Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Pastor Chuck here with another weekday podcast, and we're in the second week of Advent. Yesterday, I gave you this overview of Advent as peace, and today I want to go a little bit further into that because there's this line from the book of Isaiah that just will not leave the room.
Peace comes to the person whose thoughts are fixed on God, whose mind is stayed settled and anchored. Peace doesn't drift in on a calm day. It actually starts in your head, in the inner conversation that never shuts up when you.
When you. And what you think about, what you replay, what you obsess over. That stuff is shaping you, y'. All. It's forming you. It's discipling you, no matter what it is.
So picture this with me. Your mind is like a screen. And all day long, something is streaming on it. Headlines, notifications, that tense text thread. I mean, the thing you said three days ago that you wish you couldn't, wish you could unsay. I mean, the future you can't control. All of it just keeps rolling over and over, and we ruminate. And Isaiah steps into that chaos, and he says, in essence, if you want real peace, you're going to have to choose what. What gets to stay on the screen.
What you stare at shapes. You sit in fear long enough, you become anxious. Sit in anger long enough, you become bitter. Sit in shame long enough, you start to believe you are what you've done. But fix your thoughts on the God who doesn't change. On mercy, that's new every morning. On love that doesn't flinch when you fail. And something starts to shift in your brain. Peace. Isn't you finally getting control of everything?
Peace. Is God finally getting your attention Now? Let's be honest here. The news cycle is not going to give us peace. It's not designed to. It's built to keep you stirred up, outraged, afraid.
Endless scrolling won't fix your soul either. It will numb you for a while, distract you for a moment, you. And then leave you more restless than when you started.
You were never meant to carry the emotional weight of the entire planet in the palm of your hand before breakfast. No wonder your brain feels tired. No wonder it feels fried.
So what if today you made one simple, quiet decision to fix your mind, to settle your brain, to choose on purpose what you stare at.
Maybe that looks like starting and ending your day not with a screen, but with a scripture, a simple prayer, a few deep breaths. Maybe it's pausing in the middle of the chaos and whispering, God, I turn my thoughts to you right Now I give you this meeting, this fear, this relationship, this diagnosis.
When you do that, when you keep bringing your mind back to God again and again, you're not failing. You're training.
You're learning a new reflex. You're saying, I will not let fear be my focus. I will not let anxiety have the loudest voice. I will fix my mind on the God who already has me.
So here's a practice for today. When you catch yourself spiraling, stop and name it, Lord, my mind is racing.
Take one slow breath in and one slow breath out. And then say out loud, if you can, God, I fix my thoughts on you. You are steady when I am not.
Do that a few times today in the car, at your desk, walking the dog. And watch how peace doesn't just show up once, but grows little by little as your attention keeps returning to the one who has never, ever moved.
Let your prayer be, Jesus, settle my mind today.
And when I stare at everything that's wrong, pull my eyes back to everything that's true about you. Teach me to fix my thoughts on your goodness, your faithfulness, your unchanging love.
Grow your peace in me as I keep coming back to you. Amen. Amen and Amen. Thanks for joining me today. We'll be back tomorrow to talk a little bit more about this advent peace. God bless you. Bye now.
