Daily Bread 3-27-17

1 Peter 5:6-8

6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

7 Casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

ref. - Matt 6:25 - Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Lk 12:11 - And when they bring you into the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:

Ph 4:6 - Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

This wonderful benefit of salvation is ours for the taking. Once we have received it from the Lord we must realize that there is nothing too big or too small for our God. He cares enough for us that he let his son die on a tree as an example of righteousness and an everlasting sacrifice for our sin. We must not get haughty or too big in that we have received this gift though as it can be taken as quickly as it was given. When many hear "cast all your cares upon him", they take it as an open opportunity to make demands and ask for things that are desired instead of needed. If we put the decision of our needs up to God, we will not come out of it wanting. Do not be mistaken, God wants us to have everything that we need and to flourish, but there are some who will set out to deceive us into asking for the wrong things. This is why it says to be sober and vigilant. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, instructed us how and what to pray for when he delivered the sermon on the mount, let us stay on track. There is nothing that the enemy would like more than to see us thinking that we are doing right while, in truth, we are offending the very one who we call Savior. In the deceitful ways of the enemy we will be told to make demands, we will be told that the things of God are our rights, we will even be taken from the very thing that we are told to seek, the Spirit of God. We will be taught to pray long, loud, and vain prayers, thinking that we are being heard for our much speaking and our volume. We will be told that praise and worship is more important than obedience and forbearance, when in truth the word of God says that obedience is better than sacrifice. But the word of God says to take no thought for the things of the world, our lives are much more than the things of this world. He is listening to our hearts and not the sound of our voices. Our lives will be taken care of as long as we are taking care of what belongs to the Lord, our souls. The Spirit within us is what determines everything about us, so why not seek after the Spirit of our creator to dwell within our souls? Without this, we may attain all that the world has to offer, but in the end, we will not receive eternal life. The only way to get this wonderful Spirit is to humble ourselves and to pray for things of the Spirit. All of our defense, our needs, and eventually our entrance into eternity, will be given to us the hour that it is necessary if we can only humble ourselves and know that without Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit we can do nothing. Keep up your spiritual guard and know that as David came from the Lion's den, and as David slew Goliath, as Paul walked out of that prison, and especially as Christ walked out of that tomb so will we come out more than conquerors in Jesus Christ if we remain humble, prayerful, and faithful!! Have a great day!!!