Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders— He will carry your load, He will help you out. He will never let good people topple into ruin (Psalms 55:22 – MSG).
Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail)(Psalms 55:22 – AMPC).
If you are like me, you feel the weight of the mounting problems all around us. If the coronavirus issues were not enough, now the whole nation seems caught up in a renewed racial tension that is terribly exacerbated by the violence and insane ideas of defunding our police forces nationwide!
Here are some thoughts. First, we are not designed to navigate life alone. In God’s presence in prayer I find a place to pile my troubles on God’s shoulders. Tell Him exactly and in detail what aggravates you and bothers you, and what produces fear. Ask Him to help you see His perspective.
Before I even go there with the Lord, I sing. I don’t care if you can’t carry a tune in a bucket, God loves it when you sing. Find an alone place; a walk, or a place where you feel that you’re by yourself. Then, just sing worship songs. Close your eyes and focus on Him. He is more than enough. Worship produces a spiritual connection that causes God’s presence to manifest. And where God’s presence is, there is joy and deep satisfaction (Psalm 16:11).
Listen to David’s worship:
Psalms 30:11-12 (Passion Translation) – Then He broke through and transformed all my wailing into a whirling dance of ecstatic praise! He has torn the veil and lifted from me the sad heaviness of mourning. He wrapped me in the glory garments of gladness. 12 How could I be silent when it’s time to praise You? Now my heart sings out loud, bursting with joy— a bliss inside that keeps me singing, “I can never thank you enough!”
All of us feel the weight of today. That weight can be given to God in praise! Stop right now and sing to Him and watch what happens.
Praise is the language of faith. After spending some time singing and worshipping, take God’s word into your mouth and say what He says about your life!
What are you allowing to rule you right now, fear from media sources and other people, or are you allowing what God says in His word about your life to rule your decisions? I mean really, when is it going to be safe to leave your home? Is it when the media says that all is well and you will be safe? When are you going to attend your church again? When the media says the virus contamination is controlled? Really? My friends, our world is becoming contaminated with a fear that will force the control of your life into the hands of a few people who control the public narrative. Do you really trust them that much? Are they wiser than God?
Do the current problems cancel the truths found in God’s written word? Are you allowing what you hear right now in the media and from your friends to override the promises of God in your personal life? For me, I have chosen the path of faith in God’s word every day since I was 18 years old! HE has NEVER failed me. Not even one time! The One who loves us gives us an overwhelming victory in all these difficulties (Romans 8:37). Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place (2 Corinthians 2:14 – KJV).
Today is a day to live by faith in what God says about you in His word. Take your Bible, read God’s promises to Him out loud. You were born for this moment. God wants to use you to help and encourage others. Throw aside the fear that keeps you hunkered away from everybody, and let’s do life together again as believers!
Either God’s word works or it doesn’t. I can tell you that God honors His word. Let Him prove that in your life in the crazy time of fear and angst. ACT like His word is true, beginning right now!
I’m going to attach to this message today scripture that will boost your confidence in God. Read them over and over. Your faith will rise above the fear, and you’ll begin to live in confidence and courage.
FEAR
Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 43:1-3 – ESV – But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. (2) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (3) For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
Isaiah 54:17 – ESV – No weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.”
Psalms 46:1-3 -ESV – God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (2) Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, (3) though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Psalms 34:4 – I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Proverbs 29:25 – ESV – The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Romans 8:15 – ESV – For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
John 14:27 – ESV – Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
1 John 4:17-18 – AMP – In this [union and communion with Him] love is brought to completion and attains perfection with us, that we may have confidence for the day of judgment [with assurance and boldness to face Him], because as He is, so are we in this world. (18) There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love’s complete perfection].
Romans 8:37-39 -ESV – No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (38) For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (39) nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
HEALING AND FAITH
Exodus 15:26 – And said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Exodus 23:25-26 – So you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. (26) No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.
Deuteronomy 7:15 – And the LORD will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
Psalm 105:37 – He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes.
Psalm 107:20 – He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Proverbs 4:20-22 – My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. (21) Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; (22) For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
Proverbs 4:20-22 (NIV) – My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. (21) Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; (22) for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body.
Isaiah 53:3-4 (Amplified) – He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. (4) Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. (5) But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.
Matthew 8:17 (NIV) – This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”
Acts 10:38 (NIV) – How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with Him.
1 Peter 2:24-25 – He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Matt 21:22 – And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
Mark 11:23-24 (NLT) – I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. (24) I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
John 15:7 (NLT) – But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!
John 16:23-24 (NLT) – At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. (24) You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.
1 John 3:22 (NLT) – And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) – And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him.(15) And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
Numbers 23:19 – God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Psalm 84:11 – For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold From those who walk uprightly.
Psalm 89:34 – My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
Psalm 119:89 – Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven.
Psalm 138:2 – I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Isaiah 40:8 – The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.
Isaiah 55:11 – So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.