FAITH AND REMOVING CARE
We must remove all care when using our faith. According to God’s Word having care, which has various names, will work against the Faith of God or against your use of His Faith to change the circumstances in your life.
Scriptures connecting Faith and Care
Mark 11:22-24 Verse 23 “shall not doubt in his heart” is the same thing as saying “shall not have care in his heart”.
Matthew 17:14-21 Verse 15 & 16 The father of the child was full of care. Notice that unbelief (or we could say care) in verse 20 hindered the deliverance of the child by the disciples. The phase “prayer and fasting” simply means a mature one in Christ, one who is further developed in the Ways of God, specifically to not be moved by sight. Full story in Mark 9:14-29
Matthew 21:21,22 Verse 21 speaks of “and doubt not“ implying that you must do both have faith and doubt not (or we could say care not), then verse 22 can come to pass.
Hebrews 10:22,23 Verse 22 states “a true heart in full assurance of faith” another way of saying no care. Assurance and concern work against each other, being assured is vital to effective operation of your faith. Verse 23 states “without wavering” which means without care or concern. Why because God is faithful to perform His Promises.
Hebrews 10:35-38 Verse 35 states “Cast not away therefore your confidence”, you do that by being careful or taking care. You take care by thinking (pondering) on the devils lies. Verse 38 uses the term “draw back” we draw back by taking care which is thinking thoughts like “this is not going to work” (producing Fear, doubt, and unbelief).
James 1:5-8 Verse 6 states “nothing wavering” this is another way of stating not to be careful or concerned about the negative issue at hand if you are using your faith as the solution. Verse 7 states if he wavers by being careful “he shall not receive anything of the Lord”. Why? Because verse 8 declares a double minded man is unstable in all “his ways”, notice the term “his ways” which means not God’s Ways, or we can say not “The Way, of Jesus Christ”.
1 Peter 5:5-9 Verse 7 states “Casting all your care upon him”. According to verse 6 this takes humility. Notice the order humility allows you to cast your care, which puts you in a positive position to use your faith in verse 9
Examples of Faith & Care or No Care
Daniel 3:1-30 Verse 16 states that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were “not careful to answer” the King even at the risk of their life. Notice this decision was made before the trial of their faith not during. They were not afraid to die nor were they afraid of the threat of death.
Daniel 6:1-23 Verse 10 shows Daniel’s lack of concern, he was not careful about this decree. God gave Daniel a word of wisdom through King Darius in verse16. The King was careful according to verse 18 and 19 probably because he felt at fault. Notice in verse 20 how care changed King Darius statement of faith in verse 16 “He will deliver thee” into doubt by the question “Is thy God able to deliver thee?”. This change in confession was due to care being with King Darius all night.
Joshua 1:1-9 Notice in verse 8 it speaks of not letting God’s Word depart from your mouth and meditating God’s Word to get it into your heart. Verse 9 states, “be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed” in other words don’t have care about your new row as leader of the Children of Israel. Why? because the Lord thy God is with you!
1 Kings 17:8-16 Notice the care of the widow women in verse 12. Elijah addressed the care by saying “Fear Not” in verse 13 which is saying do not be careful about running out of food. Verse 15 states that she did according to the saying of Elijah and then her household (including Elijah) received the promise of God. This shows us the importance of having God in your house, the man of God represents the presence of God or Jesus living with you to meet your needs. Two points you must allow God’s Word into your house (or situation) and you must be willing to put care out of your house (or situation).
2 Kings 6:8-23 Notice the care of the servant of the man of God in verse 15. Then Elisha responses to that care in verse 16 with the answer of “Fear Not” with a reason of why he should not fear or we could say be concerned. The Lord gives the servant a sign at the request of Elisha God’s servant. We don’t need to fear when we understand that we are surrounded by God’s Host. The Lord will confirm truth with signs following according to Mark 16:20. Notice the care of the servant did not hinder the faith of Elisha.
Mark 6:1-6 Notice in verse 6 that as a whole did not believe in Him and their unbelief, or we could say care (doubt) hindered His work. Jesus had faith but their care worked against His ministry limiting Him to heal only a few sick folks in verse 5.
John 2:13-17 Notice that Jesus was not careful about how the small business owners or the temple rulers would react to His disruption of their business, so He was able to operate in full faith to achieve the results of cleansing the Temple for His Heavenly Father. It takes faith to do what you say you believe in your heart according to God’s Word. His foundation for His actions was based on verse 16.
