Every one of us should have a desire to have more power with God and to come under His protection. Several years ago, God impressed upon my mind the importance of having this type of a relationship with Him. I want to have a relationship of protection and power with God. I called it “The Umbrella of Protection and Power.” This is the second blog in a series on this subject.
There is a relationship between pride and self-respect. Pride that leads to self-respect is controlled pride. We must have self-respect, which is a sense of self-value or self-esteem. This is seeing ourselves as God sees us. However, the pride that God hates is uncontrolled pride and it motivates the works of our flesh. This is the pride where the “I” is in control. “P-r-I-d-e” where the big “I” is in the center and dominates.
If I want protection from God, it will only come through my submission. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:5-7, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (KJV) It is better to humble ourselves than to have God humble us!
To humble myself requires self-discipline. It means that I must deny myself and bring myself under authority. However, by humbling myself to God I place myself under the “Umbrella of His Protection and Power.” Notice also that by humbling myself to God I am also now the recipient of a great benefit from God. The offer given to me is that I can cast my cares, my anxieties and worries upon Him. He cares about me. He will also take care of all my worries.
Submission does not know distinction. Peter tells us to submit ourselves to our Elders. We need to understand that Peter is writing to the Church and is not talking of age when he uses the terms younger and Elder. The word younger, as used here, speaks of one that is new or fresh. We would call them a Beginner, or Rookie. The word Elder speaks of those who would be the ministry and Spiritual Guides of the Church. He also directs us to submit to one another. We need to put humbleness on as a “cover-all!” By doing so we give ourselves protection from pride, arrogance and insolence. We must submit ourselves to God! This brings us under His protection. It makes us reliant on His power. It also allows God to exalt us.
I have noticed that when we read certain passages of the Bible, which have become familiar to us, we sometimes fail to read all the scriptures that pertain to the subject. For example, we often use 1 Peter 5:7 to say God wants us to give Him all of our cares. Yet we fail to include the condition to be able to cast our cares upon Him is our submission. We quote James 4:7 saying if we resist the devil he will flee from us. Yet we fail to include the first part of the verse that tells us to submit ourselves to God. By missing these key components, we set ourselves up for failure and frustration.
Paul gives us key instructions, in Ephesians 5:21-33, regarding our relationship as the Church with God. He likens the Church to the wife of Christ and likens Christ as the husband of the Church. In this instruction, he tells the wife to submit herself to her husband just as the Church submits to Christ. He instructs the husband to love his wife and give her the same sort of love that Christ gives the Church. We place emphasis upon the wife submitting herself to her husband. However, again, we often fail to read the first verse on this subject and here Paul tells us in verse 21, “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” (KJV) Paul tells us we need to submit ourselves to each other. That would be wives submit yourself to your husband. In addition, husbands submit yourselves unto your wife!
Paul is instructing us to submit ourselves unto each other because of our commitment to Christ. By doing so, we again bring ourselves under the “Umbrella of Protection.” Here is how the Protection works: Christ protects all under His “Umbrella of Protection.” Through submission to Christ and to his wife, the husband comes under the “Umbrella” of Christ and protects those under his own “Umbrella” which would be his wife and his children. Through submission to her husband and to Christ, the wife is under the “Umbrella” of her husband and the “Umbrella” of Christ. This submission protects those under her “Umbrella” her husband and her children.
Nothing can get to the submitted wife without passing through the “Umbrella of Protection” that her submitted husband has placed over her. Nothing can get to the husband without passing through the “Umbrella of Protection” that a submitted wife has placed over him. Nothing can get to their family without passing through these “Umbrellas” and the “Umbrella of Protection” that Christ places over those living in submission. He gave Himself for His bride!
The enemy of our soul would have us to live in fear of submission! This is a lie of the enemy. He refused submission choosing rather to rebel. When we hear the word “submit” he paints a picture of a mouse, a door mat, weakness and being timid. However, we find that true power comes to us as we submit ourselves to God. In fact, in Matthew 5 as Jesus is teaching what we call the “Beatitudes” His first one tells us they way to receive the Kingdom of God is to realize that we are nothing without Him. The third one tells us if we are meek, submitted, we will inherit the earth. We will be victorious! These are just the opposite of what we would naturally assume to be true.
God somehow help us to realize the power and protection that will come to our lives when we submit ourselves to you and to others. There is power in submission.
This is the second in the series “The Umbrella of Power and Protection.”
It’s Just a Thought…God Bless!
