Welcome to the Living From Sunday to Sunday podcast with your host, pastor B. This podcast is designed to help you walk faithfully with God through the various trials and challenges this life presents. The truth of who we are is revealed in our lives in between Sundays. You will be inspired, challenged and equipped to live a victorious life that will bring glory to God himself. Come on, let's get started. Hello, welcome to another episode of the Living from Sunday to Sunday podcast. I am your host, pastor B. Thank you so much for listening and tuning into today's episode. I believe that this is the best 15 minutes of your day and that real change happens 15 minutes at a time, so make sure that you like, share and subscribe to the podcast everywhere where they can be found. So today's episode is a bit of a special one. I am starting a listener-supported and up a special one, um. I am starting a, a listener supported, um and favorite type episodes where, um I answer questions or talk about topics that some of my faithful listeners are wanting to have have answered, and so I put out a question entitled what scripture are you currently meditating on and how has it helped your mental health, and so I received a couple of really, really good answers, and so I wanted to talk about one of them today, and we're going to focus on one particular scripture, and this scripture is Isaiah 26, verse three through four.
Speaker 1:I do want to thank Kervin Finley for his submission. His scripture is going to be the topic of our conversation today, all right, so again, isaiah 26, three through four, and this is what it says. It says you will keep him In perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Now I added verse four, just for some additional context, and it says trust in the Lord, for the Lord, god, is an everlasting rock. All right, I started thinking about this particular scripture, and peace is something that everyone desires, and we typically take different routes to accomplish peace, right? So what is peace? Peace is the absence of chaos, it is the abundance of quiet, it is a place where there's no worries, a place where there is no distractions. Usually it is a solitary place. It's a place where all of your worries, all of your cares, they drift away and you're able to kind of be one with yourself, right? And so this scripture says that he, god, will keep us in perfect peace.
Speaker 1:Now, if we define peace as a solitary place, as a place where there is absent of trouble, absence of turmoil. Then how can we find this peace when our environments don't match the criteria for peace? And I think what God is trying to say is the peace that he promises us is a peace that is internal, regardless of what's happening on the outside right, many of us we are I've heard this analogy many of us are thermostats, right? Or thermometers, rather, thermometers they gauge the temperature of the outside surroundings, right. So whenever I say we are thermostats, then or thermometers, excuse me, whenever I say that we are thermometers, our internal temperature is dictated by what happens on the outside. So if everyone outside is happy, then I'm happy, but if everyone outside is mad and frustrated, that energy seems to seep into me and impact how I react and how I see the world. Right. And so God is promising us in the scripture that he will keep us in perfect peace.
Speaker 1:The keeping part of God, the keeping part of the scripture, is his way, god's way, of securing our peace, the boundary of God inside the boundary of God, inside the will of God. God is promising us peace and so many times we one don't always see or trust that God is a place of peace, because our relationship with God like the closer you get to God, the more vulnerable you have to be, and that vulnerability can be very uncomfortable because you have to be open. You can't really have many secrets when you're vulnerable with people and you're trusting that what you release, what you share, is in a safe space. God is saying that with me, you can promise that I will be safe with you, I will be gentle with you and I will bring you peace. You can come to me and find rest right. Come to me and find rest right. And God is the preserver of this peace. He is the one that can protect your bubble, your circle, your moment of peace from any outside influences getting inside. And so we just have to come to him and believe that his peace, the peace that he promises us, is a secure and safe place. And so this is what God is saying. He's saying if you desire peace, my version of peace is found in my care Right now. God's peace in the scripture is saying that it is perfect, right, it is complete. It is the perfect answer to your desire.
Speaker 1:Many of us, we live busy lives, our minds are running to and fro, we have responsibilities from A to Z on any given day, any given week, and a safe space and a safe place for rest must be found in our place of peace. It is very difficult for us to have rest in our hearts, rest in our minds, without, I think, without the safety and security of God. There are mindfulness practices and things like that where you can, you know, still yourself and block out everything, and I think those things have their place. Block out everything, and I think those things have their place, but the type of peace that's safe and secure, it can only really be found in God. And one of the things is one of the avenues towards perfect peace, and really the avenue to perfect peace, according to the scripture, is when our mind is stayed on him right, so when we think those things that are lovely, those things that are of good report.
