A Living Hope 7-Week Study Archives - Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel

A Living Hope: New Growth & Sitting Among Friend #70

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 07:06:00 +0000

I cannot believe how many dinners I have been burning lately. I think I nailed down the problem today. I love cooking but lately, I love getting it done quickly and I don’t love sitting to watch or stir it. I have other things to do. Taking the time to care for it so it is good has not been my focus.

So, I turn on the dinner, get busy on something and well, there it is, burnt to the bottom of the pan. Not ruined, but needs work.

I had gone through life like many, caught up in the busyness of things. I had been a Christian for a long time but never really grew. I wasn’t willing to stir the pot so I was burnt to the bottom, stuck, in need of work.

The turning point in my life began when I faced a tragedy. I had lost twins in the middle of my pregnancy and it rocked my world.

That event was the start of what God had intended for me all along. He wanted me on my knees in desperate need of Him. He was the only place I could turn for real hope. He is my Living Hope.

I rely on Him for not only the breath I take but the life I breathe.

My true turning point, my true rescue came in His Word.

The words that stand out to me the most from this difficult time comes from Philippians 4:6a, which says, do not worry about anything.

My life had become consumed by worry. The thing I worried about the most was losing my child and here I was in the midst of my worry and I had not only lost one but two.

And God tells me not to worry because He is able to give me peace. God has not promised us life would be easy. He has not guaranteed when we follow Him, He will make all our problems go away and give us lives that are smooth sailing.

What He has promised us was hope for the journey. How we live without that hope, I do not know.

What I do know is for us to really lean into God and trust His words to be true, we have to know Him. We have to know His words.

It is easy to want the quick results. Turn up the bible study and church attendance and that will bring us closer to God. Hang out with Christian people and say Christian things and that will make us feel good.

While all those things may be good and have good results, the best results come from opening God’s Word and seeing who He really is.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

This was my life-changer. This was my life-saver. Earnestly seeking God. I realized through a tragedy that I needed Him desperately but I only began to really know and see Him when I began to seek Him.

We can make studying God’s Word and doing all the “Christian things” just the same way I have been preparing dinner. Look for the quick solution to an end result. Whether the result is good or not, it is done and semi-palatable.

Have you ever said to yourself, I need to spend more time praying or in the Word? I really want to know my bible more and what God’s purpose is for me. I really want to depend on Jesus for everything… but… then life.

We get consumed by life instead by The One who gives us life. We love Jesus but don’t love the work it takes to get to grow in Him.

We want the result, the good meal, without sitting, stirring, and dining with the Bread of Life. We get thirsty but don’t seek water from the Living Well that offers to quench us.

We have been convinced that something is better than nothing and to seek a refuel only when life gets tough. We have been sold on the idea that a couple minutes a day or Sunday morning service will work for our weary hearts.

Let’s be honest, have you ever had a real friendship or deep love for someone you never spent time with or just gave a few minutes a day? I know if that was all I gave to my kids or husband, we would all be in trouble.

While I certainly don’t want to discourage or derail any efforts being made, I think there is a point when we lay our cards out on the table and exam the truth.

God intended that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’ Acts 17:27-28 (BSB)

I want to live, I want to grow, and I to sprout wings and soar, how about you?

If you said, yes, here is the path to that. God intended that we would SEEK Him. Sit with Him. Get to really know who He is so He can help us define who we are and fulfill our purpose with passion. He rewards those who earnestly SEEK Him.

My greatest desire for you and I is that we will not only have a longing to love and know Jesus more, but we will take action in seeking Him. That we will continually grow closer to Him. That we will see Him as our great reward.

I hope we will realize spending time with Him will never leave us empty or thirsty for something else. That we will know Him as Father and Lord of our lives and seek Him earnestly so we experience the Hope that only He can offer.

God sent His only son because He loves us. Because He wants to have this time and fellowship with us. It was made possible through Christ’s death and resurrection. Because He lives, we too, can have life and have it abundantly.

Seek Him. Know Him. Trust Him. Walk with Him.

Personal Reflections:

Do you earnestly seek God yourself or do you rely on others to feed you the truth?

What has been the results or your greatest reward for seeking God?

