
Perfect Shalom
Weekly Nehemiah Devotional
Are you currently walking in peace?
Are you aware of God’s perfect peace?
Do you know how to access it?
You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. – Isaiah 26:3-4 (NKJV) |
Perfect Shalom
In Isaiah 26:3-4, the prophet Isaiah has revealed an invaluable, eternal key for all of us. If your mind can remain “stayed” (or fixed) upon God, then He will keep you in perfect peace. The following verse goes on to explain “stayed” (which means “established, rested in, and set upon” in the original Hebrew) – not as something that is done for a moment or two, but that having as something, combined with trust, that is to be done “forever”.
Why? Because YAHWEH is our everlasting strength!
The keywords used within these verses are incredibly powerful in the original Hebrew language.
The word translated “peace” is the wonderful word “Shalom” ( שָׁלוֹם).
In a personal context, “Shalom” encompasses all of the following: completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, and prosperity.
The “soundness” aspect of “Shalom” relates to physical and mental well-being.
The “safety” aspect implies a state of being safe, secure, and free from harm.
“Shalom” also denotes positive relationships and harmonious interactions – with God, and with others.
The word translated as “forever” is difficult to comprehend with our finite human minds: perpetuity, everlasting, ancient (of past time), eternal (of future time), of continuous existence, and forever (of God’s existence).
Some render “forever” as trusting God into “the futures of the future.”
And – to further reinforce the eternal nature of God that He wants us to rest in and set our minds upon – “everlasting strength” can (and should) be rendered “the Rock of all eons (ages of ages).”
The message? If we can truly learn to “stay” (establish, rest, and set) our minds upon the infinite Rock and Creator of all, we will have a glimpse into, and provision from, the realms of eternity that are beyond human comprehension. And we will unlock the potential to become perfectly well in our minds and bodies; to become complete, sound, safe, prosperous, and free from harm; and to enjoy harmonious relationships, into “the futures of the future.”
How immense, awesome, and limitless is our God!
Let’s pray that we will learn to keep our minds established, rested in, and set upon him forever,
so that the gift of perfect Shalom, and the limitless resources that this gift unlocks, may be ours.
My prayer for you today is that God will give you the grace to walk in perfect peace as you set your mind on Him in your business.
This devotional is written by Pastor Steve Harris, the founder of Global Influencers, an organization that trains and equips leaders to establish anointed communities that transform nations by restoring Kingdom culture from grassroots to government in the villages, cities, regions, and nations of the world. He is also the Content Development Assistant in the Nehemiah Entrepreneurship Community.
Responses