Cast Your Cares

In our walk, there are troubles all around. They beat down at our door and scream for us to allow them footing in our lives and hearts.
In this past season, problems, struggles, and hardships have most certainly been allowed to take huge influence over me and the decisions that I make. I've felt alone, afraid, and abandoned. From my heart has come the cry of David, "Where are you God?"

It's in those moments that we think, "Didn't God say that He wouldn't give us more than we could handle?" Unfortunately the Bible doesn't express that.
What we find in the Word is this scripture:

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

He won't allow more temptation than we can handle. But struggle, trial, hardship; that's a different matter.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

"But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God."
There's the truth of the matter. We will be given more than we can bare. We will have to endure through a struggle greater than our ability to persevere through.
That's the beauty in the struggle though, we have to rely on God.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

It has never been a question as to whether God will be there for us, He wants to exalt us, He wants to care for us more and more. The requirement to allow this to happen is for us to
1) Humble Ourselves
2) Cast Our Cares Upon the Lord
3) Rely On God

In humbling ourselves we come to understand that we cannot save ourselves or others. We cannot figure out and control ourselves. We can learn discipline and acquire wisdom, but we must come to the realization that we cannot do it without God. If we try, we will fail and fail again.

To cast our cares upon the Lord means that we take the worries and struggles that we are enduring and place them into His hands. This can be seen in relationships, in giving God the reigns and realizing that He alone can take care of them and save them. Also we see this in giving our time to Him. If we spend our time trying to "soul seek" and looking constantly on who we think we are, we'll most likely only make it worse. But if we seek God than we are becoming more like Him and thus becoming who we were designed to be in Him.

Finally, relying on God is key. The passage says, "For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself." In this Paul is saying that they had nothing left to give and no where else to go, they had to turn to God or it was death. And in relying on God they were brought through that time of feeling that they "had received the sentence of death." God rescued them.

He wishes to do the same for you. And not just in a huge way where He comes down on a white horse to bring you home (though He does want to and will do that), but also is small everyday situations. In your conversations, in your workplace, at school, in church, when you're alone, He wants to save you and bring you higher in every one of those moments. All it takes is, "Yes, Lord."

Resurrection

The Cross.

Jesus died for humanity on the Cross.
That picture of a beaten man on a wooden cross is immortalized in the the mind of every Christian.
We see the scars, we see the blood, and we think, "wow, what pain Christ endured for us."

But in truth, there was so much more that Christ took upon Himself.
I believe that there were 3 major pains that Christ endured.

First, the least painful, the beatings, the scars, the torture, the nails, the cross.

The second we forget, for we cannot comprehend it.
Think of all the pain and suffering that you have or will see in your entire life.
It's a lot. So much pain and hurt we will see and go through.
But Christ saw, witnessed, felt, and took upon Himself the pain and suffering of every human that ever existed, in past, present, and future.

We can't understand that. It's simply too much pain for us to comprehend. He bore that.

And last, which was indeed worst of all, He was separated from His Father.
The Word says, "the Father turned His face away."
From His son!
That is the worst pain that Christ endured on the Cross.
For to endure all that pain is horrible, but that pain in comparison to all that God is, it's nothing.
So to be apart from the Father, that was truly excruciatingly painful.

But then there is the good news and the most under appreciated event in the history of existence:
The Resurrection.

By not only dying but rising again, Jesus brought hope.
Every single pain and suffering ever, was redeemed.
Jesus dying was taking away the consequence of all that, Him rising was the redemption of history, of everything.

By rising He sent hope for every heart to receive.
That is the Resurrection, the hope of history.

The Walk of Grace

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

"By grace you have been saved through faith."
That "amazing grace" is the very substance by which the Father sent His Son to die on our behalf.
We are washed clean through that gracious love.

But grace is not a vending machine.
So often I've found myself riding from one "grace situation" to another.
I'll ask for God's forgiveness through His grace and then go on with my life.
But as I go on, I'm not living in that grace, I'm just waiting until I screw up again so I can go and ask the Lord for grace once more.

It's the similar idea of "living church service to church service."
Just making it from Sunday morning until youth group. Then just barely making it from youth group to church. And so we live event to event, thinking that God only reveals Himself in moments, not also in the journey.

But, I have found that in the time when I do accept His grace in-between the "fill-ups," those are the most fruitful parts of my walk.

God doesn't want us to "get by." To only live from one moment of grace to the next.
His desire is that His Church and Body would be a people who are perpetually living in that grace.

John 1:16
For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

Grace upon grace. 
God is not satisfied with us living only in moment of grace.
No, He has designed for us to live as beings of grace, always walking in it, always living by it.

A lifestyle of grace is that in which we are always looking to Christ.
In living by grace, we are not walking by our ability.

Romans 11:6
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Through Christ's blood and sacrifice, we are now able to walk in that.
Not bound by our ability, but walking in fullness of life

It is true, "a righteous man falls seven times and gets back up again."
But even as the righteous man experiences that moment of grace as he rises up by Christ's strength, he also goes from there and walks in that grace. 

Hebrews 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We are all in need of such a grace as God offers.
Do not allow yourself to simply live moment to moment.
Walk on the journey of grace.

Romans 6:14
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Above All, Love

1 Peter 4:8
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.

God has called His children to be a people who live by grace and forgiveness.

And when they encounter sin, they meet it with the infinite power of God's love in them.

Learn to meet hardship on the grounds of God infinite ability, not your constrained and hampered strength.

Seek to meet trial with love and hope.

