"Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you"
1 Peter 5:7
The Lord would bring this verse to me several times during a 3 week period and particularly during a difficult season for me emotionally. The fact was I carrying many burdens; spiritual burdens, emotional burdens, work burdens and because of this these burdens were leading me to a place of distress and fear. I knew what the scriptures said, but I did not know how to really give these cares to the Lord. I knew mentally that I needed to do what the word say's and I would temporarily be encouraged when I would read or listen to certain scriptures, but it would quickly fade as I would inadvertently revert back to carrying the burdens again all by myself. I did this because I had the wrong foundation that was not being built on the rock of His word.
This vicious cycle would continue and it went on for weeks until one afternoon as I was meditating again on this verse and the Lord spoke the following to my heart "I want you to carry my burdens and I will carry yours". I was kind of taken back by this statement and at the same time it peaked my curiosity. Lord, you have burdens for me to carry, I thought? The truth was I was so focused on my own stuff that I did not realize I was missing the purpose for which He created me. I soon found out that "yes" God actually has burdens for me to carry; however they were not burdensome. In fact, the scriptures tell us that His yoke is easy and His burdens are light.
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11: 28-30
Read this verse again and slowly. Did you catch that? He has a burden and a yoke for us, but His yoke is easy and His burden is light. In addition it's an invitation to learn humility from Him which gives us rest for our souls. The Lord is offering to take our burdens, which are hard and difficult, and in exchange we get to take His burdens which are easy and light and leads us to His rest. What a deal!
I was driving down the road when I was having this revelation come upon me and then I realized what an awesome exchange this was. So I told the Lord "Yes, I want to exchange my burdens for yours!". I figured I had nothing to lose because I was exchanging burdens and cares that were hard and difficult for burdens that were easy and light even though I did not fully know what these burdens from the Lord actually were until later (I just trusted Him). As soon as I said this in my heart, I literally saw a bird fly and soar directly over my windshield. The Lord further used this bird to show me the freedom He wants to bring His people. We were created to soar! But many times we are like an eagle with amazing potential yet stuck in a cage of our own regrets, failures, worries, cares and fears. This cage experience happens simply because we are carrying a load that belongs only to Him. God is telling us that He did not create us to be locked up in a cage - He created us to fly.
Regret, Failure, Disappointment, Hopelessness
Yes, He created us not just to fly, but to soar. As it say's in Isaiah 40:31 "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint". When we truly give (trust) God with our cares and exchange them for His, we can soar into our purpose and into the promises of God (Jeremiah 29:11). When we Hope (or Trust) in Him we are led out of the cage of impossibilities and failure and into the sky of limitless opportunities and possibilities just like this eagle below. The fact is an eagle glorifies God the most when its soaring in the sky not when its stuck in a cage. The same is true for us.
Peace, Trust, Faith, Hope, Love, and Joy
When we carry His burdens to love, pray and help others (all of which brings life) we don't have to carry our burdens (which brings stress and anxiety) because He will help us with those burdens. God will either take these burdens from us entirely or give us the wisdom we need to handle these burdens, but in a way that brings life to the situation not more stress. Bottom Line, we still have the cares in our possession if it brings stress, worry, fear or anxiety. The enemy only comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus comes to give us life and to give us life more abundantly. We must choose to give these burdens to Him and exchange them for His. This is what I call the "The Great Exchange" and it works every time when we do this by faith and trust even if we have to do it 50 times a day. We need to be patient with the process because we are creating a new foundation that is built on His word not on our emotions.
It's interesting to consider that right before God invites us to "give Him our cares" He actually tells us to humble ourselves. Let's read the 2 verses in Peter 5 together so that its understood in the right context: "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: 6-7.
In other words.....we humble ourselves by giving Him our cares. If we don't give Him our cares we are actually walking in pride because we are essentially telling the Lord we can do this without His help or we simply don't think He cares enough for us so we keep holding onto it. In both situations we are not trusting in Him. So no wonder we are stressful and anxious when we are carrying these burdens because His grace is not upon us when we are walking in pride (He gives grace to the humble - see verse 5). We were not created to carry burdens and cares that give us stress. We were only created to carry His burdens that bring life, peace and joy. The Lord further showed me that not only is this pride, but that we will always be under something. We will either be under the hand of our own cares and worries and fears that push us down or we will be under His mighty hand of protection that will eventually lift us up (after we have given Him our cares). When we give God our cares, we are walking in true humility. Not only that, we are choosing to soar (life) and letting ourselves out of the cage of sorrow and failure.
In Summary, I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to show you any areas in your life that you might be carrying that belongs to Him. Remember if it's hard and difficult and brings anxiety, it does not belong to you, it belongs to Him. And just as importantly, ask the Lord what burdens He might want you to carry. Maybe its praying more for your spouse or a family member. Maybe its spending more time with God and in His word. Maybe its serving at a soup kitchen or more at church. Let the Lord speak to your heart and allow Him to direct you no matter how different or unique it may be. If you do this you will discover His love and care for you in ways you never thought possible. In fact, your burdens that you are carrying right now are opportunities for the Lord to prove His love for you. He cares for you more than you know so let Him take these burdens from you.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" Hebrews 12:1
Finally, notice in the diagram below the middle letter in the words Anxiety and Pride. It’s an "I". Representing that self is in control. Now see what happens when we place our "I" in His "I" and give it to Him. We can keep our "I" which leads to anxiety and pride or we can exchange it for HIM and when we do He takes our "I" and washes it with the blood of Jesus so that we don't have to take on the worries, doubts or fears of life. Its either us in control or Him and soon you find out that life is so much better with Him in control. Humble yourself (agree that you need His help) by giving your cares to Him and then ask Him for His cares and then watch what happens. God bless you all!
ANXIETY
PRIDE
OR
HIM
