Greetings!
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” (Isaiah 26:3).
A steadfast heart experiences uninterrupted peace. Perfect peace. Its undercurrent of peace is not interrupted when bad news comes, nor does it live with the fear that bad news will come. The steadfast heart has been set free from fear because it knows the truth. A person whose heart is steadfast knows that God is always in control; that no matter what form circumstances take, He is working everything out for His own ends. The person whose heart is steadfast trusts “him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
An active trust in the Lord is the cornerstone of a steadfast heart. It is the Lord and His perfect faithfulness, His trustworthiness, that imparts steadfastness to a heart. The trust of which the Scripture speaks is not an emotion or a doctrine, but a way of living in which every thought, every word and every act is an expression of total dependence upon the Father.
The righteous live by faith. Faith is not something that you get out and dust off when things are bad; faith is not a currency you trade in for favors from God. For your spiritual life, faith is the air in your lungs, the blood in your veins; it is the active ingredient in your spiritual composition.
The model of a steadfast heart is Jesus. The model of living by faith is Jesus. The model of a mind kept in perfect peace is Jesus. What is the secret He modeled for us? To what did He attribute His steadfastness? “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself, he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and
shows him all he does” (John 5:19–20).
“I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me” (John 8:28). “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work” (John 14:10).
Jesus explained the reason for His power and His peace. In everything He said and everything He did Jesus was the vehicle for the activity of the Father who lived in Him. His heart was undivided. He willed one thing. He lived for no other reason but to do God’s will.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “Yes, but that was Jesus. I’m not Jesus.” It’s true that you and I are not Jesus. But the Scripture shows us that we are to be related to Jesus in the same way that Jesus was related to the Father; we are to interact with Jesus in the same way that Jesus interacted with the Father. Let me paraphrase what Jesus said in John 15:9–10. “I love you the very same way the Father loves Me. Because the Father loves Me, He shows Me everything He’s doing (John 5:20); because I love you, I’ll show you everything I’m doing (John 15:15; 14:21). You are to obey Me the same way that I obey the Father. I obey the Father by allowing Him to do His work through Me, by being fully surrendered to the power of His Life flowing through Me (John 14:10–11). If you do obey Me the same way I obey the Father, you’ll have the same kind of relationship with Me that I have with the Father — the Father is in Me and I am in the Father (John 14:10; 17:21); in the same way, I am in you (John 17:23; Galatians 2:20) and you are in Me (Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:3). Do you see how I live securely in My Father’s love? Do you see how My heart is steadfast, trusting in Him? You will live the same way, trusting in Me.”
Jesus’ Relationship to the Father Your Relationship to Jesus “The Son can do nothing by himself” (John 5:19). ..
“Apart from me, you can do nothing”
(John 15:5)
“The Father . . . shows him all he does”
(John 14:21)
“I will show myself to him” (John 5:20).
“Everything that I learned from my
Father, I have made known to you’ (John
15:15).
“I am in the Father and the Father is in
me” (John 14:10). “If a man remains in me
and I in him” (John 15:5).
“The Son will bring glory to the Father”
(John 14:13).
“Glory has come to me through them”
(John 17:10).
“Just as the Father knows me and I know
the Father” (John 10:15).
“I know my sheep and my sheep know
me” (John 10:14).
Author Feedback: Click Here (Include the name of the article)
Jennifer Kennedy Dean 2019© | Legacy Writings
