GOD WITH US
06th Dec 2023
As we approach Christmas once again, the question we usually address to folk we speak with is, “Who are you going to spend Christmas with this year?” We don’t want our friends and family to be on their own at this time.
One of the well known prophecies about the coming of Jesus is Isaiah 7:14, “The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” And most of us know that Immanuel means “God with us.” Not only did Jesus come to be our Saviour, He came to be our friend and to be with us.
We will be singing the well known carol written by Charles Wesley which include the lines, “Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.” This is all part of the liturgy of Christmas, but is it a present reality in our life?
Jesus not only gathered 12 disciples, to follow and obey Him and be His servants, He called them friends. John 15:15 says, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Later on when Jesus is about to leave the disciples and go to the cross He knows they are going to be scattered and says, “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone for my Father is with me.” (John 16:32)
Do you know the Father and Jesus as your friend? Do you spend time cultivating His friendship and sensing His nearness to you? Do you know that He wants to come and fill your loneliness with His presence and love?
Are you spending time in His presence, worshipping Him and sensing His nearness? Psalm 22:3 says, “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” We may have different ways of developing our relationship with the godhead. Knowing that “God is with us” is vitally important at this time when we are surrounded by such troubles and crises.
We don’t want you to be lonely over this Christmas, but the presence of God fulfils a need in our lives nothing else can.
by Charles Sibthorpe