Walk in the stead of Christ's blood, constantly being made new, forgiven, and washed clean.

We don't live righteously by being redeemed once and then going alone.

A beautiful piece requires constant revisions. 

Turn back to your first love.

And take on His love. 

Unity is found in compassion and grace.

So live by the Spirit, not the flesh.

Surrender your heart to the infinite love of the Father who loves you unconditionally. 

John the Baptist's Faith & Trust

John’s Faith:

John’s life was dedicated to making known what the Lord would do. He was declaring to thousands what was still to come. He was preaching something entirely out of faith, trusting that the Lord would fulfill what He had told John.

Matthew 3:1-6

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

    make His paths straight.’”

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

John gave up his life on account of the Lord. 

John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

He opened up himself as a servant, and said, "God, do with me what you want."

And God brought Him into the desert to do His work. 

John had gone out into the Wilderness, and there he had stayed and waited upon the Lord.

Now, he did not leave that place to preach. No, he stayed and trusted that God would do the rest.

So, the people came to him and heard of Christ because he waited and trusted that the Lord would work.

Because, as Luke 1:66 says, “the hand of the Lord was with him.”

He had faith that even in the Wilderness, God would work.

John’s Trust:

Matthew 11:2-6

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

John was thrown in prison and was not rescued.  He began to wonder who Jesus was, and why He didn’t come to get him out. He began to doubt Jesus. And Jesus says, “blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” Basically, “Yes, I haven’t rescued you from that desert, am I still enough?”

So, John has to say, “Is this Savior still enough, even if I can’t see Him? Is He still good even if I don’t see Him working in my life right now?"

I believe He came to this understanding:

1 John 6:67b-68a “’Do you want to go away as well?’ ‘Lord, to whom shall we go?’”

If Christ is who He says He is, there’s no point in going elsewhere. Only He is worth it.

Philippians 1:21 “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

In Matthew 14, we see John being beheaded.

Becoming a martyr and believing that through all of it, Christ was enough.

He believed when it was illogical to do so.

Matthew 11:11

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.”

 John was the greatest among men because of his reliance on God. 
He made the decision to say, “Christ is enough.” 
He gave it all, to the end.

Remember this:

           

Luke 1:66: “the hand of the Lord was with him.”

God is always with you.

Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

A Man of Sorrows

John 11:35
Jesus wept.

Jesus, the Lord of Lords, the King of kings, Emmanuel, the Bright Morning Star. He was and is a man of sorrows.

It is easy for us to view Jesus as a holy being who is merely sympathetic. But, in all reality, Jesus is more empathetic than anyone else on the earth.

Hebrews 2:18 says, "Since He Himself has gone through suffering and testing, He is able to help us when we are being tested."

Christ endured the Cross and took upon pain, suffering, hurt, all that we go through and far more. For every time we feel disconnected from God, we should remember how Christ understands that. He was disconnected from His Father upon earth, and though tempted, He relied on the Lord for strength.

In that same empathy, Christ feels what we feel.
Through the Cross, the veil was taken away, inviting man into the very presence of God.
By that action of sacrifice, God enables us to come into unity with Himself.
So, we can feel as God does just as He feels as we do.
Ever time you are hurt, so is Christ. Every time you cry, Christ cries.

For God is not far from the broken. He cannot be.
How can He reject the brokenness of His children?
He will never abandon those whom He loves.
He will not give up on them, no matter how far they run.

2 Timothy 2:13
If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.

God knows you.
He understand and feels your pain.
Through Christ He has brought you under His wings and called you, "Child."

To think that the God of all creation would care so much that He would weep for a wretch like me.
Such amazing grace. Such amazing love.

But truly, it is as Colossians 1:27 says, "God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

An all-knowing and all-powerful God who chooses to care for me and feel the very pain that I endure. That is something I want to live for. Praise the Lord.
Christ is Enough.

Inheritance

Salvation is freedom and then so much more.
It was not just the wiping of a slate, but also the enabling of a whole new future of hope, life, and love.
Salvation was the beginning of living in reality. It was the beginning of life.
He took all of our darkness, but then He gave us His light.
That second part must not ever be forgotten.

Do you think of yourself as King or Queen, Prince or Princess?
Through salvation, that is who we are.
We are the children of God, and we were adopted into the wealthiest,
grandest, greatest, most amazing family there ever was, is, or will be.
We are co-heirs with Christ.

Think about that!
Christ, the one and only Son of the one true God.
God has brought us up to Him.
We are Kings and Queens, Princes and Princesses.
We sit at His table, for He is our Father and He is our Friend.

That is the reality of Christianity.
Not just a struggle to stay pure, but a conquest to bring hope.
We are called up to Him, to reign with Him.
We are lights to shine forth His love.
The representatives to go out and invite people into His courts.

He calls us "Son" and "Daughter."
And He says, "Go."
To all the world, telling of this good news.
Inviting people into the inheritance that is theirs if they choose.
He places the crown upon our head and says, "Rise, you are mine."

He's not trying to cheat you out of your life.
He's trying to give you your life.
And He is inviting you in to His throne room.
The call has gone out, it has resounded across the nations.
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

And a small voice responses as we lie prostrate at His feet. 
“Here am I! Send me.”
And He says to us as we are before Him,
"Rise up and shine, for your light has come. The shining-greatness of the Lord has risen upon you."
And we rise and we go.


That is the call.
That is our waiting destiny.
To be Kings and Queens, His Children. 
To be lifted up to Christ and to walk in the reality of His perfect image. 
That is the Gospel, our Inheritance.