So often when praying and asking God to work in your own life or the life of another there is an anxiousness to our asking. We send out an SOS to our church prayer team, our partners or those we know who will join us in prayer.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing this as it’s good to have prayer backing. I know in my own life there have been many occasions when I have prayed from a place of a lack of peace, a place of feeling overwhelmed, crying out, ‘Help me Jesus!’
I have prayed those types of prayer in a variety of situations; healing for myself and others, financial situations, death and life situations like with my own mother whose cancer spread from the breast to the lungs.
I took on the responsibility to pray, ‘If I don’t pray then…..’ There is no rest or peace when we pray from that position.
Jesus said, ‘Casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].’1 Peter 5:7
‘Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders— he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out. He’ll never let good people topple into ruin.’ Psalm 55:22 MSG
We can practise casting our anxieties on the Lord by stepping away from attempts to control our worries and leaning into the reassuring words of God. Once we do this, we can see that our anxiety is not a thing on which we should focus. Instead, we are called to give it up to God.
Letting Go
But how often do we cast our cares, only to take them back in like the fisherman does his line? It’s like my cares are attached to me in some way. If I get something sticky on my fingers it’s difficult to shake it off; I have to wash my hands to completely be free of the sticky substance. It’s been hard for me at times to completely hand my cares over or roll them upon the Lord.
I love how The Passion Translation reads in 1 Peter 5:7: ‘Pour out all your worries and stress upon him and leave them there, for he always tenderly cares for you’.
It’s hard to take back something you have physically poured out, like a glass of water for instance. You can’t put the water back into the glass once it has been poured out.
How many times have you spoken to God about the things that concern me, giving them over to Him, but then taking them back days, weeks, or let’s face it, minutes later. It’s like you hand them over and tell Him, ‘Ok, I’m giving You my anxiety, casting this care on You Jesus - You have it, You take it!’ But then, like the guy who has thrown his cigarettes away because he’s given up smoking, you’re on your hands and knees in the bushes or the trash looking for the very thing you’ve thrown away. Just like a child who is learning to share, for a moment that child may share their favourite toy only to snatch it back shortly afterwards and say, “Mine!’
I began to realise that when I had sticky fingers it was because I didn’t trust Holy Spirit to handle the situation. I had doubts of His ability to fix the problem, and when we lack trust we are also doubting his goodness!
When I have failed to cast my care onto Jesus, this has impacted me in ways that I didn’t initially realise. I would experience unexpected tiredness or feel lethargic because what I was carrying was heavy and weighing me down. I would feel anxious and unsettled because I was worried about potential outcomes. I am a pragmatic type of person, so while I can usually push through things emotionally and mentally and feel like things are all good, physically my body became impacted and told a completely different story.
It is a reminder to me that our spirit, soul and body are all connected. I could control my mind and thoughts giving the illusion that I had handed the thing I was struggling with over to God when I really hadn’t.
This picture may help you to have revelation on casting your care on Jesus.
See yourself standing on a cliff and throwing a huge boulder into a lake. There is no way you would be able to retrieve that boulder from the bottom of the lake, and If you were to hold on to or carry that boulder for too long it could cause permanent damage to your body. When you carry things emotionally that you are not meant to carry, those things can cause damage to your soul.
I want to encourage you to cast your cares upon the Lord. If you have a tendency to hold onto things, ask Holy Spirit what the root cause of your lack of trust is. I discovered that my lack of trust was a father issue. My earthly dad, despite having many great qualities, was abysmal when it came to protection issues. He seemed incapable of standing up for me; I could never count on him to take my side in any situation. His attitude was one of ‘I don’t want to get involved.’ This taught my heart that I was on my own, it was up to me to sort it out even when it wasn’t my mess! I couldn’t trust my dad to protect me in any situation. Without realising it, my perception of God as my Father was coloured by how my dad behaved towards me.
Thank God for the ministry of Sozo that came out of Bethel Church in California, and all the Father heart teaching from John Arnott’s ministry.
Forgiveness was a major key, as I forgave my dad for his lack of protection, (As an adult I understood why my dad was like he was due to his own trauma as a child, but as a child my heart experienced rejection and isolation) I identified the lies that I was believing about Father God, renouncing them and hearing the Holy Spirit replace those lies with truth; my heart received the healing it needed and my heart was free to embrace truth. God was a good father, a father that could be trusted that His word was His bond!
