2024-03-03 Sermon – Cast All Your Anxiety On Him
Cast all your anxiety on him
1 Corinthians 1: 18-25, 1 Peter 5: 6 – 11
We are living the season of Lent. It is a time of prayer for us. However,
after we pray, there are still often moments of anxiety. Worries and concerns can
overwhelm us, making us feel uneasy, nervous, and anxious.
I have come to realize how important it is to guard our hearts. In 1
Corinthians 1, Paul speaks about the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Nevertheless, these concepts remain theoretical within us without confirming it
through praying. Have you actually experienced the power of God?
Have you felt and experienced God’s wisdom leading to salvation, God’s
calling bringing you to redemption? In Chapter 1 of the first Corinthians, we find
the power and wisdom of God, the gospel of salvation, the message of Christ and
the cross. I hope that we will make the words of 1 Corinthians real and concrete
through praying. Do you know how to make the power of God real?
- We have to grasp the power of God and the wisdom of God
Even Jesus faced Satan, who constantly questioned whether He was the Son
of God. Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the message of the crucified Christ is
foolish to those who are perishing. But, for those who are saved or called by God,
it is the power of God and the wisdom of God which is not known to the world.
Do you belong with those who were saved or called? Are we recipients of
salvation? Have we received God’s calling? As Paul mentions, they are both Jews
and Gentiles. We are beings called by God. We have to know God. Let us read
verse 18.
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
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However, this understanding must not remain theoretical but become a
reality. Lent is a time of prayer. We are walking with Jesus toward Jerusalem and
the place of the cross. Peter’s first letter challenges us to cast away every anxiety
onto God. We are saved by the power of God. We have to make the triumph real
and concrete through praying and fighting.
- Cast away all your anxiety
We must guard our hearts more than any other things as Christians. Why?
God is with us through our hearts. Peter points out that God is caring for us. Do
you believe it? Let us read 1 Peter 5: 7.
Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
We all know about anxiety. The devil prowls toward us for the sake of
terrifying us. The devil wants to devour us through anxiety, to scare us into
turning away from our God. What shall we do? Let us read 1 Peter 5: 8.
Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the
devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.
Pay attention to Peter’s recommendation. Do you know how to overcome
worries and anxieties when they flood into our hearts? We have to shout out.
Simply, we have to speak to God. “God, help me. Save me. Here is my situation.”
Our response is based on the words of God. We have to speak to God about what
is going on inside. When we talk to someone about our worries and concerns we
can experience calmness. Talking and speaking are very important. Talking and
expressing our emotions help us to organize our thoughts rationally. Even in
difficult situations of family stress or economic troubles, we can experience the
grace of God and be grateful. Peter tells us, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert.”
During prayer, we could precisely articulate our concerns, saying, “God, this
is my situation. I am broken emotionally and economically. I don’t know what to
do. I will follow as you lead.”
There’s no need to propose our own solutions. When a certain thing does
not happen as we prayed, we are discouraged and frustrated. We must accept that
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God’s way is the best way. It’s about surrendering, entrusting all to God’s
decisions.
God is unseen but our problems appear so clear to us. Then, we usually
follow the visible rather than the way God leads. Even after we yield everything to
God, anxiety still troubles us. We have to stand firm in our faith. Faith-filled
prayer leads God to action. We should be careful with our lips. We easily say
negative things.
I want to share a story from a missionary. During the pandemic, a
missionary had a hard time because the building he rented for his ministry was
sold. There was no other building for him to rent. At that time, he learned about
arrow prayers.
Arrow prayers are short prayers that only take a few seconds to pray—they
are “shot” up to God in a moment. They help to penetrate darkness or fear and
direct our thoughts quickly to God, especially when we feel particularly weak,
vulnerable, or scared.
This missionary saw African children playing with water guns. They shot
their water guns toward the building. It impressed that missionary and made him
think about how he was praying. He began to practice arrow prayers. When
anxiety overwhelmed him, he prayed arrow prayers. He shot a prayer to the Lord,
“Please, help me release this idea and anxiety.” We read and learned the promise
of Jesus in 1 Peter chapter 5. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for
you.”
- Stand firm in the faith
Even though we pray, bad things happen. Then negative words easily fall
from our lips. We have to make our lips be blessed with positive affirmations.
When negative thoughts arise and come into our minds, we have to shut them out.
Say, “I won’t accept you.” Guard your heart. Let us read 1 Peter 5: 9.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your
brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of
sufferings. …will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and
steadfast.
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Peter clearly asks us to entrust everything to God and stand firm in the faith.
I think that praying is a kind of spiritual battle of faith. We must guard our hearts.
The devil comes into our hearts through thoughts and emotions. When difficulties
come, excessive worries arise in our hearts. Then, we are full of worries. Cast
away all worries to the Lord. Surely, the Holy Spirit must guard us. We must
fight by praying and keeping our hearts from the devil.
We have to say and affirm our faith through proclaiming. Don’t come in;
you can’t come in. I am God’s temple, the house of God.
Our thoughts and faith must be guarded. Guard your heart. Then, gradually,
our spirits become stronger, and our faith becomes stronger.
I know that Jesus asked his disciples to keep themselves alert and ready.
“So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?” We have to remember Jesus’
asking, “one hour.” We have to pray according to the words of God. We have to
memorize the biblical passages. What I know is that we can keep our hearts
through praying. The words of God is the power of God which makes us be
saved.