Today I will continue my current series entitled, REASONS WHY NOT TO FEAR!
Before I get into the word, I want to share how thankful I am for Today’s Word. God told me to start sharing His Word with His people on a daily basis back in December of 1997. I had no idea I would still be doing this 23 years later. I am thankful that Today’s Word has been a tremendous blessing to countless people for many years. I am also very thankful for the blessing it has been to me, personally. The Word has to minister TO me before it ministers THROUGH me. So for 23 years, no matter what I have been going through personally, I have started each weekday with the Word of God. Of course, I worship on Sundays and I get the Word then as well. So I have had a constant diet of the Word of God for at least 6 days a week for over 20 years.
The Word of God has enabled me to live a stable life, even in challenging and uncertain times. Right now, while the world is in the middle of a global pandemic, and while we all receive a constant barrage of negative reports on almost every news source, seemingly all day every day, it’s a blessing to be able to START every day with the Word of God! Thank you for allowing me to be part of your daily routine.
Here is Reason #17 why NOT to fear: Your Trust In God Is Established! Yesterday we looked at Isaiah 26:3. Today we will go back to this verse. Let’s look at it again from several translations.
(Isaiah 26:3 King James Version)
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
(Isaiah 26:3 God’s Word Translation)
With perfect peace you will protect those whose minds cannot be changed, because they trust you.
(Isaiah 26:3 The Passion Translation)
Perfect, absolute peace surrounds those whose imaginations are consumed with you; they confidently trust in you.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things.
1. A double-portion of God’s peace.
In Isaiah 26:3, the prophet teaches us that there is a “perfect peace” available to the children of God. The original Hebrew text actually reads, “peace peace”. It’s a supernatural peace, a divine peace, a double-portion of God’s peace. This peace, as the text teaches us, is reserved for a certain group of believers. Isaiah tells us that this group of believers are able to keep their minds fixed and focused on God.
This type of focus is important. With everything we have going on in the world right now, it is critical! Because satan will do all he can to you to lose your focus. In many ways, the battle you fight against satan is waged within the arena of your mind. Satan wants to distract, derail and ultimately destroy us, and his attacks start in our mind. Which is why our text (Isaiah 26:3) is so important. Isaiah describes believers who are able to withstand the attacks from satan and remain focused on God. These believers resist every distraction. They are not easily negatively persuaded or dissuaded. They are laser-focused on God, His power, and His protection. Therefore, they get to enjoy a double-portion of His peace.
The key to maintaining God’s peace is found at the end of the verse. The reason why these believers are able to focus on God despite the constant barrage of attempted distractions from satan is that THEY TRUST GOD! When your trust in God is established, you are able to stand, withstand, endure and overcome just about anything. Because you know God is with you every step of the way! So while the world may be battling fear right now, you can actually maintain God’s peace. Not just peace, but a DOUBLE-PORTION of peace. A peace that will not be moved, persuaded, dissuaded, or disturbed!
2. Trusting someone’s presence.
When you are around someone you trust you put your guard down. You allow your internal defenses to rest. You do this because you don’t have any fear of harm or wrongdoing. You feel at ease in their presence. This is especially true when you believe the person you are with can also protect you. Now apply this to God and it is easy to see how we can enter into divine rest and peace when we acknowledge His presence. If you have a relationship with God and you know He is present in any given moment, it will be hard for the enemy to strip you of your peace. But when you don’t acknowledge His presence, you are susceptible to the attacks of the enemy and it is very easy to lose your peace.
3. Trusting someone’s intelligence/competence.
For years I have considered an expert in my field. While I clearly don’t know everything, I am expected to know certain things and when I give an answer, it is normally accepted as “the” answer, because I don’t make it a practice to provide answers I don’t know (with certainty) to be correct. Since I built this reputation people trust what I say. If that is true for me, then how much more should it be true for God. God knows ALL things. He knows your thoughts before you think them, your feelings before you feel them, your decisions before you make them, and your actions before you take them. If God says something to you, then you can trust Him and His Word. He has proven to NEVER be wrong. Therefore, standing a Word from God should give you peace, no matter the pressure you may feel from the world to believe or accept anything else.
With everything going on in the world, and with churches being restricted from hosting in-person services, this is the time for believers to go back to the Word. This is a great time for you to open your Bible, to read what it says, to spend time in prayer, to hear from heaven, and to trust that every Word God speaks to you and over you shall come to pass! God is incapable of lying. If He said it, He will perform it. If He spoke it, He will make His Word good in your life (see Numbers 23:19). You can trust God. You can take Him at His Word!
4. Trust is built on past-performance.
There is a certain level of trust that is given or assumed, but that trust-level is very low. True trust is earned over time. When you consider the level of trust you have for any given person, what you are doing is actually considering their track record. The better the track record, the higher the trust. The weaker the track record, the lower the trust. If this is true, then you should trust God at the highest possible level. He has never, nor will He ever fail you. He has never lied to you. He has never said one thing and done another. He has never fallen short. Bottom line: God has never given you any reason NOT to trust Him. God has a perfect track record. Take a moment to think back over your life and all the challenges you have had to endure and overcome. The same God who saw you through those will see you though Coronavirus! God is still God. He was sitting on the circle of the earth before COVID-19 came and He will still be sitting there way after it is gone. Trust God. If you do, He can give you a double-portion of His peace in this season. And this type of peace is much needed in the world today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, You can keep me in perfect peace. You can give me a double-portion of peace. But I must trust You. I declare that I do. Some trust in the riches of this world, I trust in You as my source. Some trust in the protection of this world, I trust in You as my shield. Some trust in the intelligence of this world, I trust in You for divine wisdom. You have never let me down. You have never failed me. You are all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. I love You. I believe in You. I trust You! My trust in You fuels my faith, joy and my peace. I enter this day in perfect peace, with a double-portion of Your peace, because my mind is fixed and focused on You… and I trust You! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen!
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
