1 Peter 5:8-9 – Be Alert

“Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  (9) Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Do you ever consider that you have an enemy?  There is an incredibly smart being with untold resources at his disposal whose main purpose is to draw you away from Christ.  He is very good at what he does because he’s been doing it since the formation of the earth.  The bible depicts him as a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour.  That someone could be you…

The threat is very real; which is why Peter calls us to be self-controlled and alert.  We should be alert to recognize how and when the enemy attacks so we can counter those attacks with prayer and worship.  The attacks are often so subtle; we have to be on guard to see them for what they are.  We also need to be self-controlled because our choices either invite attack or discourage attack. 

When we are self-controlled and living a Godly life, we may face attack, but our intimacy with God allows us to give the battle to Him and stand firm in our faith.  When we are not self-controlled and living a worldly life, we are inviting the devil to attack us and giving him the ammunition to do it.  How we live our lives matters…

In the midst of attack, we often feel like we are the only one who has gone through this. Have you ever felt like that?  “I’m the only one who is trying to live a Godly life…going through this trial…being persecuted… etc, etc.”  It is a natural response in the midst of trials. As a matter of fact, that is an attack from the enemy.  He wants you to think you have been abandoned and on your own – you are an easier target that way.

The prophet Elijah felt that way.  Israel had become so disobedient that he felt like the only person alive who loved God.  He cried out to God and received this answer, “Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him." (1 Kings 19:18).  Elijah felt alone, but there were still 7000 others in God’s camp. 

When we are being attacked by the enemy, we can take comfort knowing that brothers and sisters throughout the world are being attacked in similar fashion.  We don’t celebrate that they are being persecuted, but we are comforted knowing that we are not alone.  As others rely on the Lord and are rescued, we are encouraged and strengthened to rely on God as well.  God is with you and so are other believers.  Pray for them as they pray for you. 

In this Thanksgiving season, be thankful that the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection grant us victory over the enemy.  He may attack, but if we are faithful to stand firm in our faith, we will be victorious through Jesus Christ.  We have a defender who is mighty in battle.  We will overcome because He has already overcome.  Thank you Jesus!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21

1 Peter 5:7 - Casting

“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

“Do not worry,” is one of the bible’s most direct and common exhortations.  Why is something as commonplace as anxiety such a regular topic?  I look at it like this, Jesus came to give us an abundant life – the thief comes to steal that abundant life away.  One of the enemy’s best tools is worry.  It’s awfully hard to live an abundant and thankful life when we are constantly anxious about things. 

Just to be clear, the bible never says that there aren’t things worry about.  There are many things that are worry worthy: financial troubles, terrorist attacks, disease, will anyone want to marry me, will I ever graduate, what am I going to do with my life, my parents marriage is falling apart, the dentist, and on and on.  This world creates things to worry about every day – but that doesn’t mean that those worries have to consume our lives. 

Anxiety is the product of taking your problems too seriously and God too lightly. God created the universe with a word; He can handle your issue – regardless of how big it is.  And that is the truth we need to internalize: God is greater than our worries, anxiety, or fears.  By taking our cares to God, we confess that He is greater than our concerns, He is capable of fixing what we worry about, and He will give us the strength to endure the anxious times.  God becomes our focus instead of our worries.  As a buddy of mine says, “Too often, we gaze at our problems and glance at God – we should gaze at God, and glance at our problems.”

If you are a worrier, try this: every time you notice that you are anxious about something, let that be your cue to give that stressor to God.  It is an easy way to train your mind to place your concerns under the Lordship of Christ.  And hopefully, your bad habit of worrying will be replaced by the very good habit of praying.   

God cares for you.  It’s an amazing thought isn’t it?  “God cares” has two meanings: 1. He provides for your needs, and 2. He loves you.  Allow God the freedom to care for you – take all your cares to Him. He is not too busy for you!

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy”. - Leo Buscaglia

1 Peter 5:6 – Under God – 11.7.11

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

As Peter winds down his letter, he finishes with these bullet point commands.  Or perhaps “stick point” commands for Peter’s day…

-          Be submissive

-          Clothe yourself in humility

-          Humble yourselves

-          Cast your anxiety on God

-          Be self-controlled and alert

-          Resist the enemy

-          Stand firm in the faith

-          Great one another with a kiss of love (or in today’s parlance, the “handshake of love” or the “side hug of love”.)

I don’t think it’s an accident that Peter begins this final section with a focus on humility.  Humility is one of the most critical attitudes in the Christian life.  If you don’t humble yourself before God, you won’t accept His word as your authority, you won’t acknowledge that you are sinful, you won’t see a need for a savior, you won’t accept His correction and discipline, and you won’t be able to see others as important as you are.  The Christian life flows from a well of humility. 

If you find it hard to humble yourself, consider the mighty hand of God.  Spend some time contemplating His majesty and power.  Consider the vastness of the universe that He spoke into existence and meditate on the intricacy of cellular structures and the mysteries of the subatomic level.  Try to wrap your mind around the fact that God exists outside of time, that He is everywhere, and that He knows everything…and is completely sinless (this paragraph could have been much longer).

And then take a look at yourself.  If you are like me, you’ll find a person who has trouble caring for the needs of others because I am too self-centered to care.  A person who is often too lazy to do the things God has called me to do.  A person who constantly looks to what I can get out of something instead of what I can share.  A person full of pride, anger, bitterness, lust, judgment, mocking, envy, and every other sin you can imagine. 

If we realize our sinful insignificance compared with the galactic greatness of God, we will find it less difficult to humble ourselves before Him (I don’t know that it ever gets easy).  A point of clarification, God calls us to more than simple humility – though that is a good start – the key is to humble yourself before God.  We must place ourselves under God’s authority.  To live the life of joy that God calls us to – we must put God first…and that is a matter of submitting your will to God. 

Last but definitely not least, we get the amazing promise that if we humble ourselves before God, He will lift us up in due time (meaning “in God’s perfect timing”).  One day we will be where He is.  One day we will see Him clearly.  One day we will be like Jesus.  How I look forward to that day!  But that day doesn’t come unless we humble ourselves before God…

“Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.” – RC Sproul, The Holiness of God