Cast Your Cares Upon Him!

Cast: Throw or fling, deposit, throw down
Cares: Worries, pains, anxiety

We should always cast our cares upon the Lord, because when we spend time worrying, we are belittling God and exalting ourselves. When we doubt God it's like we're saying that He is incapable of handling our situations and as a result, we have to hold on to our problems until we can fix it ourselves. Trust me when I say, God knows exactly how to fix any issue or situation that comes your way. In fact, He had a solution before you ever had a problem. My friends, God is able to do everything, and we are not able to do even the slightest thing without His guidance. We must start being obedient to 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."

Carrying around burdens and being worried about every single thing will eat up all of your energy and weigh you down. You'll eventually get to a point where you seem like you are making tracks, but in reality, you are getting nowhere. Matthew 10:29-31 tells us that not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it (do you know how many birds are in the sky?? That's a lot of birds to keep up with)! The scripture also tells us that the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So we shouldn't worry or fret! Anyone who's THAT detail-oriented can certainly keep up with any minor issues we might have!

Surely you and I are more valuable to Him than many sparrows, right? The Living Bible version of that scripture says simply "Cast all your cares upon the Lord, for He careth for you." Fortunately for us, our God's heart is so tender toward His children. Just as ours is with our own children. Most of the time, we love it when our children have enough confidence in us to come to us when they need help. I mean - talk about having a tender heart! We tend to melt when our kids need us and we will often go out of our way to meet their needs when we can.

Think about how God changed things for Hannah. Hannah had no children and the word says that, "...she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore" (1 Samuel 1:10). She could have kept all that inside of her, but Hannah knew that her help would come from the Lord, so she cast her cares on Him. He heard and answered her prayer by giving her the male child that she prayed for. Hannah's story lets us know that there is no reason for us to be weighted down and that our cares should be cast, not carried. "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Psalms 55:22).

The way we cast our cares on Him is by coming humbly before God and by willingly giving Him our situations. And whenever those little situations come back to worry us - and believe me, they will - we must simply say, "thank you Lord for this situation, you are the head over it, and you have it completely in control." We must believe and have faith in our merciful heavenly Father and He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!

We Can Have Everything and Still Have Nothing!

Everything: all; something that is extremely or most important

Nothing: naught; something or someone of no importance or significance

My friends, have you ever realized that we can have everything that money can buy and still have absolutely nothing of true importance? What I mean is, we can have all the food we can get; all the most beautiful and expensive clothes; and just about everything else that our hearts desire, but if we don't have Jesus - well then, we still have nothing. We all have a place in our hearts that only Jesus can fill and without the spirit of God living there we are empty, miserable, and have no peace. There are so many restless people out there that want more and more, who never stop to realize that what they are really longing for is the Lord our God.

I once worked for a lady who had millions of dollars, beautiful cars, a big beautiful home, and more clothes than she could ever possibly wear. Even though she had all those things and was in good health, she still had no joy. Her house was filled with people every day, but she still felt empty. She was so unhappy that she drank alcohol all day, every day. She had everything the average person would ever want, but yet she had nothing. The ingredients that were missing in her life were Jesus, His word, His love, and His peace. You see, you can have all the material things that money can buy, but if you don’t have Jesus in your life as your personal savior -- well then, you have nothing.

Take Pharaoh for instance, he had every material thing a person of his day would want - men servants, maid servants, even slaves to build his cities - but yet he was so wicked to God's people. He had it all, but still he had nothing (i.e. naught; something or someone of no importance or significance). He did not have the love of God or the word of God ruling in his life.

Friends, God is more than anything we could ever possibly have. When it seems like you don't have anything, remember that if you've got the Lord, then you have everything you could possibly need! People, places, and things won't fill that empty void in your heart - only Jesus can!

With all that said, let the Church say Amen and…AMEN!

God Will Turn Our Midnight Into Day!

Midnight: the transition time from one day to the next

As 12:00 midnight closes one day, 12:00:01 am opens another. That means there is always going to be a midnight in every day. Midnight is also known to some as a time of darkness and gloom, but I'm here to tell you that midnight does not have to be that way for us. It's really all about what we do in and with our midnight experiences that determines how long we will stay in them. Let me take a couple of minutes to share with you some examples that will get you to 12:00:01 in a very short period of time.

For instance, let's think about Hezekiah. The Lord sent the Prophet Isaiah to tell Hezekiah to get his house in order, because he was going to die and not live. Now to me - that feels like a midnight situation - a time of potential darkness and gloom. However, instead of Hezekiah getting angry with God and falling into a bed of depression, He turned his face toward the wall and cried out to God. God heard him and added fifteen more years to his life (Isaiah 38:1-5). Midnight will come to all of us, but how we handle it will make all the difference.

Let's take Paul and Silas - they were put into prison for casting out a spirit. They had been beaten with many strips, and their feet had been put into stocks, but at midnight they prayed and sang praises unto God. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands were loosed (Acts 16:23-26). Not only were Paul and Silas singing and praising God in the midst of their midnight experience - they were also bearing witness to the goodness of the Lord in a most difficult situation - and look at how their situation changed!

Now, keep in mind, God doesn't always take us out of our darkness and gloom. No, sometimes He get into that situation with us, just as He did for the three Hebrew boys.

Friends, when we are going through our midnight seasons, we must remember to cry out to God. He's the only one who can fix it; the only one who can change our midnight into day. Let's keep a heart of gratitude, because this midnight season shall pass. As the scripture says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalms 30:5).

With all that said, let the Church say Amen... and AMEN!

Jesus Take The Wheel!

Independent: Free from the control of others

Satisfaction: Anything which brings about a happy feeling

As believers of Christ we can't always be in the driver's seat; sometimes we have to take a backseat to the one that owns the car! Keep in mind that the Lord doesn't just own the car - He owns everything in Heaven, on Earth and even beneath the Earth! If He can handle all of that, I feel pretty comfortable saying that He can handle being in the driver's seat of our car or situation. So why don't we ride gracefully on the back seat and just be thankful that we are in the car!

We certainly don't want the results that King Herod got when he tried to drive. Acts 12:21-23 says,

“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.  And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.”

King Herod TRIED to take the driver's seat and you can see what happened! As God said in Isaiah 42:8, “I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another.” We must take heed and remember to give the credit to its rightful owner.

My friends, it's not our wisdom, our strength, or by our power that the Lord has allowed us to obtain things in this world. It's only through His love, His grace, and His mercy that we have these things. I'm thankful for a loving God who knows how to give good things to His children. In turn, we should bless His name and tell others of His love. He wants us to shine - not so we can take the credit, though - but so that others can see Him through us. Let us be reminded that it's God who gives us the power to obtain wealth and wisdom, and God who gives us the ability to do whatever we are going to do.

On the other hand, Abraham is a wonderful example of the way the Lord desires us to be. Genesis 14:17-20 tell us that when Abraham returned from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, he blessed the most high God as the one who had given him the strength and energy to win the battle and to become victorious over the enemy. He didn't get all puffed up or boastful as if he was triumphant all on his own.

Let's be sure to give God the glory for everything and get rid of our independent satisfaction - aka pride - thinking or acting as if we are the ones who made us successful. Let's give the Lord what he solely deserves - praise and glory. Remember: God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5)!

With all that said, let the church say amen… and AMEN!