“Humble yourselves under the Mighty Hand of God.” {V6}

Sometimes I am so, so tired and weary and sick from pain and of pain, from my muscle disease. And with the physical pain, weakness, comes the thoughts… to be anxious… circumstances, people… come to mind and the fight of faith not to succumb to anxiety, and hopelessness but to take Hope in God and His Promises. The verses in 1 Peter 5:6-7 have been before me in recent days and I find I sometimes wake praying them and go to sleep praying them and I HAVE FOUND HOPE, COMFORT, HELP AND at times my heart has been encouraged and elevated thinking on Him, and what these two verses reveal about Him. What He wants me to know and you, when anxieties, cares, burdens troubles would seek to weigh us down and bury us. So, here are a few thoughts scribbled down and I pray they may be of some use to you to encourage you whatever your cares may be you are facing…and may you see in these verses HOPE- GOD’S HOPE for you and His CARE about the things that burden you, and HIS POWER, PROMISES AND PROVISION FOR YOU NOT TO YIELD TO ANXIETIES…

In the midst of their suffering and pain, Peter writes and offers comfort and direction for the anxieties that faced them and he begins with “Humble yourselves,” submit yourself under the Mighty Hand of God. This was symbolic of the POWER of God in the Old Testament. Creative Power, Delivering Power, Protective Power, Correcting Power. The Power of God, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” He delivered the Israelite’s from Pharaoh through the Red Sea and with the water stood up on each side they walked across on dry land, multitudes of various ages and all were safe and secure and then as thy looked the army of their enemies were swallowed up and drowned as the water engulfed them. Sustaining Power. All things are upheld, sustained by Him by the Word of His Power. Power belongs to the LORD. And so the command, Humble yourselves, submit yourselves- not to some tyrant but God- the ALL Powerful One, who Cares for you. Deliverance is in a Person and He instructs us of His way of deliverance, it involves immediate unquestioning, obedient faith- in the ALL POWERFUL ONE!

“Casting all your anxieties upon Him”

The word “casting” originally meant to “fling something away.” It was used of a blanket being thrown unto a donkey, when Jesus was entering Jerusalem. Anxiety the word means “divide the mind” God’s goal for our mind is to love Him with all of our mind and when we came to Him this is the possibility now, we can love Him as we think on truth and practice it {Phil 4:8-9}. We read His Word, listen to it, mediate upon it to familiarize and renew our mind so we may approve what is the good, acceptable will of God. We are born again and now we begin to learn to think on what He loves, what He thinks on issues and we learn to change our thinking to align with His Word and His word is TRUTH. -{John 17:17}

 THE GOAL OF ANXIETIES;

The anxious thought comes with an evil purpose.

* Anxieties attack the character of God to you and His Word. Through seeking to Divide your mind from Thinking on The TRUTH about God, His character and on knowing how to love Him with your mind.

*Anxieties and fear travel together and is used to distract and deviate you from seeking first the kingdom of God as the priority in living – according to Luke 12.

* Anxiety left unchecked weighs you down and leads to depression –{Prov 12 :25}. Anxiety is no friend of yours. It attacks the character of God calling His character, Word into question. It seeks to divide your thinking, distract you from devotion to loving God and distract and divide your attention to the priority of the kingdom of God in your present circumstances.

*Anxiety seeks to overpower you and lie to you that God can’t help and He doesn’t care for you, and therefore does not want to help, as you are of no significance to Him. LIE! the Cross testifies just how precious you are to Him!  Anxieties come in all shapes and sizes and always with an evil intent as stated above. So what to do?


Humble yourselves under the Mighty Hand of God. In submission to Him is the safest place to be for He is our shelter and He is our Provider and He has all the Power needed including empowering you as His own to competently deal swiftly with the anxieties that seek to divide, distort, distract you from loving God with your mind and seeking His Kingdom as your assignment. Anxieties, fears, doubts, despair, all evil behind the tip of the poisonous arrows of the thoughts of anxieties.

