When I started out in ministry, I was part of an Independent Baptist church and we were part of the Central Texas Independent Baptist Association of Churches. I used to preach in our church, at least once per month…but we would hold monthly conventions where all of the preachers would gather and hold a couple hours of sermon teaching and prayer time. 

I would be invited to go and speak in their churches, hold revivals, etc. I was an evangelist and thought I knew a lot about the Lord and the Bible, etc.

This would have been about 1995 or so. 

But then, something happened.  I was exposed to the Pentecostal way of worshipping the Lord. I had been Baptized with the Holy Spirit the night I was born again on January 25, 1992. I had spoken and praised God in tongues…I knew what it was.

But the Independent Baptists did not do that and, I was trying to fit in, so I did not do it either…

In those days, if you were “one of them tongue talking preachers,” you were booted out of the fellowship…

But the longer I stayed in that group, and compared the results they were seeing and praying for compared to what I was seeing amongst those that DID believe in speaking in tongues – I couldn’t believe the differences!  It was almost like night and day.

Then, the opportunity came, through a person I was associated with in my secular business, to meet Dr. Vernard Johnson. He is known as the “World’s Greatest Gospel Saxaphonist.” He was really, REALY popular at the time, especially in the COGIC circles.

Through the process of meeting him, talking with him and even helping out at a few of his concerts and getting to know him a bit on a personal level, he offered me an opportunity to have my first real, paid, ministry job by helping him organize and promote his concerts.

I mentioned this to our little group, trying to get them to come out to a “Soul Winning Concert” that would be in the area. After all, that is all they talked about was “winning souls for the Kingdom.”

Don’t you know, THAT VERY NIGHT, they shunned me! Nobody would talk with me. Nobody would sit with me at the same table in the fellowship hall. When I left that building, I asked God, “Why?  They don’t want anything to do with me just because I want to win souls for the Kingdom?”  The Spirit of God spoke directly to my spirit and said, “Don’t worry about, they don’t want anything to do with me either…”

How tragic!  An entire group of probably 20 churches that just refused to admit that the Holy Spirit was real and that speaking in tongues was a way to communicate with God and have God communicate with you. 

I never was invited back to speak in any of those churches ever again. 

I found out later, several of those churches had to close their doors. Many only had a handful of people attending their services – even after 20 years. For many of them, the only new additions was when someone would have a baby.  

What does all of this have to do with the subject of “Cast Your Cares on the Lord?”  Because that night, I did just that. I had been trying to “please men” by pleasing those preachers. To be accepted. But when I decided to put the Kingdom first, to win souls for the Kingdom by helping another ministry that “was not part of their clique” – I was shunned.

At first, I was devastated. “Was I wrong?” “Should I go back and apologize?”

But the more I prayed about it, the answer from the Lord was clear, “Leave those things

If you are a saved, born again child of the Living God, then you are never supposed to doubt the Word of God. You are never supposed to doubt ANYTHING you read in His Word. Every single word, every single letter, every single punctuation mark has a specific purpose if it is in the Bible. Amen.

When you believe that with all of your heart, spirit, soul and every fiber of your being, you will never quake in the devils presence. Ever!  Why?

Because GREATER is HE that is in you than he that is in the world. Amen!

When the devil tries to get you off of your game plan – which is to trust 100% in Jesus and all that He accomplished for you, if the devil can get you to doubt just ONE PART of God’s Word, he has a foothold in your life.

You may be one of those that do not believe speaking in tongues is for today…

Guess what, you’re right! Anything to do with speaking in tongues and the benefits you will gain from it – are worthless to you. You get zero benefits.

That moves over into receiving your prayers as answered as well. You will not see any resulting answers to your prayers… Period.

That also concerns sickness in your body…no healing for you…

The devil will have free reign to take sniper shots at you anytime and anywhere he chooses to do so…

Have you ever felt like, just as things start going good, SOMETHING bad happens? Have you ever noticed that, just as soon as you start to get a little bit ahead financially, the car breaks down or the TV goes out and now you have to spend even more money and “Back into debt” you go…maybe even deeper in debt than you were two weeks ago? Have you ever noticed anything like that?