Luke 13:31-33 Notice Jesus was not careful about his own life, nor did Jesus have care about the governing officials in the land. Yes, all the way up to Herod the King. So He was able to freely speak what He believed in His heart. Jesus knew that He would not die until the time appointed of His Heavenly Father (after He finished His Ministry on earth).
Matthew 9:18,19 and 23-26 (also Mark 5:21-24 and 35-43) Notice the care upon Jairus in verse 18 he stated that she was “now dead” and the little girl died right then, in Mark 5 verse 35 we can read the results of those words and Jesus response to the negative report was “Be not afraid, only believe” in verse 36. In other words don’t be careful about the situation hold fast to your faith without wavering.
Acts 16:16-31 In verse 25 we see that Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God out loud, this means that they were not concerned or had care about the other people or their present circumstance in the jail. Notice in verse 26 that their freedom to express their beliefs about God while in jail instigated God’s Will for them to be released from jail obtaining their natural freedom too. When you are free in Christ you will also be free from the chains (shackles) of jail.
Acts 20:7-12 Notice in verse 9 tragedy occurred at night, however in verse 10 Paul fell on Eutychus and embraced him and said to the people there “Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him”. Paul clearly states not to be concerned about Eutychus. And at the break of day the young man was brought alive unto Paul in verses 11 and 12. Notice Paul did not pray for the young man, he fell, embraced and spoke words of life to raise the young man back to life. Remember with Jarius he spoke death and his daughter died, then Jesus spoke life and young girl lived. The point is speak life to the person you desire to see live.
Acts 14:19,20 Notice in verse 20 we see Paul’s faith, because it takes faith in God to go back into the potentially dangerous situation and know that it also takes not being concerned about the consequences of your action. In other words, have no care in your walk of faith. Amen!
Jesus also displayed this trait in John 11:7-16. In verse 8 it is reported that the Jews sought to stone Him (kill him). However Jesus reports that He has a good work to do upon Lazarus. Notice Jesus did not respond to the care of dying or being killed and neither should we. He simply performed His assignment from His Heavenly Father in faith, void of care and obtained the Godly results of faith in God’s Word with signs following. Because Jesus performed what He believed it caused many others to believe in the Power of God also in verse 45 of the same chapter.
We can remove care by meditating upon God’s Word and speaking God’s Word only.
Matthew 6:25-34 Notice in verse 25 we are cautioned to not take certain thoughts of care (in other words negative thoughts). In verse 31 we are told specifically how we take thoughts and that is by saying (speaking) the thought out loud. This principle is true for good thoughts and bad thoughts. In verse 34 we are told no to take much thought (or thoughts) about our future (tomorrow) because we have enough thoughts to deal with for today. If we concentrate on praising God for all the good He is doing and shall do it will help us substitute good (thoughts and words) fruit for bad fruit.
Philippians 4:4-9 Verse 4 states to rejoice in the Lord always. This is done by being careful for nothing according to verse 6. Being not careful is done by two things 1) making a prayer request to God with thanksgiving. And 2) thinking on the good things of verse 8 to allow the peace of verse 7 and 9 to infiltrate your heart (spirit and soul).
Colossians 3:12-17 Notice verse 12 states that you must put on God’s fruit, it does not just fall upon you. Verse 15 states again that you must let the peace of God rule in your heart that means do no let care (worry, concern or anxiousness) rule inside your mind. As we stated earlier verse 16 states “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” because God’s Word will remove the doubtful (careful) words of the enemy. Verse 17 brings completeness to God’s Word because everything can be wrapped up in the name of Jesus. Amen!
Proverbs 16:1-3 Notice in verse 1 that you will have to do some preparation to get your heart clear of care or questions. You must find your answer in God’s Word first. Verse 3 declares when we make the commitment to give our total life and deeds and work to God this act of faith with the removal of care by the preparation of your heart will establish your thoughts. This is because you know what you are doing and what you are choosing to do is right, so God’s Grace is there (with you) to succor your success.
2 Corinthians 11:28 Notice the latter part of the verse states, “that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches”. Since the churches belong to God we should cast the care (concern, worry, excessive think) of the church(s) upon the Lord. Our job as pastors or members is to do what He tells us to do, void of fear, void of doubt, void of fear, void of unbelief in the Name of Jesus. Amen! Notice this is a daily task by the statement “cometh upon me daily”. Therefore start your day right by resisting all care at the beginning of your day and then holding your faith void of care all through the day and all during the night.