Prayer: Father God we thank you for your love for us. Thank you for each other. Lord for those of us and those we love who need physical healing, we look to you. For emotional needs, we look also to you.
Please help each of us to set aside the cares of life for this next hour and simply “be” with you. In Jesus name amen
Do you ever feel lonely? Alone? Like no one understands or cares?
We know…well we kind of know…that God does. But do we REALLY know?
Beyond a shadow of any doubt that God really is Immanuel, God with us?
Do we know that we really are never ever alone?
Tonight we are going to ponder some verses that I hope help us remember, no matter what is going on or what is NOT going on that we are never truly alone.
Psalm 73:23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
Dodi Note: In this Psalm the Psalmist has been very upset. In his own words he said, “my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered,” and yet after pouring his heart out to God from the depths of despair, he remembered that God is STILL with him. And he found comfort in remembering that. Knowing that indeed, God is with us…even when we doubt him…can comfort our hearts as well. In the very last verse of the Psalm he says, “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
Can we do that?
Deut 31:6 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.”
Dodi Note: This is near the end of the Exodus. All the people who doubted God was able have died off. Moses himself is not being allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses is encouraging the Hebrew people and Joshua not to look at circumstances but instead to TRUST the LORD. And that same LORD goes with each of us. We have no need to dread life or live in fear because no matter what, even when we die, God will be always WITH us.
Isa 40:10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
NLT Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power.
He will rule with a powerful arm.
See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.
Dodi Note: No matter what our need is, no matter how difficult life is for us…there is GOD. No one, no situation is bigger. As we stand firm, relying on the Lord, looking to Him instead of self ways, we will receive his reward.
Zep 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.
Dodi Note: This is one of my favorite verses ever. Imagine, the LORD the MIGHTY One, the one who saved us…rejoices over us with gladness. He quiets us with His love. I came across an old writing from 7 years ago. It was based on this verse. I think I will share that story with you.
Kason is my little grandson. When I wrote this he was about 6 months old.
Kason knows some of the songs I sing to him. I can tell because when I sing them at the part he likes you can see the anticipation.
Abba sings over us. We can anticipate his songs, if/when we learn to listen to them. The songs Abba sings also have a theme. The bible says, “my sheep know my voice”. I woke today thinking about all this.
The Word says…in Zep 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." NIV)
The songs Abba sings to my heart say, “I love you. You are My beloved. You are safe in My love. I will never leave you or forsake you.”
Maybe He sings the same songs to your heart, or maybe you get different ones. But this I know, God IS singing over each of us.
The more time we spend with Him, in His Word, in worship, in prayer the more readily we will be able to tune into his voice.
I love Kason. When he is upset, I do my very best to quiet him with my love. If he is really really upset and nothing works to quiet him in that moment, I simply hold him and rock him and continue to sing over him with love.
If I, a sinful person, can do that because I love little Kason, how much more does our Abba do the same for each of us?
Will you join me today and spend a little time tuning into the voice of our Abba rejoicing over us with singing?
Isn’t that a great reminder? If/when we feel lonely or scared, can we just pause and listen to our Abba singing over us and quieting us with/in His love?
Rev 21:3 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Dodi Note: Aren’t we glad we get to read the end of The Book? We see this reminder. The dwelling place of God is with us. God will dwell with us and we ARE his people and He is OUR God. Now and forever.
Matthew 28:20 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Dodi Note: Jesus speaking to his disciples, telling them to let us know that He is with us to the end of time.
When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. Part of us. Forever.
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.
Dodi Note: A great reminder for those of us who are older. And you know what? I have been with 3 no 4 or 5 people when they actually died. And every single one of them had great peace. All of them knew the LORD.
The most recent was my brother and prior to his actual death he would says, “This is so hard.” But then would add that he wanted to be finished, as in go home. I was there at times when my brother was talking to people who were aleady in heaven. It was so sad and yet so beautful. And comforting .
A friends father is approaching death and while seemingly unconscious began to talk to God.
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.”
Dodi Note: A repeat of Deut.
From Joshua this time instead of Moses. Same promise, God is with us wherever we go.Hebrews 13:5 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.”
Romans 8:38-39 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
Dodi Note: What can separate us? Nothing. Not one thing. Even our own doubts. Not when we die, not while we are living. No angel, no demon, nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love. GOD IS LOVE, so he loves us. It is all he CAN do.
1 Cor 3:16 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
Dodi Note: Can we cut our heart out and live? Or our head? God’s spirit lives in us.
We are never alone.
Rev 3:20 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Dodi Note: Another favorite verse. If you can not remember the time you invited Jesus to be LORD of your life, perhaps you need to do that. Or sometimes, we may need to remind ourselves of this fact.
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.
Dodi Note: Another GREAT verse. The Holy Spirit, dwells with us and in us.
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.
Dodi Note: Amen. Let’s read it again and Lord we invite you to seal this in our hearts and minds.
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.
Eph 3:17 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
Dodi Note: I want to read this in context. Listen with your heart to the Word of the LORD.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
These are half the verses I have. We are going to stop here for tonight and continue next week. Have a lovely week.