1 Peter 5:6-7

“6 So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

In an effort to conquer fear, Christians often quote 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” but that only gives us a partial picture. If we want a more complete picture when it comes to casting our care we need to include the verse preceding, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor.” Conquering fear doesn’t start with casting it starts with capitulation. A fear free life:

• Starts with Surrender

Instead of living scared lives we are called to live surrendered lives. Dealing with fear means living by faith, which requires that we turn to and trust in God. For many submission has a negative connotation because we have a perverted perspective, we see submission as giving up or giving in, when it really involves gain. Submission frees us from having to figure everything out. Instead of having to be in charge and trying to carry the burdens we give control to Christ. Submission to the Savior doesn’t take away our freedom rather it lets us live free lives, because instead of us having to try we get to trust. Submission is turning over control to Christ, its letting the Redeemer take the reigns. One of the reasons we cast our cares only to real them back in is that we have never really surrendered control to Christ. We come to Him to fix our problems not to fall on our face and yield to His plan. We want the help we just want it our way. This isn’t just seeking God in the scared times but submitting to him at all times. I would suggest that one of the real reasons we are living scared lives is because we are trusting in self and not the Savior. As a result everything rests on us instead of resting on the Redeemer. We will never cast what we try to carry. Living a fear free life starts with submission which leads to a:

• Humble Heart.

Inseparably linked to submission is the virtue of humility. A humble heart is the result of a surrendered heart. Verse 5 exhorts all of us, both young and old alike to clothe ourselves with humility, “And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” This is not just a call to humility it’s being clothed with humility. The word clothe here refers to a servant’s garment, literally the apron of a slave that was worn over their other clothing and tied with a knot. Once this garment was on, the slave was ready for their task. Likewise we will never be of service to God until we clothe ourselves with Christ’s humility. I wonder how many saints would be scantily clad if they were clothed only in their humility? Until we clothe ourselves in true humility we will never cultivate a heart of humility. How does a humble heart combat fear, by freeing us from the poison of pride. Pride produces an attitude of arrogance and if you don’t recognize pride it will slowly and silently slip in and poison your life. Pride promises us fame but delivers failure. Instead of living a faithful life we end up living a foolish one. Life becomes about self-effort instead of the Savior. It becomes about my work instead His. Pride puts us on a never ending path of performance. Instead of resting in the finished work of redemption we end up running on the never ending treadmill of trying. And no matter how much we achieve it’s never enough. Pride was the poison that Satan used in the garden of Eden to taint Eves thinking, Genesis 3:4 “The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5″For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” Pride causes us to compete with God instead of communing with Him. Instead of an exciting life we live an exhausted one. Are you tired of the treadmill of trying, do you recognize pride in your life, are you ready to resist it? If you want to succeed then you need to stop trying and start trusting. Pride causes us to work at promoting self, but humility frees us from the endless work of promoting self to the worthwhile work of proclaim Christ. Instead of spend our lives serving self we spend them serving the Savior. We protect against pride by positioning ourselves under the powerful hand of God. The key to success is submission to the Savior. We need to remember that Christ is the commander and he calls the shots. The antidote to arrogance is admitting that we need the Almighty, it takes a humble heart to hide under God’s mighty hand. The humble find protection but the prideful find hardship. In Daniel chapter 10 we find Daniel in deep distress, he had had a vision and had sought the Lord for answers. Verse 12 reveals the reason for God’s answer, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer.” It was a heart of humility that caused heaven to hear. When we humble ourselves under His hand we find help but when trust in self we end up suffering. Pride will always keep you from prayer, but a humble heart provides protection. When it comes to humility C.S. Lewis offers us some great insight: “Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less.” When we put ourselves in our rightful place, God lifts us up at the right time. Pride is the plague of our time, selfishness is the sickness that has infected our society and one of the symptoms of selfishness is fear. But servants of the Savior are not focused on fear and bound up in the bondage of worry because they are busy engaged in the work. Are you wasting your energy in worry or engaged in the work? Humility means having the heart of Christ, the One who though He was God yet for our sakes emptied Himself and became a bond servant. Philippians 2: tells us that He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. John 13 tells us that He wrapped a servant’s towel around His waist and washed His disciple’s feet. What are you wrapped up in today is it an apron of service or an attitude of selfishness? Are you wrapped up in His work or your worry?

