The "With Us" God

Every year at Christmas time The Lord brings to my mind something to focus on about Him. It took me a long time figure that out because every year a certain theme would resonate over and over again in my mind. I always assumed that it was from a word from my pastor or something that media was hammering in my head until a few years ago I paid attention and it seemed to come out of nowhere. Just random thoughts. I usually share this with Alex and that becomes our focus for the Christmas season.

This year I have had "Immanuel" on my mind. I remember hearing Beth Moore teach on this from her study, "Jesus The One and Only" and she kept calling Him "The With Us God". This Christmas, I kept thinking about The With Us God. Over and over in Scripture God tells us that He is with us.  One of my favorite verses is Joshua 1:9, "9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
 In Genesis 26:24 and 28:15, God tells Abraham that He will be with Him. Joshua 3:7, God informs Joshua that He would be with him in the same way He was with Moses. The angel of the LORD appears to Gideon in Judges 6:12 and lets Him know that God is with him. He promises to be with Israel in Isaiah 41:10. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He was first introduced in Matthew 1:23 as Immanuel, "God With Us". And when the Word ascended into Heaven in Matthew 28:20, He told His disciples, "... behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

He is with us. He is with us always. God has always been about making a way to dwell with us until we could dwell with Him. From the garden of Eden where He walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, to appearing to Moses and talking to him as a friend, to the Tent of Meeting, The Most Holy Place, to sending His Son  as an offering... God coming down in human form to walk around with us, teach us, sacrifice Himself and die as the punishment for our sins so that we could be blameless and holy and be with Him eternally. 

God doesn't need us. He loves us. He desires a relationship with us because of that love. He pursues us. I am amazed and in awe. 

This Christmas has been a blur of crazy and sickness and overwhelming tiredness... but in the midst of it all I have been extremely aware of His Presence. Not a fleeting presence that comes with the Christmas season, but an awareness that He is with me. In the crazy. In the sickness. In the laughter and the so tired I can't think straight. He is with me because He loves me and likes hanging out with me. He is the "With me God". He made a way to be with me until I can join Him eternally in Heaven. 

He made a way for you too. He is the With Us God.

Shades and Shadows

I am studying right now in the books of the Law, mostly Genesis and Exodus right now. I am studying the Tabernacle and learning how God has chosen to dwell with us until we can finally dwell with Him and am amazed that the God of the universe wants to make His dwelling among us!! All throughout Scripture He actively pursues us and chooses to be in relationship with His people. Not because He needs us but because He delights in us! That in and of itself is MIND-BLOWING! But in my studying last night, I was led to something new. I was watching the original taping of Beth Moore's Bible study, "A Woman's Heart: God's Dwelling Place" and something she was teaching grabbed my mind and I have been unable to let it go. She was teaching from Genesis (among other places.. she likes to jump around!) The one thing that really caught my attention was from Genesis 1:27... 27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. I have known this verse for as long as I can remember and quoted it many times, picturing in my mind that somehow God looks human-like in some perfect and organically wonderful way. However, that is not the idea of the Hebrew word for "image". When I think of image I think of my "mirror image", a replica of what my real face looks like. The Hebrew word for image is "tṣelem" meaning "from an unused root meaning to shade". We are created in His shade or shadow. There are so many derogatory comments that come to mind when we think about living in someone's shadow or stand in the shade of another but when we think about the shade of Yahweh, WOW! There are a couple of things that Beth pointed out that I wanted to share. God created us to be in His shadow. We don't have to live in anyone's shadow except for God's. We need to walk so closely with God that we are safe in His shadow. Psalm 91 "The Protection of the Most High 1 The one who lives under the protection of the Most High dwells in the shadow of the Almighty 2 I will say to the Lord , “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” ... 4 He will cover you with His feathers; you will take refuge under His wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. I love this! We are created in His shadow, His shade. I think of the times Scripture references finding refuge in the shade, how God shaded Israel by day for 40 years in the wilderness by a pillar of cloud, how He provided shade for Jonah.... I just realized that these 2 are examples of how He provided protection even when His people were disobedient. Israel was wandering in the wilderness because of their sin and Jonah had been disobedient to God, then obeyed and then pouted. God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to Him. Even in discipline, God protects us. Even when we disobey or have sinful attitudes, He provides for us. From now on, when I think of God creating me in His image, it will not be with pictures of Him in my human likeness but with an image in my mind of Him creating me to dwell closely in His shadow. The shadow of His wings that provide shade, rest, security, and most importantly, the nearness of HIM who came to dwell with me until I can one day ultimately dwell with Him. What a mighty God we have. So tender. So awesome. How can we not stand in awe?