Why does that happen?

When I hear people talk like that, one of the first questions I will ask is about their prayer life.  Are they praying every day? Consistently?  And do you know the response I generally will receive?

“Of course, brother Bob. I pray every day (and then – they add the qualifier)…BUT, I only have time to pray while I’m in the car or it may only be for a couple of minutes…”

And, as bad as that is…it will still WORK if that is all the time you truly have. 

My next question is something like, “You don’t have a lot of time? You can’t pray 15 minutes a day? What are you doing at 4:30am every day?”

99% of the time it will, “Sleeping?”  

Then I hit them with what Jesus asked His disciples, “Why are you sleeping? Couldn’t you pray one hour with me?”

But, IF (and this is a BIG IF), they do respond with they are praying, I will the ask, “Are you praying in tongues?”  

THEN I get the “deer in the headlights” look. They begin to stammer and stumble. Some will even come right out and say, “I don’t believe in that stuff. It’s of the devil” Or “It’s not for us today” or some bogus thing like that…

Folks, if it is IN Bible – and especially IN THE NEW TESTAMENT – it is for us today in the church age! Glory to God.  What other benefits are there for praying in tongues?

In 1 Corinthians 14:2-5, we see the Apostle Paul telling us that God is speaking to our spirit man directly through His Holy Spirit. This builds up the power of faith that works within us. This gives us direct information that our spirit man can pull on throughout the day. This is given to us in a way the devil cannot understand the secrets God is sharing with us. This is a way for God to give us warning about plans...

I remember when God first began to deal with me about this issue of worry. I don’t know if you have ever thought about the sin of worry in connection with faith and receiving answers to your prayers. But worrying and being hindered in your faith go hand in hand together.

You see, prayer, faith and answered prayers are all tied together. I know some people think it’s their spiritual duty to worry about things. “Well, brother Bob, if I don’t worry about it, nobody else will…” type of attitude.  But that is 100% spiritually wrong. Amen.

Sometimes, people worry about getting sick. Then they worry if they will get well. Then they worry they will infect someone else. Then they worry….and worry…and worry…

Then, when they are healed, they worry they will get sick again. It is just one vicious cycle. A never ending merry-go-round of worry. 

Some people just WANT TO WORRY. They enjoy it! As twisted as that seems, it’s true. It cannot be more opposite the Bible, but it is still true! 

We have studied in Psalms 37:5 where the Word of God says, “Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and HE shall bring it to pass…” The margin of my bible says, “Roll you way upon the Lord.” The words, cast, roll and commit are all the same meaning.

We are to cast our cares, our worries, unto the Lord. Just roll the entire care over to Him. Commit our way to Him and let Him guide our paths. That is what the Word of God is trying to tell us to do – continually.

Notice, as we have said before, GOD is not going to TAKE AWAY your worry. He is not going to TAKE AWAY your cares. He is not going to TAKE AWAY any of those things. YOU have to give them to Him. You have to do something about your cares and worries by CASTING them over UNTO Him! Amen!  

Some people will ask me to pray that “God will lighten my load.”  God is not going to do that! The Lord has already TOLD US what to do with problems. CAST THEM OVER ON HIM. Amen!

I’m telling you this, folks, it the most humble way I know how…

If you hold onto your thought patterns of worry and doubt, your prayers will NEVER be answered.  Jesus said, in Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you will receive them, and you will have them.”

Notice here you have to believe with your heart, your very innermost being, your spirit man believing that God has heard your prayers and, in 1 John 5:15, “If we know He hears our prayers, then we can know He will grant us the petitions we desire of Him.”

If you will simply cast the care of whatever you are worrying about over on Him, THEN God can work in your behalf and the things you have been praying about will be taken care of. BY HIM! 

You usually won’t hear this good of preaching in your church today! Praise God!  For those of you that might live in an area where you can actually GO to church in this day and hour. Bless God, thank you Father for the Internet where we can BOLDLY Proclaim the Word of God around the world in the twinkling of eye – Praise God!

I want to pray for you right now. I want to pray that you will hear the Word of God plainly. So plainly that it will make complete sense to you to CAST YOUR CARES...