Friday, July 2, 2010

I am with you

This past week's Beth Moore video from A Woman's Heart had me filling every available space for notes.  Today is the first day I've opened it back up to see what I wrote down.  I don't know about you but when I take notes, some of it makes sense but I have to really think to make sense of the rest.
One thing that took no figuring out was the section of verses she quoted containing 4 very important words:
I am with you
Gen.26:24
Gen 28:15
Joshua 3:7
Judges 6:12
Isaiah 41:10
Matt 1:23
Matt 28:20
and John 15:5 tells us not only that he is with us but what happens when we are with him.

When I started looking up the verses this morning I wanted to know if the promise God was giving was just for Jacob or could this be something that applied to me as Beth Moore suggested?  Being the cheater that I am I look at the bottom of the page at my NKJV study Bible notes on Genesis 28:13-15:

In wonderful condescension toward one who had shown no previous concern for God's ways, God extends the promises of Abraham to Jacob, and adds personal promises of protection and care (v. 15). I ...will bring you back: The timing of Jacob's return to Canaan would be under divine, not human, control (see 27:45)
Ahhh, I love sovereignty.  I love the connection to the New Testament promise of "Be confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1 : 6

I love that it reminds me of Stephen's connection to Jacob's struggling and his struggle and how God fulfilled his promises to my nephew. I love it's reminder that it was God's timing of Stephen's death and not something under human control. Over and over again I am reminded that God forgave all of Stephen's sins...
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. Colossians 2 : 13I don't know why this keeps coming to my mind, I don't know why it creeps up during the worship time at church or during sermons and teaching. 
I don't know why.
All of session 3 had brought tears to my eyes.
Even on the way home a song  came on that echoed those thoughts.

There is more I want to share and process, hopefully I will make time to do jot down some thoughts.
If not,  have a very happy 4th of July.

2 comments:

Gloria said...

I like how the Bible study notes uses the words "personal promise." Promise, like love, is a word so overused, watered down and sometimes mistrusted in the secular world that it doesn't always impact me as it should when I read God's word. But to say that He gave a personal promise to us...well that just shines a whole different light on things. Thanks for sharing.

sister sheri said...

Beautiful photo!

God must know why these thoughts of Stephen keep creeping up... and He wants you to know that... He is with you.

Happy Independence Day!