For the past five years, author and pastor Randy Frazee has been researching this question: “What does it mean to be full of joy?” As it turns out, God has shown us many ways to have a peace-filled, happy heart—and one of those paths is to cast our many cares on him. It’s a a real joy to welcome Randy to the farm’s table today…
Guest Post by Randy Frazee
Every summer as a boy, our family would travel a little over three hours by wood-paneled station wagon from Cleveland, Ohio, to southwest Pennsylvania to visit relatives.
One summer day, two of my cousins and I took off on bicycles. We were heading to the top of the hill leading into the neighborhood. It was so steep that we had to walk our bikes up the last fifty yards or so. It was a dirt road, with the exception of that last fifty yards, which was heavily layered with gravel.
We got up to the top of the hill a little winded. But within seconds, we were back on our bikes with the wheels faced downhill. Away we went. Because of the incline, our speed increased quickly. The ride was bumpy due to the heavy gravel. Adrenaline was pumping throughout my body.
I was living the dream!
Then, out of nowhere, the two handlebar grips on my bike came off and the front wheel immediately and suddenly turned perpendicular to the road.
I went flying over the handlebars.
While suspended in midair, I quickly made the decision to break my fall and protect my head (we didn’t wear helmets back then) by sticking out my hands and arms to absorb the impact.
As my body made contact with the gravel, I could feel the skin breaking first on the palms of my hands, then my arms, and finally on my kneecaps. Turns out my cousins, as a joke, had poured dishwashing soap inside the handlebar grips so they would slide off. I stood up and immediately noticed the blood.
Terror overcame me as I quickly scanned the extent of my injuries and began to process the betrayal of my cousins. As I took off in full stride, screaming, I kept shouting out only one word. Can you guess what that word was?
“Mom!”
I was screaming her name as I entered the house.
“Instead of engaging in the unproductive and physically and psychologically damaging act of worrying, we should cry out, “Abba, Father” to our heavenly father.”
She immediately jumped up and ran the rest of the way to me. As our eyes locked, with tears streaming down my face, I simply held out my arms. As soon as she touched my arm, my worry and anxiety washed away. I had officially given the problem to my mother, and she took it from there. I no longer needed to worry. She would know exactly what to do. It was her problem now, and she took on the assignment with great passion.
This is what Paul invited us to do in his letter to the Philippians, where he wrote: “Do not be anxious about anything,but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God,which transcends all understanding,will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6–7).
Instead of engaging in the unproductive and physically and psychologically damaging act of worrying, we should cry out, “Abba, Father” to our heavenly father (Abba is the Aramaic word for “daddy”).
This is who Jesus cried out to when his anxiety overwhelmed him in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before his crucifixion (Mark 14:36).
By the time he left the garden, his anxiety had subsided, and he was settled in his mind about what he needed to do, knowing his father was with him.
Paul recommended we do the same thing when we find ourselves overcome with anxiety:
“God already knows what is troubling us, but he wants us to speak it to him.“
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)
Prayer is a conversation, a plea, a request, all given to a person, in this case the supreme person of the universe who can hear, know, understand, care about, and respond to the concerns that otherwise would sink us in despair.
God already knows what is troubling us, but he wants us to speak it to him.
So, the next time you find yourself flying over a set of handlebars headlong into worry, immediately get up and start running toward God to surrender what troubles you.
Randy Frazee is a pastor at Westside Family Church in Kansas City. A frontrunner and innovator in spiritual formation and biblical community, Randy is the architect of The Story and Believe church engagement campaign.
He is also the author of The Heart of the Story; Think, Act, Be Like Jesus; What Happens After You Die; His Mighty Strength; The Connecting Church 2.0; and The Christian Life Profile Assessment. He has been married to his high school sweetheart, Rozanne, for over forty years. They have four children and five grandchildren, with more on the way!
In Randy’s newest book, The Joy Challenge, he shares the secret to experiencing real, lasting joy—and stepping into a life of contentment and purpose. To learn more about his work and ministry, go to randyfrazee.com.
{Our humble thanks to Thomas Nelson for their partnership in today’s devotional.}
