Prepositional Spirituality #2 – Christ with You
Donna and I often go walking in the morning about 2½ miles down through MacNeil Park along the East River. We see men fishing, LaGuardia Airport, and the Manhattan skyline. We pace ourselves walking side-by-side and talking together.
That’s the way it is with God. As we walk in relationship with God, he walks with us – alongside us, side-by-side, together. His presence is there. His wisdom is available. His strength is acquirable. His grace is accessible.
That God is “with” us as Christ followers is one of main messages of the Bible. Here’s a very short sampling:
• At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do” (Genesis 21:22).
• For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory (Deuteronomy 20:4).
• “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16).
• Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me (Psalm 23:4).
• Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD (Haggai 1:13).
• “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”) (Matthew 1:23).
• “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (Revelation 3:20).
• “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
The Lord Jesus Christ is a man who is himself God Almighty, Emmanuel, God in bodily form, one with the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3, 14). Not only was God with him and he with God, Jesus Christ is God with us in person.
Jesus “will not leave you as orphans” (John 14:18). He is “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). He forgives. He understands. He cares. He carries us along.
God is with us whatever we do and wherever we go. God stands together with us in whatever we face.
And we are with Christ – having been raised up with Christ and seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6).
And we will one day be with him in his second coming.
~ Pastor Dave
