Jairus was the President of the Jewish Synagogue in Capernaum, but at this moment in time all his power and authority meant nothing to him… for he had a little daughter dying. He was desperate enough to actually plead with Jesus to come to his house and heal her. But it would get worse. While they were headed there, someone from Jairus’s household ran up to tell him his daughter had just died…but it would get worse. When they got to the house the scene was utter chaos with people weeping, wailing and milling around. That’s when Jesus took control of the situation…moving all the people out except for the parents, Peter, James, and John. He then took a hold of the child’s hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” And she did. So what practical application can we take from this story? When you’re going through tough times, position strong people of faith around you…people that can believe for breakthrough and won’t give up or become discouraged. It’s friends that will gather around you and pray when you may not have the strength or ability to. Finally, realize it may get worse before it gets better. But through it all Jesus is saying to you, “Don’t be frightened, just trust in Me.”
Tag: trusting in Jesus
I Corinthians 1:10 ” I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
Even the early Church had problems with Church division, and here Paul was pleading with them to unite rather than split into factions. For if you think about it, if the local Church can’t come together and become one voice…how do we expect the world to follow suit? When Jesus called those first disciples, He told them to “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) And if you look at the other meaning for the Greek word for “perfectly united”… it means to mend or repair broken nets. Now anyone knows you can’t catch fish with torn nets…so how can the Church expect to follow Jesus and be fishers of men when their nets are shredded with division and strife? We as a body of Believers need to become perfectly united together, and mend our nets.
Micah 7:7 ” But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.”
I don’t know about you, but patience has never been one of my greatest attributes. I want something to happen now, not later…and I get antsy and anxious when I have to wait. But if you look carefully at this Scripture, you’ll see Micah concluded there are two things we need to do…watch and wait. So, what does it take to successfully watch and wait for the Lord? In a word – it takes trust. To trust in the Lord is not a one time, one size fits all event. Trusting in God is an ongoing, ever-growing, process of waiting in hopeful expectation and increasing belief that He will do what He says. Our job isn’t to manufacture the outcome…or job is to rest in Him, waiting and watching as He does the work in our life.
Genesis 2:15 ” The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
In this verse the concept of stewardship first appears. Adam was to tend the garden. He was to carry out the vision of the owner (God), be accountable to Him, and not be careless with what he was given. So, what makes up a good steward? First, it’s acknowledging that we own nothing…God owns it all – even our very lives. We then need to trust Him completely, embracing the plan and purpose of our life and “tend the garden” He has given us.
Psalm 23:4 ” Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
What has a greater hold on your life and takes up a bigger space in your heart, fear or faith? When you find yourself in a deep, dark place, do you seek solace and consolation in the Lord…or do you allow fear and doubt to reign instead? By placing our trust in God and facing down our fears, He will lead us safety through the valley, no matter how dark or threatening it may appear. Our Christian walk is a long series of trust-building exercises that strengthen our faith, and reinforce our confidence in God. So that when we find ourselves in that valley and hear God say, “Fear not!” … we’ll remember what He’s done, and place our trust in Him because of it . Our faith is built up one dilemma at a time…one dark valley at a time. And each time we choose faith over fear…fear loses some of its grip on us.
Ephesians 6:13 ” So that when the day of evil comes…”
You’ve all heard, bad things happen to good people…and it’s not “if” but “when” trouble will come your way. And just because you call yourself a Christian doesn’t mean you’ll somehow be insulated from the evil in this world. For in your lifetime you will have sickness, setbacks, and loss…there’s no getting around it…for we all live in a very broken world. But it’s how you react and face each trouble that will make all the difference. With God you have the ability to stand your ground when evil comes your way. II Corinthians 6:7 tells us, “…in the power of God; with weapons in the right hand and in the left.” You can stand and face down anything the world throws at you with God’s Word… His truth in one hand, and His promises in the other. We don’t have to live in fear of tomorrow. For we have weapons to extinguish all those fiery darts thrown our way. We can then stand firm in the power of God…faithful not fearful, confident not cowering, trusting not trembling.
Matthew 8:27 ” The men were amazed and asked, ‘What kind of man is this? Even the winds and waves obey Him?’ “
Jesus had just rebuked the storm and now all was peaceful and calm on the Sea of Galilee. With only a few words, the fierce winds and raging storm had ceased. But why were His disciples so dumbfounded and astonished at what Jesus had done? After all, they had been witnessing countless miracles as they traveled with him. But like us, when the storm hit their lives personally…they panicked. When we’re hit broad-side and without warning with the storms of life…we panic. We suddenly are battered by the winds of anxiety and will succumb under the waves of fear. It’s then we need to reach out our hands to Jesus for help…for it tells us in Psalm 107:29, ” He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed.” May the Lord of the universe calm the storm in your life today.
Psalm 55:22 ” Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall.”
If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time you know to take your emergencies to the Lord. But what about the good things you’re doing for Him? Do you feel overwhelmed with responsibility and stressed in your ministry? Or is the Lord pushing you into new directions and you’re resisting out of fear and doubt? This verse says to cast your cares on the Lord…all of them. Think of it like a oxen yoke with two oxen shouldering the work together…each pulling in the same direction. Give your concerns to the Lord – whatever they are…work as a team, and see His glory revealed.
John 11:44 ” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Take off the grave clothes and let him go.’ “
Jesus had called Lazarus from the grave, and out he stumbled. But he was still bound by the grave-clothes wound around his body and face. Others had placed these winding cloths on him, and now it took others to free him from them. When we become a Believer we are raised from the dead unto eternal life, but for many of us, we continue to wear the trappings of the tomb. These hindrances cling to us like grave-clothes, impeding our movement forward and blinding us from the truth. And just like Lazarus, it was someone else that placed them on us, binding us up in sin, addiction, and pain. So it takes others to free us from these grave clothes…to come along side to encourage, exhort, and unloose the sins that still bind us to the past.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 ” But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
It’s easy to trust the Lord when everything is going great in our lives. When we’re happy and healthy and all around us is peaceful…it’s almost effortless to put our faith in God. But it’s what happens when the unexpected and the unanticipated crash into our lives that really shows how rooted and grounded we are in Him. Droughts are long dry spells when rain doesn’t fall…the plants wither and the ground cracks. There are times when all of us can go through “spiritual” dry spells. Times when our soul seems parched, our body is withering, and our mind cracking under the stress… and we feel God is so far away. But if we’re firmly rooted in the streams of living water, regardless of the trial, we can still flourish and grow.
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