He cares for you

1 Peter 5:7 states, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." God cares for His own people.  The previous verse, verse 6 tells us to, "...humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."

Pride and arrogance have no place here! Verse 5 tells us that, "...God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." This is a quotation taken from Proverbs 3:34 in the Old Testament.

Let's take a look at a couple of verses in Philippians. Philippians 4:6, 7, "(6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Where it states 'be anxious for nothing' it means be anxious about no thing.

We are prone to be like Martha in Luke 10:40-42, "(40) But Martha was distracted by much serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, You care not that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.' (41) And Jesus answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." We get so easily distracted and anxious about matters.

Now, what have we learned from Philippians 4:6?

1. Be anxious about no thing.

2. Let our requests be made known to God.

3. How? By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, in everything.

4. When we pray it has to be with thanksgiving.

What are the results of this in Philippians 4:7?

1. We will have the peace of God.

2. The peace of God surpasses human understanding.

3. This peace will guard our hearts and minds.

4. The peace of God occurs through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that we are not to care about our responsibilities towards our employers, or our families; after all we are stewards of all that God has provided us with. 1 Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."

God wants us to be free from anxiety. When the apostle Paul wrote to the Philippian believers he was encouraging them to bring all aspects of their lives before God in prayer. Such things as material needs, illnesses, relationships with others, trials and testing times, hopes and fears - to spread them out before the Lord. God does not just want information from us - He wants us to specifically tell Him what we need.

God already knows the circumstances we are in; however He wants us to let Him know what we require from Him. He will answer according to our needs and not necessarily our wants.

I have a lot of wants, but many of those things I do not need!

If we have the confidence to ask according to His will for us, then we will have the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds in our daily circumstances.

Colossians 3:15, "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts...and be thankful."

Jon Peasey

Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com

Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

[All Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted. Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted for clarity. Words in bold type emphasise a point.  You may notice some verses are quoted with ... at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is quoted.]

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