He Walks With Us
By Matt Leasher
This chaotic fast
paced world that we
live in is fueled
with frantic
pressures, busy
responsibilities and
grueling demands. We
live in an era of
technology and
advancements that
are supposed to make
the working world
more efficient but
has only created
more work that
requires greater
prerequisites and
higher expectations.
Just keeping
up with today’s
technology is work
in itself.
Now a days
more middle aged
people are going
back to school to
change their careers
then ever before
just to keep up with
the ongoing
advancements in
today’s ever
changing
technologies. With
all of the gadgets
that are in
everyone’s hands
these days no one
seems to have time
for anything anymore
especially in the
American family
life.
However, this
is nothing new,
since the late
seventies both
parents have been
working full time
jobs to maintain a
household and the
generation that has
spawned from it is a
generation that
relies mostly on the
world for their
ethics and morals
since the parents
are usually so busy.
Franklin D.
Roosevelt once said,
“never before have
we had so little
time in which to do
so much.”
Boy, if he
could see the pace
that the world is
spinning at now!
The world is
sure to keep us busy
and keeping us busy
is one of Satan’s
many ploys to
distract us from God
since he is the
ruler of this world,
(John 12:31).
The apostle John
warned us about not
loving the world or
the lusts of it for
they are not of the
Father, (1 John
2:15-17). The world
does not love you.
It will take
all it can from you
then chew you up and
spit you out.
The world
will entice you with
all of its lusts,
shallow promises and
pride but the world
does not care about
you, however… God
does!
Because of
the rampant pace
that the world spins
us around and with
all of the evils
that accompany it we
can sometimes feel
that the Lord is
very distant from us
but the truth of the
matter is that He is
not far from any of
us, (Acts 17:27).
One of the most
comforting things
about being a Holy
Spirit indwelt born
again Christian is
the intimate
closeness that
exists between you
and God.
Especially
when you keep
yourself engulfed in
His word on a daily
basis.
When you are
indwelt with His
Spirit, He goes
everywhere you go.
The Christ
indwelt believer
understands that the
ways of the world
and the things that
are in it are all
but temporary and
the world is passing
away, however God is
eternal and when God
has indwelt you with
His Spirit you have
inherited that
eternity. That is
why when Jesus told
Nicodemus that
whosoever believes
in Him will not
perish, but have
everlasting life
(John 3:16), He was
referring to
obtaining eternal
life in the present
tense by saying
“have”
eternal life,
rather than “will
have” eternal life.
This isn’t to
say that we
instantly become
immortal beings at
the moment of
conversion but it
does mean that we
have permanently
obtained the promise
of eternal life and
nothing or nobody
can take it from us.
That is why we have
it now… because we
can’t lose it!
One of the most
challenging things
about being a
Christian is
maintaining our joy
in a world full of
pain, sadness, death
and sorrow.
Satan is out
to rob us of our joy
and he walks about
like a roaring lion
seeking whom he may
devour, (1 Peter
5:8).
But as I
stated above, the
key to overcoming
the sorrows of the
world is to remember
that this is all
temporary.
If Christ is
your Savior then you
are already
victorious over all
of those things.
Just as the
faithful patriarchs
of the Old Testament
times endured the
pains of the world
by looking forward
with faith to the
future Messiah that
was to come and free
them from Satan’s
grasp, (see Hebrews
chapter 11), we
Christians today
have to faithfully
look backward and
forward. We look
backward at the
finished work of
redemption that
Christ has done for
us on the Cross and
we look forward to
the eternal Kingdom
that He has promised
us when He returns.
When we look
backward at Christ’s
accomplishments we
must also remember
that He endured what
we endure.
When the Lord
Jesus Christ left
His eternal state of
glory and entered
into the world and
took on human flesh
He was entering the
enemies territory
with us!
He had to
endure all of the
temptations that we
do.
He took on
hunger, thirst,
weakness, sorrow,
pain and even death!
