Jump Start # 3404

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you.”

It is a most interesting thing that takes place all the time in our worship services. Prayers are offered. Specific names and specific needs are lifted Heavenward. But recently it really hit me how great our God is. There was a newborn that had an issue and needed surgery. Prayers were lifted for that little child. Someone having to go through cancer treatments was prayed for. Another time, it was for someone in the hospital. Another time it was for a family that had a loved one pass away. So many serious concerns. So many different prayers. Comfort. Healing. Help. Answers. Hearts were poured out to Heaven.

And, when one considers just the avenue of prayer, he realizes how big, powerful and great our God is. Take just the above list I mentioned. Run those through the admissions of any hospital. The newborn needing surgery would be in a children’s hospital with surgeons at hand. The cancer patient would be in a cancer center with a team of oncologists. The person in the hospital would be on a med-surg floor, likely having tests being run to find out what was wrong. The family of the person who died would be meeting with a funeral director at a funeral home. Different needs go to different places in our world. You wouldn’t have the cancer patient and the newborn on the same floor, not in our hospitals.

Even in our phone calls to businesses and corporations, we are directed to different departments. If you call your cell phone company, you will hear a recording of several options. There is billing. There is customer service. There is sales. There is technical help. Each department is trained to take care of that one specific area. Don’t talk to the billing department if you have trouble keeping a charge on your battery. They won’t be able to help you.

Now, consider all of this and our prayers. God doesn’t have different departments. He doesn’t send us to the department that takes care of health care. There isn’t a special number to call for forgiveness. Thankfulness and praise isn’t sent somewhere else. All of our prayers, all of them, go to God. Cancer. Surgery. Death. Forgiveness. Guidance. Encouragement. Family problems. Church problems. Health problems. Worry. Fear. Anxious. Prodigals. Divorce. Discouragement. Everything goes to God. He gets it all. He hears it all. And, He deals with it all.

I expect the surgeon taking care of that newborn would not know much about how to treat cancer. It’s not his field and he hasn’t kept up on that. Likewise a funeral director wouldn’t know much about surgery on a newborn. Not his field. Not his study. But it is with God. He knows.

Now, here are some amazing thoughts:

First, no problem is too big for God. There are many things too big for us, but not for God. He has proven that. Fiery furnaces, lion’s dens, prison doors, massive armies, giants are nothing to God. We get overwhelmed. Not God. We get worried. Not God. We run out of options. Not God. We think the problem has us beat. Not God.

God can handle all of our prayers, all of our problems and all of our sins. Nothing to too great for God. While we are racing about trying to figure out which doctor or which department is best for our needs, God can do it all.

Second, you don’t burden God with your problems. God can handle it. If it is too small to pray about then it is too small to worry about. If you are going to be bothered by something, take it to the Lord in prayer. Otherwise, don’t let it bother you. God doesn’t get tired. God doesn’t have to stay late to take care of us. That’s the way we are. It’s not the way He is.

Third, it is amazing that no one understands you better than God. No one knows your situation better than God. And, no one can help you more than God. God is so good. But more than that, God is so powerful. God can read your heart. He knows your attitude and your motives. He knows your weakness and He knows how to help you. And, to think, with such information about you, God doesn’t use it against you, but for you. He is your best help. He is one that can truly change you.

Prayers to God. What a simple, yet amazing thing. Our prayers reveal God’s compassion. Our prayers are built upon God’ power and ability to do something. Otherwise, why pray. Our prayers are uttered with the understanding that He can hear us. My friend in Italy prays in Italian. A friend in Norway prays in Norwegian. Brethren in India pray in various Indian languages. Africa. Europe. And, here, I pray in form of English that we call “Hoosier Hick”. God hears, understands and is moved by all of our prayers. God speaks all languages. God knows all circumstances.

One of the great evidences for God is prayer. It is simply amazing.

Roger

Jump Start # 3279

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

  Our verse today is loaded with comfort. It is a promise that we can cling to. It’s a great reminder for us. One of our hymns asks, “Does Jesus care?” And, there are times when one wonders about that. Does He? We know what the Scriptures teach, but when the storm clouds darken around us, and when it seems that the walls of trouble are closing in, then this question comes to our minds. Does He care? Does He care for me?

Some thoughts from this:

First, we much too often connect problems with the level of God’s love and care for us. The more troubles we have, the less God loves us, we conclude. Either God is punishing us or else God no longer loves us. And, when asked why we feel that way or how did we come to that conclusion, we immediately point to the problems in our lives. Look at all this, we say. If God loved me, things would be better.

