When I was growing up, and throughout my adolescent years, I suffered from depression. After I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ in my mid-twenties, I was prayed for by a man of God who moved in the prophetic. The word that came to me was that I could soar in the heavens, but when I was home alone, my mind would eventually go into the pits of despair. And this was so true! He went onto say that I needed to lift the lid up off my mind and see what I was thinking on.

Whoa! That was a simple but huge revelation for me! What was I thinking about? Was I thinking about and harboring old wounds, regrets, mistakes, disappointments and lack of progress? Or was I thinking on things that were true, honorable, right, pure and lovely? (See Philippians 4:18.)

So, from that day on, I knew I needed to guard my thinking. I had a huge part in overcoming my stinking thinking in order to stay out of the ditch of depression. What a blessing to receive that timely word of counsel and correction! I am thankful that the Lord knows us, and that He sees everything and has the answer. We just need to be open to receive His wisdom and to respond in obedience to His voice and His directions.

Not only do we need to guard our thinking, but we need to fill our minds with the word of God so there isn’t any place for the negativity to occupy space. How can we do this? Isaiah 26:3 (Amplified Bible) says: You will keep in perfect and constant peace the one whose mind is steadfast (that is, committed and focused on You- in both inclination and character), because he trusts and take refuge in You (with hope and confident expectation).

So, in conclusion and to summarize, the elements of perfect peace are:

1. Focus our full attention on God
2. Consistently reflect on His character, promises and presence, and
3. Put our full complete trust in Him.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father,

Please enable us to keep our hearts and minds steadfast on You. Holy Spirit, we ask You to realign our minds when they have drifted off and have become clouded with lies and darkness. Help us to apply Your living powerful Word to our minds so we have peace, joy and victory. If we stumble and fall short in this endeavor, let Your grace and light illuminate us once again so we can live in the abundance of Your love.

Divine Exercises and Journal Prompts

1. Write down 3 specific burdens that you need to entrust to Jesus and receive His perfect peace
2. Write out 3 prayers to pray that will help you to release those burdens onto Jesus.
3. Meditate on 3 Scriptures that help you to apply Philippians 4:18 so you can cast down the enemy's lies and to embrace thoughts that are honorable, pure and lovely.

Key Scriptures

Here are a few key Scriptures to help you guard your mind:

• Romans 12:2
• Colossians 3:2
• Isaiah 26:3
• Proverbs 4:23
• Ephesians 6:17
• 1 Corinthians 2:16
• 1 Peter 1:13
• Psalm 19:14
• 2 Corinthians 10:5
• Proverbs 23:7