Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Worry is something you must never succumb to. I tell you many times not to worry, not to fear, to have no anxiety, and to be anxious for nothing. Worry will destroy your peace, your joy, going forward with your calling, and give you no rest. It will destroy your fellowship and partnership with Me. Instead of making your life days of heaven on earth, it will give you hell upon earth. It is the devil’s way of devouring you.
All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God resists 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. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 5:5-11.
The word used for “cares” here in the Greek language in which it was written is mérimna (μέριμνα), which means care, anxiety, worry and is from the word that means to divide, properly, a part, separated from the whole; (figuratively) worry (anxiety), dividing and fracturing a person’s being into parts. When I tell you to be of “sober” it is the Greek word néphó (νήφω), which means uninfluenced by intoxicants, that is, to have one’s wits (faculties) about them, refers to having presence of mind (clear judgment). The word translated “alert” is grégoreó (γρηγορέω), which means to watch, to be vigilant, to stay awake, to be self-controlled, to be watchful. The Greek word translated as “resist” is anthistémi (ἀνθίστημι), which means to resist, to oppose, to withstand. It is from antí, meaning “opposite/against” and hístēmi, meaning “to stand”)m that is, to take a complete stand against, i.e. a “180 degree, contrary position”; (figuratively) to establish one’s position publicly by conspicuously “holding one’s ground,” i.e. refusing to be moved (“pushed back”). It is a military term.
There are many truths you need to know in this passage to live a peaceful and victorious life in this world. I resist the proud because they resist Me. They believe they do everything for themselves and do not give Me any entrance to help them and give them My grace. They do not walk with Me but counter Me in everything I try to teach them or direct them towards. They shut Me out of working in their lives. If you will note humbling yourself under My mighty hand allows Me to fill all your needs according to My riches in glory in Christ Jesus. It makes you one of the little flock to whom I can open My Kingdom for your supply.
It is humility to cast your cares on Me because you know, as Jesus explained to you when He likened Himself to the Vine and you to a branch, you cannot bear fruit without being attached to the vine. Nothing. Like Peter fishing all night and catching nothing on his own, but having the whole lake emptying all its fish into his nets and boat when he worked with and at the direction of Jesus, My Word made flesh.
By worry, anxiety, and fear, you are resisting Me for you basically stating that you do not believe I will care for you or even that I can care for you. You are not acting in faith which takes your receptor down so you are unable to receive. It is form of separation from Me and it is a deceitful form of pride.
Worries are the thorns the devil plants in you to choke off your harvesting the promises in My Word.
And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” Mark 4:13-20.
So what do you do to resist? To stay alert? To stay at peace and not get tangled up in the thorns.
Very simple. Call on Me for help to know what to do when you have trouble in your life. And even when you don’t have trouble, call on Me to help you make decisions that will profit you and bring the right paths and results into your life. And yes, I will answer.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still confined in the court of the guard, saying, “Thus says the LORD who made the earth, the LORD who formed it to establish it, the LORD is His name, ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’” Jeremiah 33:1-3.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. John 10:27-28.
I will not only answer you but I will bring you out with honor.
“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.” Psalm 91:14-16.
I will bring you out with honor when you call on Me for help. Why? You honor Me when you refuse to fear.
“Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.” Psalm 50:15.
Humility comes before riches and honor.
The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility. Proverbs 15:33.
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, But humility goes before honor. Proverbs 18:12.
The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, honor and life. Proverbs 22:4.
And when you honor Me, I honor you.
Those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. 1 Samuel 2:30.
I have honored you with My love, trust, and care since I conceived you within My heart and have carried you from the womb and will continue to do so.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. . . for you are precious in My sight, you are honored and I love you. Isaiah 43:1-2,4.
You who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you. Isaiah 46:3-4.
Then how do you resist? You answer the worry with the truth.
Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:6-8.
You submit to Me. What does it mean to submit to another? It means you agree with them. So what this tells you to do is to agree with Me and disagree with the devil when he puts worry, care, fear, anxiety and the like into your thoughts.
What made Noah find grace with Me so that he saved the entire human race?
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Genesis 6:5-6.
There was no one in agreement with Me. I am love and there is no evil in My heart. With and in Adam, everyone had taken on the nature of the devil by agreeing with him. But one man, Noah, was different. Why? He walked with Me.
But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Genesis 6:8-9.
How can two walk together unless they agree?
How can two men walk together unless they are in agreement? Amos 3:3.
His heart was like Mine. We were in agreement. Which will always put you in disagreement with the devil.
Please note none of this works if you do not have a relationship with Me. You must know and believe in the love I have for you and that there is nothing between us that would divide us working together for your good and that of all in your household or workplace. You must have your heart at peace with Me as Mine is with you. Peace on earth, good will towards men. I have redeemed you.
I love you, can you agree with that? Perfect love casts out all worry and fear.
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:16-19.