Lesson 7. “Effective Prayer” School. Mary Alice Isley describes how we can give our cares to the Lord in prayer.
The Kingdom of God, as the Bible says, is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom.14:17). God wants us to live in peace and joy, not in anxiety and burdens.
Every day, life places some kind of burden on our soul. As a result, you become depressed, your spirit is weighed down, you worry, and you try in the flesh to deal with what burdens you.
If you have intense fear, it can undermine your faith, and the devil can turn your problems against you in such a way that they bring torment. You must not allow this. The Lord has made it possible for you to deal with any problem or circumstance that frightens you. By the power of the Holy Spirit, you can overcome it all and live in peace and joy.
It is through the Prayer of Giving Our Cares to God that we can find this peace.
God Is Your Father
The prayer of giving your cares to the Lord begins with affirming the fact that God is your Heavenly Father and loves you. God is your Father.
First John 3:1–2 says that right now, at this very time, we are His children. This is where the confidence and freedom to pray this prayer come from.
Because God is your Father, He cares for you! The Holy Spirit wants this truth to break into your spirit! God is the best Father you have ever had, and we need to learn to communicate with Him in prayer as our Father. Giving Him our cares is part of this communication.
Not only have many people been taught to fear life, but they also have an unbiblical understanding of who He really is.
Christians need to look at this differently through the Word of God and realize that God is good, that He loves and cares for us. He is our Father.
We are not alone or helpless; the Father cares for us. He will take care of every detail of our lives if we simply follow Him and reject fear. One expression of our faith in God’s fatherhood is this prayer, in which we entrust all the concerns of our lives to Him.
Help for an Anxious Generation
1 Peter 5:6–7 says:
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time;
casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
According to the Bible, showing humility also means entrusting our problems to the Lord.
“I can solve everything myself,” many people claim. But this is not humility; it is a desire to do things their own way.
What, then, is humility? Entrusting our problems to the Lord. Our generation, however, is selfish, proud, and reliant only on itself.
Many people think that worrying and fretting are perfectly natural.
But according to the Bible, spiritual life is not about worry and anxiety; it is about entrusting all our problems to the Lord and accepting His perfect love, which leaves no room for fear (1 John 4:18)! Whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Anxiety is sin! If we are preoccupied with our problems and allow them to burden our souls, we are not trusting enough.
Scripture says that God cares for us; this is effectively a command to cast all our problems onto Him and take His burden upon ourselves. In Matthew 11:30, Jesus says, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” We make everything more complicated for ourselves, but the Bible shows us the way out. Jesus wants us to be free from fear.
Lay Your Problems on God
One way out is to lay your problems on God. When we want to do this, we should say: “Father, I give all my worries to You. I humble myself under Your mighty hand. I refuse to accept troubles and problems; through You, I am freed from them.
I place them in Your hands, Father. You can deal with them. In the name of Jesus, I cast out the spirit of fear!”
God wants us to pray this way when we have troubles.
The Bible says that all problems should be laid on God once and for all. We must be free from them, leave them in His hands, and never take them back.
Sometimes we think too much about our problems. Stop doing this.
God wants you to have peace in your heart and to be led by the Holy Spirit as you respond to life's difficulties. Of course, deal with whatever you can handle! But there are problems that weigh you down; these are the ones you need to lay on the Lord. In doing so, you will receive the strength, grace, and direction to deal with everyday matters while remaining in peace and joy.
Is something weighing you down?
Let us read James 5:13: “Is anyone among you suffering?” This means: “Is anyone among you in trouble?” The Father cares not only about freeing you from the devil’s spiritual oppression, but also from the pressure of life’s problems. And He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us.
There are circumstances in your life that you need to deal with. And there always will be! It all depends on how you manage them. What should a person do when something weighs them down? Pray! That is what the Bible says.
Sometimes we think, “What should I do? I’ve tried this and that.” Stop worrying and pray:
“In the name of Jesus, I will no longer give in to stress and pressure. I lay my problems on You, Lord. Father, take both situations; I give everything to You.”
Of course, prayerfully casting our problems upon the Lord is not a cure-all, but it is a great help when we pray in faith. God wants to help us in every area of life.
For example, the Holy Spirit can work in you when you are physically, mentally, spiritually, or emotionally weak. He also wants to free you from the desire to do everything your own way. He wants to protect you from people who control your life and pressure you.
Perhaps anxiety and fear have been present in your family for years. Jesus will set you free from all of this. The Holy Spirit can manifest Himself in many ways; you only need to open yourself to Him and allow Him to work in your life.
Do not worry
We find another very important verse concerning this issue in Philippians 4:6:
Do not be anxious about anything, but always, in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
After reading this, you may think: “Could this really be written for today?” Yes, exactly. And if this is what the Bible says, then it is truly so.
A carnal, worldly person does not understand this. “How can Christians be so joyful and happy?” How? It is simply because we know our Father, who lovingly cares for and watches over us, resolving all the problems we cast upon Him. We know the Holy Spirit, who helps us in life and reveals the root of every problem. He sets us free!
I encourage you to exercise faith by standing on this verse. Next to this verse in my Bible, I wrote: “No problem with problems.” At first, it was difficult to accept. “There are problems at every turn—what should I do?”
