Sound Mind Set

Isaiah 26:3-4 encourages:You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.You know that on any given day, where you place your trust, where your thoughts tend to go, determines your level of peace. Isaiah offers that the only “perfect peace” can be found in surrendering your thoughts to the eternal, immovable, unshakable Rock.To whom, where, or how are your thoughts being displaced and distracted today?Listen again to Isaiah 26:3-4 from the Message bible:People with their minds set on you, you keep completely whole, Steady on their feet, because they keep at it and don't quit. Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.Today, can you keep you mind set on God who promises to keep you whole?This passage promises we will be steady on their feet, because we keep at it and don't quit.Depend on God and keep at it because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.Pray: “Father, keep me in Your perfect peace as I trust in You. Keep my thoughts fixed on You. Help me to trust You today, Lord God, my eternal Rock.”AS ABOVE, SO BELOW.AMEN.

David writes in Psalm 29:11: The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.In God’s kingdom, strength and peace work in unison. That is why you sense a quiet, calming reassurance when His peace enters your racing mind and struggling heart.What place of weakness today needs His strength? What struggle needs His peace?Listen to the passage again from the Message Bible The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace. God knows all about us and what we will be dealing with way before we do and He is quick to come to our rescue at any time.Notice the passage doesn’t say anything about David’s strength. It says “the Lord GIVES strength to his people”God’s gift of strength is at the door of your heart right now. His gift of peace is at the threshold to your thoughts in this moment. Open up and embrace them both as His gifts.Pray: “Heavenly Father, give me Your strength. Please grant me with Your peace.”AS ABOVE, SO BELOW.AMEN

Listen to David’s closing words in Psalm 4, verse 8:In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.David had many days and nights where his enemies were stalking, seeking to harm him. Living under threat, confessing that he would fully depend on God to protect him while he slept in peace was a strong statement of faith.Is there a situation in your life right now that feels like a stalking enemy, seeking to harm you?You believe in your head that God is capable of keeping you safe?Can you confess that belief out loud to yourself and to God, just like David did?Trust God with your safety and security. Let your heart find peace.Pray:“Father, grant me Your peace as I lie down and sleep, for You alone, Lord, will keep me safe.”AS ABOVE, SO BELOW.AMEN.

Jesus said in John 16:32-33:“Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”In Christ, you are never alone. There will always be troubles, trials, and sorrows here on earth, but in and through everything you experience, Jesus is there, offering His peace and encouraging you to “take heart.”What trial are you walking through today that needs to be overcome by the peace of Christ?You may be dealing with some things in life that are making you tired, weary, discouraged, dealing with grief, and ready to give up. That’s exactly what it means to lose heart.When Jesus tells us to take heart it means to: be encouraged, to have hope, to be bold and confident, to not give up, to be of good cheer, to have courage! Whether we take heart or lose heart is simply a choice we make. The way Jesus uses the phrase take heart here in John 16:33 is as an imperative verb. That means that he is saying taking heart is an action, it’s something we do, and that it is a possibility in our lives based off the choice we make…but it doesn’t become a reality until we actually make the choice.What is one area of your life that you can make the choice to take heart? to be encouraged, to have hope, to be bold and confident, to not give up, to be of good cheer.Breathe in - inviting Christ’s peace into your day. Exhale, letting go of weariness and discouragement.Move into the Balance of Christ’s peace, which is with you.Pray: “Father, I know I am not alone because You are with me. May I find my peace in You and take heart that You have overcome my world.” As above. So below.

Our final passage for this week comes from Jesus, where He again promises peace as only He can give. Listen to John 14:24-28 … Remember, my words are not my own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent me.  I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. Remember what I told you: I am going away, but I will come back to you again. (NLT) When life gets crazy and the chaos ensues inside or outside our home, it is easy to forget that His Spirit lives within us. He has left us a gift of heavenly peace of mind and heart. When we are troubled or afraid, He is as close as the breath within. The peace He offers is not a momentary manufactured one, but the kind that has already set the world right and all we have to do is call on and receive what is already there.Listen to this passage once again in The Message Bible … The message you are hearing isn’t mine. It’s the message of the Father who sent me. “I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught. “You’ve heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, and I’m coming back.’What have you learned about peace this week?What can you do to work peace into more of your life?How can you make your home a sanctuary where God is always at home with you and your kids?We pray you have found peace here this week. Words of peace that connect you to Christ.Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit and Your gift of peace. I invite You into my heart and home to make them both what You desire. As above, so below.”

