Peace of Mind
📖 Isaiah 26:3 (KJV)
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
When we talk about mental wellbeing, it’s really about one thing: inner peace.
But that peace is getting harder to find.
🧠 According to the 2021 General Social Survey, mental wellbeing in New Zealand has declined since 2018. Stats NZ confirms the heartbreaking reality:
The suicide rate in 2013 was 11 deaths per 100,000 people.
Māori experience higher suicide rates than any other ethnic group.
Youth (15–24 years) carry the heaviest burden among age groups.
In the construction industry, it’s estimated that 1 person a week dies by suicide — 52 lives every year.
💬 I recently spoke with a friend working in mental health support on construction sites. He confirmed what the stats say: it’s not just a crisis it’s growing. And unless something changes, it will only get worse.
‼️ But why is this happening?
I believe it’s because mental wellbeing is connected to morality.
The mind and body are one, and when we drift from God's truth, our peace suffers.
📖 Romans 12:2 (KJV)
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
A renewed mind comes from God’s Word not the world.
📖 Philippians 4:7 (KJV)
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Real peace protects both heart and mind but only through Christ.
📖 Proverbs 14:12 (KJV)
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
When we abandon God’s moral order, we may feel free but it leads to destruction.
📖 Isaiah 57:20-21 (KJV)
“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest... There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
A life apart from God cannot rest. There is “no peace” without Him.
📖 John 14:27 (KJV)
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”
Christ offers a peace the world cannot manufacture.
If you're struggling, or someone you know is, please don’t stay silent.
Reach out to someone, and especially to God, Look we are here if you need someone to talk to, just message us from www.missionarybaptists.com we will do our best to support you, at the same time we will give you the peace of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit!
I believe that immoralities affect our inner peace, this is a natural law that God has placed on his creation, just think about it, people who dabble with immoralities become sicker in the mind, this is how psychopaths and sociopaths are created….
🧠 Psychological & Neurological Truth
Research shows that prolonged exposure to immoral behavior (especially violence, addiction, or perversion) rewires the brain, dulls emotional responses, and can lead to psychopathy or sociopathy in extreme cases.
✅ Neurological Evidence:
Brain scans of psychopaths show reduced activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex — areas related to empathy, fear, remorse, and decision-making.
Repeated immoral behavior (especially cruelty or habitual lying) blunts the conscienceover time. This is consistent with the Bible's description of a "seared conscience."
📖 1 Timothy 4:2 (KJV)
“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.”
📌 In essence: you can damage your conscience to the point it no longer functions properly and the result is a person who feels little to no guilt, shame, or compassion.
🧪 Examples:
1. Serial Killers & Psychopaths
Most violent psychopaths started with small immoral behaviors that escalated. Many admit to ignoring guilt until it faded. Over time, their brain patterns shifted — they no longer felt empathy or remorse.
2. Addiction Studies
Pornography, drugs, and gambling addictions have all been shown to alter brain chemistry, increasing anxiety and depression while reducing satisfaction and empathy.
3. Sociopathy from Childhood Trauma + Rebellion
While not all sociopaths are immoral by nature, many developed the disorder through repeated rejection of moral restraint, often rooted in unresolved trauma. These choices reinforce patterns that lead to emotional numbness and moral collapse.
📚 Biblical Examples:
Saul’s jealousy (Hatred towards David)
📖 1 Samuel 16:14-15 (KJV) But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. 15 And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.
So we see here that an evil spirit can trouble you under certain circumstances like jealously or hatred. Its just like this book I read about a ex-mobster Issac Bradford or Bruno, from his book True Red, he had hatred and jealousy that made him do dumb things like beating up his wife regularly, it wasn’t until he confessed those issues to God and the people around him that he overcame those issues.
🔥 Another example was Cain and Abel, Cain got Jealous at his brother for doing right in God, and God even said to Cain that sin lays at the door if you don’t correct your understanding, but the will of jealously was to strong and he killed his brother.
📖 1 Peter 1:13-14 (KJV) Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
📖 Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
The importance here is girding the mind, and it’s by being sober and placing our focus on the blessed hope of Jesus to return, thinking of the new heaven and earth and how that would be, this is our hope. Now notice that it also goes on about our former lust, thats because the mental state is connected to our morality.
✅ Christianity helps
📖 John 14:23-27 (KJV) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Jesus makes the distinction between his peace and the worlds peace’s, his peace is better then what the world offers you because the world offers temporal methods that only go so far, like meditation and religion outside of Jesus, self understanding but not according to the bible (for our people in New Zealand it’s going back to our whakapapa or the roots of family and understanding our forefathers) these types of methods are only a journey but they all have an end and then what? Jesus has a better plan in mind for us and that’s the hope we look towards, a life in eternity, new bodies, this understanding gives us real satisfaction and completeness. So when you look at good churches your see that most people there are mentally stable, in the time of Moses you never heard of mentally ill people as often as the time of the Roman Empire when the Jews had rejected God! Jesus came and healed a lot of it.
📖 Romans 5:1-2 (KJV) Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
So by having faith in Jesus and being saved we have peace with God which means we have his grace, and we get to also rejoice in hope of the glory of God which is the resurrection of our bodies were we receive new bodies and be eternal beings with no sin or blemish, no pains and aches and because we have access to God through faith we have the power of prayer, we can ask for help to God almighty whenever.
📖 Philippians 4:4-7 (KJV) Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. 5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
✅ Conclusion
Our mentality is connected to our morality, the more the world gets darker the more we will see mental issues, and the best way to fix mental issues is to walk in the Spirit, this demands morality, and remember, even though we have the Holy Spirit inside us that doesn't mean we are exempt from the attacks of Satan, though the evil spirits can't indwell us they can influence us and others around us to guide us down different paths just like the king Saul when he became mentally unstable and troubled by an evil spirit, we need to grid our minds for Satan is an roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