Now, that thinking is not only wrong and unbiblical, it makes us jealous of others who appear to have very few problems. They must be doing something right, we say, because their lives are not messy like ours. Now, if we stretch that reasoning, one must conclude that either Paul was not loved by God or the Lord was really punishing him. His life was constant trouble. Prisons. Beatings. In danger from others. Ridiculed. Treated as scum. The list is long. The troubles many. Yet, the apostle realized how blessed he was and how much the Lord loved him.

Look at the life of Job. He was smacked, hit and knocked down, drug through the mud, stomped on and any other expressive word you can use to say that Satan tried to ruin him. Financially, physically, emotionally, medically, spiritually, relationally, mentally—Job was hit and hit hard. Did God love him? Was God punishing him? The text tells us that Job was blameless and feared God.

The troubles in my life are not an indication that God no longer loves me.

Second, Jesus cares even though He will allow troubles to remain. Again, we have in our minds, if God loved us and we pray, then the problems go away. Paul prayed for the thorn in his flesh to be removed. It wasn’t. Some troubles follow us all of our lives. Some have been with us for decades. There are lessons we learn in darkness that we never see in the daylight. There are aspects of our character that can only be forged upon the anvil of life. Jesus cares and yet the troubles may remain.

Third, the troubles that we experience often shape us and help us to do good for others. The death of a child is so hard. A single person can offer kind words and take us to passages that help, but a parent who has a child in a grave truly understands what that pain is like. The things we go through not only can draw us closer to the Lord, but they can prepare us to help others. Our experiences, the good and the bad, can help another family who is facing the same things. This is the power of fellowship. This is one reason why we need one another. Scared and battered, we lean upon one another. We carry each other, hurt as we are.

Fourth, our passage reveals how intimately involved God is with us. He not only knows what we are going through, He cares. He not only cares, but He offers help. Cast those burdens to the Lord, is what the apostle begs us to do. Don’t hold on to them. Don’t try to work through them on your own. Don’t own them. Give them up. Turn them to God. He knows what they are and He is able to do something.

Even within our congregation, there are times when we do not know what each other is going through. We do not know the pain that they are carrying in their hearts. We do not know what they have been through. We haven’t heard what others said to them. We haven’t seen all their struggles. And, on a Sunday morning, as we get dressed to come to worship, we all put on a nice mask to hide what is really going on. We smile at each other. We reply that we are doing fine, when asked. But we sit with a pain in our heart. A prodigal. A broken marriage. A crisis. A health issue. Troubles that our masks hide from others. But God knows. There is no need to wear a mask before the Lord. God knows. God cares. And, God can do something.

Does He care? Yes. Our passage loudly teaches that. You do not carry your burden alone. You do not limp without a Savior to lean upon. He sees. He loves. He wants to help you.

Roger

Jump Start # 2300

1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

With this Jump Start we reach yet another milestone, number 2300. Who would have thought? Our readership is at an all time high and we are sending hundreds of our Jump Start books to Africa. It is amazing the lives that are being touched. Thank you for reading these. Thank you for sharing these with others. Our readership has grown by word of mouth. It now numbers somewhere over 3,000.

A friend asked recently, “Just what does God care about in our lives?” Our verse today tells us that He does care, but to what extent does He care? You and I care about all kinds of things. Some of these things bother us. Some we worry about. Some we take to God in prayer about. Some are big and important and some seem silly.

As I write this, I look about my office which is lined neatly with hundreds of books. Does God care that my books are all lined up, facing forward and placed evenly on a shelf? I do. Does He? At the end of the day, I empty my trash can. I like coming in the next day with the trash empty. Does God care about that? I like certain music playing in the background while I type. Does God care? I like my desk to be neat and in order. Does God?

Let’s go on. I like a weed-free yard. Does God care? I like a clean car. Does God? I like timely responses to texts and emails? Does God feel that way? In basketball, I want Purdue to win. In baseball, it’s the Dodgers. In football, it’s the Colts. Does God care? Does He have a favorite team? I like ice in my tea and my soup not to be too hot. Does God care? I like folks to be on time. I like services to start on time. I like mics to work and lights to turn on and the church building to be a comfortable temp on Sunday. Does God care? I like traffic to run smoothly, short lines at the airport and ice cream in my freezer. Does God?

