Care: July 1, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY JULY 1, 2013.

CARE

DEFINITION:

A cause or object of worry or concern; to be concerned; have thought or regard; to make provision.

SCRIPTURE:

Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. I Peter 5:7

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Casting means to throw something on something. Peter, in the verse we have put above, is reminding Christians that they are to throw all of their discontent, discouragement, despair and suffering on the Lord, and then trust Him for knowing what He is doing with their lives.

We want to remind you that submission to God, living a humble life and putting your complete trust in God are three attitudes necessary for victorious Christian living.

The best and only lasting way we as parents, grandparents, children, teenagers and young people can sooth our sorrows, whether large or small, is to cast our sorrow or sorrows upon Jesus. And when you do this have the confidence and assurance that "He cares for you" and will take your sorrow from you."

Too many Christians today dishonor their faith and belief in Jesus by always wearing a frown of care on their face. Friends that know someone like this must feel sad for that person. When you carry that frown on your face you are staggering with a weight which your Father in heaven can handle and all you have to do is to give it to Him.

To continue to carry the burden of stress and worry of your problems and your concerns concerning your life by yourself is an indication that you have not trusted God fully with your life. What seems to you to be a crushing burden seems to God to be a little dust.

You need to stand firm in the life-saving power of faith in God against what you consider a sea of trouble and by doing this your burdens (cares) will be washed away into the sea. We are reminded in the scripture that God cares enough about the sparrows that fly in the air that He feeds them. If He does this how much more does He care for you and me! His eye is fixed on you every moment of every day watching and caring just for you. His heart beats with mercy and concern for you when you are bowed down with despair and worry over your worldly problems. He can bind up your wounds and heal your broken heart if you will only in faith believing cast your care upon Him.

It is time for you to replace the "things" in your life that really do not count by placing them in the hands of the Lord. Then replace those "things" with the "things" that will count for eternity. This will happen when you place all of your cares with the Lord.

We read in the scripture how Elijah out lived the famine of his day. (I Kings 17:2-6) He did this because he put all of his cares and concerns in the hands of God. First, God led him to a brook where God sent ravens carrying meat and bread for him. When the brook dried up, God sent Elijah to a widow who had only a little oil and a handful of flour. From this meager supply God provided enough oil and flour for them until the famine was over. It never ran out and He can do the same for you and me. There is no limit to God’s provision.  Even when the circumstances seem impossible, if we turn all of our cares over to the Lord, He can do the impossible.

Whatever family concerns that are weighing on you today, God wants you to cast those cares on Him.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in I John 5:13.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

PRAYER:

Help me to learn today to put my complete trust in You and cast my cares into Your hands. Help me to be able to release the "things" in my life that bog me down daily. Give me blessings in areas of my life that today are troubling me. And most important, as You take my cares, give me a new drive to commit everything I do to You so that my thoughts will be established in You.