1 Peter 1: 13-16

'Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy.'
(1 Peter 1: 13-16)

First of all may I encourage you in what you are doing right now. You are filling your mind with the word of God. You are doing exactly what Jesus, encourages us to do. In the reading from 1 Peter we are being encouraged to prepare our minds for action. Much like boy scouts are encouraged to be prepared.

God is encouraging us through His word, to set our minds on Him, and what better way to do it than by reading His word. To eat the word, to digest it and live it is to be prepared.

By reading this passage I hope that as you walk through the next 24 hours (or more) that you will not only set your mind on Christ, therefore being ready and equipped for life, but also be reminded of the hope we have in Him. I pray that like me, in the next hours you will be challenge by Gods call on us to be holy as He is.

What a call! With Jesus at the centre we are effectively prepared for anything, there is nothing too big for God to handle in our lives. We worship a great BIG God. With Jesus at the centre, our lives will be different, our lives should blow away worldly expectations and open peoples eyes to the truth of Jesus and His perfect calling. We are people with hope.

It is so easy isn't it; to put life before the word, when the reality is. life comes from the word!

I remember as a Christian saying to my youth leader that I didn't have time for a daily bible study, and his reply was, you can't afford not too. I have come to know this as truth. Without God at my centre, without my mind and spirit prepared, in times when I put things before God my coping levels fall, and I fall. Yet with God at the front of my mind, set on Christ, and with His life changing word in my mind suddenly I develop belief to overcome.

Not because I am great, but because greater is He that is living in me than He that is in the world.

So today, eat the word, set your mind on Christ, see your life renewed and be an over comer. Write this scripture and more on post it notes and stick them on your cupboards, in your car, on your computer, above your toilet; be prepared and see the burdens lift, the hope renewed and life changed. Do it today, set your mind on Christ, and be holy as he is holy. Remember holiness will come from the Spirit out flowing in your life.