Living with Hope: Prepare your Minds for Action

Prepare your Minds for Action

By: Patty Nicholas-Boyte

1 Peter 1:13-16 (NASB)
¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, ¹⁵ but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; ¹⁶ because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Through the years, I have been taught that whenever I see the word “therefore” I am to look back to see what it is “there for”. In this case, Peter, in his letter to the scattered, scared, persecuted church in Asia, reminded them of who they were in Christ, which is, chosen by God. In addition, he told them where they were to look for their hope, which is salvation in Jesus Christ, freely given by His grace and protected by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter begins to lay out the game plan for living with hope. This week we look at the first step to preparing our minds for action. In the King James Version, This reads, Gird up the loins of your mind. Which gives us a vivid picture of grabbing the long robes, customary in the first century, and tucking them into a belt so a person could run unimpeded and typically refers to preparing for a battle. By girding the loins, we prepare ourselves for action.

How do we prepare our minds for action?

Peter gives us the answers.

1.  Keep sober in spirit. Being sober can mean to abstain from something, but it can also mean to discrete, sober and watch.
2. Set our hope complete on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus. In the NLT it reads – when Jesus is revealed. In other words, look forward in expectant hope to all that Jesus promised and fast to those promises. Where are we placing our trust? In the things of today, or eternity?
3. As obedient children do not be conformed to the former lusts. All that tripped us up before we were saved, does not have the same power over us . . . if we are obedient to Jesus and our calling.
4. Be like the holy one who called you. Be holy yourselves in all your behavior. It is written: you shall be holy for I am holy. When we strive to be more like Jesus, when we ask Him to love like He did, to see others through His eyes, and to live above reproach, we can, day, by day, walk more and more like Jesus. Holy as He is Holy.

Romans 12: 1-2 (NASB)
¹Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

What can we learn from 1^st Peter?

· Even when we cannot see were something is going, or how it will turn out, place our hope in Jesus and in His promises as our guide for the next steps in life.

· To be sober in spirit, does not have to be a hard, white knuckle experience, rather, to fix our eyes on Jesus. Turn to His beauty and turn our back on the ugly that we used to pursue. In other words, seeing through a different perspective

· When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can be more like Him. We have Jesus as our example, but more than that, we have the Holy Spirit living inside making all things possible. He is Holy; therefore, we can be Holy.

Matthew 19:25-26 (NASB)
²⁵ When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁶ And looking at them, Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

What questions can we ask ourselves that can affect change?

1. What and where am I fixing my attention?
2. In what way am I not being sober in my spirit?
3. What do I think is impossible and have I given up hope in God of the impossible?
4. Am I relying on the Holy Spirit to make me more like Jesus, or am I trying live Holy in my own strength?
5. What can I do to gird the loins of my mind for the actions God is calling me to today?