Willing to be Humbled under the Mighty Hand of God and standing in the True Grace of God

God gives grace to the humble but He resists the proud, so we need to guard ourselves with humility toward one another and be willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, and we need to enjoy the God of all grace, the true grace of God in which we enter and stand.

Hallelujah for the grace of God in the epistles of Peter, the grace unveiled in so many aspects for our experience and enjoyment as we live the Christian life under the government of God!

In 1 Pet. 1 we see the multiplication of grace, which is the grace that multiplies in our daily life in the full knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grace is not only something we enjoy of God; grace is multiplied to us through our sufferings and limitations, for it is in these things that we can enjoy Christ as our Burden-bearer.

The prophets in the Old Testament prophesied concerning the grace that was to come to us (1 Pet. 1:10); this grace is not only Christ as our grace but even more, the salvation of our soul.

They tried to look into it and understand it, but this mystery is revealed to us only in the New Testament in spirit, and we can experience God’s full salvation by the application of the Spirit of Christ.

The grace on which we believers set our hope perfectly will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ (v. 13); this grace is the salvation of the soul as the consummation of God’s full salvation.

In 1 Pet. 2:19-20 we are told of having grace with God; this is a specific mention of grace referring to the motivation of the divine life within us and its expression in our living, which becomes in our behaviour gracious and acceptable in the eyes of both man and God.

Even in the midst of sufferings, we can have grace with God, for our enjoyment of God as grace issues in our becoming a reproduction of Christ as our model, according to His God-man living.

In 1 Pet. 3:7 we are told of the grace of life, of which the husbands and wives are heirs; this grace of life is the inheritance of all the believers, whether strong or weak.

We were given to inherit the grace of life, for we are vessels to contain the grace of life. Praise the Lord!

1 Pet. 4:10 mentions the varied grace of God; this refers to the riches of the grace of God in its varieties ministered by the saints one to another.

When we come together and each one has, when we share what we enjoyed and experienced of Christ, each one has a particular aspect of the grace of Christ that he shares with the others, and in this way, we build up the church through ministering the varied grace of God. Hallelujah!

Being Willing to be made Humble under the Mighty Hand of God for He gives grace to the Humble but Resists the Proud

In 1 Pet. 5:5 we are told that the young men should be subject to elders, and we all should gird ourselves with humility toward one another because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Amen!

In the church life, we all need to gird ourselves with humility toward one another; both the elders and the saints need to gird themselves with humility.

In 1 Pet. 1:13 we need to gird up the loins of our mind, but in 5:5 we are told that our entire being needs to be girded with humility.

This comes from Peter’s vivid memory of how the Lord humbled himself to wash the disciples’ feet, especially Peter’s (John 13:4-7), and He girded Himself with humility.

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble; if we consider ourselves being better or higher than others, God will resist us, actively opposing us, but if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will give us grace.

To be proud is to show ourselves above others, to think or have the attitude that we are better or superior to others. Oh, Lord!

Instead of being proud or showing ourselves above others, we should gird ourselves with the apron of humility. God gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud.

The Triune God Himself as the life supply is multiplied to the believer willing to be humbled.

All the saints in the church life need to gird themselves with humility one to another so that we may enjoy God as the grace-giver; to gird ourselves with humility is to be willing to submit to one another.

A basic requirement for us to enjoy grace as we live the Christian life under God’s government is to be willing to be made humble under the mighty hand of God.

When God measures to us certain environments which cause us to suffer, the purpose is always to humble us.

Humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and invites God’s grace; pride, however, makes us a top fool (James 4:6; Psa. 138:6; Prov. 29:23).

We need to be reminded, when we sense a feeling in us that we are better or higher than others, that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

There is no way, however, not to be proud in ourselves, for our flesh is a flesh of pride; therefore, the Lord in His government comes in to discipline us so that we may be humbled.

May we be willing to be made humble, lowly, under the mighty hand of God in His discipline; may we allow Him to deal with our inner being and the haughtiness in our attitude so that we may be made humble under His mighty hand.

Also, may we throw our life with its care upon God, for He cares for us lovingly and faithfully (1 Pet. 5:5-7; Psa. 55:22).

As we encounter persecution and sufferings, worries and anxieties may come upon us; the more the Lord deals with us and the more suffering we encounter, the more we may worry and be full of anxieties.

Especially in the married life, as the Lord deals with us in such an intimate way, we may have much anxiety and worries; the more things we have, the more anxieties we may have.

We need to cast all our cares upon Him, for it matters to him concerning us.

The disciplining and judging God has a loving concern for us, especially as we go through sufferings and persecutions.

Yes, He does allow suffering and persecution, and yes, He deals with us by His mighty hand to make us humble; however, it matters to Him concerning us, so we should cast all our cares upon Him.

We need to take all our cares and cast them on the Lord; He is not only mighty and just, but He also is loving and faithful concerning us, His people, and it matters to Him concerning us.

The Lord is faithful to use many environments to strike us time after time and subdue us by His mighty hand.

The more we are humbled, the more we enjoy grace; the more we are made low, the more we’re delivered from ourselves, and the more we enjoy His multiplied grace.

