I loved how my sister-in-Christ, Dorothy said she was moving away from verbs in her relationship with God and learning to embrace the prepositions, such as "with God."
For most of my early walk with God, I was a good verb-follower as I tried to obey God in all the ways I knew. Nothing wrong with that as a starting point, but I needed to learn about the heart behind the obedience.
God doesn't want me to simply obey Him because I am afraid of the consequences, although that is better than disobeying and then suffering because of it, which I have also experienced.
The point is that as I have gotten to know God better, I have learned to want to obey Him because I love Him and because I know that it is ultimately better for me to obey Him. God is not a despot. What He asks for is motivated by His love for our ultimate well-being. (Deuteronomy 30: 15,16)
I love being with God. He has promised to always be with me, but it has taken me years to practice being more-than-less aware of His presence through the Holy Spirit. And I am still-in-process...
Here are some of my favorite God-with-you verses that I have (more or less) memorized as an aid to remembering Him.
Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. - Deut. 31:6 NASB
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. - Psalm 23:4 NASB
The LORD your God is with you... - Zephaniah 3:17 TNIV
"...for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," [which implies that He is ALWAYS WITH YOU] -Heb. 13:5 NASB
If you could remember and believe that God is with you wherever you go and whatever you do, what difference would it make in your day? How would that truth affect your attitude about that mundane task, or that hard-to-love person?
I would love to hear from you.
Photo source:"Holding hands by manishahz"
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