Although, there are many ways that you can dig into God’s Word, what do you find to be the best way for you to be consistent or does your time need a facelift?

What would be the next step you can take to have a closer relationship with God? Are you willing to take that step? If not, what do you feel like is in your way? Don’t forget to praise God for all the victories along the way.

I hope you have enjoyed this series on A Living Hope. If you have any questions about how to get to know Christ more, I would love to continue this conversation with you. Comment below or email me at yoursewtrendy@gmail.com

Complete List of Links to A Living Hope 7-week study

A Living Hope: Hope in the Cross

A Living Hope: A New Heart

A Living Hope: A New Hope

A Living Hope: A New Covenant

A Living Hope: A New Day New Mercies

A Living Hope: A New Life

A Living Hope: New Growth

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Linkup with Sitting Among Friends Blog Party

Blog Parties are such a great place to meet people and build connections around the web. This is one reason, I love this party.

I would love to sit down face-to-face with you but since we can’t do that I love to meet you here. I love to hear your stories and see your work.

This is a Christian based website and so is the material that I promote here. Please remember that when linking up. I do reserve the right to remove posts.

*Please take the time to visit other blogs to comment and share*

Tag Me with Twitter Shares and I will RT them.

I will be featuring a friend during the week on my FB page!

Join us at our Sitting Among Friends Pinterest Board by following my profile and then requesting an invite.

This week’s featured friend is Nicole Kauffman from Courage Hope Love. Nicole’s message this week on cultivating a heart of gratitude resonates with today’s message on Seeking God. Nicole also offers a course on Strengthening Your Marriage Foundation. Thank you so much for joining us, Nicole. I am glad you are here.

WOW! Thank you all for coming and for the 85 Amazing posts from last week. This party has been wonderful thanks to you, friends, who link-up with us and those who stop by and read posts. Thank you!

You all are amazing writers who share Family and Faith, DIY’s, Recipes, Photos, Giveaways, Homeschooling and more. Many of you have amazing journeys of faith and I praise the Lord we are able to connect here!

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A Living Hope: A New Life and Sitting Among Friends #69

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 06:39:00 +0000

Let’s jump right into the tough stuff today. Before coming to know and trust

Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, we are in rebellion to God.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. Colossians 1:21 (NIV)

Ouch! What an opening line. That is a tough concept because in general, we like to think we are pretty good at our core. We like to put ourselves in a class of not one of “those” people. Colossians paints quite a different picture of us. It puts a biblical truth on our worldly ideas.

As we come into a relationship with Christ we must arrive at that truth. We are in rebellion or enemies of God and to come into peace with Him we have to come to terms with this. We have to admit that we are sinners in need of a Savior while recognizing that Christ is that Savior.

Being Christians we often wrestle with who we are in Christ or who we become in Christ. We let our own thoughts or the thoughts of this world establish our identity. We are even willing to stand on that identity without pause.

But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—Colossians 1:22 (BSB)

Today as I sat reflecting on these verses from Colossians, I was overwhelmed with this reality.

When I became a believer in Christ, I didn’t understand who I was. You can read my testimony here. Because I thought living “right” for Christ was more about doing. To be honest, I failed miserably at the doing. My messes became messier until I found myself in a pit.

Here is what I didn’t understand about this beautiful story that I want you to understand and believe to be true for you.

Before accepting Christ as our Savior, we were not able to be at peace with Him.

But after being reconciled to Christ, we are given a new life. Reconciled means that we are brought back to a state of harmony or peace with God. This is not because of what we are doing.

Colossians reminds us it is because of the death of Christ’s physical body we can be made new. Because of this new covenant, we have a new hope.

I want to put this into a different perspective for us but not for one moment down playing it’s reality.

Imagine with me if you will, you want to go to the royal castle but you have offended the king, in the worst possible way. You have been a rebel to the throne. You have lived your life your way and because of this you cannot be in His presence.

One day you realize that the king is the only way for you to live your life in peace. Peace with him, peace with others, and peace with yourself. So, you ask the king to forgive your rebellion. After doing so, the king asks to see you.

As you enter his castle, the royal trumpets are blown and the royal guard announces you to the king. “Your Highness, I would like to present to you, your daughter, the Princess.”

