“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; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;” ~ 1 Peter 1:13-15
“Gird up the loins of your minds; gird and be sober; gird and hope perfectly; gird and be obedient; gird and be holy. This girding is gathering in the strength of the heart to do its work. Call in your hearts and hold them in; be always ready for every duty, ready against every temptation.”
“Oh, how loose we are! What loose praying, loose hearing, loose meditation, and loose walking we satisfy ourselves with! Our hearts are to seek, and instead our hearts and affections are gadding abroad; we know not where to find them, and our work is done thereafter. We excuse our non-proficiency in religion by our many hindrances, by the difficulties of our work; but the great hindrance lies in that our loins are ungirded, and our hearts are neither united in our work nor intent upon it. When God and the things of eternity get so deep into the heart; when there is such a deep sense of the weight and importance of the things that are eternal and abiding upon us, such as can overpower carnal objects and loose the hearts from them; when we feel the evidence and consequence of these things commanding our entire souls after them, then there is religion in earnest; then we go on and prosper.”“Let others do what they will, run where they please, choose whom they will serve and what they will follow after; come, my soul, follow the Lord; gird up your loins and come away for the other world. Make haste; linger not; let others loiter as they will, escape for your life. Do not look behind; get up to the mountain and live.”
