SPIRITUAL GROWTH ENHANCERS
REF NO: 022
COLUMNIST: Rudolf Nii Yemoh Mensah, Prelate, Oasis Potterlight Chapel International
PASSAGE: Matthew 6:26, NLT: "Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?"
THE THREE DAYS YOU SHOULD NEVER WORRY ABOUT!
BACKGROUND: This passage exposes our needless worries and cares for this life and affirms the faithfulness and providence of God!
MAIN MESSAGE
This verse continues the discussion of worry about material provisions. In this verse, Jesus tells his followers not to be anxious about food, but to rely on God as the birds, who are worth far less than people are fully provided for.
We need food, shelter, protection, clothes, jobs, money, rest, enjoyment, relationships, peace, freedom, significance, identity, knowledge, and a whole list of other things.
The birds seem to go about feeding themselves, but it is God who feeds them. Remember there are three days you should never worry about. They are yesterday, today and tomorrow. You can't live in the past. Neither can you live in the future? You can only live today and the following are reasons why you should never worry about these three days.
Hebrews 13:8, CSB: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
Jesus Is Lord Of Your Past
You can not do anything about your past. You can't go back to your past to change or correct anything there. Your past is no longer there. Your past is no longer in existence. Your past is gone beyond your reach. Your past is past.
Let it go! Nobody has control over the events of the past and nobody have the power to visit the past unless one person. Only one person can do that and His name is Jesus. The Scripture affirms that He is the same yesterday. That means only Jesus have the power to visit your past and straighten up things for you. May the Lord of the past visit your past today.
Only Jesus can visit the past. No sorcerer, witchcraft, occult or shrine can go back to the past. Not even satan and his dark powers of darkness can go back to the past. What is past is past before the Lord, the creator of heaven and earth.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. Revelation 1:8
Only Jesus has the power to do anything about your past and say anything about it. He is the Alpha and Omega. This is what you should know--Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet and a title of Christ and God in the Book of Revelation.
Jesus in His divine revelation to John disclosed that He is the first and the last, the beginning and the ending. That means He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. He is the Lord of the beginning (yesterday)!
If Jesus holds the power of yesterday then only He holds the key to visit your past. Now He is saying to you, do not worry anymore about your past. Leave it before me to handle. The circumstances of your past cannot close the chapter of what the Almighty can do for you today and the coming future.
Jesus Is Lord Of Your Today
Yes, He lives with you at the moment. He lives with you in the present and will always make arrangements for what you can have daily. The reason why you shouldn't worry about today is that Jesus holds the day. He makes provision for the birds of the air on daily basis and can equally make provisions for yours.
He is the "beginning and the "ending" suggests that He can begin the day with us, go through the day with us and end the day with us successfully. He is not just Lord of the past but Lord of the moment. He is Lord of the day! He is Alpha!
He Is Lord Forever
This means that He permanently remains the Lord of the past, present and future. This is why He is the Alpha and Omega... The first and the last, the beginning and the ending. Why then should you be worried about your past, present and future when Jesus is saying worry not about these three days because I am in control and I have already taken care of them?
Matthew 6:11, NIV: "Give us today our daily bread."
In teaching us how to pray, Jesus didn't say that we should ask the heavenly Father about our past and tomorrow needs. He said "this day". We are to ask for God's provision on daily basis not weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
It is something we must ask every day and something to be renewed each new day by worshipping the Father and asking Him. Don't bear needless pain! You should not worry about tomorrow because Jesus holds the future. Jesus is in control of the past, present and future.
It reminds us that we should be living the way God wants us to every day. “Give us this day our daily bread” means give us today all that we need.
He knows our every need... and the simple request to "give us this day our daily bread," is not limited to food and shelter, but is an acknowledgement of our total dependence upon the Lord for all our individual needs, no matter what they are or where we may live.
Deuteronomy 2:7. "For the LORD your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing."
Jehovah Jireh is defined as, God our Provider. He can meet every need we could have.
