JESUS
OUR “WITH US” GOD
BREAD
18 Then
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven
and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very
end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
9 One
night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: “Do not be
afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. 10 For I
am with you.”
Acts 18:9-10 (NIV)
20 “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I
with them.”
Matthew 18:20 (NIV)
God
has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 6 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I
will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)
6 “Be
strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will
never leave you nor forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)
BUTTER
“In this promise, God gives to His people everything. ‘Never will I leave you.’ Then no attribute of God can cease to be
engaged for us. Is He mighty? He will show Himself strong on the behalf of
them that trust Him. Is He love? Then with loving-kindness He will have mercy
upon us. Whatever attributes may compose
the character of Deity, every one of them to its fullest extent shall be
engaged on our side.” Charles H.
Spurgeon
“Your God refuses to give up on you. Your God looks for you when you’re feeling
lost, and your God seeks you out when you’re down, and your God calls for you
when you feel cast aside. He doesn’t run
down the rebel. He doesn’t strike down
the sinner. He doesn’t flog the
failure.” Ann Voskamp
“I am come to find you wherever you may be. I will look for you till the eyes of My pity
see you. I will follow you till the
hands of My mercy reach you, and I will still hold you…to My heart.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Knowing
Him as a loving Father is the foundation for intimate relationship with Him.
First Corinthians 13:4-7 is a picture of the Father's love. Personalize it, and receive it for yourself. My Father who loves me is patient with me,
kind to me.... My Father's love is not rude, nor self-seeking, not easily
angered, and keeps no record of wrongs. My
Father's love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. My Father's love always protects me, always
trusts me, always hopes [believes the best about me], always perseveres and
never gives up on me. My Father's love
for me never fails.” Sylvia Gunter
“(Why does God)
bother to speak to us? The truly
staggering answer that the Bible gives to this question is that God’s purpose
in revelation is to make friends with us.
It was to this end that he created us rational beings, bearing his
image, able to think and hear and speak and love; he wanted there to be genuine
personal affection and friendship, two-sided, between himself and us—a
relation, not like that between a man and his dog, but like that of a father to
his child, or a husband to his wife.
Loving friendship between two persons has no ulterior motive; it is an
end in itself. And this is God’s end in revelation. He speaks to us simply to
fulfill the purpose for which we were made; that is, to bring into being a
relationship in which he is a friend to us, and we to him, he finding his joy
in giving us gifts and we finding ours in giving him thanks”. J I
Packer
“My observation of Christendom is that most of
us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His
grace. If we’ve performed well—whatever
‘well’ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations
are reduced accordingly. In this sense,
we live by works, rather than by grace.
We are saved by grace, but we are living by the ‘sweat’ of our own
performance. Moreover, we are always
challenging ourselves and one another to ‘try harder’. We seem to believe success in the Christian
life is basically up to us; our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with
some help from God along the way….The realization that my daily relationship
with God is based on the infinite merit of Christ instead of on my own
performance is very freeing and joyous experience. But it is not meant to be a one-time
experience; the truth needs to be reaffirmed daily.” Jerry Bridges
“If we live to
please God alone (the One who loves us), we set ourselves free from the cares
and worries that press in on us.” Phillip Yancey
HEART SAVOR
- · God desires a relationship with me.
- · God is always with me.
- · God never ceases to be engaged for me.
