Understanding God's Thinking for God's Results

Have you ever felt weighed down by worry and anxiety? In a world that gives us a million reasons to worry, God offers us a different path - one where we can live anxiety-free and carefree. But to experience God's results, we need God's thinking.

The world today feels like what Charles Dickens described centuries ago: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." There's nothing new under the sun - worry, care, and anxiety have existed throughout human history. But God's wisdom on casting your care remains timeless and powerful.

Why Do We Need God's Thinking?

Living anxiety-free requires us to rethink what we think we know. It's an act of humility where you "give up to go up." Letting go of perceptions, ideas, and rooted thinking costs something, but it's the admission fee to better thinking for better results.

Albert Einstein said, "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age 18." We get stuck with entrenched opinions and thinking early in life. But now is the time for new thinking, better thinking - God's thinking for God's results.

The Trap of Worry and Care

Throughout our lives, worry, anxiety, doubt, and fear can sneak in subtly and gradually overpower our thinking. They become like a reinforced concrete lid pushing down the potential of our dreams, blessing, peace, and ability to soar.

The enemy wants you to believe that being worried and anxious about those you love is an act of faith because you're carrying the burden for that loved one. The truth is, this puts you in a state of doubt and unbelief, deactivating God's hands from working His will in your life.

Jesus offers a better way: "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. My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

What Does God's Word Say About Worry?

Isaiah 41:10 tells us: "Fear not, for I am with you; do not look around you in terror and be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen and harden you to difficulties. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will hold you up and retain you with my victorious right hand of rightness and justice."

Jesus himself says in John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you. My own peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. 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."

Proverbs 12:25 reminds us that "anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad." A weighed-down heart is impaired and limited, but an encouraged heart has the lid of care knocked off of it.

How Do We Understand God's Thinking?

Casting your care upon the Lord comes down to trusting God's thinking more than your own. It's letting go of confidence in our perception and reasoning to shift the weight of that trust onto God's thinking.

To understand God's thinking, we need to grasp a unique aspect of His character: He is a covenant-keeping God. This is who He is - He keeps His word and cannot lie.

The concept of covenant originates from the Hebrew word "bereith," which means a profound and binding agreement between two parties with encompassing promises and commitments. In Genesis 15, God made (literally "cut") a covenant with Abraham in a remarkable way.

The Covenant That Reveals God's Heart

In ancient covenant ceremonies, animals would be cut in half, creating an aisle between the pieces. The person making the covenant would walk between the pieces, essentially saying, "May this happen to me if I break this covenant."

But when God made His covenant with Abraham, He did something extraordinary. Instead of having Abraham walk through the pieces (as would be expected since Abraham was the lesser party), God put Abraham into a deep sleep and passed through the pieces Himself.

It was as if God was saying, "If this covenant is broken, I will become like these slain animals." About 2,000 years later, Jesus - the Lamb of God - came to earth and was "torn in pieces" on the cross, paying the price for our broken covenant.

How Does God's Thinking Lead to God's Results?

Whatever's on your mind right now masters you. If it's care and worry, then you're mastered by care and worry. But if you're under God's hand, then He has license to master the waves and storms of your soul.

Casting your care is not being careless or disrespectful. It's a humble reliance on God's thinking - accepting that His way is higher, His love is stronger, and His mercy is unfailing.

Philippians 4:6-7 instructs us: "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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Prayer and thanksgiving are for carefree people, and that gets things done. To pray effectively and engage God, we must get God's thinking for God's results.

Why Can't We Stay With Our Own Thinking?

Better outcomes require better thinking. The more you focus on God's word and not on care and worry, the more you will talk God's word and be mastered by His word.

Winston Churchill said, "Those who never change their minds never change anything." If you want to help the people you love and see advancement for your family, you must think differently - not just for change's sake, but to recalibrate to your original design, which is God's thinking.

You were made for God's thinking, and worry, fear, and anxiety do not fit your design. They're incompatible. When you submit your mind to care and worry, you're mastered by what's on your mind. When you cast your care and humble yourself under God's mighty hand, you're mastered by God's life-giving power.

What Happens When We Don't Cast Our Care?

God cannot exceed or help you beyond the lid of your belief. If the lid of worry and care is down, God cannot provide the blessings or answers above this lid. As Proverbs 23:7 says, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."

When Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth, Mark 6:5-6 tells us: "And He was not able to do even one work of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sickly people and cured them. And He marveled because of their unbelief, their lack of faith in Him."

Worldly thinking is incompatible with God's mind. God thinks miracle thinking, healing thinking, feed-the-multitude thinking, cast-out-devil thinking, and raise-the-dead thinking. That doesn't come naturally - it takes faith to receive God's thinking.

Life Application

If you're struggling with anxiety right now, don't be ashamed or think you're somehow defective. God calls you precious and worth more than all the world. This anxiety does not define you or your great value.

Remember that the information feeding your cares, fears, and worries is circumstantial and subject to change. God can turn the curse into a blessing because He loves you and has made a covenant gift of His blessing.

This week, challenge yourself to:

• Pray daily: "Father God, I humble myself casting all my care on You. You are the covenant keeper. I receive Your gifts. I have the mind of Christ. I have Your thinking - a sound mind, full of peace and joy." 

• When worry comes, consciously recognize it and say, "This is not God's thinking for me." 

• Meditate on Scriptures that remind you of God's covenant promises and His desire to carry your burdens.

Ask yourself:

• What specific worries am I holding onto that I need to cast onto God?
• How might my life look different if I truly embraced God's thinking instead of worry-based thinking?
• What one step can I take today to begin replacing my anxious thoughts with God's thoughts?

You've taken the lid off your thinking. Now let your mind get firmly under the blessed hand of God so that you can enjoy His promotion and lifting power. This really is for you.

~Dr. Stephen Marshall