You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Isaiah 26:3, NKJV

A few years ago, during a mission trip to Kenya, I encountered a situation that shook me and tested me to the core. My ministry team and I found ourselves in what I would describe as the deepest corner of the darkest city in Eastern Kenya. Our team consisted of four Americans and four Kenyans (who, in my estimation, had little experience leading foreigners on street ministry walks), and we hit the dirt streets carrying nothing but the Word of God and the Presence of Jesus. We knew that what we brought was enough for the people living in an area of abject poverty, sickness, drug abuse, and hopelessness.  

The church we set out from was smothered inside a cramped neighborhood of small, ramshackle homes made of clay, discarded corrugated metal sheets, woven palm branches, and cinder blocks. After we prayed inside the church, we stepped into the streets in obedience to God’s word. He had spoken to us about ministering the Gospel in this city—known to the locals as “The Devil’s City” and to this particular pastor and church. As we stepped out into the streets, I was overwhelmed by what happened next.

In a Tight Spot

Immediately, we were surrounded by such a sea of black faces that I could no longer tell where the road was, and which direction we were heading. Our local guides proved to be of little help, allowing us white foreigners to be pressed backwards nearly into a house as the crowd literally ran over one another in an effort to get close to us. This wasn’t a “we want to touch the hem of your garment” kind of crowd; this group was unruly and seemed aggressive. Several of the men in the crowd gave glances to the women on my team that left me feeling very uncomfortable. After sizing up the situation, I had my team and our guides grab each other’s hands, and I literally dragged them all through the throng.

We had just made it to an opening in the crowd when one of the local guides stopped me and pointed to a small doorway that led into a dark, smelly room. “There’s a man here who has never heard of Jesus and wants to hear the gospel.” I gave her a sidelong look that said, No way. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, It’s alright.

That had better be the Holy Spirit, I thought.

I poked my head inside. The room was about 8 feet deep by 5 feet wide, with one bench along the side wall, and no windows or other doors. Five people were sitting on the bench engaged in various forms of drug use, and I was halfway out the door when the Holy Spirit reminded me again, It’s alright! I’ve sent you here. I stopped and took a breath. Ok. I quickly posted Scott, the biggest man in the group, at the entrance to the room and barked in his face (probably a bit too sergeant-like), “Don’t you let anyone close this door on us!”

“I’m not going in there!” he exclaimed as he squared his shoulders and assumed his best bouncer pose. The rest of us ventured in.

I would love to share with you what happened in that little room, but today I want to draw your attention to what happened as we were leaving the room. In short, through the preaching of the simple Gospel of Jesus, all five people on that bench received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and one received powerful deliverance from demonic oppression.

Alone

We filed out one by one. As I stepped out of the room, I stood still for a moment at the threshold, looking out into the streets for my team. Five seconds turned into ten. Ten into twenty. Uh oh. Not a white face in sight. In fact, I didn’t see anyone I recognized. The crowd was still there, but my team was nowhere to be found. Cold chills of panic gripped my chest. It was getting dark, and I was hopelessly lost in this maze of a neighborhood. There was no one friendly around that I could trust. The last time I trusted a stranger in this part of Kenya I wound up in a situation where I could have been (and probably was about to be) robbed blind, and no one would have known.

I can’t overstate the seriousness of my situation. We were so deep in the slum; I had no idea which way was up. There seemed to be no order to the layout of the dirt streets, and everything looked the same to me. By now the sun had set, and I knew I was minutes away from being in total darkness in a completely unknown world, with little hope of finding my way out. To make matters worse, I felt the eyes of a growing crowd of people staring and watching my every move.

As I continued to scan the crowd, still in unbelief that my team had deserted me, I felt the pangs of fear digging deeply into my mind; their sharp barbs sinking into my chest. My heart was beating wildly, and my thoughts, already in overdrive, began to slur together into an incoherent mixture. It was almost like the beginning waves of a panic or anxiety attack. I knew that if I didn’t quickly gain control of my mind, I could easily slip into panic, and then I would be in real trouble. It was at this exact moment when my mind turned to Isaiah 26:3, which says:

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

NKJV

I wrestled my thoughts back to my God. He promised me perfect peace. Over the noisy din, above the emotion, my God is faithful. He will never leave me. He is here with me. Of course! My best friend is here with me! I began to smile. How could I forget about my God? Our relationship was too precious; too lovely for me to doubt His presence in this situation. I have known Him to be so good in every situation prior to this moment, and He’s the same God here with me now!

As soon as my mind focused on the Lord, supernatural clarity came to my mind. My emotions began to turn, and joy actually sprang up from the inside. By this time, all the fogginess was gone, and I suddenly had an idea. Scott, the “bouncer” from earlier, had offered me a handful of rubber bouncy balls during the bus ride into the city in case we ran into any children. I still had the bouncy balls in my pocket. I had a plan, and I knew it would work.

With darkness settling in on the scene, I held up high a handful of brightly colored balls and shouted to a group of nearby children, “Who wants one of these? Who wants a bouncy ball?” Soon I was thronged by a crowd of beautiful African children (which is one of the best things in the entire world; your heart just melts).