Today, once again we will focus on just one verse … Matthew 5:9 … God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. (NLT) In this world of war, trouble, and conflict, we realize peace never comes easy. Sin causes peace to be elusive. So to get peace, to be at peace, is going to take some work, some effort on our part. Yes, God’s brand of peace is a gift from Him, but even that comes at a cost. We have to choose to sacrifice our own ways and surrender to Him to receive His peace.In our circles of influence, relationships, families, and homes, we can choose to work toward peace. When we do, God will bless and we will be known as His children.Listen to this verse in The Message Bible … You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.Where in your life, if you were honest, you know you have given up on peace?Where does peace seem to come fairly easy in your life? Why is that?Where do you need to work to show people how to cooperate instead of compete?Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, everywhere in my life, especially at home, help me, teach me to show cooperation and not competition. To show who I am in You and my place in Your family. As above, so below.”

Today, we will focus on one simple and single verse … Listen to Proverbs 29:17 … Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad. (NLT) In our western culture, we tend to always associate discipline only with punishment. But the true definition and connotation of discipline is structure, form, parameters, guardrails. Yes, punishment and consequences are involved, but that is the defense aspect of discipline. The offense is proper training. Think of today’s verse this way … Give your children the proper training and structure and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad.Listen to The Message Bible’s take on this verse … Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did— they’ll turn out delightful to live with.What if you were able to turn the meaning of discipline around in your home to be associated with delightful? Wouldn’t delightful make your home more peaceful?Take a step this week toward this new concept of discipline—structure and form to operate within.What is one form of structure that you can do this week to bring a sense of stability and peace in your home?Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, guide me, teach me to bring more of the kind of discipline You as a loving Father want in my home. Bring peace. Bring delight. I’ll take all of that I can get. As above, so below.”

Listen to Psalm 95:1-7 …Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too. Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. (NLT) One of the most powerful ways to create and cultivate God’s peace in our homes is to make them a place of worship. While, of course, music can be a part of that experience, it’s far bigger than that. Making God a normal, natural part of our everyday conversations and speaking of His life and work in our families is an important path to peace in our homes. Gratitude always changes the attitude.What would be one thing you could tell your kids today that God has done for your family that they might not know about? What if you began to share anything that you see happen that affects them, something you know came from God’s hand?Let them know the Creator of the universe is blessing their lives. Teach them that worship can simply be acknowledging what He has done. Worship and gratitude are strong elements of experiencing peace in our homes.Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I recognize You as the Author of peace. Teach me to recognize Your work in our lives and share that with my kids. To worship all You do and who You are. As above, so below.”

We all know we live in a chaotic world filled with noise coming from all directions. We know that God ordained and blessed the family as the first union and community. So, for ourselves and our kids we need to take every step possible to make our homes into a sanctuary where God’s presence and peace are welcome and manifested.Let’s start this week with a very familiar passage. Let’s take the words and apply them to our homes. Listen to Psalm 23 … The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. (NLT)Is there an action or attitude that you do or have that disrupts the scripture describes as ‘rest in green meadows’ or ‘leads by peaceful streams’ in your home?How can you make your home a place that feels like a green meadow or a peaceful stream where strength is renewed?We all experience ‘dark valleys” - our kids do too… Is there something that you can do to be what God describes himself as doing - being with us in dark valleys? How can we better be ‘with’ our kids in their dark valley?Listen now to this same passage in The Message Bible … God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing. You have bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from. True to your word, you let me catch my breath and send me in the right direction. Even when the way goes through Death Valley, I’m not afraid when you walk at my side. Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure. You serve me a six-course dinner right in front of my enemies. You revive my drooping head; my cup brims with blessing. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.No matter how close or how far away you may feel Psalm 23 fits your home or is a place where you sense God’s peace, we want to encourage you to find one, just one, step you can take to invite God’s presence in. As you make your home His home, you and your kids will feel more at home than ever before.Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, I want you to fill my home from floor to ceiling, wall to wall with Your presence. Make my home a Psalm 23 sanctuary, as only You can do by Your peace. As above, so below.”

Our final passage for this week is a familiar one, but has so many great applications for our lives to encourage us to seize the day … Philippians 3:12-16 … I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.  Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you. But we must hold on to the progress we have already made. (NLT) Let’s focus on what Paul said he focused on … this one thing … forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. When we move on, but are constantly looking backwards, something is wrong. Remember—Paul had a lot of horrible violence in his past, all done in the name of religion. He had a lot to forget, but he stated exactly how he had to choose to move forward into what Christ had for his life. Great advice … Listen to this passage once again in The Message Bible … I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.What has God shown you this week?What has He called you to let go of … for the last time? Lay it down and never turn back?What has He called you to take on and never let go of?We pray you have found some healing and health this week. That’s always our goal, to connect you to Christ.Let’s pray together: “Heavenly Father, today, I need to, for the final time, let go of what You have told me to let go of. I need to listen to You and take up what You have called me to take up. As above, so below.”