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Time with God - Dec. 23, 2011

 

Matthew 1:21-23

 

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfil what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”

Jesus is God’s declaration to us that “I am with you!”

God wants you to know today that He is with you, that He is near. Of course, God was with people before Jesus’ birth. God is omnipresent—He’s everywhere! But the meaning of “God with us” went to a whole new level when Jesus became a man and lived as one of us.

Now God is with us in more ways than simply His presence. He’s with us in the experiences of life as One who’s been this way Himself.

When Jesus finished training the twelve disciples to be “fishers of men”, He left them with the Great Commission, His declaration of the purpose of believers through all generations: “Make disciples of all the nations.”

That would be daunting if He’d left it to us to accomplish such a thing. But what’s really empowering and exciting is what He said next: “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” As you live your life to honour God and fulfil His commission, remember, He is with you!

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