myIMMANUEL

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.”

– John 14:21 NIV

Jesus told His disciples that whoever embraced the word of God (valued it) and obeyed it demonstrates love for Him and would receive love (intimate encounter) from the Father and Him and He would show Himself to the one who obeyed Him. God loves everyone unconditionally and demonstrated that love through offering Jesus Christ for the salvation of all who believe in what Christ accomplished through His shed blood and sacrifice of life. I believe, however, there is a more intimate love Jesus is describing in this text for the one who adheres to God’s word that suggests a deeper, more meaningful enrichment of relationship that includes experiencing a personal manifestation of Himself to the one who honors His word. Moses had the privilege of encountering God in this way and the scriptures recorded that relationship with God as one would have with a friend. The same type of relationship Jesus mentioned He now called His disciples friends, which suggests that as they grew in adhering to what Christ required of them as followers the intimacy and status of the relationship grew too.

MyImmanuel is my personal expressed appreciation of how I have seen God operate in my life with His love towards me that has strengthened me and helped me to appreciate Him more. Last summer, 2011, is when the inspiration myImmanuel came to me, because my assurance and confidence in Him as God and belief in Him to be God to me was further cemented after watching Him make provision for me when I had no way of helping myself. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” – 1 John 4:16 NIV This verse means more to me now than at any other time when I first came across this passage so many years ago. I look back with greater appreciation of how God hid me in the cleft of His compassion, as He hid Moses, and allowed His goodness, mercy and kindness to pass before me, all the while glorifying His name in and through me! His name Immanuel is reinforced to me personally as my God is with me!

To me, to know and rely on God’s love for me is deeper than knowing God loves me, because He loves everyone. To know, to me, suggests that I have an encounter with God’s love that leaves me without a doubt about His love for me. To rely on His love means I will surrender to Him and trust Him first and fully, before I turn to others, seek help, guidance, or counsel from others unless I believe He is prompting me to. Because God uses others to express His love, it doesn’t mean I can’t get help from others, but who do I turn to first when help is required? When I’m frantic, distressed and under duress, is God who I think of first to turn to? I recall a time many years ago when I was seeking God for assistance with rent, praying and believing He would respond. I felt Him prompting me to ask a professional colleague for help. The problem was I was new to the school community and knew no one well enough to ask. I learned a great lesson in humility that day, because the exact amount in hundreds of dollars was in his pocket at the moment I asked for help!

May God help you and bless you to know and rely on the love He has for you.