In Christ Alone Archives - Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel

Fear Not – Believe Only – Hope Restored! and Sitting Among Friends #61

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 08:57:00 +0000

Fear Not – Only Believe – And you will be made whole

Wow! Words that seem so steep to our minds. To our broken hearts. An uphill mountain to climb with peaks beyond our view. The journey of one father at the feet of Jesus may have seem wasted. It may have even seemed ridiculous to the onlookers.

But in his gentleness, Christ tells him, fear not, believe only, and she will be made whole.

We read that and some of us long to know and own those words. Fear Not. But what does it take to be made whole?

There are two stories intertwined in the latter verses of Luke 8. We will look at the story of a desperate father to save the life of his dying daughter as we continue to learn from the people who sought life at the feet of Jesus.

Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds -almost crushed him. Luke 8:41-42

Immediately after this, a very sick woman touches Jesus’ robe and is healed. Jesus stops to take the time to talk with her before He continues onto Jairus’ house.

The people had heard Jesus was coming, so the crowd was ready when he arrived.

Jairus’ daughter, his only daughter, was near death. He comes and the scene is crazy. There are so many people and yet Jairus falls at his feet and begs Jesus to come with him.

There are so many things we can learn from these two verses about Christ but I want to point out two things we can take a hold of right now.

He is a personal God. Each life matters. No matter how many people are around, He cares for each individual case.

He can handle all that is around Him. The day was crazy. Crowds pushing in on Him and He calmly stops to heal and talk to another woman before continuing to the house of Jairus.

While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” (NIV) But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. (KJV) Luke 8: 49-50

I love verse fifty. Fear not! – Believe Only! – And she will be made whole!

First, Christ is telling this father to fear not. When Christ tells us to fear not it is because he is capable of the end result. It may be healing, it may not and while that may seem of no consolation, notice Christ will make her whole. Not just alive, not just well, but whole.

I don’t want us to miss this train of events he is telling this father.

Fear Not – Believe Only – Hope Restored!

In this case, Christ chooses to heal this little girl. He goes into the house with the mother, father, and four of His disciples. He takes the girl by the hand, tells her to rise-up, and restores her spirit to her lifeless body.

Praise the Lord! He has made her whole. He brought hope to a hurting family.

This father, who agonizes over his dying daughter hears in the process of seeking his last bit of hope that she is dead. This was heart-wrenching news and it may appear that all hope was lost.

That moment you hear or see that the life of your loved one is gone. The sinking agonizing feeling is crushing to your soul. For a time, it may seem as if all hope is lost but it doesn’t have to stay that way.

Jesus came that it could be different.

He is not saying, “don’t mourn” to this father. He is telling Him to not fear. Us telling that to a friend or loved one may be of no comfort, but Christ, he is the difference maker here.

He tells the father to not fear because He has the power to restore the hope. That train, he can get it moving. He can move us from fear to hope.

Here is the other difference maker. It is the stop in between the fear and the hope. It is the faith to believe that only He can conquer one to restore the other.

What happens at the feet of Jesus here?

He gives this father a life changing opportunity to lay aside his fear, take ahold of his faith, and let Christ restore his hope.

What does that mean for you? What are you facing right now that you so desperately want to hope that there is a way to feel whole again? How has Christ showed up in your fear or are you still holding onto it not quite sure how to Believe Only?

Is your faith hanging in the balance not sure which way it will fall? Do you know the difference maker? Do you believe he can make a difference in YOU?

I would love to continue this conversation. Leave a comment below.

Email me at youresewtrendy@gmail.com, if you want to know more about the life-changing decision to follow Christ, I would love to talk with you.

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This week’s featured friend is Micah Maddox from
Deeper Life Today. Micah is in the middle of a series called Living with Purpose. She is a great encourager for life’s moments that hurt the most! Thanks for joining us, Micah. I am glad you are here!

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The post Fear Not – Believe Only – Hope Restored! and Sitting Among Friends #61 appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.

More, Please? Sitting Among Friends Blog Party #15 and Giveaway!