As the king turns to you, He rejoices. Because he no longer sees you as a rebel, but in his presence, he sees you as holy and without fault. All your evil deeds have been cast deep into the sea and he only sees you as his beloved child.

That may or may not seem like a huge leap. But that is what you have as a new life in Christ.

Because of the death of Christ’s physical body. You are able to enter the presence of God as holy, unblemished, and blameless. In God’s presence you are presented as His son or daughter, an heir (Galatians 4:7). You are dressed in His royal robes of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10)

For a long time, I lived in my sin. It became familiar and comfortable. It was an identity I was willing to rest on because it was the one I recognized. To break free of that took Christ restructuring and mending.

For many years, I held onto my past. It had become this medallion of shame that I thought I had to bear. A scarlet letter that I was sure everyone saw and condemned me by.

That is not who I am in the presence of God.

In Christ, I have a new life. I am not that person. I do not have to wear my shame like a chain around my neck.

I am presented to God by Christ Himself as holy, clean, and blameless. Soak in that with me for a while.

You may not feel you have a past to escape but the reality is we are all in complete rebellion before we accept Christ as our personal Savior but we DO NOT stay there.

Because Christ is the Living God, raised from the dead. Sitting on the throne at the right hand of God, we, too, can be made alive, holy and free from our past.

We are free to face this new life with confidence in who Christ is and who He says we are in His presence.

I don’t know about you but that is a word that I need to be reminded of. Today that word overwhelmed me. To think that one day, I will stand before my God and King and will be presented as holy in His sight. His grace blows me away.

It allows me to move from rebelling to rejoicing. Rejoicing in the sweet name of Jesus.

Personal Reflections:

How do you see yourself? Is that how God sees you? Are you willing to believe the God who sees and knows you intimately?

Do you have guilt or shame that needs to be left at the throne? Are you willing to part with it in your life?

Today as you reflected on the presentation of you to your Heavenly Father, what emotions stirred in you?

Given a new life in Christ gives us the opportunity to rejoice, what words of praise do you have for the Lord?

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This week’s featured friend is Carlie Lake From Dust Towards the Heavens. I love these beautiful lines from Carlie’s about page – “earthen vessel saved by God. I don’t deserve His mercy and can’t do anything to earn His love, so rather than use my introverted personality as an excuse, I’m learning how to rely on His power to spread the aroma of the knowledge of Christ in this prickly world. Humbled that He chooses to use me at all.” Thanks for joining us, Carlie. I am glad you are here!

WOW! Thank you all for coming and for the 79 Amazing posts from last week. This party has been wonderful thanks to you, friends, who link-up with us and those who stop by and read posts. Thank you!

There are easy share buttons to your left or at the bottom of each post (mobile) and after you link-up. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! From all of us at #SittingAmongFriends

*** Joining Us Here? You are welcome to join me on Pinterest and Pin to Our Sitting Among Friends Blog Party Board where I will be happy to re-pin posts to my other boards. ***

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A Living Hope: A New Covenant and Sitting Among Friends #67

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 06:59:00 +0000

A New Covenant.

There are many questions that surround the new and the old. Out with the old in with the new. That saying can leave a bit of a sting. If we have the old or become the old. We don’t necessarily want it to be set aside because the new came along.

That is how many of the Pharisee’s felt as Jesus was telling them He had come to fulfill the law. The law (the old covenant) was what they knew. It had become their identity. Through it, they knew who they were. It was linked to their family heritage and it was to set them apart from the rest of the world. It would signify them as children of God.

It cannot be a surprise as to why Jesus rocked their world. He was essentially telling them, all they ever knew or understood was going to be turned around. Who and what they held so tightly to, needed to be made complete and it was going to come as something new.

While the old covenant and the laws pointed us to our sin and the need for a Savior, the law was not designed to give us a new heart.

Hebrews 8:7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

The old covenant was established with Moses and is often referred to as the ten commandments. There were also many laws that were given to the people such as festivals, sacrifices, and purifications. You can find them in the first few books of the old testament.

Some are lead to believe that the laws are no longer good or appropriate for our time. We live under grace. While that is true, because Christ came to fulfill the law, all the laws are not obsolete. In Matthew 5 Jesus said I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

Christ made the law complete because He could give us a new conscience and a new heart. He would now write the laws on our hearts and put them in our minds.

