God with us...

"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'--Matthew 1:23.  Another crucial passage we find in the opening chapters of the New Testament regarding Christ.  The book of Matthew is intended to prove to the Jew that Jesus was and is in fact the Messiah that was prophesied of by the prophets of old. This is why Matthew 1:23 is such a crucial passage.  When Jesus came, God was indeed with us. 

God with us.  Matthew 1:23 is quoting a prophecy found in Isaiah 7:14.  The virgin? In this case was Mary. The Son of course was Jesus a.k.a. Immanuel which as the verse says means God with us.

God with us.  John 1:1-14 will give us a similar message in that God did in fact come in the flesh through Jesus. When Jesus walked the earth, God Himself walked the earth. This is pretty awesome because the last time we see God walking on earth is in Genesis 3:8 when man fell from God's grace because of his sin. And now in Matthew, God is again with us on earth at the birth of Jesus.

God with us.  Now God has always been ever present but never before or since has God come in the form of a man.  There have been various men throughout history since the time of Jesus who claimed to be the Messiah.  Jesus said that such people would come but has made it clear in Scripture what we can expect when He does return again but that is another discussion for another time.  The point is He is coming again but has not yet come again. However, God is still with us.

God with us.  Whether we know it or not, Jesus is watching our every move.  You will have varying reactions to this statement but if we are Christians we can take comfort and not fear the fact that God is with us if we are doing His will.

God with us.  Among other phrases, this is probably one of the most powerful statements in Scripture. God with us. Think for a moment what it means to have God with us.

God with us. God with us means we have someone that is as close to us as your computer screen in front of you watching over us at all times.

God with us.  God with us means that we can have someone to lean on when times get tough even when it seems like everyone else has abandoned us.

God with us.  We must also understand that God with us means we have someone who is holding us accountable at all times even when no one else seems to be looking. God is looking but again if we are doing His will, this should not make us afraid but comforted in that we are in the hands of the living God.

God with us.  So my encouragement to you is this. Know that God is with you.  Know that when no one else is looking God is.  So my question is what is He seeing? Is He seeing that person to whom He will say 'Well done good and faithful servant' or is He seeing that person to whom He will say 'Depart from Me for I never knew you.' Being a follower of Christ is not something we just do on Sunday morning, it is a brand new way of life committed to following Christ wherever we might go because when we choose to follow Christ, that means that God goes with us wherever we go. So are you going places or doing things God would want you doing if He were physically and visibly right there next to you? Take some time to examine yourself as I try to do the same. So in the meantime, remember Jesus is Immanuel and that means GOD WITH US!

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!