Cast All Your Anxieties on God…But How?

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Have you ever thought about how we are told in the Bible to give all our worries and concerns to God? Ok, but have you ever thought, “How do I do that?” Today we are going to give you a strategy for that. 

 

Life is hectic isn’t it? Not too long ago, I came across a Snoopy comic strip, or a Peanuts comic strip, and it said – it’s Charlie Brown and Linus sitting by the fence – and this is what it said:

 

(Peanuts comic strip credit to Peanuts Worldwide @ schulzmuseum.org)

This is from Charles Schultz. It’s a comic strip. I thought comics were supposed to be funny! It caught my interest, and I realized that it struck a chord with me – Charlie Brown’s words did.

See, I can remember periods in my life when I would live by this philosophy.  I didn't choose to live this way; it just seemed to be my default setting when things got really busy or when things got tough.

If only I can make it to Friday afternoon, the weekend will be better.
If only I finish grad school, I can get out of this job and get a really good one.
If only I can find a better job or get a transfer to a better school,  or a better area, or closer to home; things will be better.
If only I can survive my child's terrible twos, or fours, or twelves, or teens; things will get easier.
If only I can get caught up on these work deadlines; my days will be more relaxed.
If only I can get past my required daily routine; I will have time to rest.

I could go on and on, but the point is that I was living during those times by just "mentally surviving" day by day. My hope was in some potential future state of "better,”just a future better than “right now.”

Now maybe I am only one of a small percentage of people in the world who ever lives this way. Though, I suspect I'm not. I suspect there are many who put on a happy face sometimes; but inside they are just getting through, day by day.

With thoughts like…

If only I made more money....
If only I could find the right boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse....
If only this bad thing hadn't happened in my past...
If only I could make time to go on vacation....
If only someone hadn't left me....or if that person hadn’t passed away....

Stop. Just stop.

There’s a better way. There’s a better daily philosophy, Charlie Brown! And let me tell you that philosophy is based on this:

 

"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." - 1 Peter 5:7

And now, that is exactly what I do. When I wake up, and as I'm getting ready for the day, I just cast it over to Him. Oftentimes, if it’s really something that’s got ahold of me or I can’t stop ruminating over, I will actually imagine myself, close my eyes and visuallyimagine that I have a really large sack with all these things that could potentially be dreadful or anxiety producing or just not fun. It’s a big sack like a big stuffed laundry bag, and I just visual myself tossing it, and Jesus catching it. 

 

I don't even ask for anything specific. I don't ask for any particular outcome. I literally in my vision or in my imagination, my visual imagination, I just toss it to Him. It says cast! So I cast it! Toss it! 

He asked for our anxieties! It finally dawned on me that if we don't give our anxieties to Him after He asked for them; then we are just taking responsibility for making our own mess in our own heads. 

The reason I typically do not ask for a particular outcome is because I can trust that He already knows the best outcome -- and if I give it to Him; with no strings attached, and with no demands for a particular outcome, then He will work out what He wants -- in His way - without my interference.  

And His way is much better than our ways. His way is better than my way. This strategy helps to developwithin me a better attitude. His way helps me to focus on the positive and on the small victories andthe pleasant moments within each day.

At the end of the day, you know what I find? And I think you would find the same at the end of each day, if you tried this strategy. I find this:

My way brings me overwhelm and stress.
His way brings me peace and rest. 

 

Typically, my prayer will sound something like this: 

"Lord, I wake up. I don't even know what to ask for or what to look for today. I'm starting to feel stressed about all I have to do, and I'm becoming overwhelmed. I just give it to you. Go before me and work things out according to what you know is best. I know it may be a tough day; but I am trusting you to get me through...and get my through with a right attitude."

 

God is with us in spirit day by day.  When we remember this as often as we can throughout the day; if at the beginning of the day we “toss” those things – just toss that bag of worries and concerns over to him, and "practice His presence" throughout the day as well, then everything changes in perspective.

 

Let me close with this verse:

"Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life." -Psalms 143:8 (NIV)

 

If we are, in the morning, putting our trust in Jesus, giving over our concerns to Him, and doing this because if we can entrust Him with our lives, then surely we can trust Him with our day. 

 

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If you would like to learn simple, practical ways to walk with God every single day, then you would really enjoy Closer to God: Simple Methods, Starting Today

If you want to learn more deeply and fully about what Jesus taught, then you would enjoy He Called: 56 Daily Studies and Reflections with the Words of Christ.

The author also interacts with her readers on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GospelLifeBooks

Author's other books can  be found at: https://www.amazon.com/Sherry-Elaine-Evans

What Is Active Faith? Should I Be Worried If I Think I Don’t Have It?

You may listen to the 10 minute audio right here on the website by clicking on the Pod Player for the episode title below.  You may listen as you read also. If you prefer to simply read the message, just keep scrolling past the past the podcast player to find your traditionally written blog post. 

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What is “Active Faith” Anyway? Should I Worry If I Think I Don’t Have It?

 

 

What is active faith? Take just a second and think about how you would answer that question. 

Many of us have ideas about this related to different types of works or service related to faith. 

Active faith, however, at its basis, is very simple. 

 

If you study the words and actions of Jesus in the entire books of Matthew and Mark, you will learn that active faith is the faith that enables you to discern where God is working in your life and in the lives of those around you. You will also see that, over and over again, people were praised by Jesus for their faith when they did nothing more than this: they made an effort to come to Jesus for help. 