What does God care about? He cares about us, but just what does He care about in us? In Luke 12 someone asked Jesus to solve a family problem about inheritance. The exact statement was, “Tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” The man who said that cared about that. He cared that he wasn’t getting what he thought he should. Interestingly, Jesus did not answer the way he figured. Jesus did not tell his brother anything. Jesus told the man about greed. Jesus didn’t seem to care about this problem. He seemed to care more about the man’s attitude toward money.

So, here are some things to consider:

1. Because I care about something, does not mean that God does, nor that God feels the same way that I do. This is a common assumption folks make. Because they like something, they assume that God does. They equate their feelings to how God feels. That concept doesn’t work in other areas of life. I like to write with a fountain pen. I even have a dip pen. My wife doesn’t like those. She feels that they are too messy. How I feel is not how she feels. I was in a discussion with someone about worship. They liked praise bands and Gospel rock ‘n roll. The person made this assumption. Because they liked it, God liked it. How do you know, I asked. Then I asked, which does God like better, Coke or Pepsi? His response, “How would I know?” That’s my point!

All that we know about God is revealed in Scriptures. Who knows the thoughts of a person, Paul writes to the Corinthians. What we have is the mind of God revealed in Scriptures. Outside of Scriptures we don’t know. Because I like Purdue, the Dodgers and ice cream does not mean that God does. There is nothing in Scriptures that reveal such things.

2. In the Scriptures God seems to show more interest about our insides than our outsides. We often are more concerned with the opposite. We care about the outside of things but do not think much about the insides. So, we find Jesus amazed at the faithless disciples. We find Jesus marveling at the faith of a Gentile woman. Torn shoes, stains on our clothes, or even in Martha’s case, serving while your sister is sitting, now those things bother us, concern us and worry us. The Lord told Martha that she was bothered by so many things. That’s us. Faith. Forgiveness. Love. Trust. Hope. Honesty. Obedience. Those are the things that Jesus noticed. You never read in the Scriptures about Jesus complimenting someone’s outfit or style of hair. You never read where Jesus said to Peter, “Cool sandals.” Insides and outsides, they do make a difference.

This does not mean that God does not care at all about our physical side, the outside of us. He does. We find the Lord telling us to pray for our daily bread. We see Paul asking for prayers for safety and the health of others. The presentation of God as our Father, demonstrated by Jesus so many times, helps us to understand this concept. As parents, we want our children to be healthy, happy, content, and doing well. But we also want them to grow in maturity and spiritually on the inside. God is much like this.

So the question is raised, Does God want me to live here or there? Does God want me to be plumber or a pilot? Does God want me to stay in my house or get another house? I think many of us would just as well have God map out our entire life for us. You will marry this person. You will have this number of children. You will work at this place and you will live in this house on this street. For some, that would be very comforting. Yet, what that does is take away the element of walking by faith.

Whether I live here or there. Work this job or that job. Have this number of children or that number, God wants me to honor Him, walk with Him, trust Him and put Him before all things. If I am a plumber, do it for the glory of the Lord and do it to the best of your ability. If you preach, do it for the glory of God and to it to the best of your ability. If you live in an apartment, do it for the glory of God and do it to the best of your ability. If you live in a house, do it for the glory of God and do it to the best of your ability.

When Peter says that He cares for you, He does. God doesn’t want you to be frightened, discouraged, or defeated. He doesn’t want you to shrink back or be consumed with worry. He doesn’t want you to be conquered by sin. He wants your faith to soar. He wants you to let your light shine brightly. He wants you marching boldly to Zion. Can I do that as a plumber? Yes. Can I do that while living in an apartment? Yes. Can I do that here? Yes. Can I do that there? Yes.

God wants Christ dwelling in your heart. God wants you to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Can I do that in Africa? Yes. Can I do that in the U.S.? Yes. Does God care which one I live in? I don’t know. You don’t know. Either place, God wants us to be living for Him.

There are a lot of things you and I care about that in a hundred years will not matter, let alone in eternity. Sometimes we can let these things consume us, bog us down and sidetrack us to what really matters. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, seems to be the greater need and the greater concern.

God cares about you. The Scriptures teach that. The more important question is, “Do I care about God?” and, “Do I care about my soul?” The answer to those questions will help me deal with what I ought to be really concerned about.

Remember the hymn: “Does Jesus care… Oh, yes He cares. I know He cares. His heart is touched by my grief. When the days are weary, the long night dreary, I know my Savior cares.”

He cares for you…what a powerful, incredible and comforting statement!

Roger

Jump Start # 1421

1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

  Our verse today is a simple reminder about how God feels towards us and a reminder that we do not have to carry our burdens alone. This passage is found right before Peter’s direct warning about Satan, the roaring lion, who is seeking someone to devour. Be alert, the brethren are told. But here, it is cast all your anxiety on Him. Burden God with your burdens.

