Today’s Scripture: Matthew 1:23, NKJV- “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
During this time of the year, the celebration of the birth of Immanuel meaning God with us can get lost in all the Christmas activities. There are a lot of moving parts in all seasons of life yet at the core of our lives when everything and everyone else are stripped away, God is with us. The complicated becomes the simple. Bewilderment becomes confidence. What seemed distant becomes oh so close.
Matthew 1:18 makes the birth of Immanual sound so simple. “This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” (NIV)
Non-believers cannot accept that the Virgin Mary became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Even Joseph needed a visit from an angel of the LORD to be convinced to stay with Mary. In Matthew 1:21 we read that the angel told Joseph that “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (NKJV)
It is even more mind blowing to consider that Matthew 1:22 reminds us that seven hundred years p Isaiah 7:14 prophesied “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (NKJV)
Matthew chapter one ties together the old and new by providing the genealogy of Jesus. There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the Exile of God’s people to Babylon, and another fourteen generations from the Exile to the birth of our Messiah Jesus. Simple enough?
In the hustle and bustle, the yin and yang, the secular and the spiritual, God is with us. In fact, God is with us even when we feel isolated and alone. In the dark and in the light our God is with us. It is so easy to get lost in our moments that we lose sight and connectivity with anyone, including God. As the old saying goes, God did not go anywhere, we did.
Humankind has always complicated life by attempting to remove God. When I first learned about affirmations from a worldly perspective, I was instructed to make “I” statements about what I wanted to manifest in my life. My experience and my testimony are that those selfish claims do come true. But I also learned that having all the things in this world are empty when God is not with us.
I am continuing to mature in my faith, and this affirmation practice that God has given me. I do believe that our affirmations must begin by affirming who God is. Then between ourselves and God in a very personal way. I am thankful that God is with me. Just as when an oxygen mask drops out of the ceiling of an airplane that is in trouble, we must make sure we are right with God first before we can help someone else.
We too have been born into God’s family so we can celebrate and help others believe that He is with us. Are you thankful that God is with you today?
Today’s Prayer: Thank You Immanuel for being God with us. Forgive me Father God for when I am so selfish and blind to others. Forgive me Father when I focus more on myself than on You. You are our LORD and our Immanuel. Help us LORD to share You with all people so they too may come to faith, comfort, and peace in the presence of the one true God who is with us today. In the name of Jesus, the Christ, our Immanuel, we do pray. Amen.
Leave a Reply