All things
that are the result
of sin being in the
world yet He was
without sin. He then
became sin for
us (1 Corinthians
5:21) while on the
cross and had to be
forsaken by the
Father while he bore
our sins. Out of all
of the sufferings
and trials that we
may endure on this
earth that is one
that we are not
subjected to. The
Lord has told us
that He would never
leave us nor forsake
us (Hebrews 13:5),
and Jesus said that
He would be with us
always (Matthew
28:20) and again
that the Holy Spirit
would abide with us
forever (John
14:16). So we have
the assurance that
God will not forsake
us from all three of
His persons! Because
of all that Jesus
endured while in His
human state He is
able to identify and
sympathize with us
so that He can
minister for us as
our current heavenly
High Priest. We can
look upon Christ in
the present tense
knowing that He is
currently sitting at
the Father’s right
hand interceding for
us (Romans 8:34).
To think of
all that Jesus has
already done for us
when we was here on
the earth, that even
now He is still
caring for us in
heaven.
Are you
feeling the love?
God becoming flesh
in the person of
Jesus Christ is the
greatest
manifestation of His
relationship to us.
God has allowed us
to know Him through
His written Word but
He has allowed us to
know Him even
greater through the
person of Jesus
Christ.
When we know
Jesus we know the
Father (John 14:7),
and we can certainly
know Jesus through
the gospel. The
first advent of
Jesus Christ was the
revelation of the
mystery of God to
all men. That God
has been manifested
in the flesh, the
mystery of His
Godliness has been
revealed to us, (1
Timothy 3:16).
It is sheer
utter amazement that
the Lord God who is
beyond limitations
and who created the
heavens, the stars,
the planets, the
earth and everything
in it, took on a
human body with all
of its limitations
which He Himself
originally designed
and created and then
willfully allowed
His own creation to
crucify Him so that
we could in turn
spend eternity with
Him, (see Hebrews
2:14). The sheer
love that is
involved in all of
that is beyond
comprehension
without the
empowering of the
Holy Spirit to bring
it to ones
capability of
understanding and
acceptance so that
it can be channeled
into faith.
Throughout
the whole process of
the incarnation of
God to Man we must
remember that God
did not give up His
deity in doing so,
only His partial
position from the
heavenly glory.
It is impossible for
any of us to be in
two places at once
but not for God.
It may be a
mystery to us as to
how God can divide
Himself into three
persons but it isn’t
a mystery as to why
He does it.
God is in
three persons so
that He can always
be with us!
If God was
just a monotheistic
deity that sat on a
cloud somewhere in
deep outer space
then we could indeed
say that God is far
from us. But God
desires to be close
to His beloved
children and to do
so He has designed a
way to always be
near to us, even
within us! Lets take
a brief historical
look at God’s
earthly presence:
• God dwelt with
Adam & Eve in the
Garden until sin
separated them.
• God led Moses and
the Israelites
through the
wilderness in the
form of a pillar of
fire.
• Jesus Christ, (the
2nd
person of the
Trinity) appeared in
a theophany to
several patriarchs
throughout the Old
Testament. A few
examples are
(Genesis 18:1-13,
Genesis 32:30,
Exodus 33:11, Joshua
5:13-15, Judges
6:11-24, Judges
13:22, Daniel 3:25).
• God filled the
Tabernacle and the 1st
Temple with His
Shekinah Glory.
• God spoke to and
through His prophets
firsthand.
• Jesus Christ, (the
2nd
person of the
Trinity) became
human flesh and
dwelt among us,
(John 1:14).
Now the current
earthly dwelling
place for the Lord
is within the bodies
of born again
believers in the
form of His Holy
Spirit.
“Do you not know
that your body is
the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is
in you, whom you
have from God, and
you are not your
own? For you were
bought at a price;
therefore glorify
God in your body and
in your spirit,
which are God’s.” (1
Corinthians 6:19-20)
God can’t get any
closer to us than
that! Let us now
consider the third
person of the Holy
Triune of God – The
Holy Spirit!
