Be careful, for nothing offloads your burden to the burden bearer
“BE careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving lets your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). “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 5:7) (Amplified).
God’s Word is our message from heaven. His Word couldn’t be more sure if an angel suddenly came down here and wrote with his finger on a granite block: God’s Word is eternal.
God does not give you the grace to bear your cares and worries. He doesn’t want you to bear them. And I can’t pray for you that God would take away half of your challenges, because He doesn’t want you to carry even half of them. He wants you to cast all of them on Him. God is not telling you to do something you can’t do. He would be an unjust God to do that.
Some people are content with the knowledge that God knows and understands their problems. But still they hold on to their cares, so they don’t get deliverance. It’s not enough that God cares and understands. We must go on and do what He said to do — cast all of our cares on Him, for He cares for us. This is the prayer of commitment, of casting or rolling our cares and burdens on Him. Psalm 37:5 says, “Commit your ways to the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” Jesus had this to say in Mathew 6:25-27, “Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor yet for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”.
Jesus is asking, which of you by worrying is going to change anything. Luke records, “Therefore, I say to you, Take no thought for your life .... ” (Luke 12:22). Paul said in Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing .... ” The Amplified Bible reads, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything .... ” Too many times people want to pray and get God to do something about their anxieties. But God tells you to do something about them. He said, “Be careful for nothing.” Or, “Don’t you fret or have anxiety about anything.” As long as you do not take this first step — as long as you fret and have anxiety — you are nullifying the effects of your prayer. You haven’t cast your burden on the Lord. You still have it. And if you have it, God doesn’t.
Casting all your care on Him isn’t something you do every day. It’s a once-and-for-all proposition. This puts your situation in His hands. The Lord could do a lot for us, but often we don’t let Him because we don’t follow His rules that govern the operation of prayer. We don’t do what He tells us to do. Then we wonder why things don’t work out. If you cast your burden on the Lord, He has it. You don’t. You cannot go around talking about your worries anymore. A lot of people don’t want to get rid of their worries. They claim they do, but they really don’t. If they got rid of them, they wouldn’t have any reason for people to sympathise with them. They wouldn’t have anything to talk about. They would have to cease conversation entirely.
Sometimes worry is what is keeping them sick or broke depending on the challenge one is facing.
I remember some years ago I was faced with a very stressful and worrisome challenge in my life, something I had never ever experienced before. The Lord took me to Matthew 6 on the subject of worry.
Matthew 6:26 says “Take no thought for your life .... ” This means “Do not be anxious about tomorrow.” Another reference says, “Do not worry, do not be filled with anxiety.” I was full of anxiety, worry, and fear. My conscience bothered me because I was not practicing the Word. As the Lord dealt with me, the words seemed to leap from the pages of the Bible. Yet I didn’t think I could live without worrying — without being anxious — so I closed my Bilight”. ble. When I did, I got in darkness. I opened the Word again and tried to read, bypassing that scripture, until then, everything I had read had been all light and blessing, but now it was all dark and fuzzy to me. You’re not going to get more light (or understanding) until you walk in the light you already have. Don’t be concerned about the things you don’t understand in God’s Word; make sure you practice what you do know.
The rest will take care of itself. I read on. I felt guilty because I was not practicing the Word. Finally, I made a commitment to God. I said, “Lord, forgive me for worrying and for being full of anxiety. Forgive me for fretting and for being discouraged. Forgive me for having the blues and feeling sorry for myself. Forgive me for having a ‘poor me’ attitude. I know You’ll forgive me, because You said You would if I would confess it. From this day on, because You’ve forgiven me, I promise I’ll never worry again. I will never be filled with anxiety again. I will never fret again. I will never be discouraged again.” Many years have passed since I made that commitment. Although I will confess I have been sorely tempted, just like you have, I have not worried. I haven’t been filled with anxiety at any time or become overly anxious.
I have learnt so much about the need to “cast all my cares and anxieties from studying the life of one of God’s Generals, Papa Kenneth E. Hagin whose life was characterized by faith. He was a man who knew what is meant by casting one’s burdens and cares on Jesus.
Jesus invites all those of us “who are weary and heavy laden” to come to Him and He will give us rest. His yoke is easy and His burden is
How sad it is that most of us when we are faced with challenges in our lives, we chose to seek solutions elsewhere ignoring Jesus. I am reminded of a song we used to sing during Scripture Union meetings called “What a friend we have in Jesus”.
Below are the lyrics of that song and I pray it will also minister to you as it does to me:
What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer
What a friend we have in Jesus All our sins and griefs to bear What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer
Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer
Jesus is the Answer to all the problems that we face in life. He cares for you and I. He is the only One who can effectively shepherd our lives. He is a good Shepherd.