Humility

1 Peter 5:6-10 (ESV)
"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."

WOW! Head rush! That was like snowboarding down the mountain and loosing your hood and goggles. Trust me when I say that is a crazy experience. All of the sudden its freezing cold on your face, your eyes sting and burn, you can barely see and its scary; but then all of a sudden its great, its freeing, it feels exhilarating, and adrenalin kicks in and you get really excited! Its a wild ride, and thats an understatement! Paul starts out with a bang! "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you." I don't know if you have seen this around lately but I know I have and I love it.

Its along the same lines, we must become less so God can become more in us, we must humble ourselves or make our selves smaller. Andrew Murray says it like this "Humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in the vision that God is all." And again he says it like this "Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue. And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil." Are you catching this? According to Andrew Murray we must loose sight of ourself and fully depend on God to find humility and Paul shows us through that humility God will exalt us in His time. Exalt - "hold (someone or something) in very high regard; think or speak very highly of." This is beyond thought! God will speak highly of us, He will think highly of us, He will hold us in high regard. Simply put God will be pleased with us! God will find joy in us!

Paul then moves on after that to tell us cast our anxieties on the Lord for He cares about us. You guys catching this, its plainly written there for all to see yet so many people don't get it! God cares about us and doesn't want us to worry, He wants our stress, He wants to take it away and leave us without anxiety or doubt. He wants us to be humble the way Andrew Murray put it, to place entire dependence on God. God wants us to be set free, so let Him set you free!

Next Paul instructs us to be ready and to be on the look out for the enemy is a roaring lion ready to kill and destroy us. A lion, you guys realize something here, a lion can break and crack a human skull in 1 swipe of its mighty paw. One swing is all it takes to destroy or kill and Paul is saying be ready! For if we know the lion is there and don't take our eyes off of it, we have victory, we can call upon our father and He gives us the tools to defend ourselves and strike down the lion every time! We need not fear the lion for our God is a man of war and ready to defend us, just read Exodus 14:14 or 15:3.

Now we get to the encouragement, which is one of my favorit things! I love to be encouraged and I love encouraging others! Nothing makes me smile bigger than when someone finds strength to get up in the midst of struggle and find victory! I love it because its getting to see God work in someone's life! Paul says we are going to struggle, everyone does! But through that struggle the God of all grace will lift us up! He will restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish us! He is amazing! This ties back in with the fact He cares for us! Seriously! If He didn't care about us or love us why would He go to all the trouble!? Why would He take our anxieties or troubles and rest or us in our down falls. Its simple, He wouldn't. But God so loved us He gave His only Son so that we might enter into relationship with Him. He loves us! You guys idk how to scream it loud enough! Our Father God loves us and will fight for us in all circumstances! He is so good! Please trust me when I say this and put it to the test. Trust in Him once and you wont be able to go back, He will always be on your mind and He will always come to your rescue.

Much Love
The Bear