Today's Scriptures:
"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:20 (NIV) Another translation says, "when you come to me, I will be right there among you."
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel----which means, "God with us". Matthew 1:22-23 (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 know 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." John 14:15-18 (NIV)
When we come together, Jesus is in our midst because we BELONG to Him! He is in our midst because He PROMISED it to us in His Word! Shouldn't that change the way we think and the way we act when we come together? If we really believe that Jesus is in our midst, then we should come expecting that every person will be touched and changed. Are you expecting when you come to church? In all honesty, coming together should be the "high point" of our week! There are things that God desires to do in "our midst" that He will never be able to do in us individually. Now that should make you excited about coming together with the body of Christ!
Inspite of us; our shortcomings, our failures, even our disobedience, God stills wants to be WITH US! That was His desire before time began. In fact....
The prophets prophesied about God's presence in our lives! (Matthew 1:22-23) The Holy Spirit conceives in us that "God is with us". We don't need a feeling to verify that fact. God wants us to have a constant awareness of Him in our lives. He wants to be right in the middle of our chaos and confusion. When we understand that He is in our midst, an atmosphere of faith begins to build around us and His Words begin to change our way of thinking. What you capture individually is only a part of what He wants to do corporately. God wants us to awaken to His presence in our church!
Jesus gives us a personal promise of His presence in our lives! (John 14:15-18) It was always His intention to "be with" His church. He will not leave us "as orphans". He said in His Word that "I will come to you". Because of this promise, we can be full of hope in the midst of a storm. Not because of a feeling, but because of the PROMISE. The greatest miracle of all is His presence in our lives!
The purpose of His presence! He has given us the "Great Commission". We must have a big God on the inside of us to do all that He desires us to do! Reaching the world with the Gospel would be an impossible task for all of us. The good news is, reaching our world has been made possible because Jesus is WITH US! We need to be excited about the "Who's with us" before we "go into all the world"! When we share the message.......the Lord works with us! That takes the pressure off of you and I.
If we forget that God is WITH US, we become self seeking and our services become mechanical. When we realize that God is with us and the He desires to do something in our midst EVERY TIME we come together, it should excite us and ignite us as the body of Christ! Are you EXPECTING???
Come Wednesday and Sunday! Bring someone with you! REMEMBER, GOD DESIRES TO TOUCH EVERY PERSON! |