By Timothy W. Burnett
Go to 1Peter 5:5b-7, "...and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Casting all your anxiety upon Him for He cares for you." God perfectly ties humility to grace and exaltation. He also sets humility in opposition to pride. And alas, God shows the relationship between humility and a lack of anxiety. There is so much to be learned and applied in this one area of scripture. We learn that God truly does care for us. And with that understanding, He commands us to cast all our anxiety upon Him.
Are we anxious for something we strongly desire? Make our request known to God with thanksgiving. Are we worried about losing our jobs? Make our request known to God with thanksgiving. What results can we expect? "...and the peace from God which surpasses all knowledge absolutely shall guard your hearts and thoughts through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). When our hearts and thoughts are guarded, then our decisions and actions are guarded. And when our decisions and actions are guarded then we can be ready to lay hold of God's blessing according to His perfect timing. God will be able to bless us with only the best of the best, because we humbled ourselves under His promise to the end that we gladly received from God.
Let's look at a promise from God, "Beloved I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers" (3John 1:2). This one promise can be applied in all areas of our lives. God's wish above all things is that we might be successful and in good health. It does not say He wishes for us to fail in our endeavors, or for us to be sickly. No...no...it says "...I wish above all things that you may prosper [succeed] and be in health [good health]." That's what it says, and that's what it means.
God loves us so much, and He wants only the best for us. To start with, He wants us to believe with our hearts that He raised Jesus from the dead so that we might be filled with holy spirit (see Romans 10:9-10). This is to be made righteous and cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. He wants us to confess with our mouths the Lord Jesus and get saved from the terrible day of tribulation prophesied of in the book of Revelations. This is about the new birth. Once we have been born-again we are sealed with God's holy spirit of promise and everlasting life in heaven is set before us. This is just the starting point of a victoriously more than abundant life of success and good health. It's about a life of receiving promise after promise while faithfully serving the God and Father our Lord Jesus Christ.
God so lovingly wants to continually bless each one of us. Let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God's word and promises that He may bless and exalt us in due time, so that we might glorify Him in every area of our lives. Cast all our anxious fears, desires and needs upon Him by prayer and supplication because He so lovingly cares for us. Let our requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving. And the peace from God which surpasses all understanding, absolutely shall guard our hearts and thoughts through Christ Jesus our Lord. And finally, whatever we pray for, actively believe to receive it in due time that we might be exalted by God
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