YOUR FAITH - Conclusion of Part Eight

"Your Faith Will Make You Family"

By Rob Bailes

When we stopped yesterday, I left us with the following passage and the question, "Who receives favour from God?". Did you take some time to think about this question? Try this, jot down what you believe the answer is and then look at it again after you read the conclusion today of this message. See if it makes any difference in how you see the favour of God towards the men and women.

1Peter 5:5b - ......for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.

Who receives this favour from God? The humble and lowly spirited person will receive this blessing. It is the lifestyle that God wants us to adopt when we become a part of His family, as we come to realize that it is a life that will glorify our original Father in Heaven. We were designed and born uniquely as one of His creation, so He always has been there waiting to bless us; each and every one. Finally we see in verse six that we will, as His children, be exalted at an appointed time that God will choose for all who are a part of His family.

1Peter 5:7-9
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

First Peter tells us what to do with the cares (Greek meaning - distractions) of this world. Throw them on God because He is concerned with all that you deal with in your life!


How simple that sounds, but do we do that? Why would we try to keep our cares and distractions and deal with them by own strength, knowing that we can cast them on God? Could it be that we are thinking that we can and will do it on our own? Would that also be connected somehow to our self esteem, ego and pride in ourselves?


What do the great success speakers of our world teach us in books and seminars about our self esteem and our egos? I could probably list twenty titles right off the top of my head that have to do with making it on your own and success. Is it really all about that? Is that what God wants and how will He react if we base our lives on the idea that we can do anything?

When we feel that we may have missed God's blessings in an area of our life, maybe it would be good to see how we are handling the distractions and cares of this world. We see the depiction of satan as a roaring lion that's pacing all around as our adversary or opponent, looking for someone to devour. In the Greek, the word devour means "to drink down or gulp entire".


I have dog that has one of the biggest mouths that I have ever seen on a dog. He's a boxer and he has mighty jaws of steel. When I drop a treat into his mouth there is no stopping him! He opens that mouth and with one mighty gulp, he swallows anything that will fit down his throat! No matter how good and tasty it is, he doesn't stop to look at it or chew and enjoy the flavor. I thought about this when I saw the Greek translation of the word "devour". Without even stopping for one second to appreciate the life of a person, the devil will take them swiftly and destroy them in the clutches of his jaws. In this case, the form of destruction is the pride we have when we are faced with our cares and the distractions taking us away from what God has for us.


If we react according to our flesh and without humility and love, we will also find ourselves taken by surprise as our pride rises up to the occasion! We must remain humble in order to avoid this trap that the devil uses to devour us!

How can we remain humble and prepared for the attack by our opponent, the devil? Let's look again at verses eight and nine.

1Peter 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

The word sober literally means to avoid wine and to be discreet, so we should not allow ourselves to become vulnerable to the devil by opening ourselves up to his attack. Don't play with the devil's toys and you won't find yourself in situations that you will regret. It may be someone else hurting you as a part of his plan, but could it be prevented by not taking the lures of the flesh?

Be vigilant or awake so that we are not spiritually drifting along without spending time in the Word of God and praying. When we are spiritually asleep, we get bored and become what Jesus called "lukewarm". This is like bottled water left in the car. It is the temperature of the environment and is sickening when we first put it into our mouths. Jesus said that people who are just going through the motions are like this lukewarm water and He wants to spew them out of His mouth. That's why the new lifestyle that we adopt as the Sons of God is a lifestyle that finds us sober(discreet) and vigilant(awake) so that we are busy about the will of God in our lives.

Finally we should realize that the man who remains sober and vigilant in this new family of God, also ought to resist stedfast in the faith. He must stand strong and unmovable in his convictions, knowing that the very same hardships, pains and trials are also experienced by the brothers and sisters of Christ throughout the entire world.

Remember! It is staying stedfast, having unmovable faith(convictions) that makes us one with Christ in the family of God and carries us through those times that we feel we cannot handle! Remain humbled and avoid having a proud heart to enjoy the favour of God. The faith God gave you will always make you whole!

1Peter 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

WORDS OF WISDOM

1Peter 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

1Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

James 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?