Be Anxious for Nothing: The Art of Casting Your Cares and Resting in God
Joyce Meyer
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Amplified Bible (AMP). The Amplified Bible, Old Testament copyright © 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified New Testament, copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing.
Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked (WORRELL) are taken from The Worrell New Testament © 1904 by A.S. Worrell. Copyright assigned to the Assemblies of God, Springfield, MO. Edition published in 1980 by the Gospel Publishing House, Springfield, MO 65802.
Faith Words Edition
Copyright © 1998 by Joyce Meyer
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
FaithWords
Hachette Book Group
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First eBook Edition: October 2002
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ISBN: 978-0-446-54975-2
Contents
INTRODUCTION
Part 1: BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING
1: JESUS AND PEACE
2: IT’S OK TO LIGHTEN UP!
3: THE ARM OF THE FLESH
4: THE ARM OF THE LORD
5: THE WARFARE OF REST
Part 2: CAST ALL YOUR CARE
INTRODUCTION
6: HE CARETH FOR YOU
7: CAST YOUR CARE, NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
8: THIS TOO SHALL PASS
9: RETIRING FROM SELF CARE
ENDNOTES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ARE YOU WASTING TIME LIVING IN WORRY, FEAR, AND FRUSTRATION?
DO YOU LONG FOR JOY?
In BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING, bestselling author Joyce Meyer gives sound, biblically based solutions to these heartfelt problems. Discover the principles Joyce used to replace the stress, frustration, and worry in her life with victory and peace.
You can enjoy a balanced and happy life full of God’s richest blessings!
OTHER BOOKS BY JOYCE MEYER
Battlefield of the Mind *
Battlefield of the Mind Devotional
Approval Addiction
Ending Your Day Right
In Pursuit of Peace
The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word
Seven Things That Steal Your Joy
Starting Your Day Right
Beauty for Ashes Revised Edition
How to Hear from God *
Knowing God Intimately
The Power of Forgiveness
The Power of Determination
The Power of Being Positive
The Secrets of Spiritual Power
The Battle Belongs to the Lord
The Secrets to Exceptional Living
Eight Ways to Keep the Devil Under Your Feet
Teenagers Are People Too!
Filled with the Spirit
Celebration of Simplicity
The Joy of Believing Prayer
Never Lose Heart
Being the Person God Made You to Be
A Leader in the Making
“Good Morning, This Is God!”
Jesus—Name Above All Names
Making Marriage Work (Previously published as Help Me—I’m Married!)
Reduce Me to Love
Be Healed in Jesus’ Name
How to Succeed at Being Yourself
Weary Warriors, Fainting Saints
Life in the Word Devotional
Be Anxious for Nothing *
Straight Talk Omnibus
Don’t Dread
Managing Your Emotions
Healing the Brokenhearted
Me and My Big Mouth! *
Prepare to Prosper
Do It Afraid!
Expect a Move of God in Your Life … Suddenly!
Enjoying Where You Are on the Way to Where You Are Going
The Most Important Decision
You Will Ever Make
When, God, When?
Why, God, Why?
The Word, the Name, the Blood
Tell Them I Love Them
Peace
The Root of Rejection
If Not for the Grace of God *
JOYCE MEYER SPANISH TITLES
Las Siete Cosas Que Te Roban el Gozo
(Seven Things That Steal Your Joy)
Empezando Tu Día Bien
(Starting Your Day Right)
BOOKS BY DAVE MEYER
Life Lines
* Study Guide available for this title
INTRODUCTION
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
PHILIPPIANS 4:6,7 NASB
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.
1 PETER 5:6,7 NASB
Peace is to be the normal condition for us as believers in Jesus Christ. But very few of God’s people are enjoying that peace as a part of their daily lives.
In His Word, God tells us to be anxious for nothing and to cast our care on Him. Many people are familiar with these Scriptures but don’t know how to do what these Scriptures instruct. Sometimes we are so accustomed to responding in a natural way to the circumstances we experience in life as unbelievers around us do, we spend much of our time muddling along in worry or confusion. Instead we could be enjoying the abundant life and peace God has for us!
In my own case I lived in a state of such turmoil for so many years, I didn’t realize how abnormal I really was. It was only when I began to study the Word of God and apply it to my life that I began to experience the peace of God.
For a while, when I first began experiencing the peace of God, as strange as it may seem: I was bored! I was used to always being involved in some horrible mess — some big uproar. But now I can’t stand to be upset. I don’t even like to hurry, I so love, enjoy and appreciate the peace of God that has filled every area of my life. I have peace in my mind, in my emotions — about my family, my ministry — about everything.
In this book we examine the Scriptures which show us how to cast our care, and we look at practical ways of applying these Scriptures to our lives. We also identify specific areas, responses, or habits which allow anxiety to enter our lives, and God-directed, God-empowered actions we can take to stop some unpleasant situations from developing which easily lead to anxiety!
If you are not living in the peace of God, you can live in His peace as a normal condition.
Part 1
BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHING
1
JESUS AND PEACE
Peace I l
eave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.…
JOHN 14:27
Jesus’ statement above is worded as though He willed us His peace. Jesus left us His peace. This means that living in turmoil, worry, anxiety, fear, and frustration for a believer is abnormal. God doesn’t want us to live that way. The Bible shows us how to receive and live in the peace Jesus left for us.
As believers, we have a tremendous amount of God’s protection on and around us. (Psalm 91.) God wants to bless us abundantly and is always looking for ways to bless and reach us with His love so that we will be more open to receiving His blessings. (John 10:10, Ephesians 3:20, 2 Chronicles 16:9.)
