When Peter said, "Gird up the loins of your mind," he was actually saying that a right mental attitude is important. A right mental attitude is of the utmost importance when you are experiencing trouble.
Paul also used the term loins in his letter the Ephesians. He said, "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph. 6:13-14).
Paul was talking about putting on the whole armor of God that we might stand against the wiles of the devil. The loins is that part of the body that contains strength and power. When Peter used that physical part of the body as a figure of speech, he was implying a region of strength and power in the mind.
Willpower Alone Is Not Enough
Peter and Paul are implying that there is a region of strength and creative power in the mind. The power that is released from the mind is called "willpower." Willpower is one of the things - along with faith in God's Word - that makes the Gospel attractive.
The problem is that many Christians have no willpower, and when trouble comes to them, they fall aside. Please understand: willpower alone is not enough. Faith must be mixed with willpower. A right mental attitude is created faith in God's Word.
Meditate The Word
Christians spend a lot of time reading their Bibles, but many of them have a negative mental attitude about everything. The reason that their mental attitude is not right is because they are only reading the Bible, and they are not meditating upon the Word. The Bible stresses the importance of meditation in God's Word.
Meditation in the Word is literally "digesting God's Word in your mind." And as you digest the Word, it will drop down into your heart (spirit) and lodge there. What you do with your mind is important. Let's not leave the mind out. It plays a very important part in victorious Christian living.
The "loins" of the mind is the region of strength and creative power. The word gird implies "Get ready to do something that may be difficult or demand strength." When Peter said "Gird up the loins of your mind," he was saying that when you are experiencing a problem, that is the moment you need to gird up the loins of your mind. You are not only to draw from the faith in your heart, but you must also begin to develop a right mental attitude about the problem.
It is of utmost importance that you stand on the authority of God's Word, and that you absolutely demand that all negativism depart from your mind when you approach a trial or an adverse circumstance. If you approach the trial with a wrong mental attitude, it is likely that you will not release any faith. You will not expect to win. You will come out defeated and discouraged.
When you gird up the loins of your mind, you are preparing yourself mentally for anything that may come against you. The faith in your heart will then put you over and bring victory. You will think positively about the situation you are about to encounter. Your thinking will be derived from what you have found in God's Word. You are well equipped, both mentally and spiritually, for anything and everything.
Your Heart And Mind Must Be In Agreement
Let's suppose that you are approaching a financial crisis, and you have all the symptoms of lack. You can have symptoms of lack just as you can have symptoms of a cold.
When the symptom of lack comes to you if you have been meditating in the Word of God, the first thing that will come up out of your heart will be faith. If your mind is renewed, and you have a right mental attitude, you will automatically think: "What does the Word say about this?" Did you notice that your mind and your heart were in agreement?
Your mind is a computer, and it will begin to select the Scriptures that you have stored up concerning prosperity. You then will begin to confess those Scriptures and your heart will supply the faith to cause them to come to pass. The result will be victory!
Instead of your heart saying, "My God meets all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," and your head screaming, "But this is too big," you will approach that financial problem with a right mental attitude. Your mind and your heart will be in agreement. You will be standing on the authority of God's Word. Your faith and a right mental attitude will work together to overcome the situation.
A crisis is nothing but an instrument of Satan to try your faith. Right at that moment when you are entering into that situation, you need to gird up the loins of your mind. You are not only drawing from faith in your heart, but you must be strong-willed.
In the midst of a trial you need to gird up loins of your mind; and get ready to do something difficult. Reach into that region of strength that will cause your faith to become unwavering.
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Ministries
Dr. Jerry Savelle was an average, blue-collar man who was struggling and needed God's help. While he considered himself a "nobody," when he became a believer God told him not to worry about it because He was a master at making champions out of nobodies. God has since taken Dr. Savelle from being a constant quitter to a man who knows how to stand on the Word of God until victory is experienced. Because of the life-changing combination of God's faithfulness and Dr. Savelle's "no quit" attitude, his life is totally different than it was thirty-eight years ago.
