Tag Archives: encouragement

January 2017 list: God’s Guidance

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I thought it might be a good idea to share with you all the list that I’m going to be doing for January.  This list is about God’s Guidance.    I would love it if you all would follow along with me.  If you do, would you do me a favor and add the hashtags:  #gettingtoknowthefather and #iknowabbalovesme. I’d love to see how God blesses you through this study!

December 2016 lessons about The Presence of God

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God will never leave me,  forsake me,  fail me, or abandon me.  God will never destroy me.  He will rescue me when I’m in trouble because He is my refuge and His everlasting arms are always under me, holding me up.  Just because troubles have hit my life, this does not means that God does not love me.  He cares about me.  He will never abandon me as an orphan if I search for Him.  He will remember the covenant of blessing He has made with me; He will never forget me.  God Himself goes before, driving my enemies out before me, strengthening me and upholding me with His victorious right hand. God is always ready to help me in times of trouble, because He is merciful.  He cares about the anguish of my soul.  God heals my broken heart and bandages my wounds.   He holds me close (even if my father and mother abandon me), for He is Emmanuel, God with us, and He is with me always.

God leads me, guides me and is close beside me; He is EVERYWHERE I could possibly go.  He is with me just as He was with Moses.  He has seen me and has written my name on the plans of His hands.  He honors me and rewards me with long life and salvation, for He watches over those who do right.  He hears my cry for help when I call to Him; He is my protective shade. 

God will be found by me if I search for him with my whole heart.  He will draw close to me if I draw close to Him, gracing me with His Presence; answering me when I call.

God was pleased to make me His Own and has chosen me to produce lasting fruit so that He may give me whatever I ask for, for Christ’s sake.

Emmanuel

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Today, after my quiet time, the short chorus about Emmanuel was on my mind:

Emmanuel, Emmanuel

His name is called Emmanuel

God with us, Revealed in us

His name is called Emmanuel

The Hebrew word IMMANUEL has been one of my favorite words since 1993, when I started studying Hebrew.  Having grown up in church, I cannot recall a time when I did not know that the Bible said “Emmanuel” means “God with us.”  I don’t recall the first word I learned when I began studying Hebrew but I know for sure that the first Hebrew word I ever learned was Emmanuel.  AND, I remember well how excited I was to be able to read that blessed word in Hebrew.

That one words – three words in one in Hebrew – bears so much hope and promise, just as the man who bore the name came bringing so much hope and the fulfillment of a promise, a covenant, God made with His Chosen People.

Recent events in my family bring home to me the reality of Emmanuel – God With Us – in a way I’ve never experienced before and I believe it more now than I probably ever have.

It’s easy to see and to say God is with us when things are going well.  The believing gets tough, though, when times are hard and God seems less and less like He is with us.  The temptation to shove Him away and take control of our own lives becomes nearly irresistible.

I wish I could say this wasn’t true for me.  I wish I could say the power of the word Emmanuel alone was enough to sustain me when life gets hard.  Far too often I’ve run headlong down my own path of busy-ness & control & worry & anxiety so that “God With Us” is more a complaint and a hindrance than a source of peace.

Then, when I am weary and worn our from worthless work and worry, I remember I am only ever going to spin my wheels in vain if I do not rest in Emmanuel.

Too many years of that in a row over the past few years had left me drained and feeling far from God.  That all began to change December 2014.  It’s been a long two years but, finally, this Christmas, I have a sense of Emmanuel – God with us – that I have longed for forever, but have never had.

My prayer for each of you is that you would do whatever it takes to let God show you the peace that comes only from Emmanuel.

Merry Christmas!