The Spirit is
hard at work here on
earth.
The night
before Jesus was
about to be
crucified He told
His disciples, (and
us), that He would
be sending us a
Helper that would
abide with us
forever and that He
would dwell with us
and be in us and
that He would not
leave us as orphans,
(John 14:16-18).
Jesus was
speaking of the Holy
Spirit, (the 3rd
person of the
Trinity).
We are still
living in the era of
the working of the
Holy Spirit and it
is an era of
incredible grace.
The Holy Spirit
testifies of Jesus,
(John 15:26) and
Jesus testifies of
the Father (John
8:38).
That is why
blasphemy (or
denial) of the Holy
Spirit is the
unpardonable sin,
(Mark 3:29).
The Holy
Spirit is the Person
of the Trinity that
is currently on
earth.
If you reject
Him then you reject
the way to the Son,
which is the way to
the Father, (John
14:6).
Without the
work of the Holy
Spirit throughout
the last 2000 years
the writing of the
gospel and its
message of all that
was done by Jesus to
accomplish our
salvation would have
been lost in the
annuals of time but
He has preserved all
of it. It is the
Holy Spirit that is
the liaison between
the Church and Jesus
Christ in this
current Age of
Grace.
If the recorded and
known presence of
the Father, Son and
Holy Spirit
throughout history
isn’t enough to
convince you that
God is with us then
there is the
evidence of His
existence by what is
observable in the
external world for
the creation reveals
the Creator.
For instance,
the starry heavens,
the preciseness of
solar and lunar
eclipses and the
variables that are
involved in the
earth maintaining
just the right
temperatures for
human life to exist
are just a few of
the many undeniable
evidences of God’s
hand at work. Psalm
19:1 says,
“The heavens declare
the glory of God,
and the firmament
shows His handiwork”
and Romans
1:19-20 tells us
that God’s presence
is clearly seen
throughout nature
and that man is
without excuse.
If God were
not with us then we
would surely know it
just by the natural
order of things.
The mere fact
that we have light
is a sign that He is
with us because God
is light and without
Him there would be
darkness, (1 John
1:5).
The fact that
we are all breathing
is also a sign of
His presence since
He is the giver of
breath, (Genesis 2:7
& Acts 17:25).
Science and
atheists will try to
explain these things
off with theories,
research and studies
but most of time
they are left with
many unanswered
questions but the
proof of God’s
existence is a
closed book and that
book is the Bible.
The Bible in
its entirety is a
progressive
revelation of God
and the Holy Spirit
continues that work
in our present
lives.
My friends God is
not hidden from us.
If you seek
Him you will find
Him (Deuteronomy 4:2
& Jeremiah 29:13),
and when you do you
will be surprised
just how close He
has been all of this
time.
The question
is are you seeking
Him?
He has
revealed Himself to
us in so many ways
that we truly are
without excuse for
not knowing Him.
Especially in the
era that we live
where we have the
completed Bible, the
revelation of Jesus
Christ and the
indwelling of the
Holy Spirit.
Folks, the
ball is in our court
not His. He has done
more than enough to
reveal Himself to
us. If you want God
in your life then
you can have as much
God as you desire.
Just read your Bible
daily and before you
read pray first and
ask Him to reveal
Himself to you and I
guarantee that if
you do that with a
sincere heart then
He will surely
reveal Himself to
you and that is when
a loving
relationship begins.
May it give you the
guidance to come
boldly to the throne
of grace and walk
through this life
having the assurance
of knowing that He
walks with you!
Seeing then that we
have a great High
Priest who has
passed through the
heavens, Jesus the
Son of God, let us
hold fast
our
confession. For we
do not have a High
Priest who cannot
sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was
in all
points
tempted as
we are, yet
without sin.
Let us
therefore come
boldly to the throne
of grace, that we
may obtain mercy and
find grace to help
in time of need.
(Hebrews
14:14-16)