Ready for Anything

“ Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:13)

Prepare your minds for action! I love that! Thems sounds like fightin' words! And you know what? They are. Check out how the Amplified Bible words it:

So brace up your minds; be sober (circumspect, morally alert); set your hope wholly and unchangeably on the grace (divine favor) that is coming to you when Jesus Christ (the Messiah) is revealed.

Brace up - you only do that when a storm is coming. The mental storms my brain goes through are astonishing at times. But guess what? It's all in my head. The enemy sure does know how to get us, doesn't he? Which is why this verse is so great. Remember a few posts back, when I was frustrated about all the directives God gives us without the step-by-step instructions for successful implementation? This verse comes directions to follow! Woo-hoo!

We know we are in the midst of a war. The war is over our hearts. Even as Christians, (I dare say especially as Christians) we are under attack constantly. Satan uses whatever he can to keep us from living victoriously. In my case, one of his favorite instruments is my own mind. But God gives me directions right here on how to deal with that - set my hope wholly and unchangeably on the divine favor of Jesus. By doing so, I will be "morally alert." And when I am morally alert I will recognize evil for what it is and be able to rebuke it in the name of Jesus.

But, for the sake of sticking to my favorite question, "How do I set my hope wholly and unchangeably...?" This morning I checked out my verse-of-the-day briefly before sprinting into the day, knowing I would have time later (now) to write. About an hour later I found myself trying to remember what the verse was. I couldn't. I was then struck with my own ability to utterly dismiss anything that isn't immediately involved in my life. Woah. Outa sight outa mind, as it's said. I think the only way I can set my anything (hope, mind, heart, etc) wholly and unchangeably is to mull it over and over and over. The way I fret over parenting for example. Or my infertility. The problem is, my parenting and infertility, and anything else that isn't God doesn't provide one ounce of hope and certainly leaves me totally exposed to the arrows of the enemy. I think we are told to hand over the cares of this world to the Lord so we can be mentally and emotionally freed up to dwell on the things of Him and be ready for action. We set our hope by choosing not to set it on the things of this world. By turning those over to God. Instead, we set our hope and the Truths we know from His word (which we only know by reading it).

That action may not always be a battle.. even though that is how I initially read it. That action may be the very thing I'm always longing for - an "assignment" from God. That is so flipping exciting! I don't want to miss that because I am too mentally busy with junk. I will instead, look to meditate on the things of God as much as possible so that my hope is set on Him.

Lord, I want to be prepared for whatever is coming. Whether it be an attack or an assignment... Bring it on. My hope is in you, Lord. I'm ready.