Casting all your anxieties

1 Peter 5:7 casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

Do you have something that constantly concerns you? Is there an aspect of your life, or that of a family member, that worries you?  Is there something going on that causes you to be distracted? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then welcome to the Worriers Club.

If I had a nickel for every time someone told me to “give it up to God” I would be a rich man. After a while that phrase can grow to be very tiresome, and even irritating.  After all how do you really go about giving something up to God?  Do you try to hand it to him?  If so, where are his hands?  ;-) Do you try to tell him about it? Have you ever really given it serious thought? So, how do you go about “giving it up to God” or cast all your anxieties on him? It can be an easy thing to do. But in my experience it has been tough to let God keep it without trying to wrestle it back.

First of all there is a little matter of remembering who is really in charge of our lives. If you answer that question with “I am in charge of my life” then I wish you the best in all of your future endeavors and the many worries you have to look forward to.  If however you answered “God is in charge of my life” then congratulations. You remembered the most important aspect of being a believer.  We need only look a few more versus in at 1 Peter 5 to see the correct answer. “To Him be the dominion forever and ever, Amen.” The key word there is dominion. He is in charge of all things. Another clear example of this comes from Matthew 26: 38-39. Then He said to them,"My soul is sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me. ” And going a little farther He fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, it if be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  These two scriptural references give us excellent guidance on the order of things in our lives. 

Rule number one. God is in charge. Rule number two. Refer to rule number one.  Armed with this knowledge we have the tools we need to come before our Lord in prayer. We give it up to God in prayer. We turn our troubles, our worries, all our anxieties over to the Lord. For is it by His will all things are accomplished. The one who breathed life into Adam, and spoke creation into existence is capable of all things. When we surrender our will to the will of God we know that all is well. We are comforted that it will be to His plan, not ours.  And when we are tempted to take our problems back so that we can worry about them some more or try to fix them, we have to remember about rule number one. Give it up in prayer and keep giving it up in prayer. It is a nice way to be reminded that God is the source of all of our hope. We know from 1 Peter 5: 10 “the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Amen.

PRAYER: Blessed are You God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have dominion over all things on earth and in heaven. We ask that You comfort us with Your peace that surpasses all understanding. We ask that Your will be done in our lives and not our will. We ask, dear Lord, that You would guide our steps along the path that You have laid before us. Let there be more of You and less of us in all that we are and all that we do. We ask this in the name of Your Son, who gave Himself on the cross for all mankind. Amen.