And if worries and anxieties come – and they do come to us and to all men on the face of the earth, when we worry concerning our situation and how long will this suffering environment last, we should call on the Lord to cast all our anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning us. Amen!

If we cast our burden on the Lord, He will sustain us, for He will not allow the righteous to be moved.

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to live the Christian life under the government of God by girding ourselves with humility toward one another. May we be always reminded that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Amen, Lord, make us willing to be humbled under the mighty hand of God so that we may receive grace and enjoy multiplied grace. Cause us to see that the mighty hand of God operates in our environment to subdue us and make us lowly and humble so that we may enjoy more grace. Lord, we cast all our cares upon You for it matters to You concerning us. We give You all our anxieties and worries concerning our situation, our condition, our suffering, and the things we go through – we give these all to You! Thank You, dear Lord, for being not only a mighty and just God but also a God who is loving and faithful toward us, for it matters to You concerning us!

The God of All Grace will Perfect and Establish us to Enter into the True Grace of God and Stand in it!

Brothers and sisters, the God of all grace, He who has called you and me into His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself perfect us, establish us, strengthen us, and ground us, after we have suffered a little while (1 Pet. 5:10).

God called us all into His eternal glory, and He is the God of all grace. The all grace is the perfecting grace, the establishing grace, the strengthening grace, and the grounding grace.

God perfects us, establishes us, strengthens us, and grounds us by grace through the channel of suffering.

We have weaknesses and sufferings, and every day we pass through sufferings; but the God of all grace is perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and grounding us through sufferings. Hallelujah!

The God of all grace, who has called the believers into His eternal glory, perfects, establishes, strengthens, and grounds them through their sufferings.

This all grace is the true grace of God into which we believers in Christ should enter and in which we should stand (v. 12).

Even though we have sufferings and the Lord’s mighty hand is upon us, even though sometimes we may be anxious, we need to lift our head up because our God is the God of all grace.

He has predestinated us to enter into His eternal glory, and in the process of bringing us into glory, He has measured us many sufferings.

Through these sufferings, He will perfect us and establish us. To perfect is to perfectly join together.

In our natural life, we are all divided; even though we may become familiar with someone, we feel the need to guard ourselves from them, for they may hurt us if they get too close to us.

But the God of all grace will Himself perfect us, adjust us, repair us, and even educate and supply us to such an extent that we are perfectly joined together with the fellow members in the Body of Christ.

Yes, on one hand, the mighty hand of God is upon us to humble us and make us lowly, and we need to be humbled under His mighty hand so that we may receive and enjoy God as grace.

At the same time, if there are any anxieties and worries, we can cast them upon the Lord, for it matters to Him concerning us.

Also, through this process of sufferings, being humbled, enjoying grace, and casting all our cares on the Lord, we enjoy the God of all grace, and He establishes and perfects us to enter into the true grace of God and stand in it!

As He perfects us, he establishes us; He strengthens us, and eventually, He will also ground us so that we may be rooted and grounded in His love (Eph. 3:17).

This is the true grace of God; there may be some graces that are not true, and many people in the world consider that material things are God’s grace – but this is not the true grace of God.

The real grace is Christ Himself, and the experience of the supply of grace is often through sufferings so that we may enjoy His multiplied grace.

The true grace of God is the grace in which, together with the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the believers should grow unto His glory both now and unto the day of eternity.

This is the concluding word of the apostle Peter’s writings, indicating that whatever he has written is of, in, by, and through the grace of God (2 Pet. 3:18).

We need to grow in this grace and grow by grace; we need to grow in the knowledge of the Lord by realizing what Christ is and enjoying the reality of what He is.

May we daily grow in grace, experience grace, enter into the true grace of God and stand in it!

Hallelujah, the God of all grace called us into His eternal glory, and He will perfect, establish, strengthen, and ground us through our sufferings! Amen, Lord, we open to You again and again; grant us the supply of grace we need for this moment, for this day. Even in our sufferings, dear Lord, we open to You to enjoy You as grace. We want to enjoy the God of all grace and enter into the true grace of God and stand in it! Hallelujah, may we grow unto Your glory both now and unto the day of eternity! Keep us growing in grace, enjoying You as grace, and living by the grace of God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msg. 33-34 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Grace of God in the Economy of God (2022 International Chinese-speaking Conference), week 4, entitled, Grace in Peter’s Epistles.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Therefore be humbled under the mighty hand of God that / He may exalt you in due time, in due time, / Casting all anxiety on Him because it matters / to Him concerning you. / Casting all anxiety on Him because it matters / to Him concerning you. (Scripture song)
  – Grace all the work shall crown / Through everlasting days; / It lays in love the topmost stone, / And well deserves the praise. / Oh, let that grace inspire / My heart with strength divine; / May all my powers to Thee aspire, / And all my days be Thine. (Hymns #312)
  – He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, / He sendeth more strength when the labors increase, / To added affliction He addeth His mercy, / To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace… / His love has no limit, His grace has no measure, / His power no boundary known unto men, / For out of His infinite riches in Jesus, / He giveth and giveth and giveth again. (Hymns #723)