REFUGE IV: God Is All Around

The Lord Almighty Is With Us!

David -- Psalm 46:7

     David is was a Warrior turned King.  He had fought in hand to hand combat with beasts and with blood thirsty human animals.  He was a man who could identify with our modern military person who has seen some of the worst of people can do to people.  There were times he was drowned in boredom, and their were other times abject terror took him over.  Yet, he was an exceptional warrior because, in the midst of the boredom and terror, he was a man of faith.  He simply made a choice to believe one very important truth that helped him find peace.  He fully believed the life giving truth that the LORD ALMIGHTY was with his people and with him.  So, this faith gave him courage, one day at a time. 

     Centuries later, God demonstrated this vital truth to us through a little baby.  His Hebrew name was/is Yeshua.  We know Him as Jesus. He was also given another name.  He was called Immanuel. He was called by this name that means "God With Us." Unlike other gods of other faiths, this true and living almighty God has done the unthinkable.  Instead of us having to somehow earn the right to know God, The Almighty decided to join us, and He decided to provide us with the path to actually be with Him.  Our job is to choose to believe and be aware of his presence.

     How might we do this?  One way I do this is I slowly but surely read the Psalms. Or listen to Christian music.  I have my own music on my phone, or I listen to Joy FM. Each provides the miracle of  music.  I also just start thinking of things about which I am thankful. It will surprise you how powerful and life giving just writing up a gratitude list can be.  Paul told us to "Rejoice evermore, pray continually, and give thanks in all things."  He did not tell us this to do these three things to give us rules to feel guilty about if we failed to do them.  He gave them because choosing to feel whatever and just laugh for the sake of laughing about the goodness of God (rejoicing) builds us up.  Today psychologist call intentional laughing "laugh therapy."  Talking to God, by faith, just like we would any counselor, about what's going on in our life, is also empowering. It's all a matter of choosing talk with him (pray) or just be thankful.

     There are many other spiritual practices, but the key one is to do as David did here.  Simply look around at Creation and it's wonderful design, and it will not take you long to know that God is with you.  He did, after all, breath into you the breath of life.  And the Bible teaches that when God this you became a living soul.  So why not just sit still, when you feel like God is nowhere around, and breath from your diaphragm slowly and deeply.  Do you feel the breath coming in as you inhale?  Do you feeling it going out as you exhale?  Then you can see that God is present with you because it was He who breathed into you the breath and the life you feel as your breath.  Just through you breathing you can know, God IS with you.

SoJourner