Jaime Wiebel — Wed, 09 Mar 2016 07:14:00 +0000

More, Please!

Who Will Fill My cup?

As I traveled from person to person, thing to thing, place to place, I reached out my hand that contained my empty cup. I did not know how it was going to be filled. Maybe, with reinforcements or positive affirmations. Maybe, it would be filled with attention or promises of love. Sometimes at the risks of having it full, I would even allow it to be filled with the lies and dreams of a future or better tomorrow.

I journeyed through most of my teen life and most of my twenties, certain I knew who I was. I had the security of a loving family and although we had our share of struggles, I knew we were loved unconditionally.

But as I began listening and following other people, I went astray. I wandered down a path that ended in heartache and broken promises.

Because everywhere and everyone I turned to could not quite fill my cup. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t an unhappy person. I enjoyed life, but the more I enjoyed the more I needed to satisfy me. All of it seems to catch up with you when you seek satisfaction through so many outside sources.

Lisa Murray shares her story of restoration from brokenness to peace in her new book Peace For a Lifetime.

“I’ve spent so much time and energy over the course of my life reaching out to others with the hope or expectation that they might love me, fix me, heal me, or even need me. So many times I cried in anguish for what others could not give or fix. But just at the time, I thought my cup was full, I would look down to see all the contents had escaped and once again I was empty.” (page 65)

She continues on to say,

“We only have one healer and He is Jesus Christ. He is the one to whom we should run with our pain, our fear, our loneliness, and our desperation. He stands waiting in that place of solitude to heal us, to free us, to strengthen us.” (page 65)

I had gone through life in this condition. Although I knew Christ as Savior, He was the last one I turned to. In fact, for a very long time, He was the one I was running from.

As I searched for everything and everyone around to make me feel happy, loved, safe, secure, needed, and desirable. I came up empty.

The truth is what I was seeking in everyone and everything could only be fulfilled in Jesus.

Now, I am married to an amazing man but it would not be fair of me to expect him to fulfill in my heart what only God can.

I have wonderful children but honestly, even with all their excitement and love for me, my cup still gets empty.

I can go through life being frustrated that the people who matter to me the most cannot satisfy me or I can come to the realization that they were never meant to.

There is a beautiful story in John 4:1-26 about a woman who came to a well to draw water. Jesus is traveling from Judea to Galilee and on the way the Bible says He had to pass through Samaria. I love that Jesus had a meeting that the recipient of the meeting was completely unaware of, yet after meeting Him, her life would never be the same.

So Jesus goes to this certain well and asks this woman to give him a drink. They do this interesting exchange of words back and forth. Jesus responds to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

Living. Water. Life-sustaining water that would never make you thirst again. What a gift. Deeper in conversation, Jesus tells her to go get her husband. She says she does not have a husband. He replies, “In fact you have had five husbands and the man you are living with now is not your husband.”

Here is a woman, immediately interested in this living water that Jesus is talking about. Why? She has tried to fill her cup many times, and the proof is in her cup continually ending up dry. Jesus points out even now she is making another attempt at it with yet another man. Jesus knows. He knows her heart and He knows our hearts.

Our hearts were never meant to be filled with anything or anyone, except Jesus!

If you are reading this today and you feel this same strain in your life, waiting for your cup to be filled and finding it quickly runs dry, seek the true source of life-giving water. Seek Jesus.

Lisa Murray‘s new book, Peace For A Lifetime, is now available! And I am so excited to be able to share a bit of it here with you. As part of Lisa’s launch team (I was given a copy to read) Thanks to Lisa’s generosity, I am able to give a copy away. The thing I love about this book is it is not just another self-help book, it is full of God-centered healing.

This is a book that you will want in you own personal library, so sign up to win or get a copy today!

Lisa is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in spiritual, emotional, and relational healing. As a result of her own personal and professional experiences, Lisa is passionate about helping others find wholeness and healing.
This is open to US Residents, 18 years and older.

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The post More, Please? Sitting Among Friends Blog Party #15 and Giveaway! appeared first on Seeking God with Jaime Wiebel.