Several thoughts come from this simple verse:

First, for some, they wonder and even question whether God cares for them. The choices in life and the misfortunes of life have made their journey hard. Some have the difficulties that comes with a handicapped child. They love their child with all their heart, but it wasn’t a choice that they would have made. If God cares, why? Others just can’t seem to get out of a hole that they are in. It might be one financial disaster after another. It might be one crisis that follows another crisis. They’d love to have a break. They’d love to have some good news once in a while. Others, they notice, seem to sail through life so smoothly, but for them, the winds are always contrary and the journey is difficult. They question, “Does God love us? Or, maybe we’ve done something wrong that He is punishing us for?” Common thoughts. Easy to think this way.  The absence of difficulty in your life is not an indication of how much God loves you. Peter states it, and it is true, God cares for you. John would say repeatedly, “God loves.” Those that struggle more, have more to cast upon God. Their lives may be closer to the Lord than those who journey with ease.

Second, it is easy to think that I am the only one with anxiety, problems or at least, my woes are greater than your woes. You hear that sometimes. A group of friends start talking about the troubles that they have had, and like the old fishing stories, someone has to top the last story with even greater woes. The burdens that you face may seem like nothing to me, but they are huge to you. We shouldn’t make one feel bad because they are anxious about things. Encourage them to take it to the Lord. “Have you prayed about that,” is something my wife says often. She’s right.

Third, it is amazing that God can do this. I know a family who has a prodigal. Their heart is crushed by his wayward choices. I know several families who have loved ones in the hospital or are going through serious health issues. I know many who are very discouraged about where they worship. I know some that are praying for their college kids who are away from home. There are soon-to-be parents that are praying for a healthy delivery. There are those who are grieving. There are those who are traveling and they pray for safe journeys. There are those who are learning about Jesus for the first time and they are praying to learn and find Him. There are those who are teaching God’s word and they are praying for an audience with an open heart. So many prayers. So many concerns. Many of them are so great that it would crush us. God wants not just some of our concerns, but all of them. Cast ALL your anxiety upon Him. Great is our God. Our God is big. He can handle all of them. He is able to do things for all of us. Sometimes we only see our little spot in the world and we tend to forget about those elsewhere, especially on the other side of the globe. Prayers going up from Africa. European prayers. Collective prayers from congregations. Prayers said with tears streaming down the cheek. Prayers made in desperation. Prayers with broken hearts. Prayers begging for a second chance. Sometimes you and I have to take a break from dealing with issues and problems. God doesn’t. Prayers begging God to save a marriage. Prayers wanting God to open a closed heart. I have a book with a collection of children’s prayers. One of my favorites says, “Dear God, please take care of Yourself. If anything happens to You, we’re all sunk!” How true.

Fourth, just saying a prayer doesn’t end our responsibility nor our obligations. We pray for the church to grow. Great. Now, we need to go spread the word. Just saying a prayer isn’t enough. God works with us, through us and along side of us. Praying for our children’s souls is great, but now we need to lead them and show them the Lord. Pray for the sick, now go do what you can. It’s easy to simply say, “Well, I prayed for you.” That’s powerful. That’s nice. But, is that it? After the Amen, our part just begins.

Fifth, understanding what God truly wants helps us with those anxious moments. God wants you to be saved. God wants you to walk with the Lord. God wants you to glorify His name with your life. God wants you in Heaven. Now to wake us up, to get us to see that, there may be some paths through those dark valleys of death. There may be some hard times to open our eyes. We want the soft pillow. We want the easy cross. We want convenience. We want no hassles. Those choices may not put us close to God. We like the trophies in life. We like successes. We like victories. We like winning. It doesn’t take much of those things to make us forget about God and to start believing that it was all us that accomplished those things. Humble times has a way of humbling our hearts. We pray for God to remove those anxious moments. God may want you to journey through them and to learn some things and to be better because of them. On the other side of those anxious moments, we ought to have developed a greater character and a greater dependence upon the Lord.

Sixth, we cast those anxious moments upon the Lord because He sees the big picture. He can do things that no one else can. He can open doors that have been closed. God is able. God can do all things.

Anxious moments. Anxious times. All your anxieties. Don’t hold them. Don’t just show them to God. Cast them to Him. Be done with them. Toss them out of your heart. Give them to the Lord and then trust that He will know what’s best. Anxious hearts become heavy, discouraged, and lonely. Anxious hearts take us away from the Lord. We see our problems more than we see Him.

