Tag Archives: God with us

December 11, 2025 · 5:30 AM

Emmanuel

Around Christmas time, I remember an old song we used to sing at church by Don Moen. “Emmanuel. Emmanuel. His name is called Emmanuel. Emmanuel. God with us. Revealed in us. His name is Emmanuel.” Simple, yet powerful as it reminds us of God’s plan to save the world. I thought about the meaning of it the other night when we, as a family, sat down, looked at our nativity and talked through all the people in it. By doing this activity, we each gained more insight and perspective into what has become a common Christmas symbol, but is truly the greatest display of love the world has ever seen.

Since the Garden of Eden, sin had reigned on the earth. It brought death and decay with it. Man had no ability to conquer it. When God looked on our helpless estate, He didn’t condemn us to an eternity In hell. Rather, He displayed His love by sending His one and only Son into the world, not to condemn it, but that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:16-17). He became one of us in order to reach us, to break the curse of sin and to end its rule. If you remember, while He was in the tomb, He took the keys of death, hell and the grace removing its power over our lives. He ushered in a wave of grace to do for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves.

Romans 8:3 says, “Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin” (TPT). Jesus, coming to earth as depicted in the manger scene, is God reaching out, identifying with us and ultimately sacrificing Himself so we could be together. Emmanuel is a powerful word that concisely tells the story of Christmas. You are loved immensely by your creator. He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you because there is no way to save yourself.

Photo by Jon Carlson on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

God With Us

There’s a story of how the Cherokee would perform a right of passage for all boys before they were considered men. To become a man, the boy would be led into the woods at night. His father would sit him on a stump, blindfold Him and then leave him. He was told that he had to sit there all night, but he couldn’t make a sound. When he saw the sun rays through the blindfold, he could take it off and find his way back to camp.

It was tough to sit there silently. With their eyes covered, their sense of hearing was enhanced. They heard ever twig break as an animal stepped on it. They could hear the sounds of all the animals in the forest that were out at night. I’m sure they could hear the sound of their own heartbeat as they wondered whether they would be attacked. In the morning when he removed his blindfold, he would see that his father was sitting beside him the whole night watching over him.

I love that story because it’s so much like what our Heavenly Father does for us. We often feel blind and alone as we go through this world. Our fears can get the better of us if we aren’t careful, but God is right there with us through it all even though we can’t see Him. Isaiah 7:14 says, “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’)” (NLT).

Immanuel is one of my favorite names for God. It gives me hope when I feel blindfolded as I go through this life. When I’m unsure of how things are going to turn out, and I feel vulnerable and open to attack, I remind myself that God is right there with me. He’s watching over me, protecting me and caring for me. He has never left my side no matter how dark the night has been. He remains true to His name Immanuel. He is God with us.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

Receiving Immanuel

Have you ever said, “It’s too much! I couldn’t accept this gift”? Why do we have such a hard time receiving gifts? We like giving them, but push back when someone tries to give us a gift. It could have something to do with pride because when we give, we get credit and recognition. It puts us in the driver’s seat of the relationship. However, when we receive a gift, it opens the door to intimacy in the relationship. The extent to which we fear intimacy is the extent to which we reject gifts. While it is more blessed to give than to receive, it’s often an act of obedience and humility to receive.

We all know John 3:16 and how God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only son. We usually don’t connect that verse with Christmas, but it is the quintessential Christmas verse. God demonstrated His love for you and me by giving the most extravagant gift ever: salvation through His son. It’s a free gift, but it’s one that we must receive along with the other gifts that He gives us. There’s a tendency in all of us to push back on this free gift because we fear intimacy with God. We like the idea of keeping Him at arms length knowing that receiving the gift of His son requires our soul, our life, our all. Intimacy is what He is looking for from us.

John 1:11 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (NKJV). When God gave us the gift of Christmas, the world’s initial reaction was to not receive it. The prophesy in Isaiah 7:14 said that His gift would be called Immanuel which translates to God with us. Since the beginning God has desired an intimate relationship with each of us. It begins when we receive His free gift, but is grown through our spiritual disciplines. We must open our hands and hearts to receive the gift of Immanuel that God gives. Your level of intimacy with Him is in proportion to the amount you receive Immanuel and trust Him with your heart and life.

Photo by Mel Poole on Unsplash

2 Comments

Filed under Uncategorized

Tagged as advent, bible study on, bible verses on, Christmas, Devotional, devotional on, Emmanuel, extravagant gift, God with us, he came unto his own and his own received him not, Immanuel, what does the bible say about

December 14, 2021 · 5:33 AM

Emmanuel

Romans 8:3b says, “Yet God sent us his Son in human form to identify with human weakness. Clothed with humanity, God’s Son gave his body to be the sin-offering so that God could once and for all condemn the guilt and power of sin”. Jesus, coming to earth as depicted in the manger scene, is God reaching out, identifying with us and ultimately sacrificing Himself so we could be together. Emmanuel is a powerful word that concisely tells the story of Christmas. You are loved immensely by your creator. He didn’t come to condemn you. He came to save you because there is no way to save yourself.

Photo by Dan Kiefer on Unsplash