"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

Here is the promise made to us by Scripture.  That no matter what the obstacle, trial, conflict or suffering, we can experience the perfect peace of God which will supply us with all that we need to persevere.  Philippians 4:8 further helps to explain what we are to do in taking our thoughts captive, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." In short, if we occupy our minds on the beauty of the Gospel and the character of God, then we will experience perfect peace.  Simple enough, right? So if that's all there is to battling unbelief and worry, then why are we not able to successfully find this peace in our day to day existence?  Why do I wake up worrying about relationships in my life, my work, my bank account, my family?  Why do I struggle with critical thoughts? Why do I constantly find myself in a state of unbelief regarding God's character and his care over me?

I believe the struggle regarding our thoughts continues because we have done a poor job of practically applying these two principles in our daily lives. We don't experience peace because we don't practically look to make permanent changes in our hearts so that our thoughts will become steadfast.  We simply try and will ourselves to think only lovely things and to focus on the Lord.  In the counseling world, we call this approach "white knuckling it" meaning that we ball our hands up in a tight fist and say "I can do it! I can do it." The problem with white knuckling it is that you can only clench your fists for so long.  Eventually you will tire out.  The same goes with taking our thoughts captive.  

Here's an exercise to prove my point.  I want you to do exactly as I say.  Ready?  Don't look at the light bulb in your room.  Don't look at it. If it's a lamp, don't you dare cast your eyes that way.  Don't look at the light fixture. Don't look at the candle.  Whatever your light source is, don't look at it.

Okay, if you are anything like me, you found yourself suddenly struggling with the desire to look at that darn light bulb!  What was previously not even an idea in your head has now become the one thing you must do.  So go ahead...look at the light.  

The point is that we are setting ourselves up for failure whenever we command ourselves to only think good things.  When we focus on our behaviors and not our hearts, we then experience exactly what the Apostle Paul expresses, " For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."  

When we simply tell ourselves that we are not going to think bad thoughts, we are setting ourselves up for failure in the same way that I set you up for failure when I told you not to look at that light bulb. (Did you just look at it again?) The trick is not to deny our negative thoughts.  In the same way that we cannot easily dismiss our desire to look at the light bulb, we also cannot turn a blind eye to our negative thoughts.  We can't overlook the elephant in the room.  And let's be real, we know it's there and so does God.  To simply dismiss the sinful thought or the heart driving it is to refuse to confess our sin to our Savior.  Avoiding the problem doesn't make it go away. We must get to the root of these thoughts to make permanent heart change.  So how do we do this? We involve God. We seek to think pleasing thoughts and when we fail, we stop and confess and ask God to help us to grow in this endeavor for holiness.  True sanctification is the combination of the work of the Holy Spirit and our obedience.  Sanctification involves growing in the love and knowledge of our Lord through obeying His commands and in repenting from our sins.  We can model these very things in learning to take our thoughts captive.  Below are what I hope will be helpful points in helping you to practically do this.  

***Please note that I have compiled these notes using Charles Spurgeon's sermon "The Song of the City, and the Pearl of Peace" on Isaiah 26:3 in combination with my own thoughts from Hebrews 3 and 1 Peter 5:6-10 on how to put these concepts to work.  

Our hearts: Hebrews 3

1. Are led astray when we don't consider the ways of the Lord (and specifically his being in the details of our life) Hebrews 3:10

2. When we don't recognize God's hand at work in our lives, our hearts enter into unbelief and we tend to run to our old ways of doing things or avoiding things.

3. Our hearts harden when we refuse to believe God's promises

We enter peace: Hebrews 3 and 1Peter 5:6-10

1. When we choose to meditate on God's promises and his character.

2. When we rest on Christ's promises.

3. When we commune with God 

4. When are hearts allow God to give us the necessary discernment and will to believe him even when we are in the "wilderness."

5. When we come to a place of total resignation to God's will, knowing that his will for us is perfect, loving and good. 1 Peter 5:6

God provides peace: Spurgeon on Isaiah 26:3

1. Through provision of community within the church and physical resources 

2. By working in our mind to renew it and to give it discernment

3. Through providence of circumstances

Taking our thoughts captive: Spurgeon on Isaiah 26:3

1. Every thought must be connected to God. This is not denial of certain thoughts.  It is taking even unbiblical thoughts and contradicting them by tying them to God and his promises. (For example: "Lord, I confess that I am tempted to belittle my co-worker in order to exalt myself. Thank you, Lord, that you do not treat me in this way.  Help me to consider my co-worker better than myself and to seek ways to love and care for her.)

