After Peter establishes a ROCK SOLID basis for trusting in Jesus Christ in 1Peter1-2, he takes the next couple chapters to encourage those who choose to trust&seek&follow Christ about the changes in our lives we need to be prepared for! Peter talks about how relationships between husbands & wives must be different, how our lives among our family, friends, & others must be different, etc. Common fibers of change through all of these include selflessness; humility; steadfastness; discipline; long suffering; &commitment. All of these are parts of the Character of Christ that should become fundamental to the character of Christians through the indwelling of The Holy Spirit. But, Peter says that these characteristics will fail to become part of who we truly are unless we PREPARE to have these characteristics expressed through the way we walk/talk/think/live through every moment of our days. If we do not take these characteristics and make them more than academic in our lives, we will probably end up walking/talking/thinking/living in ways that are not much unlike the world, and ineffective for the eternal purposes that The Lord created us to have. 1Peter3:15 says,”But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give reason for the hope that you have.”. Unless we have sought to know what God’s Word truly says about HIS Character & HIS Characteristics;HIS Ways;HIS Mercy;HIS Grace;AND ESPECIALLY HIS Gospel through Christ, we will not be prepared to internally shore up a genuine FAITH that reflects a life that stays TRUE to God’s Word; God’s Character; God’s Ways; God’s Mercy; God’s Grace; nor will we grow in our personal AWE of The Gospel of Christ. This UNpreparedness will make us eternally ineffective for God’s Desired Purposes for our life, but even more disastrous it will lead to our not having a very personal relationship w The Lord that provides for the peace/joy/strength needed to live as “aliens & strangers in the world”(1Peter2:11), & our mind/heart/life will more than likely drift back into the world’s mainstream, instead of being in the mainstream of God’s plans & purposes for our lives. Going against the world’s mainstream is going to be challenging and even painful at times...and Peter warns us about this a few times, which is part of our being prepared! Following Jesus is not necessarily going to be worldly pleasant, nor worldly successful. Because of this Peter tells us to always be prayerful & faithful (1Peter4:7,”...Therefore be clear minded & self-controlled so that you can PRAY.” &1Peter4:19, ”So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.”).Prayer AND Faithfulness are not independent of each other, but integrally part of each other. And in order to know either Truly we must PREPARE ourselves by seeking to know ever increasingly more about God’s Character;God’s Ways;God’s Mercy;God’s Grace,through HIS Word and through HIS Spirit made possible only by The Gospel of Christ ->This is the “Always be prepared to give an answer” that 1Peter3:15 calls us to.Dear Lord,I admit that I fail to always be prepared, & I have experienced the personal disappointments and failures of being UNprepared in the ways that these verses call me to BE prepared. Lord, may my mind/heart/life be so sensitive to Your Spirit living within me that I respond to Your call for me to always be prepared...and may I BE prepared by Your Word and Your Spirit teaching me and giving me strength&courage to be rightly prepared, and then follow thru with the kind of FAITH that reflects an AWE for YOU and YOUR WORD.