I understand that many may be thinking we are free from the law. It is no longer relevant. While some laws had their own purposes, God’s law is not abolished.

What we have now in the new covenant.

Step away for a minute here with me. If you are a parent, you make rules and set boundaries. It helps them know how to navigate the world. When your child breaks the rules, there are consequences so they understand the depth of the importance of the rule.

As parents, we want our children to follow those rules not just because we said so, although we may say that, but we want them to follow the rules because we love them and gave them for their safety and growth. We want them to show that love to us by being obedient.

Before we know Christ as our Savior, we are living in rebellion to God. The laws are set so that we can see and understand how far away from a perfect God we are. They are for us to understand what sin is, as Paul explains in Romans 7.

They were never meant to perfect us but lead to Christ who does.

For a long time in my life, as you can read from my testimony here, I thought that rules were to make me perfect. What I found was that they were too hard to keep up with. So, I didn’t. I made my own rules, ones which I thought I could keep. Ones that satisfied my flesh.

I chained myself back to rules, even my rules. I chained myself to my own rebellion. I chained myself to my shame and found my worth in the comfort of those chains.

While all the while I could have been living free. I was given life in Christ but was choosing to go back to the path that leads to destruction. I was free to walk in Christ’s grace.

After all, He already knew I wasn’t perfect. Who was I kidding? It was not possible. It was never meant to be. Hold on to that truth.

What I didn’t understand was that being obedient was no longer just a chore, a to-do or an unachievable task but an opportunity to be pleasing to my Lord and give Him my worship.

It was freedom. It was a gift.

The new covenant that we receive as believers in Christ is not a checklist of being perfect. It is walking in grace and humbly allowing Christ to perfect us.

When we put our faith and trust in Him, we become His child. He loves us!

The boundaries and rules are for our safety. They are so we can continue to receive His blessings and see His glory in our lives.

The new covenant gives life (2 Corinthians 3:7).
It gives us a new hope (1 Peter 1:3). A new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:26). A hope in the Living God (1 Tim 4:10) that we can receive from nothing and no one else.

Christ has the power to change lives and I would love to talk to you about how He can change yours. Email me at yoursewtrendy@gmail.com

Personal Reflections:

Have you chosen to see the laws for what they are and learned to walk with Christ in obedience? In what areas, do you struggle? In what areas, can you celebrate victories?

How has living up to your list of perfections hindered your relationship with Christ?

Do you use chains in your life as a crutch or as an identity? Are you afraid to let them go because they are all you have ever known or you have become comfortable in them? As a believer, do you believe God can break those chains for you?

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If we are not connected on Social Media, Find Me on one of the links Below!

Jaime Wiebel – Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Google+

This week’s featured friend is Natalie Venegas from Milk and Honey Faith. I am really excited to be sharing what Natalie has been doing on her blog because it is such a beautiful idea. She has created The Testimony Tour. This tour runs across 10 blogs and features amazing women sharing their testimonies all for the glory of God. Thank you so much for joining us, Natalie. I am glad you are here.

WOW! Thank you all for coming and for the 66 Amazing posts from last week. This party has been wonderful thanks to you, friends, who link-up with us and those who stop by and read posts. Thank you!

You all are amazing writers who share Family and Faith, DIY’s, Recipes, Photos, Giveaways, Homeschool and more. Many of you have amazing journeys of faith and I praise the Lord we are able to connect here!

There are easy share buttons to your left or at the bottom of each post (mobile) and after you link-up. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! From all of us at #SittingAmongFriends

*** Joining Us Here? You are welcome to join me on Pinterest and Pin to Our Sitting Among Friends Blog Party Board where I will be happy to re-pin posts to my other boards. ***

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A Living Hope: A New Hope and Sitting Among Friends #66

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 08:21:00 +0000

A Living Hope: A New Hope

When I became a believer as a young girl, I believed the Bible. I believed that Christ died for my sins and without accepting His gift I salvation, I would be lost forever. I needed a new hope.

My faith changed but didn’t grow very much. For so long I kept hold of only elementary understandings of who God was. A lot of it was a God that I had created through my lack of really knowing Him.

