Dear Partners and Friends,
As I pray for you, I am stirred to seek God for His revelation knowledge to be applied to your understanding. I continually place a demand on the promise for the eyes of your understanding to be fully flooded with light. I want you to walk in the fullness of God’s blessing plan and a word-ruled mind is a requirement for that path!
Last month, I wrote to you about the word-governed mind and the importance of operating the weapons to guard our thought processes. This is vitally important! If we think wrong, we will believe wrong. If we believe wrong, we will behave wrong. The adversary knows this and uses wrong thoughts of fear, worry, hate, or pride to manipulate people. The weapons of our warfare are designed to take thoughts captive and cast down imaginations.
“Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
– I Peter 1:13
The first time I used this verse to teach in my church, I told the people, “Put a girdle on your mind.” One definition of the word “gird” means to encircle or bind with a belt or band. This gives us a picture of bringing our mind into a certain form or discipline. We don’t want our mind loosely thinking without supervision. If left unguarded, your mind can imagine tragedies and failures. You have to cinch up the direction of your thoughts so that your mind is not easily changed. For instance, Eve changed her mind by allowing the thoughts of the adversary to lead her into a wrong perception. If the Word had been governing her mind, she would have rejected the enemy’s words because they exalted themselves above the Words God had spoken.
“Gird” also means, “to surround, enclose, or hem in.” The fence around the playground is for the protection of the children. We can construct a fence around our thought life by determining certain areas off limits. We don’t play there! God’s Word sets the boundaries of my playground. For example, I have placed a “Do Not Enter!” sign over the path that leads to worry. I cannot leave my place of peace to play on the teeter-totter of fear and worry. When thoughts come to my mind inviting me to take that path, I use God’s Words to verbally resist the invitation.
Another definition of “gird” is “to prepare oneself for action”. Keep in mind that people in that day dressed differently than we do. Most people wore robes. In order to run, they had to pull up their robes and tuck them into their belt. The Wuest translation of I Peter 1:13 says, “Having put out of the way once and for all, everything that would impede the free action of your mind…” The God’s Word Translation says, “Your mind must be clear and ready for action.” Do you see that there could be things in your mind that are hindering your forward progress? We have to use the Word of God and allow the leading of the Holy Spirit to help us arrange our thoughts.
The final definition of the word “gird” is “to provide, equip, or invest; as with power or strength”. Picture a bridge undergirded with steel beams and concrete piers. Those beams and piers brace up the bridge. They provide stability and strength for the structure of the bridge. The Amplified translation of I Peter 1:13 says, “Brace up your minds…” Bracing up your mind is something you continually, habitually do. You have to consistently shine the revelation knowledge of God’s Word into your understanding until your mind operates in agreement with what the Lord has spoken.
The women who went to the tomb Jesus borrowed had not braced their minds. Their minds were controlled by circumstantial evidence. They were in the wrong location. An angel asked, “Why are you here looking for the living among the dead? Don’t you remember what was spoken by the Lord?” The women had a change of mind when the Words of the Master were rehearsed. He said He would rise again! They left the tombs. They quit crying! Everything looked brighter and better when their minds were processing what the Lord said! You can gird up your thoughts too! Just use your weapons, take thoughts captive, and equip your thoughts with God’s Word!