A BAG OF POTATOES

1 Peter 5:7 AMP casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].    

Have you tried lifting a big bag of potatoes lately? If you have you’ll know how heavy it is, especially if you have to carry it very far, as a friend of mine shared with me recently!😊

In the same way, life can feel like we’re carrying a very heavy bag, not of potatoes, but of burdens and cares that are just too heavy for us. They may be worries about family situations, or big health issues, perhaps they’re financial burdens and all of them seem to weigh us down, growing heavier and heavier the longer we hold on to them. When something happens that’s ‘another’ thing to worry about, it can feel like it’s the last straw that breaks the camel’s back!

A bag of potatoes is full of individual potatoes but when they’re all together they seem much heavier. Maybe your worries are not all big. Perhaps you think you can handle some of them on your own but God never intended us to carry any of them, regardless of how big or small they may be! He said to cast all our cares!😊

I read some good advice a long time ago, where it said to write down each ‘worry’ on a piece of paper. Then see yourself hand it over to our loving Father because He loves us so deeply and He’s the only One with shoulders big enough to carry it all. Then rip the piece of paper up into pieces and put it in the waste bin. You’ve handed them over!

It means they are now in God’s ‘IN’ box, they’re no longer in our bag of cares, no longer our burden but His, and we can have confidence knowing He is dealing with each and every one of them in His time and in His way and He will help us with our part in it all. When the enemy comes and whispers in our ear, “What about so and so”, we can tell him we’ve handed that care over to God and it’s not our burden any more.

Let’s read it again - 1 Peter 5:7 AMP casting all your cares (all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all) on Him, for He cares about you (with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully).    

If your cares are weighing you down and maybe you can’t sleep, then the Holy Spirit is encouraging us all to know it’s time to hand those things over to our Good Shepherd and trust Him to sort them out, and as we do, allow His peace to fill our souls and enter the rest Jesus bought and paid for, for us.😊 In Jesus name. Amen.

Photo by Mads Eneqvist on Unsplash

PREPARE OUR HEARTS

2 Chronicles 12:14 NKJV And he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord.

When we prepare a meal we first have to think about what we want to make, what would be best for all concerned. We assemble the ingredients, turn on the oven, etc. and (in my case), we hope it turns out all right!🤣

In the same way we’re willing to take time to prepare a meal, we need to be willing to take time to prepare our hearts to seek the Lord because if we don’t we may be like King Rehoboam and fall into doing something we shouldn’t be doing, or starting on a distracting road which pulls us away from God.

So how do we prepare our hearts? It helps when we shift our focus from all the daily routine, from the distractions of the digital world, from the pressure of other people’s expectations, and set aside some time to focus our attention instead on reading God’s word, seeking to know Him and His way of doing things, listening for His inner voice or an impression, if He wants us to change the way we do things, or think differently.

Maybe you think you don’t have time, you’re too busy? If so, then maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention to prioritise what is important, to remind us spending time with Him is what we need most!😊

God wants our attention because He loves us and He is always seeking to bring us into His good plans, but if we don’t spend time with Him how will we know what they are? Think of the good things we might miss! Think of the warnings God might be trying to give us to prevent us being harmed. 

God says He rewards those who diligently seek Him, so I hope that encourages us to shift our focus for a while, to prepare our hearts and find out what the Lord is saying to us in the coming days.😊 Amen.

Photo by Babs Gorniak on Unsplash