People are being overcome with stress in these last days. And it doesn’t have to be this way, at least not for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, far too many Christians are living lives filled with care and worry, just like the world.
So, what does the Bible say about all of this?
“Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.” Philippians 4:6 Amplified Bible
What exactly is care and worry? Well, in the Greek it means, “to be pulled in different directions.” In other words, your hopes and dreams are pulling you in one direction, all the while fear and anxiety are trying to pull you in another.
In fact, worry is designed to strangle you. It strangles your faith, your hope, your dreams, and even your motivation.
According to the Bible, we can live a care free, anxiety free, worry free, life. And how do we go about accomplishing this? Well, we take personal responsibility to roll all of our care over on to Jesus, as we will discover in the passage of scripture below.
By telling us not to fret or worry, He is telling us exactly what to do about our cares and worries. But if we fail to roll them onto Him, they will continue to ride on our own backs.
Perhaps you’ve never considered this, but your outlook on life does make a huge difference as to how your life turns out. Because let’s face it, when you live worry free, your life is better. Much better, in fact.
If you will research it you will discover that more people are sick because of worry than any other one thing. And worry is a sin. Most Christians criticize those with other habits, but the worry habit is the worst habit that there is.
You will never come to the place where living worry free is automatic, however. You have to continue to practice the Word in this area continually, just as you do in every other area of your walk with the Lord.
“6 Therefore humble yourselves [demote, lower yourselves in your own estimation] under the mighty hand of God, that in due time He may exalt you, 7 Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.” 1 Peter 5:6-7 AMP
As we have established, God wants us care free, worry free and anxiety free. If we will cast them all over onto Him as He has instructed us to do, then He will work on them for us even while we are sleeping!
And I might add, that the reason a lot of prayers are not answered is because we hold on to these things. You see, you can’t live in worry and fear, then you are choking the faith out of your prayer life.
I realize that casting your cares onto the Lord is not always easy for the natural mind or the flesh, but it is the instruction of the Holy Spirit for our lives, and we must do it.
Now here is how this works: It is from your spirit that you cast your cares upon the Lord. Your body will fight you every step of the way, and so will your mind. But spiritual growth becomes more and more evident when you live from you spirit, allowing your born again spirit to dominate you, and not your mind and body.
“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2 Peter 1: 4 KJV
The Word of God must be first place in everything. Because if you don’t keep feeding on the Word, your mind will revert back to thinking negatively, and then before long, you will be overcome with care and worry again.
And keep in mind that this is a day by day process of feeding on the Word and renewing the mind (see Romans 12:1).
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Isaiah 26:3 KJV
If you will keep your mind stayed on the Lord, by staying focused on the promises found in His Word, then He will keep you in perfect peace.
If a person is care free, they are happy people. It will show up on their face. It will show up on the outside. They won’t be walking around all glum and burdened and defeated looking.
So, keep looking at your situations through the eyes of faith. Cast all of your cares on the Lord Jesus, and live a worry free life.
