Be With Him

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 139:17-18  NKJV.

Recently in my regular Bible reading I read the words of the Psalmist David in Psalm 139.  These five words – I am still with You  – exploded in my mind a whole week of thinking, praying, pondering and talking to the Lord.  This idea expresses so much of my heart right now.

There’s two ways of expressing God’s presence with us.  We often say, that God is with us.  And He is.  He is with us every moment of every day, He is with us everywhere we go, He is always with us.  God…, is with us and in us.

But, there’s also the truth that we are with God.  We are with Him.  We usually say of a Christian brother or sister once they pass away they are with the Lord.  And they are.  But I’m not meaning that.

Yet David says I am still with You.

• God with us, has the picture that He is beside us and walking with us while we are going on our way, doing our thing. God is with us there’s no question.  He is with us as we go about our daily life; inspiring, guiding, empowering, anointing.  The Almighty is with us no question.  Jehovah, El Shaddai, is with us and in us.
• Being with Him, has the picture of sitting with Him, under His protection, He’s the greater we’re the lesser. He’s the authority, we’re at peace in submission to Him.  We are following Him, doing His thing, going His way, being where He is doing His thing.  He’s the superior, we’re the subordinate.

He is with us, but, isn’t it better for us to be with God?  I have the sure and certain knowledge that God is with me, no question, but maybe I need a greater revelation of what it is for me to be with Him?  I’d think I’d rather have the greater knowledge that I’m with Him.  Every moment of every day.

Not long after that I read in the Second Testament (New Testament), about the appointment of the twelve Disciples.

Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, Mark 3:14 NKJV.

Notice the two reasons or purposes of the twelve being appointed;

• Firstly to be with Him, then,
• Secondly to be sent out.

Don’t miss this, and the order.

Once the disciples had been with Jesus, then they could go out with His power.  We must first be with Jesus for Him to be with us (in power and miracles).  First, we sit at His feet.  We are with Him, the subordinate with the superior, the student with the Master, the child with the adult.  Of course He is with us every moment, but to go in His power and authority, we must first be with Him.

You can never go in authority until you’ve first followed in discipleship.  Power comes from presence.  Authority comes from association.

The power, the authority to work miracles and do stuff, to serve in our calling and purpose, to function as God ordained us in our gifts and talents, comes from being with Him, from being in His presence.  When we are with Him, we will catch something of His nature, a part of who He is; but only when we are with Him.  Then when we go, He is with us in power and authority, because it’s not us but Him.  There’s just no substitute to being with Him, in His presence, surrendered, subordinate, settled, still, safe, with Him.

There was something about the early Disciples that was different.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 NKJV.

The thing that made these men stand out, the thing that distinguished them, the thing that was noticeable about them, is that they had been with Jesus.  There’s nothing quite like it.  There’s just no substitute to being with Him.  Being with Jesus is a life-changing experience for us, but also it marks us, we get imprinted somehow, there’s an observable something about us when we too have truly been with Jesus.

A preacher once used the illustration of a woman who has recently become pregnant.  She’s had intimate relations with her husband, and now there’s life growing inside her, and that process causes her to simply glow.  It’s a beautiful thing.

It’s the same for us.  When we are intimate with the Lord in a close and personal relationship, He plants in us life.  That life growing in us causes us to glow, to radiate the life of God to all around us.

No intimacy – no glow.

We’ll all find witnessing a whole lot easier if we first spend time in His presence.

The pursuit of God is my greatest desire and passion.  My constant personal vision statement is, To know God and enjoy Him forever.

I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. Mark 8:2 NKJV.

They have now continued with Me three days.  Three days!  What would three days with Jesus have been like?  Not just an hour or two, but three days?

That’s my passion: to be with Him for not three hours, not three days, not three weeks, but three times three trillion gazillion years; forever, just to be with Him.  Lord that’s where I want to be always – with You in this life and the next.

We live in uncertain times.  But, there is Someone who is certain, that’s Jesus.  Press in to Him in these complex COVID days.  In Him we have everything.  When we get God we get everything.  A hunger for God brings us into His presence.

There may be turmoil all around us.  There may be some mountains in front of us.  But inside we can be at peace.  Because we are with Him.  The Prince of Peace.

Your first need, is to be with Him.  A relationship with Jesus is the greatest thing.

The story is told of a little girl walking with her father.  They come to a narrow icy bridge.  The father says to his daughter, “Hold my hand sweetheart, and you’ll be safe”.  The little girl says, “No no no Daddy.  If I hold your hand I might not be strong enough, and I’ll let you go.  But if you hold my hand, I know I’ll be safe because you’re big and strong and will never let me go.”

Oh to be with Him.  It’s not only an event but an ongoing, moment by moment state of life.

I trust that’s the cry of your heart as it is mine.  That’s the place of maximum security.

Special message for Brief Word readers — Book Release.

However, some good news!  You are able to order and pay for a copy of the book, just go to www.goodwords.nz/resources.  We will hold your copy here until such time as we can get it to you.  Contact us for international shipping rates.

We would appreciate prayer for the launch of this book, that the Lord will get it into the hands of the right people at the right time and that they will know God the Holy Spirit and grow in their relationship with Him.  Thank you.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

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