Casting our cares, anxieties

We are focused this week on "humbling ourselves" and on "casting all of our cares" on Him. Let's get back into our study!

We've been looking at the twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew, where we read about Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane, and taking three disciples with Him. He went there to pray, longingly, intensely to the Father.
Jesus is our example as we try to find practical ways to follow Peter's instructions. First, we saw that asking others to pray alongside us is important.
Next, we need to remember that God wants to hear from us. Let's bring those anxious thoughts to Him. As believers, we will face attacks from Satan - and one of his favorites is to try to persuade us that God is too busy for us, or that our concerns are too small, or even that it's selfish to pray for ourselves. Don't believe Satan!
God is our all-powerful and perfect heavenly Father, and He wants to hear from all His children. He wants to hear from us about the small things; we can thank Him for a lunch time spent happily with our kids, and we can ask Him to help us and take away our headache. He also wants to hear about the big things; all of the stuff that is way out of our control. You see, when something is bothering us, we have a choice to make . . . we can worry about it, or we can pray about it. Worry is when we talk to ourselves about things we can't change or control. Prayer is when we talk to God about those things we can't change or control.
Worry will actually shorten our lives. (There are many studies that bear this out.) Prayer will lengthen our lives, because we can cast those anxieties onto the Lord.
Maybe even though Peter couldn't stay awake that night, he thought about how Jesus took His anxious thoughts to God.
Did you notice something in the passage in Matthew? Jesus asked the same thing over and over. He brought the same thing to God: He basically asked the Father to let this cup pass from Him. Luke recorded that Jesus was so distressed that He was sweating drops of blood.  I don't believe it was fear of pain, or even of death, but that the anxiety was for the spiritual separation from God. II Corinthians tells us that Jesus literally became sin on our behalf.....what did He do with these thoughts? He took them to God. And He did it over and over.

We can bring our needs to God as many times as we need to -- God doesn't get tired of hearing from us! I believe that's the core of Jesus' parable about the widow who kept after the judge until he did what he was asked. In fact, Luke says:

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.  (Luke 18:1)

Lastly, our passage in Matthew gives us an example of how we should submit our will to God's will. We don't pray to tell God what to do! We bring our prayers to Him, and we should leave the outcome to Him. After all, He may have something better planned, than even we know about!
Leaving the outcome to Him...... how about the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the book of Daniel? They were all arrested for refusing to bow down and worship the statue the king had made. Nebuchadnezzar gave them one final chance to recant (just a fancy word for change their minds) before they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Remember what they said?

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18)

Wowser! They were willing to trust God, no matter how their prayers were answered! That's the way we need to pray...... it's like we make our own will as neutral as we can.
Jesus prayed that way. He persisted in prayer until His will was neutral regarding the cross.  "Father, if there is any other way..... not my will, but thy will be done." Jesus was praying from the heart, asking for God's strength to sustain Him through the coming spiritual ordeal.

And God did answer His prayer, just as He answers every prayer. The Father did not remove the cross from Jesus' path, but He sustained Jesus through it.
Through every illegal trial.
Through every shriek of falsehood.
Through every taunt.
Through all the physical abuse.
Through death, to His resurrection.
God brought His Son through it all, and He will bring us through whatever we face, though it pales in comparison to what Christ endured.

He wants us to trust Him, and to cast all of our anxieties on Him.