God’s Attribute: Jesus is Immanuel—God with us. Matthew 1:22-23 says “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had 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.’”
How does this affect my daily life? Do you know people around you that are lonely or suffering? Or maybe you yourself feel that way. Do you feel like God has abandoned you in the midst of your struggles? Well, God never leaves us. He is always with you, and He is always with me. We are the ones that don’t look for Him, or we walk away, or we say we are too busy for Him. As believers, we can know with confidence that He is with us. He is Immanuel. Mary Foxwell Loeks said “It is because of the death and resurrection of the Immanuel that we can know God is with us.” What a comforting thought and a promise we can count on.
The book of Matthew starts with Immanuel, God with us in Matthew 1:22-23, and it ends with the promise that He will always be with us. Matthew 28:20b says “. . .surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” We can count on His promise and know that He is with us in our joys, our sorrows, our busy times, our successes, failures, etc. Will you go to Him in all things knowing He is there waiting for you? Will you share Immanuel, God with us with those around you?
Ann Spangler says “Today let us ask for the grace to make Immanuel known to allow His light and His life to shine through us.” And what a great time of year to share His light! Last night as our pastor gave his sermon, he suggested that as we stand in a line of frustrated people or people in a hurry, offer to let someone go in front of you or even go to the back of the line. What a great way to shine our Immanuel to those around us.
As I studied for today’s post, I came across a prayer called “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” It is rather lengthy so I will only share my favorite part with you. St. Patrick wrote this prayer to strengthen himself with God's protection as he prepared to confront and convert Loegaire, high king of Ireland. Here is part of the prayer:
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I thought this particular part of the prayer was so beautiful and so appropriate for our study today. If you would like to see the rest of this prayer, just do a google search on “St. Patrick’s Breastplate.” You should get a lot of hits.
For my page today, I used the new release from Layers of Color called Touch of Elegance. I stamped the smaller flowers and the one larger flower. I then used Pop Dots on the smaller flowers to accent the center of each circle on the Basic Grey paper. I also added Stickles to the stamped images.
Papers: Basic Grey Nook & PantryStamps: Layers of Color Touch of Elegance, Provo Craft 12 pt.
Stamp Ink: SU creamy caramel, Colorbox Fluid Chalk dark brown
Embellishments: Scenic Route alpha stickers, Stickles eucalyptus and cotton candy
The scriptures I chose were:
Joshua 1:9 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”
Matthew 28:20b ". . . surely I am with you always. . ."
And I used part of Matthew 1:23 to create my title "Immanuel, God with us."
Remember to use Keyword HHN09 when posting in the gallery. Also, today is the last day to register for the RAK for the Scripture Challenge 2 that I will host next year. See my post here for details and to enter! Thank you all SO much for joining me in this study this year! I look forward to our study beginning in January, and remember Christ will never leave you. He is always with you. Merry Christmas,
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