Presence: God with Us

Dear Lord, You are Emmanuel, God with us. And Your presence makes all the difference in my daily life.

Today contained challenge after challenge, pushing me to the edge of exasperation. Yet just as You reminded me in the pre-dawn hours, You are with me. I draw strength from knowing You’re near. By my side. Within me.

You calm the chaos I encounter, enveloping me with the peace of Your presence. You cover me in the midst of life’s fierce winds, and I rest in Your shelter. I rely on Your power. I relinquish my cares, knowing You’ll handle each one with excellence.

Galatians 4:4 speaks of Your birth “when the fulness of the time came,” which reminds me You’re never off-schedule or late. According to God’s precise timetable, You arrived on the scene of a hopeless humanity, mired in sin that could never be eradicated without Your intervention. You grew from a Babe to a Teen to a Man, and You accomplished something no one before or after ever could: perfection.

Then one day, You died. 

Oh, the cruelty of everything You suffered, yet Your love and perfection radiated through the shades of evil You endured. Forsaken by Your Father while You hung on the cross, You bore His wrath against sin.

Your sacrifice awes me. 

Yet You prevailed! God raised You Out. Of. That. Grave, proving Your deity and perfection. You exhibit “the power of an indestructible life” (Hebrews 7:16), seated at God’s right hand, interceding for Your people.

Your presence indeed makes all the difference in my daily life. But more than that, Your presence affects me for eternity.

Because of You, Lord Jesus, I am redeemed. Because of You, I’m forgiven and free. Because of You, I enjoy LIFE—now and forever.

Plus, You’re coming again! While I eagerly await Your arrival, I trust You’ll appear at just the right time. Any delay is due to God’s patience, “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Until that Day, please use me to magnify You. This world continues in darkness. Many need to know the peace of Your presence that comes when they believe in You.

“For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Let people see You, Lord, in me. 

In Your matchless name,

Amen

Other posts about God’s Presence:

• One Way to Hear God’s Voice
• How Are You? God’s Remedy for Loneliness
• When We Can’t Sense God’s Nearness