SPIRITUAL MENTAL PREPARATION (PART 4)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:15-16 NLT

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Get yourself ready for the action the Lord wants you to take and do so with an emphasis on self control.

Keep your mind and heart fixed on the good news of salvation that comes through belief in Jesus and the living hope it provides.

Ensure that you prepare your mind and heart so to live as one who is a child of the God Most High, one who has divorced themselves from who they were before Christ and embraced living as He lived in obedience to their Heavenly Father.

This is what the Word of our Lord has called us to in the matter of spiritual mental preparation to date in this series. Today, we add yet another element, one grounded in adopting a holy lifestyle. Look at these verses from the first chapter of 1 Peter:

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” Vv. 15-16 NLT

Absolutes are critical for us to tune into as we study the Bible and here we find one in regard to the call for holiness in the way we live. For as we read, the Lord is demanding that we “must be holy in everything” we do. The command, “Must be”, tells us that there’s no option here. We have to be what He is calling us to be and that is to be holy just as He is holy. Further, note that we are to “be holy” in “everything” we do, and everything means everything. There’s no exclusion clause here for certain actions, spoken words, or contrived thoughts. No matter what we do, we are to do so in the spirit of holiness.

What does it mean to exercise holiness?

It means that we have to be intentional in setting ourselves apart from the world and its ways, conscientiously rejecting any inroads that sin might try to make while fully embracing the Lord’s way and will, a way and will that will always lead us to the righteousness He desires.

The key here is to allow the Lord to take over our minds and hearts so that He is controlling all that we do. It requires that we surrender our own desires and trade them in for His which will always be superior and perfectly better. In other words, the spiritual mental preparation here in reference to holiness is anchored in the Lord as we yield all our self control over to Him, allowing Him to dictate our thoughts, words, and behavior through the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

In order to be holy as the Lord is holy, we have to allow Him to lead us to a holiness that is unachievable for us when left to our own devices. When we do, we will find a blessed life beyond our imagination, a life that will truly approach the one Jesus lived, the kind of life we are to live as Christians.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.