One usually associates Jesus’s alternate title of Immanuel (or Emmanuel) with Christmas, but the word means “God with us.” Isaiah prophesied of the One who came to restore humanity’s relationship with God: Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).
Jesus took the world’s sins upon Himself on the cross so all who would believe on Him could be forgiven and redeemed from sin once and for all. This opened the door to intimacy with God. Now those who called on and believed in Jesus would be made part of God’s family and could come boldly before the throne of grace!
The Father promised to never leave us or forsake us. Jesus promised to be with us always, and even better, He promised the Father would send us His Holy Spirit to indwell and guide us!
God is indeed with us, but are we with Him? He’s right there, wherever we might find ourselves, but are we aware of His presence?
We can easily get caught up with life and forget. God’s Word exhorts us to remember, to bring Him into every area of our lives. Proverbs 3:6 tells us to acknowledge God in all our ways, and James 4:7 shows the importance of submitting to Him. That word submit can be defined as “to yield to one’s admonition or advice.”
Sometimes our will interferes, though, and we want our own way. Once, years ago in a moment of exasperation, I expressed it succinctly as “I want what I want!” But Jesus modeled yielding to God, submitting to Him, even in the face of possible discomfort or suffering. Peter described the process as entrusting our souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right (1 Peter 4:19).
While such surrender can be challenging, we have the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, who comes alongside us to help. God wants to lead us by His Spirit, but we have to choose to follow. We must decide to tune into His voice and to listen. When we yield to God and quiet our minds to listen, we become more attuned to His presence.
David in the Bible rejoiced to be in God’s presence. He wrote in Psalm 16:8, I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. In Psalm 139 David expresses his conviction that there is nowhere he could go that God would not be; He was there when he went to asleep, and right there when he woke up!
Paul preached in Greece that God is not far from any of us and intends that we reach out and seek Him (Acts 17:27).
Jesus visited Mary and Martha at their house. He was there with both of them, but only Mary was with Jesus. Martha was worried, upset, and distracted (Luke 10:41). Which example describes you?
When we bring God into all our thinking, we are acknowledging His presence. When we keep a conversation going with Him in our hearts, we learn to pray without ceasing. God is always with us; let’s choose to be with Him.
