A With Us God: He Is Forever for Us and With Us

Our trust in God is to be built on His very great and precious promises as Peter tells us in 2 Peter 1:3-4 (NIV): “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” Out of His abundant love and provisions, God provides for His children everything they need to walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. Everything.

We may think we are ill equipped (we all are in our own strength) but with God within us -through the power of the Holy Spirit - we become forces to be reckoned with. Nothing is too hard for God. With Him we lack no good thing. And to be used by the Master – through His power and for His glory is the highest honor and one we were all created for, BTW.

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV) tells us: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Remember, Jesus is the friend that sticks closer than a brother. He tells us He did not leave us as orphans. He indwells every believer through the power of His Spirit. He speaks of this to His frightened disciples in John 14:15-18 (NIV): “ If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

The proper response to our God - Who is ever for us - is a heart of love and obedience to Him. We are to love God for Himself – all loveliness and perfection are found in Him and flow from Him. Indeed, He is the fountain of all good. And we can never love Him as much as He deserves yet we are to love Him as much as we are able. We must beg God to give us a heart of love for Him and to keep this blaze burning in our hearts. As King David so eloquently writes in Psalms 18:1-2 (NIV): “I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” He was David’s everything as He is to be ours. Again, King David writes in Psalms 34:10 (NIV): “The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.” Indeed, with Him there is no lack. He is our sufficiency and strength – an ever present help in our times of trouble.