PERFECT PEACE

PERFECT PEACE
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Isaiah 26:3 KJV

Today’s lesson is Perfect Peace. Peace is something we’re all looking for. I can go as far to say that it
is the most desired feeling everyone is looking for. But what truly is Perfect Peace? Peace is defined
in the dictionary as “freedom from disturbance; tranquillity”. That’s true in a way. Being in a state of
peace is being free from disturbance (worry & fear), it is being in a state of tranquillity (being calm).
This are all human definitions of Peace. And they’re right to an extent. We can achieve this type of
Peace by following certain rules and principles but the truth is it would never last without the major
ingredient of LOVE.

Let’s take this verse step by step and see what God’s word has to say about Perfect Peace.

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace…..”

Perfect Peace as I see it is an attribute of Love. Galatians 5:22 tells us about the fruit of our recreated
Spirit.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)

So we see here that Peace is a fruit of the spirit. A fruit is the end product of every tree or plant. The
main reason anybody plants is so they can make harvest of the produce (fruit) of that tree. Our spirit
(that’s God’s spirit in us) is the tree and the fruit this tree brings forth are Love, Joy, Peace, Long-
suffering (Patience), Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness & Temperance (self-control). In the
book of John 15 Jesus was speaking to His disciples before His arrest about “The Vine”. He told them
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman” (John 15:1 & 5). He is the tree. Jesus is the
tree. He goes on further to tell them

“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

(John 15:2 KJV).

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“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

(John 15:5 KJV)

Jesus is the Vine (tree), and We are the branches. Without Him we can do nothing. Without the Vine
we the branches can’t produce any good fruit. So our duty as branches is to bring forth good Fruit. A
branch can never bring forth good fruit if it is cut away from the tree. So it is essential that every
branch must stay connected to the main tree for it to grow and produce good fruit. One thing John
15:1-5 and Galatians 5:22 makes clear is the fact that as long as we remain in the tree (the Spirit) we
will only produce the fruit of Love, Joy, Peace, Faith, gentleness, patience, meekness, goodness and
self-control. So we have no business producing any type of Fruit outside this 9 fruits. I brought in this
verses so we get a clear picture and understand that we have the Peace of God already working in us
as long as we have His Spirit living in us. But as we all know, plants need to be nurtured, we need to
water our tree (spirit) to enable it to keep growing and yielding the fruit we desire. The way to
nurturing this tree is in the word. The Bible. Everything we do in this life has to emanate from our
roots being planted in the word of God. It is the surest foundation we would ever need. So as we
water our spirits with the word (John 6:63), we begin to grow and become stronger branches
yielding more fruit because the spirit in us helps us to keep growing in Him

“….every branch that beareth fruit, he Purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit”.

The word “Purgeth” here is referring to purification; to rid of whatever is impure or undesirable.
Being in Christ is a state of letting go of who you thought you were and holding unto a new
personality and image of being exactly like Jesus Christ, because As He is, so are we in this world(1
John 4:17). So “why did we go through all this verses” you may be asking yourself.

The aim is to first of all understand that living this Christian life is a matter of letting go of self-
confidence and letting God become our confidence. You have to understand that it is not by your
strength that any of this happens. It is simply because we now have Christ living in us who is our
HOPE OF GLORY (Colossians 1:28).

So now back to the verse

“Thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace”.

“Him” here is referring to a person. It means It has to be personal for everyone. Everyone has to find
perfect peace for “Himself”. This verse is also making it clear that it is not our abilities or whatever
strategy we think we might have that will give us perfect peace. It is God who keeps us in perfect
peace. He alone can give and keep us in perfect peace because Perfect Peace is a fruit of having HIS

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OWN SPIRIT IN US. And without Him (The Vine) we can do nothing (produce no fruit) (John 15:5).
And take note the verse didn’t just say He’d let us visit the place of Perfect Peace, He said He’d keep
us there in Perfect Peace.