GOD’S PROVISION OF POWER AND PROMISE FOR YOU IN TIME OF TEMPTATION

HOW TO HANDLE THE TEMPTATION TO BE ANXIOUS-

  1. HUMBLE YOURSELVES. – Submit yourself to Him – He is Sovereign. He is all powerful. In our rightful mind we realize He is God we are not and in submitting to Him is an act of love, worship and is a lace of blessing. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the … Humble
  2. MIGHTY HAND OF GOD. – His undisputed, unrivaled, unlimited power is what enables Him to accomplish all that pleases HIM-{Read Ps 135:6} Power to create, sustain. Power to deliver, overthrow. Power to correct. Power belongs to the Lord. He promises that He will lift you up in His time. He has the power, integrity to fulfill HIS PERSONAL PROMISE TO YOU.
  3. CASTING- all your anxieties Upon Him– Fling them off, and unto Him. Once  you recognize the destructive anxious thought- Philippians 4:8 says how we are to train our minds to think-“whatever is TRUE… whatever is Lovely… whatever is PRAISEWORTHY… IF anything PURE… Excellent…. THINK on these things.” Anxiety does not pass the test. It’s not true about God, His character, His promises. It is not true about you of who you are now, “IN CHRIST.” Anxieties Lie- that you are its slave and must yield and submit to it. Jesus came to save His people from their sins and anxiety is a sin issue, when we choose to submit to it and fail to fling it off as you would something disgusting, harmful and dangerous to the honor of God and that which would seek to infiltrate your thinking and divert you from His revealed will- Love Him with your thinking and seeking His Kingdom…
  4. HE CARES FOR YOU – Outside of God Himself, YOU ARE HIS Most Treasured. He did not send His Son to redeem the fallen angels. He did not die but for sinners. For YOU. TO RESCUE YOU from the penalty of sin, pardon and adopt you as His own Child. HE CARES ABOUT YOU and HE CARES about the things that concern you. Jesus is our Great High Priest who Empathizes, feels the very feelings you feel in your weakness and temptations and He is MIGHTY TO save. And we can come confidently to His Throne of Grace to receive grace, etc to help in our time of need. You have access to God, to help you! HE CARES FOR YOU.

FAITH IN HIM;

A.-The ACT OF FAITH;
The ACT- IS To recognize and give it to the LORD. “LORD in obedience to You I humble myself under your Mighty Hand of Power and I cast these thoughts of anxieties, worry, cares , burdens onto You as an expression of obedient faith out of love to You. I am CASTING IT, FLINGING IT onto You- NOW!”

B.  The ATTITUDE OF FAITH;

What if the thoughts come back, what then? The ATTITUDE of faith says- These thoughts are not from the LORD. I HAVE GIVEN that to the LORD. I STAND ON HIS WORD. That is His Responsibility I refuse to yield and submit to anxieties power. Christ is my Power.

C.- The ADORATION OF FAITH;

The Two things these verses show us about the character of God.
A.- His Mighty Hand- HIS OMNIPOTENCE- ALL POWERFUL
B.- He CARES for you

If the thought comes back seeking to infiltrate, immediately give it to the LORD, the act of faith- The attitude off faith- I won’t accept or bow to it- I passed it on to Him… and now REPLACE the thoughts of anxiety by CHOOSING WHAT- WHO YOU WILL THINK ON. Train your thought to think on God and the things of God.

* THINK ON THE POWER OF GOD.
* THINK ON THE CARE GOD HAS FOR YOU.

Begin to Praise and Thank Him that you are no longer a slave to sin, Christ set you free, and you have the power to Humble yourself, the power to refuse to yield to anxiety and the power to cast the anxieties on Him.

