Ever been at the end of your tether or are you there now. Hold fast to the hope we have in Jesus Christ. He is with us.
Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.
Let us praise him. Let us lift His name on high. Let His light shine.
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Scripture Reading: 1 Peter Ch 5:6-7
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
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We may feel weak at this present time, but let us come to him and sing: How Deep The Fathers love.
Let us come to God in prayer.
I am no longer my own but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you; let me be full, let me be empty, let me have all things, let me have nothing: I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal. And now, glorious and blessèd God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you are mine and I am yours. And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
Let us share together in the Lords prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever.
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Before we go to the word let us sing: When I look into your holiness.
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It Will Be Ok
Have you ever found yourself completely at the end of your tether? Maybe you’re thinking, Lord, I don’t have anything left. You just don’t know which way to turn or what to do. It’s a desperate place, a confusing place, a fearful place, but, it’s also a place where God is ready and waiting to touch you, to bless you and bring you peace.
I’ve comforted a number of people who have been at the end of their tether. It feels like you can never break out. Things just go on and on. It seems never ending. If you have ever seen the movie Groundhog Day, that is how your life feels. If you haven’t seen the film, the movie is about a man who finds himself living the same day over and over and over again. And he is the only person in his world who knows that this is happening. Sounds like today with everything that is happening. Feeling like we will never escape this pandemic. Felling like it will never change.
Let me ask, what does life look like at the end of your tether? What are the things that keep going round and round and over and over again – kids or spouse or work or addictions or loneliness or fear or pain? So many people these days suffer from multiple conditions, some visible, some invisible. Not just one but two or three at the same time. And it drives them to the edge; it drives them to the end of their tether.
The Apostle Peter wrote a wonderful passage in one of his letters. You can find it in 1st Peter Ch 5:7. He writes this, it’s beautiful:
Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.
Let’s read it again
Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.
Now, a good part of my life I’ve thought of anxiety as being a twentieth century or a twenty-first century word. It seems to be a symptom of the speed we live life at, the technology, the pressure, the emails, the phone calls, the here and now. I always thought of anxiety like that. But here, two thousand years ago, Peter the Apostle talks about anxiety. He talks about being at the end of your tether, about being anxious and threatened and not being able to cope and just not being able to deal with anymore.
I’ve shouted so many times, “Stop the world, I want to get off”? And I believe that is what Peter is saying as well, 2000 years ago. I’m sure that the people of Peter’s day had just as many problems as we have today, maybe even more. Let us remember that at the time Peter was writing this letter, the Church was being persecuted in a brutal way – Christians were being killed for their faith. And he writes “Cast all your anxiety on Him.” Why? “Because He cares for you.” Wow. Something for all of us to take on board, believe in and put into our everyday situations. Especially now, with everything that is happening in our world.
For me, one of the problems we have is this; When we’re anxious, when we’re at the end of our tether, when we are dealing with all these horrible things that are happening, the last thing we ever expect is that God cares for us. Be assured that my prayer for each of you ascend to God on high, because I truly believe in prayer. It’s our powerhouse to commune with Him, the eternal God who cares.
I believe, that as I pray, even if I don’t know where you live. Even if I don’t know your name. I know that God knows you. I know that as I sit down in prayer and say, “Father I just pray for all those who are struggling, hurting, lost, lonely and afraid, I know God can and will do mighty things. Whether you’re at the end of your tether now or whether this is something that you need to store away for the future, I’d ask you to let this simple truth sink into your soul. When you have no other options; when you have no other place to turn; when you just can’t take it anymore; when the past just keeps repeating itself over and over again; when everybody else is turning against you; right at that point … Jesus Christ is standing next to you waiting, supporting, believing, and calling you. Calling you with the words:
Come to me all you who are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. I’m lowly and humble of heart and my yoke is light. (Matthew 11:28)
Right at the point where you can’t take any more, Jesus Christ is in that place with you to take the load off your back. That’s His desire. He is a God of the practical. He is a God of grace. He is a God of love. He is a God that will reach each one of us at the lowest point, especially when we feel like God isn’t listening. If you are at the end of your tether, let me pray for you right now.
Father I pray for each person here, right now, who for whatever reason, whatever their circumstances, whatever is going on in their space, because of that they are at the end of their tether.
Jesus, you are a God who specialises in the end of the tether. You’re a God who comes to meet us in those dark places. Put your arms around us to pour your Spirit over us, to comfort us, to bind us up, to heal us, to lift us up, to give us a new life and give us a new hope. Lord, we believe that you are a God of healing, a God of future, a God of grace.
Father, I pray for each person who’s at the end of their tether. Lord, I pray that you would pour your goodness and your grace and your peace and your comfort into their hearts right now.
Father, I pray that in the name of Jesus, I pray that you would hold them close, to comfort them, to help them in the healing process.
And I pray that right now, you would give each person a sense of the wonderful future and destiny that you have planned for them.
I pray that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
God bless you all.
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Whatever I do, wherever I go, whatever circumstances I face; He leadeth Me.
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
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