GRACE FOR THE HUMBLE – HOW to DEAL WITH ANXIETY- { 1 PETER 5:6-7}
“…God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” –
{ 1 Peter 5:6-8}
He gives grace for us to humble ourselves to submit to His authority in His Word and Godly leadership, and live in humility, denying ourselves and preferring and serving one another. Grace to follow and obey His Word.
Peter writes to those going through fiery trials, and suffering… and with it can come and did come anxiety within. The enemy of God and of our soul’s injects an evil thought, a “fiery dart,” such as to Doubt God. Questioning and attacking the character of God. Can God do anything to Help? Does GOD Care? If He did what has He allowed this to happen? Why doesn’t He do something? Thoughts of anxiety that are often accompanied with fear {Read Luke 12:4,27}.
Peter says “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. Humble – lower your self, take your rightful place, we are not equal with God, above Him. He is the Creator, Owner of all, we are weak, dependent beings and HE IS independent of all. He is in need of nothing or no one to inform Him, sustain Him or supply to HIM. He is self existent, unchanging, Sovereign King. We recognize Him and take our rightful place prostrate in our heart before Him. He is God, I am not. He is Almighty, all powerful, I am weak and dependent.
“THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD…” was symbolic of God’s Power in the Old Testament and various aspects. CREATIVE Power, DELIVERING Power, PROTECTING Power, CORRECTING Power. In the New Testament we see the GREATEST DEMONSTRATION of RESURRECTION Power. God raised Jesus from the dead, His sacrifice accepted, sufficient, and the resurrection power the proof. God raised you also with Saving Power, made alive unto God from the deadness of sins and trespasses – {Read Eph 2:1-5}… RESURRECTION Power.
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for You.”- {Jer 32:17}.
Humble ourselves under His MIGHTY POWER- it is a place of safety, security. Our impotence in and of ourselves wraps our fingers around the LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT WHO REIGNS! He will in his Time raise us up…and with Submission to Him,
“CASTING,” – A Command.”CASTING,” the word comes from a word meaning,”FLINGING,” something away, immediately, do not delay. Do it now, this is not optional, it is a command. FLINGING ALL, none is to be excluded or kept back by you to think on, mull over again and again, fret about. The word “anxieties” speak of a “mind divided.” The purpose of our mind is love God with all of our heart and… Mind.” FLINGING all of your anxieties off you onto Jesus. By faith. “LORD, in obedience to You, I give You { name them _____, } and now they are Yours. What happens if they continue to come back to your mind? For the evil one who likes to create havoc, by seeking to divide your mind from devotion to loving God with all of your mind through temptation, may bring the issues back to your mind. At that moment you must REFUSE to dwell on the thought. REPLACE it with truth. This is the ATTITUDE AND ACTION Of Faith, doing so by Standing on the Promise. This He said, He would handle them. God is not bringing them up to divide your mind and anxiety unchecked Prov 12:25 shows anxiety in the heart leads to being “weighed down,” – depressed! . According to Luke 12, anxiety and Fear travel together and turn us away from seeking the Kingdom of God as our priority. So anxiety offers you a mind divided, fear, weighed down,depression,turns you away from Loving God by TEMPTING YOU TO REPLACE thinking on the truth about Him and turns you away from moment by moment living seeking the Kingdom of God as the priority wherever you find yourself at. So now, you see from “THE WORD OF GRACE,” what anxiety does and to fail to humble yourself is pride and you know God is opposed to the Proud. Humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God and immediately, fling that anxiety, care unto Him, by faith, and if it comes back, the ATTITUDE and ACT of FAITH DECLARES,” No I gave that to the LORD I will not yield to the temptation to be anxious. It is not in the life of Christ it as no part in my life. God cares for me and I have followed in obedience, Lord You are responsible for this issue and me…”
And then you have to REPLACE what you think on. If you say “I mustn’t think on anxiety over and over,” guess what you are thinking on? Anxiety, anxious fear dividing, mind dividing thoughts!
Philippians 4: 8 says “ Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely {lovable and gracious}, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell{Ponder} on these things.” The word “Dwell” is a command and is to be continuous, a lifestyle of the way you are to train and can train in His power to think Right…Anxiety is wrong thinking…. Anxiety is wrong trust… Paul wrote ‘ do not be conformed tot his world but be transformed by the RENEWING OF YOUR MIND…”-{Rom 12:2} When god saved us , we are eternally secure, but as He changes us we must submit to “The Word Of His Grace… which is able to build you up…’ {Acts 20:32}. Allow His Spirit to “Guide you into all truth” -{John 16:13}… and change the way we think, the pattern of our thinking often is what we fall back on when the temptation to worry comes, we must allow Him to build new patterns of RIGHT thinking and Philippians 4:8 is a good verse for you and I to memorize and mediate upon and when thoughts come to mind to see if they pass the test of the eight truths presented here of what we are to dwell upon with our thinking!