Joshua 1:1-11

“1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— 4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. 10 Joshua then commanded the officers of Israel, 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Not only is there a promise to pursue, power provided to pursue it, a presence we need to perceive, and a plan to participate in but there is:

• A person to prepare

It’s not just about participating in God’s plan but about letting Christ changed us in the process. God doesn’t just want to work through you He also wants to work in you. It’s here as God was preparing His people to enter the Promised Land that we discover several key truths about the life we should lead:

1. Learn to make the Bible your base

Verse 6 says: “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.” Learn simply to trust and believe what God says. We often get so worked up and wrapped up over different theological debates that we lose sight of the point of what God is saying. Learn to be basic, take God at His Word, if He said it that settles it. Look Christianity is not complex it involves believing God and then acting on that belief. Our behavior reveals what we believe and while many of us say we believe God our behavior would beg to differ. Are you behaving in a way that contradicts your belief? Living a basic life simplifies things; it protects us from majoring on the minors. Not only should we learn to live a basic life but we also need to:

2. Live a balanced life.

Verse 7 says “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.” How do you bring balance into your life, by filtering everything, including your feelings through the Word of God. Are you looking to and accepting God’s Word for every area of our life or just part of it. Isn’t it amazing that we will pray about an opportunity to serve Jesus but not about serving self. If we are going to live balanced lives then we have to live by the book. Only the bible can bring balance. Today we have a culture out of control because we have banned the bible. Not only should we be basic and balanced but as believers we need to:

3. Lead and be bold.

Verse 9 says: “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God has not called us to live in fear but by faith. It’s time for Christians to stop cowering and start courageous leading. We are letting the culture set the standard for our kids and as a result we are reaping confusion. Why do we need to take the lead, because when the culture gets the reigns it always runs things to ruin. As Christians we need to lead in love which runs contrary to our culture that is leading in lust. Instead of a culture of sacrifice and serving we have become a self-seeking one. Look at our current political climate, it is one of pride and corruption not one of humility and character.  As long as the church cowers to the culture there will be confusion. The current of cultural confusion has carried us to the dangerous place of living out what we want regardless of God’s Will. We are now making policies based on sexual preference not what’s safe for our kids. Anyone who disagrees is despised and degraded, but basing your beliefs on the bible doesn’t make you a bigot. It’s time for the church to rise up and boldly declare our belief in a wicked and world.  God has not called us to cower and live in defeat but base our lives on the bible and be bold.

4. Learn to believe

After God’s call for Joshua to be courageous Joshua then, “commanded the officers of Israel, 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Sometimes our greatest wars come in the waiting. Waiting can be one of the greatest times of testing. In Joshua 3:5 they are told to worship and “consecrate” themselves. This word suggests separation but interestingly, it also means “shining.” When we give ourselves fully to the Lord we’re separated from selfish desires and we end up shining Jesus to those we serve. Sanctification must come before service because living right is a result of being right with God. It’s here that we learn to worship not worry in the waiting. Many of us tent to waste our times of waiting in worry. Instead of letting times of waiting connect us with Christ in meaningful worship we waste them in worry. Instead of seeing waiting as profitable we see it as a pain. Instead of resting in Him we rush into ruin. Look it’s not uncommon for God to ask His people to wait and as they did they had a growing awareness of the human impossibility of what God was calling them to do. The river wasn’t getting any lower or any slower. They knew there were giants on the other side and that they needed God. Waiting can causes us to turn and trust or to turn and try to take over. It wasn’t just that they had to wait but they were called to wait for three days which is also a common time frame in scripture:

Joshua 3:2          “After three days the officers went through the camp…”

Exodus 19:11     “Be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down.”

Esther 4:16        “When this is done [three days] I will go into the king.”

Hosea 6:2           “…on the third day He will restore us.”

Jonah 1:17         “…and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”

These Old Testament occurrences laid the groundwork for the ultimate third day, when Jesus was raised from the dead. This is the greatest day in the history, when Christ won the war. We are third-day people and the reason God wants us to wait is because it’s in the waiting that we witness His wonder. It’s in the waiting that we get to see what only God can do. In the waiting don’t worry worship, because worship is declaring God’s worth to a watching world. God is in the business of transformation He is preparing you not only for what He is going to do through you but also in you. The question is, are you going to cooperate with Christ or complain?