The Power of With

September 2nd, 2022
by Michael Osthimer

“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.”

Matthew 1:23

From the beginning God has made it perfectly clear, we are better together than we will ever be apart. You remember how when God created man and said it wasn’t good for him to be alone so God made a helper who was compatible to him. God created the woman to be with the man. There is power in “with”. As the years go on I understand the power of with more and more. When my wife and I take a vacation I like to let her pick the place and work out all the details. She is good at planning and she enjoys the adventure. Me, my joy is being with my wife and her with me. Plus, I get to carry the luggage too!

In the Old Testament the noticeable difference between the nation of Israel and everyone else was the God they worshiped “tabernacled” with them. In other words the God of Israel was with His people. That’s comforting to know that as you go through life your God is with you and you are not alone. Thats one of the reasons Jesus Christ came to earth, to be with us and to make a way for us to be with Him forever when He went to the Cross.

Jesus was constantly reminding His disciples that He was there for them and even though He was going to Cross and would be returning home to the Father, He was going to prepare a place for us so that His disciples one day could be with Him forever. Before Jesus ascension back to heaven some of His last words were, “I am with you always”. There is comfort and peace and joy in knowing that in this life we are not alone and that God is with us.

It makes no difference if you are married or single, rich or poor. The color of your skin doesn’t matter nor does where you live. God is always close by. One of God’s attributes is His omnipresence, meaning God is everywhere at one time, all the time. The book of Acts reminds us, “He is not far from any of us” and that is good to remember even though we live in a world of like 8 billion people where it’s still easy to feel alone. Jesus is our Immanuel so draw close to Him as He promises to draw close to you.

I LOVE YOU!