Speaker 1:According to Philippians 4, 6, and 7, god says that if you repeat his scriptures, if you meditate on his word, if you seek him in prayer and allow his voice, his words, echo in your ear, it is a place that no one will have the ability to disturb your peace. Right, god takes the chaos of outside and fills you with his peace, and so what that means is it doesn't matter what happens on the outside, it doesn't matter how crazy, how bad, how wicked this world becomes, how crazy, how bad, how wicked this world becomes, there is a level of rest, a level of calm and just an assurance and a dependability that God will provide peace and that he's going to take care of me, and that I have no worries and I have no concerns that, that all of my needs will be met, that all of my prayers will be answered, all of my concerns will be heard, because scripture tells us to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us. He there is. There's enough room for you and I in the bubble of peace that God guarantees us, right, and so, oh, we have to work on that. It is, it's a process to keep our mind state on, on, on him, because there's so much in this world that wants to distract us, that wants to have us thinking contrary to what the word says, like fear wants to enter our mind. Doubt, self-denial, unbelief, all of these things are trying to infiltrate our minds, and if we maintain the mind of Christ, nothing can infiltrate that. I've said it a couple of times and I think it's a really, really great point, point Um, and so one of the things I think that I think about um this particular scripture is have you ever seen an example of someone doing like a trust fall, where you have, um, someone that's either standing um and they have their arms crossed normally, and there's a person or a number of people standing right behind him or right behind this person, and they tell them just to fall back?
Speaker 1:And the idea of a trust fall is to blindly lean back, believing that the person behind you is going to catch you, believing that you can depend on this person, and not just to cautiously fall, but to literally go weightless and to trust in the arms of the person behind you. God is telling us that, because you trust me, I am guaranteeing that this space of peace will be there Right, and Isaiah even encourages us to trust in the Lord forever Right. And what is the benefit of that? How do we know we can trust God? Because God has been, according to the scripture, an everlasting rock. You can depend on God Many people, no matter how much you love them.
Speaker 1:God Many people, no matter how much you love them, no matter how much you look up to them, no matter how good of a person they are, at some point they will let you down, and the reason why I can say that with surety is because they're human. They're fickle. You will disagree with them, they will do things outside of what you agree to, and if you put too much stock and too much belief in them, then those are going to be tough moments. Those are going to be moments that you are going to typically look at them differently, because you had a different expectation, you set a different, you had a different level of respect for them. They let you down, right, but what God is saying is that I will come through for you Every single time.
Speaker 1:So God is asking us if we really want peace, if we really want to find security and safety in our minds and in our hearts, is to do a trust fall with him. Give all of ourselves to him. Give all of our mind, our heart, our attention and and our devotion. Give all of that to him and let him carry you, let him catch you, let him um transport you from your ex current existence of chaos and and inhale and all of the trouble that you are currently dealing with. Let the lord transport you that you are currently dealing with. Let the Lord transport you into a realm of peace that secures you and gives you the confidence to know that you are loved, that you are cared for, regardless of what's happening on the outside. Remember, the peace that God provides is an internal resolution that God has me, that he will not let me fall, that he will protect me from the wiles of the enemy, that no thought that tries to come into my mind can overtake my heart and my mind, because I am keeping my mind stayed on him. I am thinking about the scriptures each and every day.
Speaker 1:All right, so yeah, that's today's episode. If you want to have a question answered on this podcast, do me a favor, like this podcast, download, subscribe to this podcast and then, in the comment section of either this YouTube video, if you're listening via Spotify, you can add a comment and place your question there, and I promise that I will answer your question, and if I'm not able to answer your question completely, I will get the necessary assistance and even invite somebody on the show, just so that we can ensure that your question gets answered. All right, so again, thank y'all so much for listening to this podcast. Of course, it's available everywhere where podcasts can be heard Good pods, apple podcast, spotify and until next time again. Thank you all so much. We'll see you when we see you. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel, as well as this podcast, everywhere where they can be found.