointing out that we are being surveilled. People are watching how we respond to the barrage of circumstances and information life throws at us. We need to understand that God expects us to set our affection on him and keep our mind stayed on him so we don’t overreact to the stimuli that cause us to go to extreme in things that would hinder the gospel of Christ.
If you go back to Philippians 2 and read of the humility of focus Christ had during his public ministry, it serves as an object lesson to what Paul is referring to. While we are certainly not Jesus Christ, Paul is pointing out that Christ is in us. He is at hand because he dwells within us. It is the presence of the prince of Peace that has taken up residence in our bodies and sealed our souls till the day of redemption that moderates our temperament and response to a world that is increasingly able to manipulate our mind and emotion through the use of media.
We won’t have perfect peace if we rejoice more in our favorite sports team or latest online purchase than we do the Lord Jesus Christ and the pardon he has purchased for our soul. We are at peace with the crazy world around us because of the incredible person of peace that lives within us.
It is when Paul has reminded us that our emotion must be directed to the Lord of Heaven and our moderation upon the Spirit of God that lives within us that he addresses our mind. He admonishes the believer to be prayerful not careful.
Oh how often we start to care before we go to prayer! I’m as guilty as the next person. With so much power at our fingertips, we literally can order our life from our cell phones if we so choose. That is a big mistake. God doesn’t want us to find our answers on the internet, he wants us to go to the word of God and prayer for our supply.
Only after he has given us the ok, should we pick up our phone and let our fingers do the walking. You never know, he may tell you to put down the phone and engage with people personally, face to face like a man speaks to his friend.
It is when we depend upon God for our sufficiency that we recognize he is our sufficiency and that brings the peace of God that passes understanding. The nice thing about not getting what we want, is it reveals where our peace actually lies.
When life doesn’t go our way, when we don’t get the job we wanted, the relationship we longed for, the recognition we were seeking, the scores we hoped for, the diagnoses we preferred, when our circumstances are troubling, there is still cause to rejoice in the Lord always. Not because of what is going on around us but because of who lives in us. It is that reality that causes the light of the gospel to shine as brightly through us as it did to us the day that we first trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior.
Isaiah was a prophet that delivered a lot of bad news in his day to the kings of Judah. The circumstances of his ministry were not always ideal, yet, in the midst of his 66 chapter collection of prophecies preserved in the word of God are some of the greatest messianic prophecies in the scripture. The precision and the promise are so incredible that even the lost cannot deny the divinity of God’s prophecy through Isaiah.
Perfect peace does not imply that we do not have trouble. The promise of perfect peace given to Isaiah was a result staying focused on the promises of God’s word. It was Isaiah who delivered the good news to Hezekiah after he prayed over the threat’s of Sennacharib, that God would have the seemingly insurmountable problem taken care of by tomorrow. History records that God did exactly what he said and the armies of Sennacharib were destroyed by the angel of the Lord that night.
As we look forward to 2022, we don’t really know what will happen politically, socially or economically. What we do know is God is on the throne in Heaven and he has sealed our soul with the Spirit of God so we can understand the word of God and accomplish the mission of God in the power of God until he comes for us.
While we certainly look forward to his soon return, we cannot forsake the work that he has before us to take the gospel to the world. We will have perfect peace if we prioritize the word of God, rejoicing in the Lord and dependent prayer. As we go forward into 2022 let’s be intentional to depend on the Lord and not our own understanding, our own intellect, our won power. Perfect, complete peace will be manifest in those who keep their mind stayed on the Lord.
If you have not trusted Christ as Lord and Savior, that is your first move to make in faith. Contact me or HBF and we will help you understand more fully what that means and how you can know that you have eternal life and peace with God.
If you are born again and struggling for peace, what is it that God is calling you to do? Have you obeyed him in believers’ baptism? Are you actively meeting with God in his word daily? Are you availing yourself of that teaching of HBF through Sunday morning Adult Bible Fellowships, Discipleship, Wednesday evening training?
How about ministry, are you sharing God’s word with your family, your friends, your co-workers? Are you actively being intentional about getting the gospel to people God has in your sphere of influence? We won’t have perfect peace if we are not sharing the peace of God with others. God’s peace is not meant to be kept to ourselves but shared in a world at war with God.
If we have peace with God, it is so we can make peace with others. God has called us ambassadors because we are here to offer terms of peace to those at enmity with God before it is too late for them to make peace. If we are not trusting God, it is hard to ask others to do the same.
It is my prayer that in 2022 God use Heartland Baptist Fellowship as a mighty army of peace ambassadors. A people at peace with God and offering peace to a world that is increasingly at war with God.