They shall call His name Emmanuel...God with us.

— Matthew 1:23

Even before your birth, God was already revealing His plan to mankind.  His very name “Emmanuel” told the people God would now come to be with them.  He no longer, nor did He ever, desire to be a far-away, distant God.  He created man for a close relationship, but Adam broke that fellowship.  God declares “I will come to mankind again–-in the flesh, to be with them and restore fellowship again.”  Jesus was God in the flesh.  It was God in Christ Who enabled Him to live in victory and destroy the works of the devil (2 Cor. 5:19).  Today, it is Christ in you, the Spirit of God in you, so you, too, can live in victory and destroy the works of the devil!  There is no need to call Him long distance when He has come to dwell in you.  Emmanuel now resides in you.  God is truly with us–-we are the House of God!

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee!  The Lord is my helper...I will not fear! 

— Hebrews 13:5b, 6b

We have heard many promises from friends, co-workers, and even our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Whether they kept those promises or not is another thing.  Here Someone gives you a promise that will be kept forever!  God will never leave you nor forsake you.  There may be times when it feels like He left, or times He would have a right to leave, but He said it and can never take it back.  Where can you go to get away from His presence?  To heaven?  To hell?  To the uttermost parts of the sea?  In the darkness?  He shall be even there to lead you and hold you (Psalm 139)!  His presence is only a thought away!  Meditate on His closeness to you.  Think about His dwelling in you!  Believe His promise to you.  He will never leave you!  You are the House of God.

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee:

— Genesis 12:1

Abraham heard the voice of God that required an action to obey. Pack up! Leave! Go away from kinfolk, to a land I will show you. The Word of God and the voice of God will many times cause you to move out of your comfort zone. It will take you away from familiar surroundings and separate you from “natural” people close to you who are natural thinkers and may discourage your move. This is why you must live prayed-up and in the Spirit to be able to make the right decisions. When a prompting comes by the Spirit, many times it will come one step at a time. Go! Get out! Leave relations! Go to a land I will show you! It is much easier to say, “Lord, you show me the land and I will go!” But unless you obey the first command, you will never get to the new land. If Abraham chose not to go, he would have never had a child, never had the blessings overtake him, never have become the father of many nations. His one decision--to obey God’s voice--would affect generations to come. He had to go based on a word he received and trusting in a God Whom he believed had spoken to him. Throughout the Bible, people who obeyed the voice of God succeeded. Listen to hear His voice today; then obey what He says.

Make thee an ark of gopher wood;

— Genesis 6:14a

God came and spoke to Noah and told him to make an ark. Noah was one of the few people left who was walking with God and able to hear His voice. But this command of God to make an ark had to test Noah’s obedience to God. An ark? A great big ark, large enough to house his family and many animals? An ark in a place where it had never rained (Gen. 2:5, 6)? An undertaking that would take a long time to complete? What would others say? What would his family say? “Why are you building an ark? Why are you wasting your time? It doesn’t rain! There is no water where you are building it!” “Did you hear about Noah? He believes God told him to build an ark, to get two of every living creature onto the boat. He always was a little weird, a little different than the rest of us.” “He claims it is going to rain and flood the earth. Poor old Noah!”  Noah could have easily said, “God, You make the rain start, and I will build an ark.“ But God told him to build it before the rain started. The day the rains came, the day the flood began, you can bet that Noah was glad he obeyed God. In spite of his natural mindset, in spite of persecution and the criticism of others, who was the fool when the rains came? Who was “wasting their time” obeying God then? Noah, make thee an ark.