Day 12: What to Do When You Just Want to Spaz - Part Two
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:6-8
When your flesh is being loud, if you’ll examine the thoughts hammering your brain, you’ll always find that they’re rooted in worry, fear, or anxiety of some sort. These things will thwart God’s work in your life if you allow them to continue, and that’s why there are hundreds of Scriptures telling God’s people to “fear not.” It’s not a pep talk—it’s a command!
Look back at 1 Peter 5:6, and notice how it says to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. When fear comes in, its goal is to get you into unbelief—to displace your trust in God. But if you’ll humble yourself (by submitting yourself to God) and cast those cares upon Him, then you’re saying, “Yeah, it kind of looks bad right now, but I’ve cast the care of it on my Father, because I know He cares about me, and He’s gonna handle it!” By refusing to allow your faith in God’s Word to be shaken, you’re removing yourself as a candidate to be “devoured.”
What’s really cool here is that in the book of Philippians, we’re given the steps to casting our cares upon the Lord:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Step one: Be anxious for nothing. Nothing! Don’t worry about anything—at all!
Step two: Rather than worry, pray! You have a mighty big God who loves you like crazy! Go to Him and ask Him for what you need. Go boldly before your Father as the Word says you can (Hebrews 4:16).
Step three: Give thanks while you do all of that. Things may seem awful right now, but there’s plenty to thank God for—including His answer to your prayers (even if you don’t physically see His answer yet—trust Him, and count it as done!). He’s so undeniably good to us, there’s always something to praise Him for, even if it’s for the simple fact that you’re still breathing.
Step four: Receive His peace. You don’t have to understand how it happens; you just believe it’s yours because His Word says so. It will protect your heart and your mind. Thank Him for it out loud! If the fear or worry tries to come back, you just say “Nope. That’s not my care anymore. I gave it to the Lord. You’ll have to talk to Him about it.”
God always has a plan to deliver His children out of trouble. If you've read about all of the amazing things He did for Israel to get them out of Egypt, you know there’s nothing too hard for him. If you’ve read about that, then you’ve probably read about how the Israelites freaked out time and time again when they were faced with problems. It got to the point where that first generation out of Egypt didn’t get to go to the Promised Land because they refused to give up their worry and fear and trust that what God had said would come to pass. Let’s not be like that!
Homework:
Go read Numbers 13 and 14:1-10. Pay close attention to the two groups of people: those who drew back in fear over the giants in the land of Canaan, and those who were confident that because God said the land would be theirs, it was theirs. Decide that you want to be like the latter!
If you want to be a star student (and you know you do): start searching your Bible to find all of the “fear nots.”
For my younger audience:
ReplyDeleteWhat to Do When You Just Wanna Throw a Fit - Part Two! (Day 11)
“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:6-8
When you feel like your emotions aren't on the right path, take a moment to look at the thoughts you've been thinking over the last hour. I'll bet that those thoughts had something to do with being afraid, worrying, or feeling nervous. These thoughts will stop God's working in your life, and that's why the Bible tells us over and over to "fear not"!
When fearful thoughts come, the goal is for you to start thinking them and stop thinking God's thoughts. But, if you'll take a moment to submit yourself to God, speak out what His Word says about it, then you won't fall into the trap!
The book of Philippians gives us steps to take to cast every worry on the Lord:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Step one: Don’t worry about anything—at all!
Step two: Rather than worry, pray! You have a mighty big God who loves you like crazy!
Step three: Thank God for all of the good things He's done for you, and for taking care of the problem that had you concerned in the first place.
Step four: Take His peace, like you would any gift someone gives you! You don’t have to understand how it happens; you just believe it’s yours because His Word says so. It will protect your heart and your mind. Thank Him for it out loud! If the fear or worry tries to come back, you just say “Nope. That’s not my care anymore. I gave it to the Lord. You’ll have to talk to Him about it.”
Homework:
God always has a plan to deliver His people out of trouble. Go read Numbers 13 and 14:1-10. Pay close attention to the two groups of people: the ones who got scared and wanted to go back to Egypt, and the ones who were brave and bold--confident that what God said He would do, He would do!