“Where did my friends go? Whoever can take me to my friends first gets a bouncy ball.” Trusting adults is one thing, but I knew I could trust the children. Apparently, the kids had been paying attention, because half the group said, “This way, this way!” and started scampering off down a side street. With nothing to lose, I ran after them. After a left turn, another side street, and a right turn, we arrived on the doorstep of a small house.

“Are my friends in there?”

“Yes, yes!” One of the boys tried to open the door. Locked.

Oh, man. It’s like they forgot everything I said in the safety briefing. They better be okay in there, or I’m going to kill them!

A mama opened the door, and sure enough, there was my entire team. Thank God! Safe and sound. They had been invited inside a home to pray and minister healing to a tiny baby and her mother. Relieved beyond words, I turned around to the sea of expectant young faces behind me. I grinned and shouted, “Here you go! Thank you! Thank you!”, as I tossed the balls up in the air like confetti.

Perfect Peace

You and I can experience the shalom peace of God in any (and I mean ANY) situation life can throw at us. In the Hebrew text, “perfect peace” is written as shalom shalom—the Hebrew word for peace twice in a row. In Hebrew writings, repeated words are not by accident—they are very significant. In the Hebraic mindset, writing the same word twice was like a double underline, putting it in ALL CAPS, highlighting it, or placing it in bold print. Isaiah 26:3 contains powerful truth that God clearly wanted to underline to you and me, and I believe this is a word from God to you today!

This shalom shalom carries more than inner peace or tranquility. I like one of the footnotes from the Passion Translation found in Psalm 34 that describes the word shalom beautifully:

Twice the Hebrew uses the word shalom. This word means much more than peace. It means wholeness, wellness, well-being, safe, happy, friendly, favor, completeness, to make peace, peace offering, secure, to prosper, to be victorious, to be content, tranquil, quiet, and restful. The pictographic symbols for the word shalom (shin, lamed, vav, mem) read “Destroy the authority that binds to chaos.” The noun shalom is derived from the verbal root shalam, which means “to restore,” in the sense of replacing or providing what is needed in order to make someone or something whole and complete. So shalom is used to describe those of us who have been provided all that is needed to be whole and complete and break off all authority that would attempt to bind us to chaos.¹

Notice that this perfect peace isn’t automatically bestowed on anyone and everyone, regardless of their participation. No, this kind of peace requires our involvement. Who accesses this peace? “…whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in You.”

This word stayed is the Hebrew word camak, and means to lay, lean upon or against; or support oneself on. Basically, this is a picture of someone who is leaning against something with all their weight of their entire body. Have you ever leaned up against something with your whole weight when suddenly, the thing you were leaning on collapses? What a surprise that is! This is the picture that the Holy Spirit is painting for us today. This is what it means to have your “mind stayed on Him”—lean up against God with all your weight, so that if God were to slip, you would fall flat on your face.

Never React. Respond.

I had exercised every amount of wisdom I had access to in planning our team’s activities and monitoring the safety of the people God had entrusted to me on this trip. Natural wisdom is good. But natural wisdom alone can only get you so far, if that is the only realm you are operating in. When my situation got tough, I began by reacting naturally, which ultimately led to heightened emotion and clouded vision. When I got control of my mind, I calmly responded to the situation with power.

Reacting: that’s when you act on reflex. This is usually what the majority of people do in crisis. Reacting doesn’t wait on the Lord or listen to His still, small voice, so it can’t tap into the power of God.

Responding: this is how chess-players win. They don’t react. They note their opponent’s move and respond accordingly. This is the space where you can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit leading you and where the supernatural meets the natural.

When it comes to this COVID-19 virus, let’s use natural wisdom while trusting in God and living by faith. It’s wisdom to follow the counsel of the medical and disease control experts; there’s nothing ungodly about taking precautions and being wise. But at the same time, let’s not rely—place our full weight—on human wisdom in times of crisis (or any time, for that matter!).

Don’t allow yourself to get wrapped up in the fear and panic that is bombarding your mind. If the devil can sway your mind, he can wreak havoc in your life. I don’t know what would have happened to me in Africa if I didn’t have the Word of God hidden deep inside my heart or the lifestyle of hearing God’s voice and communing with Him regularly. I am convinced that because I chose to focus my mind of the truth of God’s Word and not my surrounding situations, I was able to receive the dunamis power of the Holy Spirit to think clearly and carry out the strategy that ultimately led to a victorious outcome.

I believe we are living in the most exciting time of history. I believe Jesus is coming back soon. I believe you and I are the most equipped believers that have ever walked the earth. As you step out into perfect peace, you will see the power of God more and more. As you yield your mind to the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will not only enrich you, but anoint you with a greater measure of power to do the work of God on the earth.

1. Footnote for Psalm 34:14. The Passion Translation (TPT). The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017 by BroadStreet Publishing® Group, LLC. Used by permission. All rights reserved. thePassionTranslation.com

Photo by Liane Metzler on Unsplash