Allow His Word to renew our thinking to THINK and see things from His View through the lens of His Word.
Camp out on the eight truths in Philippians 4:8 and meditate upon them. When The thought comes… here is the test. Is it true of God, His character, His Word… of me, “In Christ?,” If it passes that Guard for your mind, then ask , is it a lovely thought, is it praiseworthy of God? if it doesn’t pass, fling it away on n Jesus by an act of faith , and maintain the attitude of faith and He promises, His peace which surpasses all understanding will GUARD your heart and MIND,”IN Christ,” {Phil 4:6}. This promise is for those who by faith tell the LORD about it, pass, FLINGING IT IMMEDIATELY on to Him and He promises Peace. which surpasses all understanding, for it is supernatural peace- His peace!
THE Attack – is on your mind – anxieties are the poison. The response, the ACT OF FAITH- FLINGING ALL THAT WORRIES ME , BURDENS ME, ALL ANXIETIES ON Him. The Attitude of faith is. I believe I have given It to Him I will not allow it entrance into my thinking to dwell on. I choose instead to dwell on Him and His Truth, Promises and who He is and made me in Christ!”
I cannot stop a thought coming, but I can choose what I give my attention and time to meditate upon…, just like I cannot stop a bird from flying over my head, i can refuse to allow it to land on my head and take time, effort to build a nest on top of my head!
Here is how to RENEW YOUR MIND…CHOOSE TO THINK ON the two truths about the LORD in this passage. I Peter 5:6-7-
Here are two reasons to motivate us when anxiety, the word means to “divide the mind” which attacks to consume us so we cant think of nothing else, and is Luke 12 teaches anxiety and fear travel together, So when those times of temptation come, the safe place is to obey the LORD and to those dear people who were separated, slandered and suffering i 1 Peter, we can learn that we too must “humble ourselves,” and we can because…
- – He is in COMPLETE CONTROL – ALL POWERFUL.
- – HE CARES for you.- The way it is written grammatically is that He is Personally involved and Presently Cares for you and this forever
Think on His Power as exercised in Scripture.
Think about How He has shown He cares for you.
And turn the attack meant for evil into a time of ADORATION for the Mighty hand of God, and that God cares for you so much.
IN HIS GRACE, kindness, generosity He says, FLING ALL of those anxieties onto Me. – THE WORD OF GRACE shows us how to deal with the temptation to anxiety that we are no longer a slave to. “It was for FREEDOM Christ set you free, NEVER AGAIN to be en-yoked to a bond of SLAVERY.”-{Gal 5:1}.
We need to develop a new Habit, how to handle the temptation to yield to anxieties by humbling ourselves before Him and receiving Grace to help in this needy time. God’s Power, God Cares for the things that concern you and He commands you… FLING THEM ALL Unto ME.
FAILING TO TO DO SO IS SIN! Willful sin, Because you know what He commands, and in NOT doing so it is to Deny He has the Power to help you or the heart to help you!
A New Thinking Habit pattern to be developed and God’s Grace will empower you to remember and act. Obedience is an expression of Love to Him. -{ John 14:21}.
OK, can we stop, and that which is gnawing at you now, weighing you down. By faith now act… humble, lower, submit yourself under His Mighty power to do things His way, Choose now {Name what is causing you anxieties “LORD I am anxious about _________} and by a definite act of faith fling it on Him, and fling them all,”Lord, I am giving ____ to you because You say and I believe You are POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH IT AND YOU CARE FOR ME and so now by FAITH I humble myself under Your Mighty Hand by casting all my anxieties upon You. Thank you for enabling me to do so. Thank You for Your Power and for Caring for me!
The attitude of faith don’t allow it back to dwell on it, instead TRANSFORM your thinking by thinking on the TRUTH about the LORD- HE IS- ALL POWERFUL to DEAL WITH ALL MY ANXIETIES. HE CARES FOR ME! – He shows me how to deal with them by faith His way.
His Grace is Sufficient to enable you to obey Him and maintain and develop a new God honoring pattern of thinking and Acting.
Grace to Humble Yourself is available now…