Matthew 28:20 "...and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." ...Beloved of the Lord, I am about to delve into a subject that few believers even ponder, yet we all know the reality of it. I can remember listening to a taped recording of the rev. R. Brant Baker, original pastor of Shekinah Fellowship, just over thirty years ago as he said very simply, We forget that Jesus is always with us...".
Now, those words were so elementary, so simple, weren't they? I'm sure that they got a few 'amen's from the congregation to whom he was speaking at the time, but they caught my own attention to the point that my mind was absolutely fixed, as it were, on those words, and despite the fact that his message continued on, I could only keep hearing those words over and over again, "We forget that Jesus is always with us."
The reality of it all hit me that night- It is an absolute spiritual fact that our Savior is with us always...every moment of the day and night, and that fact will continue to be so until we either breathe our last and then die, or He returns to the earth, abolishing the ugly spectacle of death once and for all....
Did you just feel your spirit jump within you as you read those words? Christian, this is a fact which can never be taken from the believer, and it is as real as the cross of Christ and His resurrection from the dead! If you are in Christ, then His Presence never leaves you. Hebrews 13:5 says,"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
This fact was very real to the early, persecuted Church- real enough that they were willing to die for their testimony of the Beloved Savior. We've forgotten that, haven't we? We have gotten so comfortable in our faith that we forget that many of those who went on before us suffered greatly for the Gospel 's sake, even to the point of death, but they were never dissuaded from the truth that their Lord was WITH them unto the very end of their earthly existence, because they knew that His Presence was a fact, not as a principle, but as a total reality, one that they GLADLY staked their very lives upon.....
Jesus, when He was teaching His disciples, did not speak from the position of doctrine (we believers disagree on much of what we call doctrine, don't we?), rather, He spoke TRUTH, and He never spoke anything BUT the truth. He always lived the truth, and in fact, He WAS and IS the Truth- John 14:6- "I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life..." His very Presence, just after telling Peter to "launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught" following an unsuccessful night of fishing, was enough to prompt the fisherman to entreat Him, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8)...
My point in all of this is that we as believers must see that, regardless of what we endure, no matter what or how we may feel at the present time (and times may indeed be extremely rough), He is, in absolute reality, our constant Companion. We needn't try to imagine that this is so, we mustn't merely hope that it's true, we must recon it so, and act upon that fact- FACT. As we do this, He will burn the reality of His Presence deep within our souls. It will never be because we try to 'visualize' it, it cannot be because we wish it into being, or because we believe that we've been good and faithful to Him. He is with us always, because He said He would be, and He is faithful to His Word, and to His people.....
Believe Him, move in that truth, Christian, and you will never be satisfied with 'wishin' and hoping'' ever again. You have His word on it!
En Agape,
Pastor Jim Ewing
Now, those words were so elementary, so simple, weren't they? I'm sure that they got a few 'amen's from the congregation to whom he was speaking at the time, but they caught my own attention to the point that my mind was absolutely fixed, as it were, on those words, and despite the fact that his message continued on, I could only keep hearing those words over and over again, "We forget that Jesus is always with us."
The reality of it all hit me that night- It is an absolute spiritual fact that our Savior is with us always...every moment of the day and night, and that fact will continue to be so until we either breathe our last and then die, or He returns to the earth, abolishing the ugly spectacle of death once and for all....
Did you just feel your spirit jump within you as you read those words? Christian, this is a fact which can never be taken from the believer, and it is as real as the cross of Christ and His resurrection from the dead! If you are in Christ, then His Presence never leaves you. Hebrews 13:5 says,"I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
This fact was very real to the early, persecuted Church- real enough that they were willing to die for their testimony of the Beloved Savior. We've forgotten that, haven't we? We have gotten so comfortable in our faith that we forget that many of those who went on before us suffered greatly for the Gospel 's sake, even to the point of death, but they were never dissuaded from the truth that their Lord was WITH them unto the very end of their earthly existence, because they knew that His Presence was a fact, not as a principle, but as a total reality, one that they GLADLY staked their very lives upon.....
Jesus, when He was teaching His disciples, did not speak from the position of doctrine (we believers disagree on much of what we call doctrine, don't we?), rather, He spoke TRUTH, and He never spoke anything BUT the truth. He always lived the truth, and in fact, He WAS and IS the Truth- John 14:6- "I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life..." His very Presence, just after telling Peter to "launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught" following an unsuccessful night of fishing, was enough to prompt the fisherman to entreat Him, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Luke 5:8)...
My point in all of this is that we as believers must see that, regardless of what we endure, no matter what or how we may feel at the present time (and times may indeed be extremely rough), He is, in absolute reality, our constant Companion. We needn't try to imagine that this is so, we mustn't merely hope that it's true, we must recon it so, and act upon that fact- FACT. As we do this, He will burn the reality of His Presence deep within our souls. It will never be because we try to 'visualize' it, it cannot be because we wish it into being, or because we believe that we've been good and faithful to Him. He is with us always, because He said He would be, and He is faithful to His Word, and to His people.....
Believe Him, move in that truth, Christian, and you will never be satisfied with 'wishin' and hoping'' ever again. You have His word on it!
En Agape,
Pastor Jim Ewing
