God is With You

I love to hear people share their God-sightings. It's amazing to see how God is at work in lives all around us. Often, we are quick to share those God-sightings that have happy (for us) endings. However, if God cannot be sighted in the moments of fear, sorrow, grief, despair, and devastation, then we are hopeless. 

I am so thankful that our God is with us always. 

My prayer is that no matter your situation today, you will be able to see God.

If you're frightened and overwhelmed...God is with you.

If you're being pursued by enemies...God is with you.

If you're wondering how you're going to make ends meet...God is with you.

If you're being persecuted for righteousness' sake...God is with you.

If you're tempted to sin...God is with you.

If you're feeling lonely...God is with you.

If you're facing the unknown...God is with you.

If you're desperate for help...God is with you.

If you're grieving...God is with you.

Whether you reflect on the verses below or others that have ministered to you in difficult times, set truth before your hearts and minds today. Enjoy God's presence, and cling to Him-the only One who will never leave or forsake you.

~Rebecca Phillips

Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Joshua 1:5-6

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.

Joshua 1:9
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.”

Psalm 23:4 

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 73:23-28
Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 

Psalm 139:7-10
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
Isaiah 41:10
Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 57:15
For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Jeremiah 15:20
And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 23:23-24
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.
Zephaniah 3:17
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Matthew 1:23

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).

Matthew 6:25-34
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ...

Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Matthew 28:20
Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

John 14:16-17
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Hebrews 13:5
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Who's Hangry?

So I recently posted a picture on facebook that I thought was kind of funny--and also sadly accurate.  It was an image of a t-shirt that says, "I'm sorry for what I said when I was hungry." I even related how a student had once offered me a sandwich in class.  This may be because he wanted to eat one himself, but still . . .

Last year the kids I had right before lunch introduced me to the term "hangry."  I thought it was something they had made up to describe me (oh, the vanity!) until I saw someone else using the word on--you guessed it--facebook.

On another occasion recently, I apologized for a delayed response to an email, citing my need to eat first because "I'm not worth much when I'm hungry." Almost immediately I was convicted--not of waiting to answer the email but of blaming my bad moods and ineffectiveness on hunger. The truth is this: There is never a legitimate excuse for being unkind.

The fruit of the Spirit still includes kindness and self-control (Galatians 5:22) regardless of the state of my stomach. In Second Timothy 3, those "without self-control" are listed right alongside "slanderers" and "traitors." If it's true that "I can do all things through Christ" (Philippians 4:13), which here includes being hungry--truly hungry, not just wanting some lunch--and suffering, then I cannot keep giving in to the weak flesh.

I know that we should take care of ourselves. It's not wise to get into such a state of fatigue and hunger that we can't be productive. Bea Ward, one of my favorite people, is sort of famous for saying that sometimes the most spiritual thing one can do is take a nap. One of my goals for the new year is to get more sleep. I do want to take care of myself (I'm eating a bowl of cereal right now!) But the Spirit who lives in me is stronger than hunger, stronger than fatigue, and I need to stop making excuses.

--Sherry Poff