The Greatest of These

I Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Today I have love on my mind because yesterday was the 16th anniversary of the marriage to my husband. I am often swept away by the world's definition of love... the warm, fuzzy feeling; romance; desire; passion, etc..
But that type of love is selfish and focuses on what makes me feel good. Real love focuses on others. God designed marriage to be a picture of His love for us. Christ as the husband and the church as His bride. I wonder, does my love for my husband reflect the love of Christ? Does my love for others show that I follow the God of love? Do I show patience when my husband frustrates me? Am I kind when I don't get my way? Am I easily angered or keep track of every time I am wronged? Do I always protect my husband? Do I trust him? 

We can have all the gifts of the Spirit and understand all mysteries but don't have love, we have nothing. 

I want my marriage to reflect the love of Christ. I want others to know me by my love, first for my love and respect for my husband and then for the way I love others and put myself last. To sacrifice my will to do the will of My Father. 

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

Forward in Faith

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. Hebrews 11:8


Not trying to act like Abraham or anything but 7 months ago I was called to leave my area of comfort and join the corporate world at LifeWay Christian Resources in customer service. I was asked to take a position that would be a 6 month assignment with the POSSIBILITY of being offered a permanent position. Very scary. Very not interested. I have been a hairdresser for 22 years and it takes a long time to build a clientele. I began to pray about what I should do. I asked my husband and my parents what THEY thought I should do. Finally, my husband said to me "Steph, I know you have been praying about this. What is God telling you to do?" And in that moment I knew. God had been saying one thing to me over and over. It was "Take each step forward in faith."

I knew at that moment that He wasn't promising that things would turn out the way that I thought they should. Things would turn out the way HE thought they should and that I would be ok because HIS ways are better than my own. I have had moments of being very afraid and stressed.  I have had moments of thinking that I was in control. (ha)
Resoundingly, I have rested in the knowledge that HE knows what is right and best. I have no idea what the future holds for me. This has been a huge leap for me and lots of adjustment for my husband, our son, and my family and friends. I have seen our son have to adjust to lots of new and crazy things. My husband has stepped in and helped out when I was overwhelmed. My family has stepped in and been "mom" when I had to be at work. As crazy as it has all been, I have never been happier. Simply because I am where God wants me. Tomorrow He may want me somewhere else. Newer. Scarier. Less comfortable. But in the end I choose to trust in HIM. I am choosing each day to take each step forward in faith. 

Hebrews 11:6
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 

I want to please Him. Because He is. 

Made For More

“You were made for more than this.”

I was driving home from a women’s event one night and I felt The Lord speaking this into my heart over and over again.  As I thought about what He might have meant, I asked “What do you mean by ‘this’?”

“This” was defined for me by thoughts of:  “just being a mom”, “just being a wife”, “just getting up and going to work, church, etc...” Just getting up and going through the motions of getting by in life. JUST.

I know that this Word from The Lord came as a direct result of something I had felt as I sat under the teaching of my dear friend and mentor, Jeneen Kohler (founder of Repairing the Breach Ministries). As she taught from God’s Word, I was burning on the inside. I am a fellow teacher of God’s Word and a discipler by nature and gifting of the Holy Spirit but I have not been as serious about it as I know I am supposed to be.  So, I know that this Word was in direct relation to me being made to teach.

It got me thinking though.  YOU are made for more as well.  Just as my “this” is different from yours, so is my “more”. What “more” are you made for? What is your “this”?

As I study God’s Word, I am led to Ephesians 1:3-10. The apostle, Paul, writes this,

  ^3” Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he  predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, ⁹ he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, ¹⁰ to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”

God has made known to us what His will is. His will is to “bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.” So as I ponder my “more” and my “this”, I understand that, as a follower of Jesus Christ that has had riches lavished upon me by His grace, I need to be about the will of my Father.  My “this’ has to line up with things that will bring everything to unity in Christ. That is why I am made for more. And so are you.