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What are you keeping within yourself that is weighing you down? Are you anxious and worrisome?  Let go of your anxiety and be free in Christ.    He tells us to not worry about our tomorrow, it will be here soon enough.  Jesus also says not to be anxious about what you eat, drink and wear.

Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, issues with your body, or what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 
 (Matthew 6: 25 -27 NIV)

Peter also tells us to eliminate anxiety in our lives for God loves us.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.
(1 Peter 5:7 NIV)

Peter tells us to first humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand.  This requires us to submit to our Lord, to allow God to be God and step aside.  God is God.  He is not just some magical idea or a character in a story or some far off and distant entity to be thought of every so often.  Before we can really realize just how massive and huge God is, we need to know just how small, weak and fragile we are.   We are human beings with limited ability, limited knowledge and narrow thinking.  God is not those things.  How big is God?  I have no idea.  My thought process is not how big He is, but rather that there is nothing beyond His capabilities. The minute circumstances and the catastrophic episodes of my life or of your life are not beyond His capacity, His knowledge and His strength.  Not letting go of your anxiety and your worries minimizes the power of God. It manifests a disbelief in God’s power.  Not letting go minimizes God’s Word. We end up telling God that His Word is not sufficient, that His promises are empty.  Remember the description of what God did for the Hebrews when they were faced with certain doom.  The Egyptians were chased them to the edge of the water. They saw their inevitable deaths and were terrified. But God opened the sea and rescued them from the Egyptians.

For one to worry and be anxious is to not trust God.  It implies that, yes, this parting of the Red Sea is a great bedtime story, but it can’t happen for me.  God may or may not part the Red Sea for you, but when you trust in Him completely and humble yourself to Him, your faith increases, your glory and worship increases and God is most honored and
pleased with you, and blessings happen. When you let go and trust Him, your faith becomes real, your situation becomes smaller in the hands of an awesome God, and this realization compounds your faith and anxiety is lessened.  You place your trust and faith in the hands of a God who is already holding up the universe.  He sees everything and is aware of all things. He is much bigger than your situation. Let go and let God be God.  I am not inferring that you are giving permission for God to act, but rather you are submitting to His holy will.   As Peter said above, “humble yourself under God’s might hand …”  

God is so great and powerful. Let go and place your life in His capable and loving arms. Yes, this goes against all our natural tendencies.  We tend to want to keep control, we want to be in the driver’s seat.     Don’t be afraid. 

 “The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear. The Lord is stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid.”
(Psalm 27: 1   NIV)

I don’t’ know what your life is like. You may be in serious trouble or in a hurtful, lonely place right now.  Many people will give you advice that sounds like this; ‘...you just need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and tackle it head on.”  This idea presupposes that by yourself you have the power to pull yourself up.  Release that idea and rely on the strength of God.   He alone has the power.  He alone is omnipotent, and almighty.  God alone reigns.   Realize that with all our wisdom, knowledge and understanding, we are simply human, incapable and limited.  God has no limitation, He has no boundaries. He is beyond all comprehension. Understand that we have no understanding. Let go and let God come into your heart via His spirit.  Humble yourself and submit to His Lordship over all things.

This is not an “easy card” that we are dealt.  Troubles will happen.  We see this in the life of Abraham, David, Job and others.  BUT, the God who holds the universe on the tip of His finger, also commands all things.  He knows the numbers of hairs on your head, and He is aware of your troubles and mine.

Let go and let God be the master of your life.  Worship, trust, praise and adore Him and place those anxieties at His feet.  He is a loving God, who cares for you. 

Don’t take my word for it.  The Bible is full of His promises. Find them, write them down, memorize them, personalize them, apply them ….and let go.


Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All Rights Reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

 
 


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  jerry@shadowofthecross.us