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The Battle Ready Mind of a Believer
right minded, alert and prepared
(sophroneo, gregorio and nepho )
"The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sophroneo and nepho for the purpose of prayer" 1 Peter 4:7
"Be gregario! be nephos! Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" 1 Peter 5: 8
"so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be nephos and gregario" 1 Thess. 5:6
The Greek words are:
Sophroneo - appears six times in the NT as a verb (sophroneo) and four times as an adjective (sophron). Believers have reclaimed minds that should be 'right-minded' with the clarity and truth of God's word, not the unrighteousness of the world that plays on the flesh.
They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had the "legion"; and they became frightened. Mark 5:15 [ All miracles have a symbolic spiritual message. The man who had the demonic legion represents unbelievers whose minds are darkened in the ways of Satan's lies. Only the power of God through Christ can heal the minds of fallen men possessed of darkness---making them "right-minded" by God's power and truth]
Gregorio - appears 23 times in the NT---in the KJV usually as 'watch' , but also 'vigilant' and 'wake' . In the NAS usually as 'alert' or 'watch'. Gregorio contains the root egeiro which means , to rise up from sleep, bed, death etc. The meaning of gregorio is to shake off the sleep, or spiritually speaking, to not be lulled into, or intoxicated by, the ways of the world.
For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 1 Thess 5:7 [this verse expands on the thought of being 'alert' in 1 IThess. 5:6]
And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? Matt.26:40
Nepho - is used six times in the N.T, three times by Peter in 1Peter. The KJV translates nepho as 'sober' or 'watch ' and the NAS as 'sober.' Nepho means 'being prepared.' It is not enough that we are awake and aware of our surroundings, we must also be prepared.
But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation." 1 Thess 5:6-8 [being sober means we are prepared with our spiritual armor]
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; Phil.3:13-15
The attitude of a believer's daily walk
Accentuate Positive |
Eliminate Negative |
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Reaching forward - |
Forgetting what lies behind - |
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Sophroneo - we are either conformed to the world's ways or right-minded to God's ways.
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