Isaiah 26:3, God's Promise Of Perfect Peace All The Time

Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Since 2002, I have counseled many people through my popular website ministry. It is always my soul's joy and privilege to help others find their way in the Lord. From time to time we all get off course. All I do is take the Scripture and help hurting people find what they need in the Word of God. The Holy Bible has ALL the answers to all your problems, in one way or another! 

I learned a wonderful truth years ago in 2018 from one of my favorite people, Pastor Steven Barnes. First lets examine the Scripture passage:

2nd Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

This is what Pastor Barnes taught me about this passage of Bible:

1. DOCTRINE shows us what the right path is.
2. REPROOF shows us when we're getting off the right path.
3. CORRECTION shows us how to get back on the right path.
4. INSTRUCTION shows us how to stay on the right path.

Good stuff Menard! Oh, how we need the inspired Word of God each day of our life. Pastor Jeff Owens once said something in a sermon that I never forgot. Brother Owens said: “When you don't read your Bible and pray you are saying to God, 'I don't need your help God, I can make it on my own!'” That is so very true! We all need the guidance, comfort and hope which the Scriptures give to us. ...

Psalms 119:165, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

I looked up the Hebrew words in this beautiful passage. The word “peace” here is the Hebrew word Shalom, which means “well, happy, prosperity.” The word “offend” is the Hebrew word mikshol and means, “a stumblingblock, to cause to fall, offence.” Hence, the Bible is teaching us in this wonderful passage, that if we love (have affection for) God's Word, applying it to our daily life, then we will not stumble along life's way, and we will be happy and find true lasting eternal prosperity.

This doesn't mean that we won't suffer heartaches, losses and problems in life, it just means that through it all we can have the unquenchable joy that comes from knowing our name is written in Heaven (Luke 10:20). We can rejoice in knowing that we have a home beyond the stars, where no storm clouds rise. Psalms 119:165 means that if you heed the Word of God, you won't stumble along life's way. You will not be led astray by the False Shepherd (the Devil)! No one can deceive you doctrinally if you heed the inspired Holy Bible! Great peace have they that love Thy law, and nothing shall destroy them! Nothing shall cause them to fall.

What saith the Scripture? ...

Philippians 4:6-9, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

I love this simple but profound passage. Everyone likes to quote verses 6 and 7 about prayer, but they leave off verse 8 about controlling our thought life. Folks, I don't care how much time you spend in prayer, you are going to be down, depressed and miserable if you listen to negative news, slander and gossip all the time. I follow Pastor Bob Gray Sr.'s Twitter page each day. Yesterday I saw some slander from another Twitter member about Dr. Bob Gray Sr., so I blocked that account out! I refuse to hear gossip and negative comments about my friend Dr. Bob Gray Sr.! I won't listen to it!!! No way!!! Dr. Bob Gray Sr. is my good friend in soulwinning!!! Remember, the Devil is the accuser of the BRETHREN (Revelation 12:10). The Devil doesn't accuse the heathen world, he accuses THE BRETHREN!!!

God PROMISES to keep us in perfect peace as believers, if we'll simply STAY OUR MIND on the Blessed Savior JESUS CHRIST. Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” What an awesome God!!!

What saith the inspired Scripture? Hebrews 12:2-3, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.” Please don't miss the great truth taught in verse 3. The Bible teaches us to CONSIDER the persecution that Jesus faced from enemies on a continual basis, to encourage us, so that we won't be wearied and faint (quit) in OUR MINDS.

That is interesting. The Bible doesn't say QUIT, it says, FAINT IN YOUR MINDS. I believe this is speaking about depression, discouragement, negativity and feeling down because of persecution. We've all been there! I sure have. Many times I have felt like just quitting in my mind, which if we don't properly counsel yourself we will quit in real life. No one has ever quit anything, but that they didn't first quit IN THEIR MIND.

The Bible exhorts us as saints to focus on the sufferings of Christ, so that we won't be discouraged and quit. Isaiah 53:3-4, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Jesus was a man of sorrows! He was rejected of men, and no stranger to grief. Think about that. 

Many people despised Jesus everywhere He went. Luke 8:37, “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again.” Isn't that horrible? The townspeople of Gadarene besought Jesus to leave and don't come back! Mark 5:17, “And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.” They were upset about their 2,000 dead pigs. But Jesus didn't kill those pigs, the demons did! It is so typical of wicked people to only think about money. That is what is wrong with today's apostate Bible colleges and churches, everything has become about salaries and making more money!

