12/23/2023
Hello Facebook Family and Friends! I want to share a word for us to meditate on as we end this year and approach the year ahead:
"Submit to God, Resist the Devil!"
Read 1 Peter 5:5-9
In unpacking verse 7, let's excavate "care”, merimna; Strong's #3308: From meiro, "to divide," and noos, "the mind." The word denotes distractions, anxieties, burdens, and worries, Merimna means to be anxious beforehand about daily life. Such worry is unnecessary, because the Father's love provides for both our daily needs and our special needs.
One of the devil’s strategies is to cause you to “take care.” I do not even tell people to “take care” anymore. Tell people to “take charge!”
Let's make it practical: Live in humility with all people. Understand that pride will cause God to resist you, so repent and turn from it. Humble yourself, knowing that God will give you grace and lift you up in His time. Give God your anxieties. Know with confidence that He will care for you.
Verses 5-9 gives us strategies how to resist:
A believer’s growth may be hindered or halted by three distinct enemies: the Devil, the world, and the flesh. We are warned how the Devil walks or roams about like a lion. When lion hunt, they look for weak, young, isolated, unguarded animals. The are the ones marked for attack. The Devil’s ultimate agenda is to destroy us, not merely to hurt, maim, or discourage, but to devour and destroy us. He does that when he gets us to bow to circumstances, pressures, or forces his evil design, hoping thereby to make us yield to him.
To overcome, we must adopt a reverse:
B.O.W. to Jesus, the One you Believe, Obey, and Worship.
He overcame, refusing to bow to Satan’s devices (Matt. 4:8-10), and our growth in Him will bring the same ability to resist or stand against the Devil (1 Pet. 5:9). Be clothed in the full armor of God: be armed with the Word of God (Eph. 6:10-14), believe Him (Heb. 11:6), obey Him (1 John 3:24), and worship Him (John 4:23). Receive Christ’s overcoming victory!