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good and fulfil it?” Numbers 23:19 AMP
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 NLT
God is good to one and all; everything he does is soaked through with grace. Psalm 145:9 MSG
No one is good but One, that is, God. Mark 10:18
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17 NIV
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Psalm 27:13 NIV
I will meditate on the glorious splendour of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, and shall sing of Your righteousness. Psalm 145:5-7
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Psalm 34:8
Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm 107:8-9
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. Psalm 103:13-14
How do we get faith to receive and believe the truth from the above scriptures? Every born-again believer has been given a measure of faith.
‘For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.’ Romans 12:3
You Have the Same Faith as Jesus
There are not different kinds of faith depending on who you are or the role you play in the Body of Christ. You may look at someone who seems to have strong, world-changing faith and think, “Gosh, I’ll never be like that person. That person is so confident and secure in his spiritual walk. That’s not me.”
Not true!
“The measure of faith” is the same for every believer, and it is the same faith that Jesus has. Different believers may have developed and strengthened their faith over time by studying and meditating on the Word, but their faith is no different than yours. You have that same capability. Faith has to be exercised!
Only You Can Build Your Faith
“The measure of faith” that is developed and strengthened in you comes from one place—the Word of God. Romans 10:17 tells us, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (KJV)
‘No one can have faith without hearing the message about Christ’.
Rom 10:17 CEV
If you want to be a person who is confident and secure in your spiritual walk, someone who has strong, world-changing faith, then you must spend time building your faith, hearing God’s word with Holy Spirit. There are no shortcuts! Think of a hobby that you have, and the time and money spent on it to perfect your skills. I love photography. I taught myself through books, YouTube and practice. I had a good eye for composition but technically I was poor. I wanted to improve, so I had to do what was necessary to achieve that. However, photography won’t heal my body or deal with any anxiety - it’s a hobby, it brings me joy and blesses others. It might change my life in the short term but developing my faith will be a lasting legacy!
Don’t let anyone—fellow believers, the enemy or even your own mind—convince you that you have weak or non-existent faith. That is a lie that, if you believe it, will keep you a weak, ineffective Christian.
If you have become a new creation in Christ Jesus, then you have “the measure of faith.” Like Jesus, your faith has the ability to move mountains. It simply needs to be exercised. Right now, make the quality decision to read, study and meditate on God’s Word. It’s the only way to achieve the strength of faith you desire.
‘Remain in Me, and I [will remain] in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself without remaining in the vine, neither can you [bear fruit, producing evidence of your faith] unless you remain in Me’. John 15:4 AMP
When you have a strong image on the inside of who you are and what you can do, no one, not even the devil, can talk you out of believing and trusting God for answers to your prayers! Then your faith can rest in the promises of God. Rest is a product of faith and trust; faith and trust in the complete goodness of God. A place of complete peace.
And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours]. Philippians 4:7 AMP
I remember the first time that I experienced this kind of peace; I was praying about a family situation, and I just knew that God had it covered. It was so weird as this complete peace came over me and I found myself wondering how I could be so peaceful when I had this serious situation going on. I couldn’t find any anxiety or fear in my mind. It seemed surreal, but that should be our norm!
It made me think of the time that Jesus was asleep in the boat whilst a storm was raging, and the disciples were panicking.
‘But Jesus was in the stern, asleep [with His head] on the [sailor’s leather] cushion. And they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?” 39 And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness]. 40 Jesus said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith and confidence [in Me]?” Mark 4:38-40 AMP
Now these men were seasoned sailors, used to rough seas, not easily scared. This storm must have been very violent and threatening to cause these men to panic and fear for their lives. They wake Jesus up, who must have been in such a deep restful sleep to be oblivious to such a storm. Three words later and the sea is totally calm! That’s the kind of faith that rests in the promises of God!
That’s the kind of faith that you and I have. The more we exercise the measure of faith we have and the more we cast our care on Jesus and receive His peace, we can sleep in the rear of the boat through anything that the enemy throws at us!
That kind of peace enables us to pray from a place of rest, resting in the promises of God.
When the sun's brightly shining,
and it's touching my face
And Your favour is resting, and it seems all is grace
I will lift up my eyes and give glory to Your name
And I'll rest in Your promise over me
When the sunlight has faded,
and the darkness, my friend
And the sorrows are rolling,
and the suffering just won't end
When the wars and the rumours
are encircling the earth
And Your judgements are falling,
and there's nowhere to turn
You are sovereign, Lord
You are holy, Lord
You are faithful, Lord
When the heavens are opened,
and You ride like the wind
And Your kingdom of justice,
it will come without end
And I’ll rest in your promise over me!
Words and music by David Ruis.
When I cannot read, when I cannot think, when I cannot even pray, I can trust. Hudson Taylor
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