Obtaining Perfect Peace

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” ~ Isaiah 26:3

Perfect peace is such a wonderful promise from the Lord! And not just peace, but perfect peace! Not only can we have this perfect peace but He will keep us in a place of perfect peace!
In Hebrew, the term perfect peace is shalom shalom. Repetition in Hebrew always communicates intensity. So it’s not just peace like the world knows it, but perfect peace! This is one repeated assurance that we can healthily go over and over in our heads as often as we like to; unlike torturously taking what a Doctor says and going over it and over it and analysing how incorrect he may have been.
God is reassuring us not once, but twice, that the peace is ours for the taking!

How do we take this peace? “Whose mind is stayed on You”.
Ahh…here we have the mind. The heart of the matter. The one thing causing havoc! We were created to think- BUT where we set our mind is what makes the difference. This is the key to our walk with the Lord.
The mind has to be… stayed
on what?… the LORD
The Hebrew word for stayed is ‘sawmak’ and means to “prop”, “lean on/lay on”, “uphold”, “rest self or set self”, “sustain”.
It is vital that we take cognisance of what we are leaning our minds on. What thoughts are you upholding? God’s promises, or what disease you may have? Are you resting yourself in the fact that you have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16) or are you worrying when the next anxious thought is coming? Or worrying how wrong the Doctor probably was because studying for close to a decade just wasn’t enough? 😉
John leaned (i.e. propped) his head on Jesus’ chest at the Last Supper. He did that just before what? It was just before Jesus disclosed the betrayal of Judas! Keep your mind on Jesus and lean on His truth and the more you do that the more you will come to see clearly the lies and deception the enemy brings you with hypochondria! It’s at that point that it becomes easy to let go of it.

You are not going to win this battle if you don’t set your focus purely on God. I can’t stress that enough. You have to make the conscious decision to just say “no!” If you make that one little choice to stay on what disease you might have, or if a panic attack will come etc. you will not get perfect peace. The absence of hypochondria is perfect peace. The presence of God’s Word is perfect peace.
I can give you 2 of my own examples. When I started getting into the healing process of hypochondria, I rested my mind on the fact that God would fight the battle for me. I was so young- I didn’t know what I know now. But the battle of Jehoshaphat impressed me so much, my faith latched onto it and wouldn’t let go. As each day passed, the pain in my body disappeared more and more. Now and then a hypo thought would come and I took the conscious decision to absolutely refuse to entertain it. I had had enough. I even rebuked the thought out loud in Jesus name!
Another example is that my daughter was born straight into NICU. She was in there for a month after having a huge op at 3 days old. It was scary. I kept focused on the Word – I ate it, drank it, slept it, spoke about it all day. One day I got a moment of weakness and the infamous “what if..” thought cropped up. Just as I was about to entertain it Jesus said very firmly, “No Caddie! Look at Me! Keep your eyes focused on ME!” Those were His words verbatim. Do you know that my husband put together all information on TOFS (what my daughter was born with) in a file for me to read and learn and to this day, almost 7 years later, I still refuse to open and read it! I did not care what the doctors and research said about it- my focus was on Jesus and how He was going to bring her through it to be a happy and fully healthy little girl today!
Don’t give Satan the freedom to get your mind away on anything but Jesus – it’s his most effective and favourite hobby!

So, in both cases I took the decision to completely trust Jesus.
We see in the verse “because he trusts in You.” Trust is another way of keeping our minds on Him. What you trust is what you focus on! What you focus on is your…idol!
Proverbs 3:5 kind of encompasses this whole issue – “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” The root word for lean here is the same as ‘stayed’ as above! Whether you want to admit it or not, hypochondria is leaning on our own understanding – not even the Doctors if you think about it. Just our own. So, to lean on the Lord is to trust Him.

Again, trust starts in your mind. If you’re not at that point with the Lord, chat with Him and tell Him so and ask Him to work on your heart so that you fully trust Him. It’s His will so He will hear you and help you!

I’m still keeping you in prayer!

Some further reading:

‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ~ Matt 22:37

‘And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.’ ~ Romans 12:2

“who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.’ ~ 1 Cor 2:16

‘whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.’ ~ Phil 3:19

‘Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.’ ~ Col 3:2