Day 2: Staying Your Mind on Jesus

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

In order to walk in victory, you have to renew your mind. We all do. And “renewing your mind” means looking deeply into God’s Word, seeing how it applies to you, and changing the way you think to match what God’s Word says.

To help encourage you in this effort, in this series 30 Days of Renewing Your Mind, we are studying and praying through 30 different Scriptures about various thinking patterns and habits. As we pray through each of these tidbits from Scripture, we will ask the Lord to change our thoughts to match His.

Today, on Day 2 of the series 30 Days of Renewing Your Mind, we will pray through Isaiah 26:3.

I have provided a list of bullet-point prayer points below. I am not writing a full-length prayer word-for-word from these passages, but rather providing a bullet-point framework, so you can pray using your own words from your own heart.

But before we pray, let’s review Isaiah 26:3 again and see what gems we can draw out of it.

This passage says:

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

Here are three keys from this passage that will help you renew your mind:

Key 1: First, God promises you perfect peace IF.

Perfect peace doesn’t belong to just everyone at random. It belongs to those who meet the condition put forth in the promise. And the condition of this promise is that God will keep you in perfect peace IF your mind is “stayed,” or fixed, on Him.

So, the crux of the whole issue is that we have to learn to glue our mind to the Lord in order to receive the peace.

Key 2:

After you glue your mind to the Lord, HE is the One Who does the work to keep you in perfect peace.

How can He give you that perfect peace?

Peace comes when you glue, or “fix,” your mind on the Lord. When you do that, you will suddenly see Him so BIG in your vision that His nature will obscure everything else you could look at. You will see:

• how powerful He is,
• how loving He is,
• how kind He is,
• how gracious and good He is,
• how holy He is,
• how faithful He is,
• and so much more!

When you fix your mind on Him, You will see Him so closely that He will take up your entire horizon. And seeing Him like that, meditating on Him like that, and noticing Him like that will help you trust Him.

His majesty and goodness will overwhelm you, and will block out your earthly worries by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Key 3:

Trusting someone—anyone—is usually only something you notice yourself doing when a problem, potential pitfall, or conflict arises.

For example, if you’re planning to go skydiving, you would be silly to not check that your parachute is in good working order first. You first recognize that there’s a problem in front of you, and then you decide what the solution is, and decide to trust it.

With the skydiving example, the process of trust would go something like this:

• Problem: You’re going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. You don’t have wings, and you will free-fall.
• Solution: Equip yourself with a parachute.
• Decision: You decide to TRUST the parachute because you judge it sufficient insurance against the problem.

With any challenge in life, you recognize the risk or pitfalls, and then you look at the solution and remember, or decide, that you trust it.

Well, you can do the same thing with God every single day.

This life contains lots of problems, challenges, risks, and potential pitfalls. However, if you will look at Jesus instead of at your problems, you will see every time that the problems are nothing compared to Him.

You know you have a problem, but you also remember (and choose to recognize) that Jesus is bigger than all of your problems. You remember, decide, and realize that you can rest assured that Jesus is trustworthy, right in the face of every problem you have, whether big or small.

But the question still remains: How do you fix your mind on God?

You have to develop the habit on purpose.

One day, a few years after I gave my life to Jesus as a young adult, I remember thinking that I wanted to purposely think about (“meditate on”) the presence of Jesus all day long.

I had a regular job in the corporate world at that time, so this meant that I wanted to think about Jesus all day as I attended meetings, answered the phone, talked with clients, did math, handled legal documents, made payments, and all the other things I did in that job.

I had never tried this before, so it was a novel concept for me. However, I remember distinctly that I made it my goal to think about the Lord all day as I did my job. And you know what? It worked. I asked the Father to help me, and He did. I walked through my day purposely making myself think about Jesus all day long.

And I began to feel His nearness and love–His manifest presence–more than I had ever felt it before.

In one day.

That day changed my life, and it’s why I’m in this ministry today: the ministry of helping you also learn to walk in His manifest presence always.

This is what it looks like to stay, or fix, your mind on Jesus.

It means walking through your day, taking your shower, getting dressed, dealing with the kids, being a spouse, being a parent, washing the dishes, fixing the car, mowing the grass, going to work, getting the groceries, and all of that while constantly thinking about Him.

The easiest way to do so is to pray about every detail as you experience that detail, and you can read more about that here if you like.

Are you ready to pray to stay your mind on Jesus?

Let’s read our key Scripture one more time:

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).

And let’s pray as follows:

• Tell the Father that you come before Him in Jesus’ name.
• Thank Him for loving you so much and for hearing your prayers.
• Praise Him for His might, His power, His grandeur, His goodness, and His faithfulness to you. (This will help you look at Him bigger!)
• Tell the Father that your desire is to keep your mind stayed on Him at all times.
• Ask Him to help you, and to remind you each moment of every day that you can share that moment with Him in prayer.
• Ask Him to help you learn to pray without ceasing, even praying over seemingly insignificant moments or tasks throughout your day.
• Ask Him to help you purposefully fix your thoughts and stay your mind on Him by His grace. Confess to Him that His grace is sufficient for you, and that His strength is made perfect in your weakness.
• Ask Him to help you trust Him in all things, and to remember that He is trustworthy.
• Pray that, as you make the effort to stay your mind on Him throughout your day, that He will give you perfect peace.
• Ask Him to not only give you perfect peace, but to actually keep you in perfect peace: that peace would be your ongoing condition, as the benefit and byproduct of staying your mind on Him throughout your day.
• Thank Him in advance for doing all these things for you, and give Him all the praise!

Beloved, learning to stay your mind on Jesus throughout your day is one way we learn to abide in Jesus and in His love.

As He taught us in John chapter 15:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples” (John 15:1-8 NKJV).

And then in John 15:9:

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9 NKJV).

When you stay your mind on Jesus, you are abiding in Him. And THAT, my beloved friend, is the place where you encounter fullness of joy:

“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).

So, don’t wait! Decide TODAY that you will think about Him all day, and fix your mind on Jesus! You will receive perfect peace from the Father, and you’ll notice His manifest presence with you more strongly than ever before!

Do you desire the perfect peace that comes with staying your mind on Jesus? Did you pray to that effect today? If so, leave a comment below!