You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
– Isaiah 26:3
Oh, I want to encourage you to memorize this verse.” Maybe let’s do this now, just kind of, in our minds, let’s just say this a few times together. If you’re in a place where you can say it out loud, do that, but just let it soak in. So I’ll say a phrase, and then let’s say it together, and let’s say it together a coupl ofe times. So, “You keep him in perfect peace”. Let’s say that again. “You keep him in perfect peace”. One more time. “You keep him in perfect peace”. Which, just pause there. Don’t we all want this? “Perfect peace. You keep him in perfect peace”. Here’s the next phrase: “Whose mind is stayed on you”.
Say that again, or just think about it with me. “Whose mind is stayed on you”. One more time, “Whose mind is stayed on you”. So now, put them together. “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you”. Let’s do that one more time. “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you”. Then the last phrase, “Because he trusts in you”. “Because he trusts in you”. “Because he trusts in you”. Put it together. Just try to.
Say it with me. “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you”.
Isaiah 26:3 clearly teaches us how to attain perfect peace.
Oh, I want to encourage you to memorize that verse and live it out today and tomorrow and every day. This is such a good word to have hidden in your heart, that God keeps in perfect peace. God brings perfect peace to the people whose mind is stayed on him.
That phrase, “stayed on”, just fixed on him, that doesn’t look aside. Just keeps your mind focused on God, on who he is and how much he loves you and his promises to you and his purposes that he will bring to pass. Keep your mind fixed on him and God will give you perfect peace because you’re trusting in the infinitely trustworthy God, the God of peace and the God of strength and the God of joy and the God of love, the God who is all those things.
Oh, try to say it with me one more time and then let’s pray it. “You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you”.
Isaiah 26:3 challenges us to fix our minds on the Lord.
So God, we pray that. We just ask for that in our lives today. I think particularly about people who are walking through particular challenges right now, but just for all of us in every facet of our lives, keep us in perfect peace.
I pray for your perfect peace over every single person right now listening to this, as we stay our minds on you. Help us to keep our minds fixed on you all day long today, and tomorrow and the next day and the next day, to live in perfect peace. What Philippians 4 says, “Is peace that passes all understanding that guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus.” Oh God, keep in perfect peace, all of us with our minds stayed on you because we trust in you. We say this to you in prayer based on your Word.
Oh God, we trust in you. And think about even the next verse that says, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, God is an everlasting rock”. You’re an Everlasting Rock, oh God, and we trust in you. So, do this, we pray. Help us to trust in you. Help us to keep our minds stayed on you and keep us in perfect peace as we do.
Prayer for the Rakhine People
And God, we pray this. For the peoples of the world, we pray this. For the Rakhine people of Myanmar, for two and a half million Burmese men, women and children among the Rakhine in Myanmar. God, we pray that your perfect peace in Jesus would spread to the Rakhine people. I think about natural disasters. They’ve walked through a civil war.
God, please bring perfect peace to the Rakhine of Myanmar. I pray for the brothers and sisters I was recently with there and worshiping with, and they’re so zealous about making the gospel known. God, we pray that you would give them power to make your perfect peace known in the middle of civil war in Myanmar. Please, oh God, specifically among the Rakhine people, may they know Isaiah 26:3, through trust in you, perfect peace that lasts forever. Oh God, we pray all this in light of your Word, which we love in Isaiah 26:3. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