 

We’ve been complicating the idea of “active faith” or “faith vs. works” for way too long, and it’s time to truly understand what it is and how powerful it is.  

Over and over again, Jesus praised individuals for their great faith based on just one choice that person made. And that choice was the decision and the action to come to Jesus for help. 

 

 

• When the paralyzed man’s friends brought him to Jesus for healing, Jesus acted when he saw their faith. (Matthew 9)

• When the women with internal bleeding pushed her way through to the crowd to get to Jesus, he praised her for her faith. (Mark 5)

• Jairus’s daughter was healed due to his faith, and the only action he had taken was to go to Jesus. (Matthew 9)

• When the blind man, Bartimaeus called out to Jesus and requested that his eyesight be restored, Jesus healed him and credited Bartimaeus’s act of faith. (Mark 10)

 

 

In every instance, the action these persons were praised for was this: they believed enough to actually come to Jesus, to make an effort to get to Him, and to ask Him for help. They believed that Jesus could intervene and do what they asked of him. And Jesus called that FAITH. 

 

How does this apply today? 

 

Even the well known verse in Hebrews 11:1 gives us a direct definition of true faith. It says that faith is defined in part as “the evidence of things not seen.”  

Friends, our answered prayers are the evidence of the unseen actions and activity that God takes when we pray. 

Authentic, heartfelt prayer by a person who is following Jesus and allowing themselves to be changed by Him and his teachings - this is what leads to the evidence, the outcomes, that gives us strong faith. However, we have to be attuned to it. We have to remember what we have prayed and wait and record the answer, because the answer is the evidence. 

 

In the early first century, for three years the people who lived near where Jesus was had the privilege of being able to go to him in person and get an immediate response to their request. Today, we go to Jesus in spirit – through prayer. The quality of our prayer life is probably the number one indicator of our level of active faith. We are told over and over again by Christ, and then later by his disciples, that we should bring all of our concerns to God. Not just the big concerns. All of them. (1 Peter 5:7) If we are doing that, if we are truly bringing all of our concerns, the big ones and small ones, to God, and doing so with belief and trust that He can and may intervene if it is within His will for us – then we are demonstrating great, active, faith. 

 

So in closing, up until now, what has the term active faith meant to you? And now, after you have considered how Jesus himself defined and identified those with great faith, How would you define “active faith” now? Are we all capable of demonstratingthis type of active faith in such a manner on a daily basis? How do we think our lives might transform if we do? 

 

Let’s truly consider these questions. Do we take all our concerns to God daily? Or do we fret and stress for hours or even days first? Do we wear ourselves out before we finally realize we need to talk to God? I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of concerns over the course of the week or over a month. There is no way I can take all those concerns to God and then look for the evidence of a response without somehow keeping track of my prayers.

 

Here is a tip to help, if you need it.  If you haven't started a prayer journal yet -- start one. It is a simple record of your prayers in which you track and then you date when you first prayed the prayer, and then later you review your list of requests and mark down when and how each request is answered.  Don’t wait until you have the perfect journal to start your prayer journal. Grab a basic notebook, a sheet of paper, the back of an envelope, whatever you have available at this moment and write down your prayer concerns and take them to God. I don’t even use a notebook anymore. Now I just use my laptop. I have a word document on my laptop and I just type my prayer concerns in that document and take them to God. I can even put a private password on the word document so it cannot be opened by anyone else, so that all those concerns are between only me and God, and perhaps some of the angels. 

 

Just the act of having a prayer journal and reviewing it supports the growth of continuing in great faith! How can you deny what God has done for you if you have kept, and are keeping, an ongoing record of prayer results in your life? There is nothing I can think of that you can do to track the work of God in your life other than keeping a prayer journal.  You often times will even start to see how God is working even when prayers seem unanswered or seem to be a “no.” If there is one thing I want to encourage my readers and listeners to do, it is to keep a prayer journal and review it and update it regularly. I cannot stress enough how much this will empower both your prayer life, and your faith life!

 

Finally, if you need help with the practical aspects of prayer, such as a simple prayer method or as simple process for “tracking your prayers,” I will be covering those topics soon in these podcasts and on this blog this season. If you do not want to wait and think you need some help right now, I have written a short, but powerful book which can be found on Amazon. It is called Closer to God: Simple Methods, Starting Today. I have received good feedback from many who have read it, and they have told me it has helped them to renew and get re-motivated again in their daily relationship with God. It’s just a resource I want my readers and listeners to know is readily available if anyone is trying to think of some renewed strategies to help us with our spiritual motivation and to be more present with God in our day to day lives. Again it is titled, Closer to God: Simple Methods, Starting Today and it is published under the author name, Sherry Elaine Evans. 

 

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Click here and enter email to be notified as soon as the next post or episode is released

If you would like to learn simple, practical ways to walk with God every single day, then you would really enjoy Closer to God: Simple Methods, Starting Today

Book on Amazon

 

If you want to learn more deeply and fully about what Jesus taught, then you would enjoy He Called: 56 Daily Studies and Reflections with the Words of Christ. There are also 14 videos that go along with this book on this blog here: Teachings of Jesus videos

 

The author also interacts with her readers on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/GospelLifeBooks

 

Author's other books can  be found at: https://www.amazon.com/Sherry-Elaine-Evans

Epiosodes and more also found on our YouTube channel: