Cast Your Cares on Him

It didn't take long for the enemy to attach me and put my sermon to the test from this past Sunday. The message was based on 1 Peter 5;7 when we are told we can cast all our anxiety on Jesus!  At 5am  Monday morning I woke up and my mind was immediately racing about Sunday morning.  My sermon was terrible, the communication cards didn't get printed right, it was a total failure and I am a failure!  In that moment I had a perfect opportunity to put the message into practice - I prayed, God I cast all these worries on you!  If nothing else on Sunday morning - God's Word went out and it will make an impact!

We must realize that our patterns of thinking may take a long time to change, but our reaction to these thoughts can change quickly and we can give all of these concerning thoughts to God!  We might want to not have these types of thoughts, but we don't always control that, but we can control our reaction and cry out to God for help!

Praise God for Monday mornings because we have opportunity to live out our Sunday faith!

Holy Week - Monday

John 12:23-26 (NLT) Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. 25 Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.

Serving God and others is the best way to demonstrate that we love God more than we love our own lives and all that the world has to provide.  There is no real reason to serve others if you only love yourself and want to take care of yourself.  Even people who don't know God and don't love God are trying to find purpose and meaning in life through service.  But how much more should a follower of Jesus be a servant when we don't have to love our lives.  Jesus says if we hold on tightly to this life and all the possessions and good things this life provides we will lose all those things.  But if we figure out how to let those things go and hold on to the things of God we will keep our lives in Christ.  

Jesus was a great example of a man who was willing to let his life go in order to serve God and find life!  The enemy tempted Jesus to find other ways to be what God wanted him to be, but the reality was he had to lay down his life for the sins of the world.  There was no other plan, no other way to rescue us, and when he laid down his life he proved he didn't love this world more than he loved God.   

I think this is a constant examination of our hearts and of our lives as we live in Christ!  Do I love the world and the things of this world too much?  Am I willing to set aside all worldly possessions in order to follow Christ?