1 Peter 5:5-11 ESV
“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
We all need to be humble, for we are all flesh and blood with
a propensity to sin, and it is only by the grace of God that any of us are
saved from our sins and are promised eternal life with God. But being humble
never means being less than who God made us to be, or regularly participating
in sin so that we do not appear to be self-righteous. For we can walk in righteousness
and in holiness, in walks of obedience to our Lord, and still remain humble,
because we know that we are only able to obey God in the strength of the Lord.
We are also to be sober-minded and watchful. This means that
we are to take God and his word seriously. We are not to take God nor his grace
for granted nor to presume upon God that he must let us into his heaven
regardless of how we live. But we are to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ in
humble submission to him as Lord, and we are to walk in obedience to his
commands (New Covenant) in walks of holiness and in righteousness. And we are
to guard our hearts and minds against all evil so we can pray.
For we must also take seriously that the devil (Satan) does
exist and that he is out to get us if we are following Jesus Christ with our
lives. For his goal is to pull us away from our pure devotion to Christ and to
get us to believe his lies instead of us believing the truth of God’s Word (in
context). So we must be watchful and be on guard and be clothed in the armor of
God so that we do not fall into the devil’s traps. And he uses other humans to
do his dirty work, too, so we must be spiritually discerning and test what we
hear.
So, we must resist Satan and his evil attacks which he will
use against us, and we must not let him get to us. And we must stand firm in
our walks of faith in our Lord regardless of what evil the devil plots and
carries out against us, even using other humans to carry out his evil plans.
For our God is still in control. He is still completely sovereign over all his
creation. Satan is already defeated. And nothing is going to touch us but what
God allows it, and if we are his true followers, he will see us through it all.
Now God allows us to suffer for the sake of the name of
Jesus, and for the sake of the gospel of Christ, and for righteousness’ sake.
And he disciplines those he loves. And all this is for our good, for the
strengthening of our walks of faith and obedience to the Lord, and for our
faith to continue, and for our spiritual growth and maturity, and for us to
learn perseverance, and for us to learn to depend on God and not on ourselves,
etc. Even though it is painful, we will learn obedience through the things that
we suffer.
Now, the Lord doesn’t always immediately deliver us from all
suffering when we call for help. And he doesn’t heal every physical ailment,
either. Paul prayed three times for the Lord to deliver him from a thorn in the
flesh, which was given to him to keep him humble, but God’s answer to him was
that God’s grace was sufficient. So Paul learned that when he was weak that he
was able to be strong in the strength of the Lord. And although the Lord has
healed me much, he has not healed everything in my body, either.
But the Lord will teach us what we need to learn, and he
will carry us through every trial, and he will help us to remain strong in
faith and to not waver. And he will give us the wisdom that we need to know the
right decisions to make and the right words to say if we will yield control of
our lives over to him and if we will follow him wherever he leads us. And he
will use us for his glory to minister his love and grace to others and to share
with them the truth of God’s word when we let him do his work in our lives.
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs
are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Trust
Him with your life today.
Make
Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn
from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He
will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse
your heart, made new within.
Men
betraying: Our trust fraying.
On
our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking
God to give us answers
That
are only found in Him.
God
is sovereign over all things.
Nothing
from His mind escaping.
He
has all things under His command,
And
will work all for good.
Jesus
Christ is gently calling
You
to follow Him in all ways.
Men
deceiving: We’re believing
In
our Lord, and interceding
For
our nation and its people
To
obey their God today.
He
is our hope for our future.
For
our wounds He offers suture.
He
is all we need for this life.
Trust
Him with your life today.
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