THINK ON TRUTH… and ADORE HIM…. what has been meant as an evil attack to your thought life, God uses for good as He teaches you to THINK and TRUST Him Who He is – ALL POWERFUL- and Who you are to Him- He CARES FOR YOU

* REFUSE to Yield and give time, attention to the anxieties that have nothing but evil attached to them. Refuse the thought of anxiety entrance- You cant stop them coming BUT YOU CAN CHOOSE NOT TO SUBMIT AND YIELD by thinking on them.

** REPLACE it with Following God’s path of faith for you in the temptations. Humble yourself under His Mighty Power. CASTING- Throwing , flinging way the anxieties to Him and REPLACE the thoughts of anxiety with the TRUTH-

* THINK On the POWER OF GOD from the Scriptures. His CREATIVE Power. DELIVERING Power. PROTECTIVE Power. SUSTAINING Power. SAVING Power. RESURRECTION Power. POWER To break sin. RESURRECTION Power. SPIRITUAL LIFE IMPARTING Power. POWER TO Live and obey and Love God. POWER OF CHRIST’S BLOOD, POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, POWER, TRANSFORMING POWER to Live anxiety free slavery to THE sin of YIELDING TO anxiety.

ANXIOUS THOUGHTS COME, but you are not bound to submit to them. It is not who you are anymore. You are not its slave. It is not your Master. THE LORD JESUS HAS SET YOU FREE FROM THE BONDAGE TO YIELD TO IT’S WICKED, DREADED POWER. That’s not who you are any longer, a slave to anxiety, Christ set you free. He broke the power over you.

“IT WAS FOR FREEDOM CHRIST SET YOU FREE, NEVER AGAIN TO BE EN-YOKED TO A BOND OF SLAVERY.” -{Galatians 5:1}.

Christ liberates us to Love Him. Anxiety enslaves!

 

AN OLD HABIT- A NEW POWER

We often worry because we CHOOSE to believe THE LIES, and we go back and deal with things our old way. IT IS A HABIT… Now we can “put off” and “put on” the NEW CLOTHING as a Child of God and a Soldier of the King about His Business. We have a NEW POWER, to develop a NEW THOUGHT PATTERN and TRUST… to Handle the temptations to be anxious, God’s Way.We do this through ‘renewing’ our mind. Seeing things from God’s perspective and empowered by His Spirit to apply truth. as revealed in His Word.

THINK, THINK, THINK- HE CARES For you.
READ Ephesians 1:3-15 and note the blessings that are yours “In Christ,” New Power, new Privileges. SEE His CARE FOR YOU in these passages. You were not an after thought but before the foundation of the world He chose you for Himself. He made provision for you as the LAMB OF GOD was slain before the foundation of the world- God CARES FOR YOU…Psalm 139 says…He knew you in your mother’s womb, He has numbered your days, you are known and CARED for by Him and Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place for you in the Father’s house {John 14:1-6}… HE CARES FOR YOU. He cares about what concerns you.

TRANSFORMING POWER To Enable you to no longer live as you once did, a slave to sin of anxieties. They come but you can cast them all on Him and THINK ON TRUTH about Him- HIS POWER… HIS CARE for you.

Love Him today by choosing by faith in what He says and choose to obey as an expression of LOVE to Him by Humbling yourself under His Mighty Hand of Power and casting immediately, flinging away onto HIM ALL the anxieties, cares.. For He cares for you!

The Lies in the tough times, which anxiety brings are often- ‘You are alone. God doesn’t care for you. You are powerless.” LIES! Seeking to trouble you and distract you from devotion to the LORD Jesus.  “BUT GOD..,.” THINK ON TRUTH- HIS MIGHTY POWER…. HIS CARING HEART- FOR YOU… You are not, nor ever will be alone in times of temptation….

*GOD IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO HELP, RESCUE AND KEEP YOU.

*GOD CARES FOR YOU. HE CARES ABOUT THE THINKS THAT SEEK TO TROUBLE YOU AND HE WANTS YOU TO GIVE THEM TO HIM.

“I CAST ALL my cars upon You. I lay all of my burdens down at Your feet… I will cast all of my cars upon You…”