By Apostle Aje Pelser,

Preached at Harvester Reformational Church, Cape Town

Apostle Peter gives us patterns for heavenly citizens to live holy lives.

1 Peter 1:13-21

1Pe 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1Pe 1:14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;

1Pe 1:15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

1Pe 1:16 because it is written, “BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”

1Pe 1:17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;

1Pe 1:18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,

1Pe 1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

1Pe 1:20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you

1Pe 1:21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Pattern 1: Free your mind.

Pattern 2: Calm you spirit.

Pattern 3: Hope upon Grace.

Pattern 4: Become Obedient

Pattern 5: Express who you really are.

Pattern 1: Free your mind.

This is something can do with the help of the Holy Spirit: we can put out of the way, once for all, everything that would impede the free action of our minds. What derails your train of thought? What blockage prevents you from going further in relationships? What fear impedes you from thinking creatively and hinders your liberty?

Pray about it and identify the root of it and remove it completely from you thinking. This may become a process of taking thoughts captive and bringing them to the obedience of Christ consciously first, and then later it will become an automatic filter like the filter in your pool s collecting leaves and other debris. The downloading process of filtered thoughts is called prayer and if necessary, fasting a meal or two until you have the victory.

The MBC Subject renewal of the mind based on the concept of Romans 12:2 and the book of Elbert Willis “Conquest of the Mind” is a wonderful pattern of thought for your new creation reality.

Pattern 2: Calm you spirit.

It’s great to have friends and colleagues that are cool, calm and collected. In the trial we have just been through with my dad, my friends and spiritual family helped me to be cool, calm and collected in the face of great suffering and pressure. It’s amazing how the Body of Christ carried us through and the Holy Spirit led individuals to each do their share. I am so humbled. We feel so loved. Calm for me is not the absence of storms. It is Jesus sleeping in the boat until the time his disciples wake him up, and then He gets up and rebukes the sea like a muzzled ox. Matthew 8:23-27.

We also tend to want to make things right prematurely. There is timing involved in the lives of heavenly citizens. There is a pattern of perfect timing – you will see it more and more and start to trust the inward leading of the gentle Holy Spirit that gives you a nudge in the right direction every day.

Pattern 3: Hope upon Grace.

Our hope acts as an anchor and we have to set it the following way:

• Perfectly – the way God hopes – through faith

• Wholly – complete trust in the Lord

• Unchangeably – not distracted by other feelings and thoughts

• Without doubt – doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs

• Without Despondency – don’t allow yourself to go into a downward spiral of self-pity and depression when the going gets tough. That’s time to put on a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness. Isa 61:3

• Upon Grace brought to us – build on grace and divine ability versus your own strength and set your hope in that grace cement as a foundation and anchor t