2. We do not dwell on the "What If" thoughts because we are not to dwell on any thought that makes our Lord appear unkind or faithless.--Spurgeon

3. "We are to have no confidence in our circumstances or even in other people.  God must be our supreme confidence and hope."--Spurgeon

4. "We do not sigh for tomorrow.  We stay where we are anchored by Him."--Spurgeon

5. We cast all of our anxieties on Him because he cares for us. 1 Peter 5:6-10.

"When we rest in God there is no sinful hurrying up."--Spurgeon

As we strive to please the Lord in our thought life, we must saturate ourselves with the Gospel so that we will not become exasperated by our sin. The work of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Christ.  Your sin should serve as a reminder that yes, you still need your precious Savior even today.  We will never be able to do anything apart from Him.  Let your struggles give you a greater passion to lean on Christ for victory over them.  And in the meantime, you will experience the growth of peace in your heart as you strive to be steadfast in your pursuit of the Lord.  

Michelle Horton lives in Northwest Washington, DC. She is a member of Restoration Church where she currently serves part-time on staff as a biblical counselor. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Communication Studies at Clemson University and her Master of Divinity in Biblical Counseling from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Prior to becoming a biblical counselor, Michelle pursued a career in television news for six years. It was when Michelle personally experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ and his redemption in her own life that she first became interested in biblical counseling. She decided to study biblical counseling as a means of sharing Jesus Christ and the transforming power that only comes from walking with Him. Michelle enjoys counseling a wide variety of issues with a special interest in counseling women who struggle with addictions, eating disorders and depression. In her spare time, she enjoys running, water skiing, watching Clemson football and enjoying all the sites and scenery DC has to offer.  

Katie Kasey shares part 2 of her blog from yesterday.  To read the previous blog post click here.

Have you ever felt like -What is God doing? How can this be best? This is not what I wanted! God, I believe you are sovereign and you orchestrate all things, but I don’t like this! 

This summer has been a huge lesson for me in serving God on his terms and in his ways and praising him even when I don’t particularly like the circumstances that he has ordained. 

Most recently, my sister and best friend suffered the disappointment of finding out her 1^st baby will have to be delivered by c-section because he is breech. She went through very painful procedure for the doctors to try to turn him, but after all that, she will still have to have a c-section. We know God’s plan has prevailed and His way is best. Though on the surface of these circumstances, we just don’t like it!  

When my sister told me that the procedure didn’t work, I sat solemn. Sulking. My whole spirit and mood changed. I didn’t feel inspired to write the cards I had planned to write. I thought how thankful I would have been and how much I would have told of God’s great work if… if he has done what I wanted him to do! Then I recognized that I must thank him in the midst of these very circumstances that he has given to my family. I ask myself -what can I thank God for in these circumstances? Then my wonderful sister and brother-in-law sent out a message saying, “To God be the glory for accomplishing his plan and not ours!”

It’s really about surrender. And it’s about perspective. Where do I stand before this Great, All-knowing God? Are my ideas of what is good really better than what He has ordained? By what do I measure goodness? 

Oh how terribly arrogant we are when we think we could have made things work out for the better! How narrow-minded to believe that the circumstances that we don’t like are anything less than God’s perfect and purifying plan for our lives!

Katie Kasey is a 2+2 (International Church Planting M-Div) student at Southeastern. God has given Katie the privilege of serving Him at North Henderson Baptist Church in Henderson, NC. She is excitedly preparing to serve God overseas with the IMB. Katie’s family is one of her greatest joys in life. She loves being a new aunt! She also loves using photography to encourage others and promote God’s glory among all people.

Sometimes we plan things and things go nothing like we planned! This summer has been case and point for that type of planning! 

