Prepare Your Mind
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:13
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Colossians 3:2
INSIGHT
Letting our minds wander causes us to go down trails of thoughts we never intended to tread on. When our thoughts run free, we make ourselves vulnerable. Proverbs 25:28 says that a person without self-control is as defenseless as a city with broken-down walls. Each of us must have a way of dealing with the world when it doesn't make sense.
Resting, renewing our minds, and capturing thoughts are critical to our spiritual formation. Captive thoughts prepare one to see correctly. When we pause and meditate on His Word, we become well attuned to hear those quiet voices inside us that are whispers from God.
Scripture spends a great deal of energy focusing on the importance of conquering our mind: setting it (Colossians 3:2), renewing it (Romans 12:2), submitting it (Psalm 26:2), and preparing it (1 Peter 1:13).
Our thoughts and what controls our minds determine how we experience God. Yet, the importance of capturing our thoughts and renewing our mind is seldom stressed in Christian circles and even more rarely practiced as a spiritual discipline.
In turn, this causes us to struggle to experience an intimate relationship with Christ and trust in Him when our world gets thrown off-kilter. We don't realize there is a battle going on for our hearts and mind.
The struggle over our minds is a struggle over who we are. Beginning to live in the knowledge that we are His beloved will help us in any struggles that we might face. In this war we find ourselves in, we must replace all those lies we focus on with the reality of who we are in Christ.
What controls our minds determines our actions. We become what we set our minds upon. The first step in renewing our minds is remembering who we are in Christ. We must align our perspective with what it is true, solid, good, and right. Only then will we begin to realize that God is ultimately in control of every situation we face.
REFLECTION
How does your mind control your actions?
PRAYER
God, often my mind is all over the place. Help me renew and prepare my mind for those moments when I'm tempted to worry or overact. May I see the situation I am facing through a different lens, one that is guided by Your love for me. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.
