God is With Us

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 
                                                                           

19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

- Matthew 1:18-25


Life can be challenging to say the least.  There will be good times and there will be hard times.  The world seems to be growing darker and things will continue to go down hill the more people turn away from the true living God and His principles.

This time of the year reminds us that even though things may look grim and bleak God is with us.  No matter what challenges and hardships that come our way we must acknowledge that God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things is with us and He is for us because He loves us.

We have all sinned and we have all fallen short of the glory of God.  We don't get to define what sin is.  God tells us what sin is in the Bible.  Sin is missing the mark and we have all missed the mark.  We have all been born with a sinful nature.  That means our hearts are bent away from God from birth.

We must repent of our sins and receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior in order to be saved.  Jesus came to this earth on a rescue mission.  We remember the account of Jesus birth and everything that happened during that time.  God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, in this world to save us sinners.

When we read the account of Jesus birth in Bethlehem when He was placed in a manger we must also remember the Cross where Christ was nailed for our sins.  Jesus was born to die for you and I.  It was out of God's great love for you, for me, and for the entire world that He sent Jesus Christ into this world to save us from our sins.

Sin is serious.  Sin separates us from the true living God.  The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23).  God made a way when there seemed to be no way for us to have a proper relationship with Him by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Lord and Savior if we receive Him by faith.

When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us.  The world doesn't have the Holy Spirit because the world doesn't believe in Him nor knows Him.  Only those whom have placed their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death on the Cross have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

We believers in Christ also have our sinful nature to contend with as well.  We are called to walk in the Spirit and give no room for the flesh (Galatians 5:16).  There is a war going on within a believer in Christ Jesus.

We need to chose moment by moment to walk in the Spirit and be obedient to the Lord.  God will help us to do that when we submit to His ways and His directions.  We can't live a life of obedience on our own.  We need the Lord to lead us and guide us each step of the way through the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

We remember that Jesus was called the Immanuel which means, "God with us" and the good news is that He is still with us each and everyday.  The better news is that He is also in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

There is no place we can go where God isn't there with us.  We will encounter hard difficult times.  We will each face challenges that are totally beyond our capacity of dealing with in our own power, but God is with us.

When we place out faith and trust in Jesus Christ we know that we will never be alone no matter what trials or persecutions we may face.  The days ahead may indeed be tough and we may feel like giving up.  Things may seem too hard for us to handle in our own strength, but we must remember that God us with us.

Are you facing a trying time?  We all go through things.  Some things are really hard and we may feel like we are about to break, but we must remember that the Lord Jesus loves us and that if we are trusting in Him as our Lord and Savior He will be with us no matter what difficulties come our way.

Lord,
Life is hard.
Trials can drag us down.
Thank You, Lord, for being with us each step of the way.
Thank You, Lord, for loving us and having mercy on us.
Help us to walk in the Spirit.
Help us to say no to fleshly desires and follow You and Your ways instead.
We are weak and broken, but You O Lord and string and mighty.
We praise Your Holy Name.
Lead us and guide us.
In Jesus Name we pray,
Amen.