Hi Everyone.  Sorry this took me way longer to write and post then I had planned. But that’s how things work sometimes our plans aren’t always the same as Gods. Anyways if you read my last post you may remember I planned on talking about how God is always with us and what Jesus said about the lost. These things have helped me along my journey and I hope they may help you along yours

Let’s get right to the point today with Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 

Now I have chosen to share this verse with you for two reasons. First, because of the messages it gives us. It tells us that God goes with us, he’ll never leave or forsake us. I myself have walked away from God at times and there have also been times I have felt like He wasn’t there. I don’t know your story but I know for many of us as we struggle with our faith there are going to be times where the enemy tries to trick us. He will make us feel alone like God has turned his back on us or abandoned us. It’s these times we need to fight the lies with the truth of God’s word. In those times I was led to Deuteronomy 31:6. Now if you happen to be in one of those times you can also focus, meditate and pray on and with Deuteronomy 31:6 … He (God) will never leave or forsake you. 

The second reason is that God himself quotes this verse in Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”  And Paul quotes it at the end of Hebrews 13:5 …God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  From this we can see that it’s important to God for us to know that He’s always with us. 

These aren’t the only verses where God or Jesus is telling us they are always with us. There are so many times in the bible here are just a few more examples; In Isaiah 41:10 and13 God talks about holding our hand, Jeremiah 23:23-24 God is making the point he’s everywhere and no one can hide from him and in Matthew 28:20 Jesus says “Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” The last verse I am going to share on this is from Psalm. First though I want to bring attention to who wrote the book of Psalms, King David. Even if you don’t know a lot of the bible you probably know the story of David and Goliath. That shepherd who kills a giant with a stone eventually becomes King of Israel. Now the point I want to make before we read the verse is that David was a sinner just like us. We know he committed adultery and murder and yet God still used him for His Glory. I think remembering who David was makes Psalms mean so much more and allows us to gain so much more wisdom from them. In the following verses we see David wanting to flee but then realizing God being there means so much more for us.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.  Psalms 139:7-10 NIV

I love those verses because we can see David going from wanting to flee from God to knowing he can’t because God is everywhere and always with us. But it’s also the realization that God isn’t just there, he’s holding us and guiding us. Now if you’re reading this and don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savory yet I don’t think God is there any less for you. He’s in your life right now trying to let you know he’s there and trying to guide you to his son Jesus. So you too can have a personal relationship with God that not even death can take away. Once you sincerely repent and take Jesus as your lord and savory your born again into everlasting life. Nothing can ever take you away from God and Jesus. Paul puts it like this “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 8:38-39 NLT

So I could end this with that last paragraph and keep it short as I have been advised by some but that’s just not how I work. I honestly had the worst writer’s block because I was so focused on keeping it short that I ended up having to just walk away from it. But while I was reading the bible then praying with God about how I was ever going to write this he brought me to the realization that the bible isn’t short and I didnt need to focus on the length of this. So I am sorry if it gets too long for you but I really need to be able to just flow and let the Spirit lead me where it wants. With that being said, I felt God led me to the parables of the lost sheep and the lost son for a reason and I should include them here. So now even though it will add another 670 words (there not mine, their Jesus) I am going to include both parables in full below for you to read. If you would like to keep it shorter and you know that parables go ahead and feel free to skip past them and just read my closing paragraph. 

Parable of the Lost Sheep

“³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. ⁶ When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” Luke 15:3-7 NLT

Parable of the Lost Son

“¹¹ To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. ¹² The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

¹³ “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. ¹⁴ About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. ¹⁵ He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

²⁰ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ²¹ His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

²² “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. ²³ And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

²⁵  “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, ²⁶ and he asked one of the servants what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’

²⁸ “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, ²⁹ but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. ³⁰ Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’

³¹  “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. ³² We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” Luke 15:11-32 NLT

I felt it was important to tell you them here because God puts it on my heart that they are not just about finding the new believers of Christ but also about those of us who know him but get lost in the world or choose to walk away taking our lives in our own hands. As a sheep may get lost in the wilderness us believers can get lost in the world. And as that son chose to leave his fathers house us believes can walk away from our heavenly Father. But as I covered earlier God never leaves us. Even as we may get lost or walk away God and Jesus are not leaving us but they are rejoicing when we repent and come back to them.