Immanuel - God With Us

Immanuel

Is He Immanuel to you?

If you pray, do you often pray for God to "be with" you and/or others?  I do, too, at times.

However, if we consider that Immanuel - Jesus Christ - who was born as a baby on this earth so many years ago is truly "God with us" as the very name "Immanuel" means, then is there ever a time when He is not with us?

Let me present His Word to you and let His Spirit speak to you as He has been speaking to me as I ponder this.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:  The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. - Isaiah 7:14

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). - Matthew 1:22-23

 Raise the war cry, you nations, and be shattered!
   Listen, all you distant lands.
Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
   Prepare for battle, and be shattered!
Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
   propose your plan, but it will not stand,
   for God is with us. - Isaiah 8:9-10

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? 

If God is for us, who can be against us?  - Romans 8:31

The LORD Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress. - Psalm 46:7

"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; 

no one will snatch them out of my hand.  

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; 

no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 

I and the Father are one.” - Jesus - John 10:27-30

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you 

and 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. 

Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. 

Because I live, you also will live. 

On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, 

and I am in you." - Jesus - John 14:16-20

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, 

the gospel of your salvation. 

When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, 

the promised Holy Spirit, 

who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance 

until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—

to the praise of his glory. - Ephesians 1:13-14

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? 

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 

As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 

neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 

neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, 

will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.- Romans 8:35-39

"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."  

- Jesus - Matthew 28:20

So, I ask you again:

Is He Immanuel to you?

If not, He can be.

If He is, rest in knowing that He is in you and with you 

now and forever. 

Merry Christmas!

God is with us.