I decided in April that I was going to move home for the summer and live with my parents so that I could serve at my home church and live life with the students there while they are out of school. I had been home for the summer a couple years back and mostly served my family and worked in our home, due to health issues with my mother. But this summer, I was going to take care of that ahead of time! I planned it all out, sat down with my parents, and asked them if I could live at home for the summer and their home be my base to serve out of. I made clear that I would not be at home as much as previous summers, and I would be able to help some, but that would not be my primary task for the summer. Can you see where this is going?! Looking back this is quite humorous! It must have been to my Heavenly Father who sees the whole timeline of our lives.

Within a few days of being home for the summer, I began to see that I was going to be serving my family more than I had originally anticipated. I was pretty okay with this at first.  That next week, I would have a whole week to myself to jump start my summer of ministry while my parents were away at the beach. Then one afternoon, my grandmother called and was headed to the hospital because she was really sick. Everything changed at that point, including my attitude! My plans had been thrown out the window! And without asking me!!  My first step of progress was to tell a friend, “I realize this is what God had planned for this week of my summer, but I DON’T LIKE IT!” 

Such honesty in the face of God’s Word quickly humbled me. I was aware of God’s loving discipline to his children for sinful attitudes of self-centeredness and complaining. God began to patiently teach me of his plans for me.  

Has my desire been to truly serve God or to tell God how I want to serve him?  To truly serve God is not writing out a description and restrictions on how I will serve him. 

My summer has not been what I’ve expected, but what great truth God has taught me about what serving God truly is! I have still been able to invest in the students’ lives like I had hoped, but that has been through real life-on-life discipleship. Those girls have seen my struggles and my failures! They have come over to a messy house with interruptions during our times together to care for the needs of my family. They have served with me. We have run errands and gone grocery shopping together. But honestly what better way to make disciples than truly living life together and seeing Christ has the center of it all! 

We are all in different phases of life! I am single but have a family with lots of needs due to prolonged sickness and changing circumstances. Many women have full-time jobs, are wives or moms, and have full, busy schedules that we try to control and plan. How much greater is our God than we are to plan our days! We expected to serve God in one way, but God had other plans. We can rejoice together in that God has a plan and a great purpose for everyday of our lives! Oh and what a joy that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways! 

Katie Kasey is a 2+2 (International Church Planting M-Div) student at Southeastern. God has given Katie the privilege of serving Him at North Henderson Baptist Church in Henderson, NC. She is excitedly preparing to serve God overseas with the IMB. Katie’s family is one of her greatest joys in life. She loves being a new aunt! She also loves using photography to encourage others and promote God’s glory among all people.

          We had been waiting just under four years for the moment when we finally stepped onto foreign soil, into the place we only knew from stories, books and others’ experiences.  Our first days in the Middle East were the typical honeymoon full of new smells, new sights, new tastes, and we loved every minute.  It was only after meeting with my mentor the first time that I began to realize this journey would be a whole new experience in my walk with God.  She told me hesitantly that every person or family she has known 20 years on the field, dealt with some sort of tragedy their first term.  I took this news but stashed it away, secretly hoping she would be wrong about us. 

            We started language; begin to set up house and adjust culturally.  Our first modular class started seven weeks after arrival and we reluctantly headed to Prague.  We traveled with minimal luggage fully expecting to travel, sight-see and return home in two weeks, until we received the call that our team was being evacuated and we were to meet them in a nearby country.  We all waited, thinking we would be home soon, but the weeks turned to months, months a year, until 16 months later we made the journey back home. 

            I faced many days of uncertainty, emotional lows and moments when thoughts I never imagined were possible ran through my head.   As I walked through the fog, what began to emerge was a theme of constant provision.  When that light dawned I soon realized, that this first term was not a reward for having finally “made it”, but I was in the cauldron, being tested, refined and honed.  I found that through each new circumstance, God began to show me things I needed to learn or things that were important, not so that I could simply survive the first term, but how to thrive and be ready and willing to hop back on the plane for a second term.  I have heard the sad statistics of so many young families leaving after just one or two terms and I wanted to know why.  Surely, the emotions I felt were not new and they too struggled with the highs and lows of culture adjustment, language, company quirks etc.  My mentor kept telling me that this race was a marathon not a sprint and as I repeated this mantra, the light started to dawn.  If I wanted to succeed not just survive, I needed to open my eyes and learn.  The learning didn’t finish when we left the safe green of SEBTS; it only began. These are some of the lessons I have been learning since entering this new mission field.