“….whose mind is stayed on thee:”

Now this is the tough part for most Christians. The mind. The mind is a crucial place. It is said that
“for as He thinketh in his heart, so is He” (Proverbs 23:7). The image you have of yourself on the
inside is primarily how your life would turn out. It is necessary for us to change the way we think if
we want to live a life of victory and peace. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul gave us one of the most important
principles in living the Christian life

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Romans 12:1-2 KJV

This are very powerful verses. What did Paul mean by being a living sacrifice? He meant that we
should dedicate our bodies to serving Christ constantly. You have to consecrate yourself in God
constantly because it is our reasonable service to God. It is not easy but the more you try, the better
you get at it. Always devote everything you do and think to God. Keeping Him in our thoughts puts
us in His presence. It is a form of prayer. The second verse sums up all our activities in the Christian
life, the renewal of our mind. Renewal means that it is an ongoing process that never stops. It is
never complete here on earth, but we have to keep renewing our minds and thoughts to think and
walk in the spirit so we do not get conformed to thinking and walking like the world does(in the
flesh). Our transformation into the image of Christ happens only through this one step. Renewing
your mind. Change the way you think. Stop seeing yourself as a failure. Imagine victory. See yourself
in the victory that Christ has already purchased and freely given us. Romans 8:6 just seals the deal
for me.

“For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the
things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be.”

Romans 8:5-7 KJV

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To be carnally minded is death. Being carnally minded refers to just being physically minded. There is
a spiritual side of life, being carnally minded is just going by your sense knowledge alone. Going by
only what you see, smell, hear, taste and feel (our 5 senses). Thinking that everything is only
physical, thinking that this world is the only reality, when in fact the spirit world is more real than
this physical world. We need to set our thoughts on higher thing’s (Colossians 3:2). Start walking in
the Spirit. Set your mind on God. Keep your mind stayed on Him at ALL TIMES because “…to be
spiritually minded is LIFE & PEACE”. The carnal mind is an enemy of God, because it always wants to
either see, hear, taste or feel before it believes God’s Will (perfect Peace) is real and it can never be
subject to God’s word or spirit because without Faith(believing in the unseen) it is impossible to
please God (Hebrews 11:6). Keep your mind stayed on Him, for only He can give us perfect peace.

“….because he trusteth in thee”.

Keeping our minds stayed on thee now takes us to the next step, which is LOVE. When you keep
your mind stayed on God you begin to have relationship with God. You begin to now focus only on
Him, and in that process you learn to trust Him. You begin to know Him when you keep your mind on
Him. He’ll reveal Himself & His will to you when you are in His presence. Trust is an important
attribute of any relationship to work. For you to trust a person it involves spending time with that
person. The reason God’s Love is very important in this step to perfect peace is because the absence
of peace entails that worry and fear is present. When we worry and fear it is primarily because of
doubt (unbelieve). Doubt creates an environment for worry, and worrying over a prolonged period
of time creates constant fear in us. And when we’re constantly in fear it is impossible to achieve
perfect peace. So we see that for us to have perfect peace we must get rid of doubt, worry and
ultimately fear. Only one thing cures fear and that is LOVE. This lovely verse in 1 John 4:18 assures us
of this perfect truth

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that
feareth is not made perfect in love.”

1 John 4:17-18 KJV

There is NO FEAR IN LOVE. None totally. Because Perfect Love drives out fear. What a beautiful
thing. It means that all we have to do is to strive for perfect love. And perfect Love is found in trust
and relationship with God. So we see that this brings us back to the most fundamental truth in the
life of a Believer, which is Relationship with the Father. That is our sole purpose on earth. To have
relationship with God. That was why we were created, for God’s pleasure (Revelation 4).

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He can only keep you in perfect peace when you are keeping your focus on Him alone. Focus on your
relationship with God. It is the only remedy for a troubled Heart.

I do not just speak of this things as fantasies, or theories, or words I have learned from a book. I have
experienced and still walk in this Perfect Peace and I wish we could all live in this perfection that God
has provided for us through His spirit living in us. I can tell you with complete assurance and I’m fully
persuaded that only God’s LOVE can lead us into perfect peace. None of us are perfect in doing this, I
am not perfect in this also, but to the level we truly devote ourselves to the Father and seek His face,
we will experience Perfect Peace and Victory. Strive for that relationship in the secret place with the
father. He is eager for you to come into His presence, He wants relationship with us even more than
we think we want it. He is Love, He is perfect Love and He alone gives Perfect Peace. Focus on Him.