One thing I didn’t get a real grip on was the hope that Christ alone offers. I held onto the beliefs that it was about the rules and quite honestly, I was doing a very poor job of keeping them.

I Didn’t Get It

I didn’t get that I live in Christ and I didn’t need to have the strength to be obedient on my own. That looked quite different than what I had conjured up in my mind or had been taught.

Thinking I had failed so desperately, sadly, I rebelled against God. It was easier to live for myself. I didn’t have all those rules. You can read more of my testimony here, by joining us on The Testimony Tour.

As I continued through my young adult life, my rules became even more lenient and I found myself literally thinking if I don’t look over my shoulder, I never have to face God.

For the law never made anything perfect. But now we have confidence in a better hope, through which we draw near to God. Hebrews 7:19 (NLT)

What I didn’t know was that the law, the rules, were never intended to make anything or anyone perfect. They were supposed to show me how sinful I was so I could recognize my need for a Savior.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. Romans 3:20 (NLT)

Forgiven

What it took me so long to realize was that God had forgiven me. The rules or law had pointed me to my need for a Savior. I remained chained to them not seeing that my hope in Him lead to restoration.

Isaiah 40:31 says But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.

My previous choices in life left me weary. They drug me down into a pit of self-loathing.

As I began to trust Christ with my life, He helped me to understand it was not only necessary for me to believe His Word to be true but I had to believe it was true for me.

Christ took my hand from that pit and pulled me out, renewed my strength, and allowed me to soar.

I Find My Hope in Him

You may not have made the same decisions I have. Maybe you came to Christ when you were young and have always lived a “pretty good” life for Him. But if we are being honest, I find from the many conversations that I have, living by the rules always leaves us weary and feeling trapped.

Don’t misunderstand me, please. We have to live in obedient surrender to Christ. Should we say we are living under grace and then go on sinning? As Paul would say, Certainly Not!

This new hope that we have in Christ is about freedom. It about chains being broken. It is brokenness being made whole. It is about taking that new hope and using it for God’s Glory.

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. Galatians 5:13 (NIV)

So, what shall we do with this new hope?

Love

In Mark 12, one of the teachers of the law said to Jesus, of all the commandments, which one is the most important.

To which Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The LORD our God is the one and only LORD. And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31 (NLT)

Love. The greatest commandment. Seems simple. Yet, we find ourselves so weary and without strength to do just that.

Yes, there are some who seem so easy to love, but what credit is that to you? (Luke 6:32)

We must trust this hope we have is truly meant for us. Daily, sometimes, hourly or by the minute we can have restoration in knowing that our hope of being perfected (loving others) rests in the hands of the One who is able to deliver.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (BSB)

Christ Himself will encourage our hearts. He will give us the strength to serve and love one another for His Glory. Through seeking a relationship with Him, He will give us a New Hope.

Personal Reflection:

Do you find that serving others makes it easier or harder to love them?
What things, rules, or laws do you find yourself tightening the chains that Christ freed you from?
What is the difference between believing God’s Word to be true and believing God’s Words to be true for you?
How often do you find yourself praying for the people in your life that are most difficult to love?

I would love to continue this conversation. Meet me in the comments and let me know your reflections on the hope you have in Christ.

Linkup with Sitting Among Friends Blog Party

Blog Parties are such a great place to meet people and build connections around the web. This is one reason, I love this party. Please make sure to visit another friend in the linkup!

I would love to sit down face-to-face with you but since we can’t do that I love to meet you here. I love to hear your stories and see your work.

This is a Christian based website and so is the material that I promote here. Please remember that when linking up. I do reserve the right to remove posts.

*Please be sure to visit other blogs to comment and share*

I would appreciate you linking back to Seeking God or #SittingAmongFriends somewhere on your page. (You can also use the SAF picture with a link)

Tag Me with Twitter Shares and I will RT them.

I will also be featuring a friend during the week on my FB page!

Join us at our Sitting Among Friends Pinterest Board by following my profile and then requesting an invite.

This week’s featured friend is Gleniece Lytle from Desert Rain where she helps turn a parched life into a well-watered garden. Gleniece writes about living an abundant life in Christ while living on little. She also shares great recipes. Thanks for joining us, Gleniece. I am glad you are here!