I went to the Cincinnati Reds baseball game recently. They have a relief pitcher nicknamed “The Cuban Missile.” He was throwing 100 MPH. I’ve been to a game where he threw a pitch 102 MPH. Blazing fast. That’s the idea I get from Peter’s words. Cast those anxious moments to the Lord. Don’t toss them. Don’t hand them. Don’t look at them. Fire a fast ball to Heaven. Let the Lord take control. Follow His lead. Trust in His ways. Do what He says.

All of them…

Roger

Jump Start # 724

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

Our passage today deals with worries. We know that we shouldn’t worry, but it’s hard not to. Three times in Matthew 6 Jesus told the disciples “do not worry.” But we do. There are so many things to worry about—the election, the economy, the kids, jobs, the weather, health, aging parents, church…and on and on the list goes. We worry about getting fat. We worry that the kids spend too much time watching TV. We worry about how we are going to pay for college. The list is long.

Worry has a way of grabbing us by the ankles and holding us down. Worry steals our sleep, ruins our appetite and makes us look old. And if that’s not bad enough, worrying doesn’t accomplish anything. Jesus stressed that in the Sermon on the Mount when He said that being anxious does not add one cubit to your life. Worrying doesn’t pay the bills for you. Worrying doesn’t fix a broken car. Worrying doesn’t do a thing. Yet, we worry.

Our passage identifies two major principles that helps us. These principles are built upon our relationship with God. The greater that relationship is the easier and better these principles work in our lives.

First, cast ALL your anxiety upon Him. Give God your worries. We don’t do that as often as we should. We don’t want to bother God. We feel that He has enough to take care of with this crazy world we live in. We feel that our troubles are not important enough to bother God with. So we keep them to ourselves. We worry. We doubt, we get fearful and we become stressed about life. The joy that ought to be in our hearts is drained because of these worries. You can tell. It shows on our faces. It seems to be all that we talk about. These worries make us complain more than we are thankful. They take our eyes off of Jesus and we become crippled because of them.

Peter tells us what to do. Give them to God. “Cast” is the word he uses. Here, the apostle, a former fisherman, who understood casting nets out into the sea, uses that concept with our worries. Don’t hold on to them. Don’t drop them over the edge so you can keep an eye on them. Don’t dip them gently into the water. Cast them. Throw them off. Fling them. Get rid of them. Give them to God.

Does that solve your problems? No. That won’t start a car that is broken. That won’t pay bills or find a missing dog. What it does is give God the charge of these things. God can do things that we can’t. Turning things over to God invites God into our lives. We do this first by praying. We do this by following His will. We do this by surrounding ourselves with His people. Not all problems go away, at least not for now. However, by giving them to God we find God’s comfort and peace as Paul described in Philippians 4.

Have you prayed about your problems? You need to. God invites you to. He wants you to bother Him with what bothers you.

Secondly, God cares. That’s hard to grasp. There are days that it seems that no one cares. The boss at work doesn’t care. The people at church act like they don’t care. Sometimes our family doesn’t seem to care. Why would God care when no one else does? Because He is God. He is not like others. He loves you. He wants the best for you. He wants you to be spiritual, growing and busy in His kingdom.

Peter’s two statements are connected together. We won’t cast if we think God doesn’t care. He cares, that’s why we can cast. God shows that He cares throughout the Bible. When Jonah was pouting, God was there. He cared. When Elijah was scared and hiding in a cave, God cared. He got Elijah out of the cave. When Paul was discouraged, God cared. He sent Titus to him to refresh his spirit. It’s not just the people in the Bible, it’s you and me. God cares. The sending of Jesus for our sins is proof of that. God hasn’t given up on you.

God doesn’t want you to be conquered nor destroyed by the problems that you are worrying about. He wants you to trust Him. Trust is the antibiotic for worry. The more we trust God the less we worry. When our worry level is high, our trust in God is low. Build your faith. Strengthen your spirit. Feed your soul. Trust God.

The good thing to remember is that our problems do not go with us to Heaven. Whatever plagues us now will remain. We won’t worry about elections, gas prices, weather, jobs and all those things in Heaven. Problems do not go with us—what a relief it is to know that.

How about it? Do you have some “casting” that you need to do today? Do you have some worry that is holding your down? Get rid of it. Give it to God. Throw it hard and far, and then do some serious praying and trusting.

He cares. What a profound and wonderful thought that is.  He cares…

Roger