Dear reader, God PROMISES you and I perfect peace and joy, if we'll simply STAY FOCUSED on Him. It is so easy to stop trusting God. Mark 11:22, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.” Do you have faith in God friend? While you are riding the public transit to or from work, do you feel perfect peace in your soul? You can. You should. You won't get that peace listening to the daily negativity in the news. You'll find that peace by placing your soul's trust in Christ, the keeper of our soul. Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

Expect Big Answers From God For Our Little Prayers

James 5:14-19, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

I once heard a beautiful illustration about prayer that forever changed my prayer life. Two preachers were once sharing a conversation about prayer. The one preacher was still young and naïve, and the other preacher an older and wiser man of God. As the young minister rambled about the virtues of prayer long prayers, the elderly wise preacher interjected the $64,000 question—“Young man, you don't expect to receive big answers from God in response to your little prayers do you?” The young preacher replied: “No, of course not!” The elderly preacher wisely replied: “THAT is why you don't receive BIG answers to prayer!”

Dear reader, without faith we cannot please God. Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Faith is trusting God! Faith is the cause of why we do the things we do for Jesus Christ (Hebrews 11:1). By God's grace, I have labored diligently night and day for the past 19 years since 2002, spending literally tens of thousands of hours working on my website ministry for Christ. I often am reminded, and tell all my web visitors, that this is not my own ministry, IT IS GOD'S WEBSITE. I have seven websites total, which are listed here. And then there's my music website, which is also a ministry that I use to preach the Gospel to musicians. Praise the Lord, for without Jesus I can do NOTHING (John 15:5).

THE TRUTH is that you CAN pray LITTLE prayers, and receive BIG answers from God. What saith the Scripture? ...

Matthew 6:5-8, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Our blessed Creator, God and Savior already KNOWS what our needs are. Nothing ever occurs to God. There is no “oops!” with God. The Lord doesn't need a calendar like I do. He doesn't need to set reminder alarms on His mobile phone like I do. God does not need email reminders sent to Him, to remind Him to pay His bills on time each month, and go to His doctor's appointment on schedule. God doesn't get sick, doesn't grow tired and never needs a vacation from a stressful environment like we humans often do.

Our blessed Savior PROMISED that we need not pray long repetitive prayers, or spend extended time (hour upon hour) in prayer, because He already knows what we need from day to day. That is a remarkable teaching in the Scriptures. I think it is very common for saints, especially those who have been saved for decades and are very familiar with the Word of God, to not really pay attention to the details and rely upon the Scriptures as we ought. I had known all my adult life that God already knows my needs, because I was familiar with this passage of Scripture in Matthew 6:5-8. Yet so often I still feel like God won't answer my prayers unless I get down to business, by spending quality time in prayer.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. We should spend quality time in prayer. I dare say that less than 2% of Christians spend quality time in prayer. I would consider “quality time” in prayer to be at least 30 minutes to an hour a day, where we give God our undivided attention. If you are like me, then you have a bad habit of what I call, “Drive-By Praying.” When I lived in Chicago most of my adult life, we had the unfortunate and unpleasant reality of “Drive-By Shootings,” which were nearly always related to street gangs and the money they made from selling illegal drugs. In fact, at the time in 2004 when I finally moved away from Chicago, the city's dozens of different gangs were operating an astonishing $500,000,000 a year drug empire! So I picked up the term “Drive-By” from having grown up in the big city.

Sadly, I think many of us are guilty as God's children of “Drive-By Praying,” that is, praying on the go as we pass by hurriedly rushing about our busy day. Granted, we are commanded to pray throughout the day, all the time as things come to our mind. 1st Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” Pastor Jack Hyles' (1926-2001) dear mother, Mattie Coystal Hyles was born in Illinois on December 13, 1887. She graduated from this earthly life at age 96 in 1984 in Indiana. Dr. Hyles' mother's favorite Bible verse is Psalms 103:14, “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” I love that verse too!!! God knows our weak human frame, He remembers continually that we are made from the mere dust of the earth. It is important that we always keep this wonderful truth in mind, knowing that God is very patient and understanding toward our short comings, weaknesses, faults, failures and sin.

David Brainerd (1718-1747) was a Gospel missionary's in New York to the native Indians. Brainerd loved the Indians so much, that he was purported to pray at length until his knees left imprints in the wooden floor beneath. Wow! That is love my friend. The Bible does teach IMPORTUNITY in prayer for others! Pastor Jack Hyles has authored a helpful book on prayer, called: 'Exploring Prayer With Jack Hyles.' in which he address this issue of importune prayer in chapter 49 called: “THIS KIND.”