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A Living Hope: A New Heart and Sitting Among Friends #65

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 18:29:00 +0000

As we look ahead to Spring, we get a whole new refreshed joy. Joy in the brightness of the days and in the hope of the renewal of life.

Last week, we began a new study on A Living Hope (you can begin here). We focused on the encouraging verse in 1 Peter 1:3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (NIV)

This verse, which is the guiding light of our study, gives us the hope of a renewal of life. Because Christ conquered death, we have A Living Hope!

The new birth is a spiritual birth, not a physical birth as we see Jesus explain in John 3. The new birth that we are given is through accepting a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

What happens next?

Sometimes we think when we ask Christ into our lives fireworks will go off or rays of sunshine will fall down on us from Heaven. Maybe you were somewhere where you felt so overwhelmed by the situation or your surroundings so it was quite spectacular.

If not, don’t feel guilty. I want you to remember the moment but not get caught up on it. I want your focus to be in developing a relationship over time just as in any good relationship.

For me, and I know for many people the fireworks and the heavenly AWWWW, didn’t happen. That’s okay. Something, big inside of you did happen and that what we are going to celebrate today!

Quite honestly, I think this is better than fireworks. Before accepting the promises of God, you were in complete rebellion to God. Not able to walk in His ways because His ways were not in you.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. (NLT)

WOW! The heart we were born with is a stubborn heart of stone. A stone is cold and incapable of absorbing. I want a new heart, how about you?

I want a heart that can love and be tender and responsive. That is what we are given. In that, we have an opportunity for a new life. As one commentary put it, why try to patch up an old life when you can be given a new one?

This newness, this fresh new start, is what gives us the opportunity to receive God’s Word that He will write on our hearts. This is exciting! Not living in rebellion to God means we can walk in His freedom.

Before Christ, you were a slave to sin, now you are free in Christ (Romans 8:1-2). Be careful not to put yourself back in the bondage you were before you put your trust in Him.

The changes in your life will be the evidence of a new heart!

Trust Him to change your heart. He will seal His Spirit in you and lead you to walk in His ways. Ezekiel 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

When I became a believer, I tried to live by all the rules that I was taught. Do this, don’t do that. I lived for so long in the bondage of getting it right that I continued to rebel. It seemed easier.

What I didn’t realize was that I put myself back in the chains that Christ freed me from. When Christ sets you free you are freed indeed! (John 8:36)

When you become a believer, you may feel pressure to get it all right immediately. Trust me being perfect is hard to live up to. Don’t do that! Christ died for you because He was perfect. He will perfect us and one day when we see Him, we will be made like Him.

You may be thinking as I did, it is really hard. In fact, it is too hard and so you resort to your flesh and desires to lead you. Trust! Put your Faith in Christ to do this in you!

Open hands say to Him, Lord, I cannot do this on my own. I need you!

He wants to change you. That is why He says you are a new creation. That is why He gives you a new heart. He wants you to walk in the freedom and grace that He has given you.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV)

This is where we rejoice! Old ragged self, gone! We don’t need to go back to that. Christ not only conquered death on the cross but He conquered sin! The battle has been won! With Christ, you are on the winning side!

If you are struggling with your old self Romans 7 and 8 is of great encouragement that you are not alone.

No matter how impure you were living before Christ, you can start new, start fresh. Just like a new Spring morning, buds of hope will begin to appear.

Personal Reflections:

What do you feel is harder, trying to live the “right way” or accepting Christ to change you, (which means submission of self)?

How often do you find yourself trying to break free from the bonds you have already been freed from?

Do you pray with open hands or tightly closed fists?

What is the most exciting part about being new? What do you do with that excitement? For who’s purpose do you rejoice in it? Who do you share it with?

If you have further questions or thoughts about today’s reflections, I would love to hear them in the comments below or email me at youresewtrendy@gmail.com

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This week’s featured friend is Deb Wolf. Deb writes at Counting My Blessings: At the Intersection of Faith and Life. Deb’s Page is full of fantastic ways to live out your faith better every day. She has a true passion for teaching the Word of God and you will certainly enjoy the practical encouragement that she offers. Thanks for joining us, Deb. I am glad you are here!

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The post A Living Hope: A New Heart and Sitting Among Friends #65 appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.