Worrying Is An Option
In our opening passage, Jesus Himself compares God's children with animals and asked a question, "Are we (God's children) not more valuable to these birds of the air that are being fed by the living God on da a daily basis"? Worry is one of the most useless and non-productive pastimes you can engage in.
According to Jesus, there is no reason to worry. To worry is an option. The child of God should not worry because Christ is his past, present and future. We are bought with the precious blood of Jesus and we are precious before God for that matter. We are bought at a higher price that money cannot buy. We are priceless.
Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” We can take heart and have confidence in Jesus. Unlike our wealth or earthly leaders which will disappoint and constantly change, Jesus is the one steadfast and unchanging anchor who can hold our lives together. So let us take confidence in him.
You are more precious and valuable to God than you can ever think or imagine. Your heavenly Father is nearer to you than you thought. You are not alone! You are not meant to pass through these struggles alone.
Peradventure you are going through some form of hardship or difficulties to put food on the table and pay bills but I want to assure you that your heavenly Father is aware of all these and He will see you through the year to make the impossible happen possibly.
Living to serve God includes trusting Him to provide what is needed without living in fear and anxiety.
Christ says that believers ought not to live in anxiety about these basic needs of life. Life is about more than just food and clothing—there is meaning and purpose even if you do not have these things. To live in worry about the money we don't have is living under the control of money, rather than the control of God. Living to serve God includes trusting Him to provide what is needed without living in fear and anxiety.
Now Jesus turns to nature as an example of this. Birds, He says, do not plant or harvest or store crops in barns. They have no organized system for providing for themselves beyond the moment they're in. Still, they eat, Jesus says, because God the Father feeds them. That is the work of God.
You can’t live in the past. You can’t live in the future. You can only live today. When you worry about tomorrow’s problems, you miss the blessings of today and you cannot solve tomorrow’s problems with today’s power. When tomorrow arrives, God will give you the power, perspective, grace, and wisdom you need.
Jesus asks His listeners a pointed question: Are you not more valuable than birds?
The implied answer is of course God's children are more valuable to God the Father than birds. If God feeds the birds, He will also feed those who are of greater worth than birds. Instead of living in anxiety about these basic needs, then, Jesus urges His followers to trust God the Father to provide what is needed in the right amounts and at the right time.
” Three times in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Take no thought,” which means ‘take no worry.
Hurry creates worry and worry could be contagious — it spreads gloom everywhere, taking the joy out of today. Worry steals your joy and strength. When we pile tomorrow’s problems onto today, it breaks us down. You arrive tomorrow, out of breath because you’ve been carrying today a double load that God didn’t intend.
Acts 14:17. "And yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness."
Our Saviour and Lord Jesus give total provision – He provides for all our needs whether physical (food, clothing and shelter) emotional, psychological or spiritual. This is because He is the Alpha and Omega, the great provider who provides us with all that we need for life and godliness.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
Trust Issues
The only issue we have with God is a trust issue. Yes, it is the issue of trust. Do we trust God to keep His promises to us? He has undertaken to be our provider and comforter –our advocate and our help in time of trouble.
2 Peter 1:3. "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything about life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and excellence."
Are you tired of wrestling over and over again with the same old concerns? Has it become aggravating to the point it is beginning to weigh you down?
1 Peter 5:7 says “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for us”.
The definition of burden is: a heavy load to carry, a difficulty, trouble, trial, etc. We all have burdens in this life. What will you do? Will you lay your issues down and trust God or will you continue to worry and stress over things you cannot control?
Just throw it on him, and let him carry your burdens. Jesus said we could cast all of our cares on him because he cares for us! There is nothing we are going through that we cannot cast on the Lord.
Let us take the Lord at His word and trust Him - and when we are faced with a ‘worry’ let us simply claim His promises of provision - His support and sufficiency, for all His promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus our Lord. Surely, you are in your year of divine expectations because God has promised to provide and to take care of... Rest in Him... Shalom Aleichem!
