Pathway to Peace – The Presidential Prayer Team

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. – Isaiah 26:3

Peace may seem an elusive goal. Over the past 4,000 years, it has been estimated there have been more than 3,700 years of war. Throughout written history, more than 8,000 peace treaties have been made… and just as many broken. Today, there is a definite absence of peace in Eastern Europe. There are other wars, too. Domestic tensions are escalating in the nation’s body politic. Marriages are crumbling. People are not even at peace with themselves. Where can peace be found? How can it be achieved?

During His ministry on Earth, Jesus preached peace. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). The world defines peace as the absence of war and conflict. God’s definition is serenity in the midst of turmoil and trials. Experiencing the peace that passes all understanding is only available when you are plugged into the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus. “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

You have a choice to make. Today’s verse is the key: fix your mind, your thoughts, your emotions, on Jesus Christ. It takes determination not to succumb to distractions… and there are many vying for your attention. It is a discipline. As one old preacher said, “there are a lot of strange thoughts that fly above my head like birds; I just don’t let them build a nest in my hair.” The more in love you are with Jesus, the more your thoughts will center on Him. Intercede for those in the nation’s highest offices who are working for peace in the world, that they might first experience the peace in their own hearts that only Christ can offer.

Today’s Verse: Isaiah 26:3

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

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Ephesians 4:1-16

4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.