When Jesus' apostles could not heal the little boy possessed of a devil, Jesus told them that they lacked faith. But the Lord also made it clear that “THIS KIND” requires PRAYER AND FASTING. Matthew 17:21, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” So there will be times in our life, for the sake of OTHERS, when God will require sacrifice in prayer if we are to help them. It is important that we differentiate between our personal needs, which the Lord doesn't want us spending a lot of time praying about (Matthew 6:5-8); as versus spending quality time in prayer, out of a heart of LOVE for others. God wants every believer to GET OUT OF THE SELF LIFE!!!

“Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths: strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.” —Missionary David Brainerd (1718-1747)

David Brainerd died of Tuberculosis in 1747 at the age of only 29. Brainerd was known as a man of prayer. What saith the Scripture? The prayer of FAITH changes things...

James 5:14-19, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

Dear reader, yes, you most certainly CAN receive BIG answers from God in response to LITTLE prayers. There are no “little” prayers!!! The Bible exhorts us in Philippians 4:6 not to be careful (anxious) about anything; but rather, to take EVERY THING to God in prayer...

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
And what a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer 

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

1st Peter 5:7 is one of the most amazing Scripture passages in the Bible, which is so often overlooked, and few believers think it is true—“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” I admit that there have been multiple times in my life, when I earnestly prayed to God for His help, but didn't visibly see any results in the months and years to follow. So I became discouraged and quit praying. That is the worst thing we can do!!! There is a wonderful little nugget of gold tucked away between verses 6 and 8 of the following beautiful passage:

2nd Corinthians 5:6-8, “Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.”

I love that! Verse 6 says while we are at home in our physical body, we are ABSENT from being in Heaven bodily with our blessed Savior. And then in verse 8 the Apostle Paul reminds us as believers, that the blessed day is coming when we WILL BE ABSENT from the body, and we'll be present with the dear Savior. Tucked right in between those TRUTHS, we find the lovely phrase—FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. Dear reader, we ought not look for visible answers to our prayers. God doesn't do things our way, nor in our time frame, nor according to our desires. What saith the Scripture? ...

Isaiah 55:6-9, “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Many proponents of the Devil's lie of Calvinism, misunderstood repentance and “Lordship Salvation” misinterpret this passage of Scripture. Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) wisely says that as a general rule, we should never use an obscure passage of Scripture to contradict a clear one. I fully agree! This passage is obscure, which is often used in a foolish attempt to require people to turn away from sinful ways to be saved. That is not the free grace Gospel.

We are taught in Genesis 15:6 that Abram (Abraham) believed the Lord and it was counted unto him for righteousness (Romans 4:4-7). Habakkuk the prophet said in Habakkuk 2:4 that THE JUST MAN SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH. Salvation has ALWAYS been by faith alone in Christ. Acts 10:43, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” ALL the prophets, Old Testament and New, gave witness that remission of sins comes only through faith in Christ.

The prophet Isaiah exclaims in Isaiah 55:7-8 that God's ways are not our ways, and God's thoughts are not our thoughts. One of my favorite sermons by Pastor Jack Hyles is titled: 'Either Let Me Do God, Or Do It My Way.' We are ALL somewhat guilty of this sin! We are all guilty of sometimes wanted God to let us do things OUR WAY, and if God refuses, then we want God to do it OUR WAY. Dear friend, God not only knows what provisions we need from day to day, He also knows what we need spiritually in our life. No believer wants to suffer, but the Bible teaches that God has called every saint to suffer!!! Philippians 1:29-30, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”

2nd Corinthians 5:7 says, FOR WE WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT. We must keep this TRUTH continually in mind, lest we become discouraged when we don't SEE God's hand at work in response to our prayers. I have learned and found sweet peace in my soul, to just settle it once and for all that God loves me (Ephesians 2:4; 2nd Thessalonians 2:16), cares about me (1st Peter 5:7), knows what is best for me (Romans 8:29)), and He hears my every prayer as His child (Hebrews 4:14-16). If it is God's will to answer, He will. I am 100% convinced that God always answers my prayers, but usually NOT in the way I want Him to, or when I want Him to, or where I want Him to. Prayer is a matter of FAITH. Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, than to TRUST and OBEY.

Yes, you can receive BIG answers to prayer from God, for just LITTLE prayers. That is because the basis upon which our prayers are answered is not a matter of how much we sacrificed to earn God's response; but rather, it is a matter of FAITH alone. We are saved by faith. We walk by faith. We pray in faith. We do all that we do for God by faith. The works we do as saints are by faith. Works don't prove our faith to be genuine, but they show that we love God (John 14:14).