I do nothing except cast them upon the Lord and seek His solution.
What should we do first? Keep this verse deep in our hearts: “Do not be anxious about anything.” This means that we should not make a problem out of our problems. There is an answer; there is a way out, and God will show it to you. We trust and believe Him in this.
If we cast all our cares, problems, and pressures upon God, He will resolve them. But if we keep them inside, we will tie God’s hands, because if we solve our problems ourselves, the Lord can no longer do so. That is why He says: “Do not be anxious about anything.”
Have you spoken with the Lord?
“Always, with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6). This verse tells us that we should talk to God about our problems. We often discuss every aspect of a problem with other people, but do not say a word about it to the Lord!
“Doesn’t He already know about them?” He does, but He wants us to bring them to Him as our Father: “Lord, what do You think about this?”…
Then you must seek God if you are powerless to withstand the pressure and ask yourself: “Why am I powerless if I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?”
Perhaps you have opened doors to a spirit of fear in your life; perhaps you harbor unforgiveness that prevents you from acting freely in the situation you are facing. Or perhaps your rebellion has plunged you into such confusion?
It is important for you to open your heart and mind to the Lord so that He can deal with the problem.
This is not condemnation; holiness and righteousness are working in you so that you can deal with any problem with the Lord’s authority!
The peace of God will guide you
Talk to God simply as you would to a friend. And when you have made your problems known to Him with thanksgiving, the promise of verse 7 will be fulfilled:
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:7
It is the peace of God specifically, because there is no peace, no rest, on earth. Therefore, we need to pray so that the peace of God will be with us. His peace, which surpasses understanding, will guard our hearts and minds.
What are attacks and pressure usually directed against? Against your mind and heart. The peace of God will be your super-guardian, precisely because you prayed. And you do not necessarily have to pray for five hours. It could be a very clear, precise prayer, like an arrow, yet as simple as a thought: “What should I do about this, Lord?”
It is so wonderful when, as soon as you have prayed, peace and calm already fill your heart, soul, and mind. God loves and cares for you, and you must talk with Him, cooperate with Him, and place your problems in His hands.
But sometimes you simply cry out to God for hours, waiting for an answer. You plead with the Lord to reveal His power (see Jer. 33:3). Cry out to Him with all your heart to find peace, even if it takes a long time.
There are times when we must seek the Lord. And He will reveal Himself and show you His plan for your life. If you are serious in your relationship with Him, He will be serious in His relationship with you.
Cry Out to the Lord
A pastor told me a story that I would like to share with you. One of the members of his congregation was on the verge of leaving the church. He held a certain position in society, and this was a very serious decision for him.
The whole city could have concluded that the church had failed to meet this man’s needs or that something was wrong in the church, especially since it differed from the other churches in the city.
Most importantly, the pastor knew that it was not God's will for this man to leave the church; the enemy simply wanted to take him back into the world. This problem constantly weighed on the pastor and lay heavily on his soul.
One day, the Lord said to him about it, “If you pray, I will perform a miracle.” So the pastor decided to cry out to the Lord for an answer all day Saturday, until he gained victory in this situation.
That is exactly what he did: he gave up sleep and food, prayed in tongues, and cried out to the Lord for this man and his relationship with him, asking that God's will be done in this situation.
He was concerned about him; it weighed on him as a minister of God. It was also a prompting of the Holy Spirit—He wanted someone to pray about this situation.
The pastor prayed this way until evening. Finally, he felt that, in the presence of God, his heart had been freed from the burden, and that the entire situation was now in the Lord’s hands.
And the Lord performed a miracle—He brought this church member back! He solved the pastor’s problem, and today this man is a strong Christian and an active witness to the church and the entire community. This happened because of the prayers of the pastor, who cried out to the Lord, placing this concern in His hands and desiring to turn it into a miracle.
God helps us be sensitive! There is a time to cast our problems on the Lord, and a time to cry out to Him. How can we know the difference? Let the Holy Spirit lead you as you pray about what weighs you down.
If something weighs you down
“Okay, how do I know this?” If it is taking a lot of your time, strength, and energy.
When something becomes a burden, you feel it weighing on you—it drains you from the inside and takes away your life. When you feel this, you need to begin seeking the face of the Lord and cast your problems on Him.
Whatever is draining your life from within, allow Jesus to be your Lord in this situation.
We often give in to life’s circumstances, constantly thinking about them and making plans, and this robs us of our peace. But when we cry out to Jesus, we find peace. If we allow circumstances to rule us, they become our master, and then there is no peace within us. You need to cast your problems on Jesus in order to receive peace.
Let us look at Proverbs 16:3:
Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
What a wonderful promise! But for this to happen, cast all your works on Him, and His blessing will come upon you.
Submit to the Lord in all your works, and your works will submit to you.
Your Heavenly Father loves you and cares for you. God wants you to tell Him about your concerns. Refuse to accept them, free yourself from them, give them to the Lord, and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
Resist fear. With the Lord, you can live in peace and joy. It depends on you. Give your concerns to God, and He will sustain and protect you.
End of lesson.
