Bonus Mini Episode - Perfect Peace

In this short, reflective episode of The Preserve Podcast, we slow down and reset our minds on what’s true.

Drawing from Isaiah 26:3, this episode unpacks what “perfect peace” really means, a deep, steady, unshakable peace that isn’t dependent on circumstances. But here’s the tension: that kind of peace doesn’t come naturally. Our minds drift. They follow fear, noise, and whatever feels familiar.

Using the powerful image of salmon swimming upstream, we explore what it actually looks like to renew your mind. It’s not passive. It’s a daily decision to go against the current, to return to truth, and to align your thoughts with what God says about you.

If you’ve been feeling stuck in negative patterns, disconnected from who you know you are in Christ, or overwhelmed by the noise of life, this episode is a simple but direct encouragement: you can choose a different direction.

Peace isn’t found by accident. It’s found by where you set your mind.

And even in chaos, that peace is available to you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to the Preserve Podcast. This is a little mini episode to encourage you on your day. I hope that today, as you're going through your day, that you're able to sit back and think about these thoughts, that it brings you to a place of peace and joy and feeling settled in your heart. Isaiah 26, 3 says, You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. That phrase perfect peace actually means peace, peace. A quiet, deep, steady, unshakable peace. And how do we get this peace? By keeping our minds stayed on him. But if we're honest, that's not always our reality. Our minds drift, they get pulled into fear, distraction, noise. And before we realize it, we're thinking in ways that don't reflect what's true. Think about salmon. They're born in fresh water, they go out into the ocean, but when it's time, they return back to where they came from. And to get there, they have to swim against the current. They face resistance the entire way. They push through what's working against them. They even have to jump obstacles just to keep moving forward. They don't drift there, they actually fight to get there. They push against the current. That's a lot what renewing your mind looks like. You're not passively becoming new, you're choosing to go against the current of how you've been thinking. You're choosing to think how God's telling you to think. In this world, choosing to think the way God tells us to think is going upstream. It is going against the current. Renewing the mind is about being brought back, back to what God has said, back to how He has designed you, back to what He says is true in Christ. That if you are in Christ, you have been sanctified, you have been set apart. The way that you go is going to be different than the rest of the world. And it starts with what we're thinking. You might feel like there's a disconnect. I've been made new, I've been sanctified, I'm holy, I'm righteous, I'm born again, but your thoughts haven't caught up with it yet. This is important. You are not saved by your works, but there is a work we've been given as believers. Not to earn anything, but to continually bring our minds back to the truth, which produces the fruit of the kingdom in our lives. Your mind will drift into the natural current, which feels easy, feels like a flow into just doing what feels okay. The redirecting of your mind takes time. The enemy has built patterns into our minds slowly over generations. The way we've been brought up, the schooling that we had, the surroundings, the people that we've chosen to have around our lives, these all affect us. What's repeated becomes familiar. And what's familiar begins to feel true. Scripture says, words are life to those who find them and health to all their body. This is Proverbs 422. So if lies were built through repetition, then the truth has to be built the same way. How do you get from one place to another? You are removing your feet, whether it's going the wrong direction or the right direction, you have to choose to write, left, right, left, keep going. Colossians 3, 1 through 2 says, set your minds on things above where Christ is seated, not on things on the earth. You have to choose to place your thoughts on things above where Christ is seated, which is thinking about what Christ has done for us. Christ died for me so that I could be saved, healed, delivered. We don't just drift or happen to find peace or joy. We set our thoughts on things above, and then we experience the peace. Even though there is this work to step into to write, left, right, left towards the truth, the fruit is so abundant that even when everything feels chaotic, you can still be at peace. Peace doesn't come from our surroundings, it comes from where our mind is set. God doesn't just offer peace when life is calm. He set forth his son for us as propitiation so that we could live in peace. He doesn't promise that the world around us will be peaceful, but he promised us that we can walk in peace. We know a faithful man abounds with blessings. That's not a perfect man. Faithful man abounds with blessings, continually going back. You get pulled downstream, continuing to turn around to take that step towards what God has said is true. If you're feeling stuck in a negative cycle, whatever it is God is putting on your heart, you can choose to step in that direction. You can choose to turn and walk upstream, to make the uncomfortable change that you know you need to, and to trust that on the other side of that is peace. On the other side of walking towards what God has for us in this life, to walking towards the truth in our minds is peace. Inward peace, peace.