Jesus welcomed the people, taught them about the Kingdom of God and healed those in need. Luke 9:11
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Seeds of the Kingdom

He Cares for Me

by Gilly Mathiesen

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7, NIV

It is interesting to note that the word ‘cast’ has several meanings. In this context it is ‘an act of throwing something forcefully’. The Lord wants us to throw our anxieties intentionally on Him because He loves and cares for us so much and He doesn’t want us carrying something unnecessarily, which would weigh us down. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus tells us ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light’.

Peppered throughout Scripture are encouraging verses about the Lord’s love and care for us. Isaiah 63:9 depicts a loving father, looking out for his kids. As the Lord saw His children struggle, in distress, it tugged on His heart strings and the bible tells us that He too was distressed. The last part of the verse tells us ‘he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old’. Those words paint a picture of a father sweeping a little child up into his arms and holding on to them securely. And that is what our heavenly Father wants to remind us of this day. He has compassion and empathy for us and is not a distant, faraway Dad who is unperturbed by our circumstances.

Growing up with a lot of rejection, including self-rejection, I struggled for some years to believe that God’s promises really applied to me. I could believe for Him to move in other people’s lives, and I had no problem believing that He really loved others, but I struggled to accept He felt the same way towards me. That was until the day when I felt Him gently challenge me. Psalm 139 says, ‘I am fearfully and wonderfully made’, As I read this one day, I felt God’s gentle nudge and He whispered: “You don’t agree with Me that you are fearfully and wonderfully made”. He was right.

Immediately I realised that my ‘truth’ was a lie, and I repented of opposing the Lord’s truth about me. I made a choice that day to agree with the Lord and declared that, if God said it, then I could make a choice to believe it, regardless of my feelings. That was the start of a process of moving out of rejection and into acceptance, as I received the truth of God’s word deep in my heart.

I encourage you to meditate on the verses mentioned today and let the truth of the Father’s love for you sink into the core of your being.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You that You love me more than anyone on earth ever could or ever has. Help me to see the truth about You, the truth about myself and the truth about others, through Your eyes of love. Thank You for the truth of Your word and thank You that getting to know that truth and receiving it is what sets me free. Help me to share about Your love and truth with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Gilly Mathiesen Gilly has a heart to see broken lives healed. She got involved in Christian ministry at a young age, working as a missionary for some years, as well as teaching at a Christian school. She has been involved with Ellel Ministries for the past 10 years and trained and worked on the team in Northern Ireland before moving to Denmark in 2016. She and her husband Steen have been pioneering an Ellel work there since early 2018. They long to see people healed and set free to be all that God has designed them to be.

 

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