Heart Moments Bible Study # 3 Casting Your Cares Away!
Heart Moments Bible Studies, #3, Casting Your Cares Away!
What worries are you carrying around right now? What fears and burdens are weighing you down? Are you anxious about a situation?
- List some of the issues that are causing you to worry, be fearful, and/or anxious. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sometimes, I worry about a situation to the point I can’t sleep, or if I sleep, I’ll dream about it. According to dictionary.com, the definition of the verb “worry” is “to torment with cares, anxieties, etc.; trouble; plague.”
While worry can affect your emotional health, it can also affect your physical health. It can make you more likely to have high blood pressure, a heart attack, or stroke. Worry can cause headaches, GI issues, irritability, fatigue, and breathing problems.
Our minds and feelings tell us to worry, fret, and lose sleep, but the truth of Scripture tells us quite the opposite.
- What does 1 Peter 5:7 tell us to do with our worry, fears, and anxiety?
“Give _______ your ___________ and ________ to ________, for he ___________ about ________.”
In Peter’s epistle, he addresses Christians who are suffering persecution and abuse because of their faith. And yet, he tells them not to worry. The NIV translation says it this way: “Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you.”
1 Peter 5:7 tells us to give ALL our worries to God. All means all, not just some, but the most significant amount, every different one, any and everything. We are to look in God’s direction and place all of our disturbing thoughts, fret, cares, anxieties, and uneasiness into His hands. Why should we? Look at the second part of 1 Peter 5:7 – Because God cares about you.
Read that again: God cares for you. He is concerned and looks out for you. He watches over you and is responsible for you.
- Is there a situation that you attempt to give to God but instead continue to worry or fret over? ___________________________________________________________________
My husband is a fisherman. He’s known as the “bigeyecrappieman” for catching lots of big crappie in our area lakes. Sadly, I do not share his ability or passion for fishing. Nevertheless, I’ve been with him a few times, and one time I tried “casting” a fishing pole into the dark, murky lake water. It never reached the water because it got hung up in some brush. I yanked and tugged with no success. The more I tried to reel the line back in, the messier it got. But as I remember my experience, I can relate to Peter’s words.
God tells us to cast or give all of our worries or anxiety to Him. We are to cast them out, and God never tells us to reel them back in. How often do we try to cast them or give them away, then get hung up in our worry and try to bring our cares, fears, and anxieties right back to us?
Just like that fishing line, the more we try to pull, tug, and bring our worry back to us, the worse it becomes. Worry becomes an obsession, leading to more fear and anxiety.
- Read Psalm 55:22. What is the command? ____________________________________________________________________?
What is the promised result? ____________________________________________?
- Look up Matthew 6:25-34. How many times does Jesus say not to worry? _______
- From this passage, what do you think are some of the lessons that Jesus teaches us?
V26_____________________________________________________________________
V27_____________________________________________________________________
V30_____________________________________________________________________
V32_____________________________________________________________________
- Zoom in on V33. What should our focus be on instead of worrying? ________________________________________________________________________
The time we spend worrying would be better spent in prayer.
How do we cast or give our cares to God? Philippians 4:6-7 tells us how!
- Did you notice the “instructions” in vs 6 and 7? Write them below:
- _________________________________________________________________
- _________________________________________________________________
- _________________________________________________________________
- _________________________________________________________________
9. What is the promised result? _____________
God promises peace. More than we can understand, guarding our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Prayer acknowledges that God is the One who can handle the situation that worries us. Prayer releases the issue into His hands and leaves it there.
Thankfulness takes our eyes off ourselves and places them onto God, Sovereign over all, and the giver of good things. Gratitude changes our focus and our perspective.
What worries you today? What causes you to be anxious and lose precious sleep? Are you trying to handle it yourself? Are you refusing to cast the line of worry, cares, and anxiety away and let it remain there? Don’t try to reel it back in! Remind yourself that God cares for you and has invited you to give it ALL to Him!
Will you apply what you’ve learned? Write a prayer giving all your worries to God using the principles from Philippians 4:6-7.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Picture, if you will, God is standing in front of you with his outstretched hand, waiting for you to place your worry and anxiety there. Trust that He is more than capable of handling what you give Him! When you do, be ready to receive back the peace that only God can give you.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
John 14:17 (NIV)
© 2021 Robin R King
I hope that you will catch a glimpse of the heart of God and delight in, and hunger for, the life-changing, transforming power of the Word. – Robin
