We Need To Do Our Part

Sometimes it feels like everything is coming at me at once. I don’t know how to feel about the events transpiring around me, and I don’t know how to address each situation in a Godly manner. My heart gets weighed down by what is happening in my neighborhood, my kids’ lives, my husband’s work, my own feelings and world events. It is like a news reel showing footage in my mind. I cannot seem to process it fast enough and more is thrown at me. I find myself often retreating, trying to process it all. My heart gets weighed down with society, everyone looks like they are having a fun time around me, but anxieties are weighing me down so much, it is like I am caught in a trap.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.
— Luke 21:34 (NIV)

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, I need to turn to God, who will lift these anxieties and burdens from me that seem so great. When I can’t find a way, God wants me to ask for help. I am not supposed to handle everything on my own. I have been praying that God shows me his will for my life. Before Jesus was crucified on the cross, died to forgive us of our sins and ascended back into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God, he prayed to God. Jesus prayed to God and acknowledged that everything is possible for God. Jesus asked God to take this cup from him. Jesus asked that God’s will be done and not his own. Sometimes, God’s will is hard. Jesus did God’s will, and he had to endure beatings, insults, being spit at, tortured, unthinkable pain and ultimately nailed to the cross to die.

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
–Mark 14:36 (NIV)

God had his son endure these tortures, so that all the other children he created, could be forgiven for our sins. Jesus was half God and half man, and he still had to pray. This tells me how are human nature is so strong and ready to sin so easily. Jesus listened to God and did his will. Sometimes, God asks us to do things, and we are not sure why we are doing them. When we feel God pulling us to do something, we need to do it. It doesn’t matter if we don’t feel capable or worthy. When the gracious hand of God is upon us, we can start building good works for God.

I also told them about the gracious hand of my God on me and what the king had said to me.
They replied, “Let us start rebuilding.” So they began this good work.
–Nehemiah 2:18 (NIV)

When we start doing God’s will and not our own, Satan is going to try and destroy our plans. Satan will try and distract us from our good works in any method possible. People may start attacking us with gossip or even physically. In the bible, when the community joined together to rebuild the wall to protect their homes and families, outsiders tried to destroy their progress.

After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
— Nehemiah 4:14 (NIV)

When we do God’s will, we no longer need to worry. God is great and awesome. God will protect us. God will fight for our families and homes. Just as Jesus had to pray, we need to pray and ask to do God’s will. We don’t have to pray, but we do need to pray. When we do God’s will, we will have peace in our heart. Anxieties will no longer weigh us down. God will help us do his good work. God will protect our families and homes. We just need to do our part and pray, and do what we feel in our hearts, God is calling us to do.