            1.  A Quiet Pain – An Offering to the One who Sees and Knows

                        I had endless opportunities to gripe, whine and complain.  The downward spiral into negativity happens quickly like a flash flood.  Learning to seek God above all else, regardless of my circumstances and letting go of my own expectations, resulted in growth, but there were many nights I simply poured my tears out to the One who sees.  I had to learn to trust that He was holding the plan and my pain in his hands.  While waiting to hear from Him, I read good books such as “Calm my Anxious Heart” by Linda Dillow,  “The Art of Divine Contentment” by Thomas Watson, “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom and “Unbroken” by Leslie Hildebrand.  I also prayed and fasted a lot and diligently read through the bible each day.  There were days it may have been a rote exercise, but I am confident that God’s word never returns void and even in the dryness, His words were healing balm to my soul.  By releasing my pain to God, He reminded me of His daily presence, provision and passion.  Even my most difficult moments became an offering lifted up. 

                        There was much temptation as well, to yell my pain from the rooftops, whether from frustration over yet another report due, irritating Internet connection or lack of real vanilla and chocolate chips.  What I discovered though was that the more I shared these burdens with others, the more I was weighing them down.  Everyone is struggling with their own weights and challenges, learning to be sensitive to their pain enabled me to love them more deeply and in return I turned to the only One who can really carry my burden and lighten my load.  My friends, my family, all have their own battles and mine may weigh them down beyond what they can bear.  Not only did I realize how to love them better but also I learned how to rely on God above all else.  Of course we need people in our lives and letting them in is a delicate balance that requires discernment and wisdom.  As you wisely share and others see you struggle, this will encourage them as well.  Learn to comfort others even if this seems unnatural.  You should be speaking truth into their lives not just complaining.  They may be struggling with the same things.  I had to learn in all circumstances how to be content, how to pour myself out to the King and how my pain could be used and shared appropriately.  “A contented heart is never out of heart. Contentment is a golden shield that beats back discouragements.”~ Thomas Watson

            2.  A Constant Adjustment – Living the Fluid Life

                        Sometimes your plans just don’t work out.  We all know this, but when it starts to happen to every plan, it leaves you wondering, scheming up new plans and even questioning if you remember correctly the first plan you had.  What I am coming to discover over time and through many mistakes is that God’s plan is the plan.  One step at a time, I am learning to become completely fluid in releasing myself to accept, revere and quit struggling against it.  His plan will be fulfilled whether you fight against it or be still and worship through it. 

                        After reading a book titled, “Crucial Conversations” my husband likes to constantly remind me to check the “story” I am telling myself.  Basically that means that in my flesh, I am a master at manipulating and changing plans.  When things turn sour, my first instinct is to tell myself a story of what, why and how we got to this place and then work diligently to readjust the plan.  But living the fluid life means riding the waves and thinking critically about how to do that, not insisting that there is a shark chasing you and then paddling like crazy for the shore.  If I want to see clearly, I have to use the logic God gave me and sometimes that means stuffing those emotions aside and taking a critical look at the story or lie I am believing in that moment.  There were many things in my plan that God changed or moved to direct me on to a new path but there were also emotions that came along with those movements.  Many times, my emotions blinded me to the truth until I removed the blinders and focused on the logic of where God was taking me.  He has always been more interested in my relationship with him, purging me to make me more like Christ than my desire to be comfortable. 

Here is a look at the other lessons I am learning that I will be sharing in future blog posts.
Hope to see you there!

            3.  A Tight Lip – Look, Listen and Feel, Leading by Example

            4.  A New View – Never Assume

            5.  A New Worship – The One on the Pedestal

            6.  A Better Plan – His!

            7.  A Tight Rope Life – How to do it all and survive

            8.  A Second Honeymoon – Living with your Spouse Cross-Culturally

            9.  A Surer Foundation – Rock vs Sand

            10.  A Living Hope – Filling your Jar

 Amy Lynn* has been married to her husband for 15 years.  He graduated last May from SEBTS with an MDIV in International Church Planting.  They are currently serving in the Middle East.  They have 4 children, ages 13, 11, 5 and 2.  Amy Lynn enjoys reading, writing and working out when she is not studying Arabic or visiting friends. 
*Name has been changed to ensure protection for our contributor.