But our salvation as Christians doesn’t guarantee a trouble-free life. We will still encounter problems. Every one of us at different times in our life go through seasons when things don’t work out the way we would like. But Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), has overcome the world.
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
JOHN 16:33
In John 14:1 just before His return to His Father in heaven, Jesus left us with these words:
Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated). You believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely on God; believe in and adhere to and trust in and rely also on Me.
The remaining part of John 14:27, partially quoted previously, says:
…Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]
Romans 14:17 tells us that Kingdom living is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Luke 17:21 tells us the kingdom of God is within us. We were made righteous, or made in rightstanding with God, when we entered into a personal relationship with Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:21.) Joy and peace are two of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23) and are inside those of us who believe in Jesus. They are ready to be released. We enter into the joy and peace of God’s kingdom through believing.
JUST BELIEVE
In the passage below we are told the God of hope will fill us with all joy and peace as we believe, so that we may abound and be overflowing — bubbling over — with hope.
May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.
ROMANS 15:13
According to the writer of Hebrews, we who truly believe may enter into the blessed Sabbath rest of the Lord.
So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God;
For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own.
Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].
HEBREWS 4:9-11
In the Sabbath rest of the Lord we can cease from weariness and the pain of human labor. What is required to enter this rest? A childlike attitude of faith.
We read in Mark 10:15 that Jesus told His disciples: Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all.
A child’s faith is simple. A child doesn’t try to figure everything out and make a detailed blueprint plan of exactly how his deliverance will come. He simply believes because the parents said they would take care of the problem.
If members of the church have lost the joy of their salvation, sometimes the reason is the basis of their joy has been misplaced.
When Jesus sent out the seventy to minister to the needs of others in His name, they came back rejoicing in their power over demons. But Jesus said to them, …do not rejoice at this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are enrolled in heaven (Luke 10:20).
Jesus tells us we should rejoice, not because we have power over the demons or circumstances of this life, but because our names are enrolled in heaven. Habakkuk 3:18 KJV says, Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The joy of our salvation comes from the joy of the initial and greatest gift of all — God’s love for us as expressed in His Son Christ Jesus.
As believers, our joy and peace are not based in doing and achieving, but in believing. Joy and peace come as a result of building our relationship with the Lord. Psalm 16:11 tells us in His presence is fullness of joy. If we have received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, He, the Prince of Peace lives inside us. (1 John 4:12-15, John 14:23.) We experience peace in the Lord’s presence, receiving from Him and acting in response to His direction. Joy and peace come from knowing, believing — trusting in the Lord with simple childlike faith.
2
IT’S OK TO LIGHTEN UP!
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad.
PROVERBS 12:25
The Bible teaches that anxiety brings a heaviness to a person’s life. The dictionary defines anxiety as “…a state of uneasiness: worry… Abnormal fear that lacks a specific cause.”1 Sometimes this uneasiness is vague, something that cannot be easily identified. It is fear or dread that has no specific cause or source. I used to be bothered by this kind of anxiety without knowing what it was.
THE “LITTLE FOXES” THAT STEAL YOUR JOY
All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances].
PROVERBS 15:15
I once went through a period in my life when I was plagued by anxiety. I was filled with fear and dread for no particular reason. I kept feeling something terrible was going to happen. Finally I went to the Lord and asked Him what was troubling me. He told me it was “evil forebodings.” At the time I didn’t even know what that phrase meant or where it came from.
Sometime later I came across Proverbs 15:15 in The Amplified Bible. I immediately recognized the term the Lord had used when He told me what was bothering me — “evil forebodings.”
In those days I was like so many other people. I was looking for some “monster problem” that was keeping me from enjoying life. I was so intense about everything, I was creating problems for myself where none really existed.
Once in a meeting, the Lord told me to speak out something. Apparently someone needed to hear this: “Stop making a big deal out of nothing.”
I used to be the type of person who needed to hear direction like that. I could make mountains out of molehills. I had to learn to just let some things go — forget them and go on. Some of us become upset over things that just are not worth becoming upset over — those little foxes, that spoil the vines (Song of Solomon 2:15 KJV). If our life consists of becoming upset over one little thing that really doesn’t matter after another, we won’t have much peace or joy.
As we saw before, Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled (distressed, agitated) (John 14:1). …Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.] (John 14:27).
In other words Jesus was saying, “Stop it!” We can see from this verse that we can control the way we respond to something that might trouble us. We can choose peace or trouble. We can choose to stay calm or to calm down if we start becoming agitated.
We will have persecution for the Word’s sake (Mark 4:17), and things won’t go exactly as we would like in our daily lives as we discussed before. Jesus said in the world there will be tribulation, but He had an answer for it: …be of good cheer. In today’s language, we could paraphrase that statement as, “Cheer up!”
Jesus, Who lives inside those of us who believe in Him, has overcome the world. That gives us plenty of reason to calm down and cheer up!
Once I began understanding this principle, when I started to become upset over something that really didn’t matter, it seemed to me the Lord was saying: “Calm down and cheer up! Don’t be so intense. Lighten up. Enjoy life!” Then I would think, “Oh, that’s right. I’m supposed to enjoy life. I have joy in my salvation, and the Prince of Peace, Who has overcome the world, lives inside me!”
Even after walking in these principles for a while, we need an adjustment every so often. I still have to remind myself to lighten up. Or God may say to me, “Now, Joyce, listen to one of your own messages”!
My nature is to be extremely intense, and I come from a background of terrible abuse. If I could lighten up, anyone can!
Some people experience anxiety as a result of deep hurts from the past. Becoming free from emotional bondage is not always easy. But if you will let Him, the Holy Spirit will lead you step-by-step on a path that will take you into freedom!
