God Is Not Far From You

When we go through adverse circumstances, we pray or speak words like "Oh God where are you, where is your face". We begin to speak words birthed out of our situation. Just like Job in the Bible who lost everything he had, he viewed God as the God who gives and takes. God never said that was who he was, but circumstances made Job declare that.

All of these words are not the word of Faith, they are words of grief and pain because the word of Faith aligns with God's word. It is just like a child who has a father who is a philanthropist and has helped several people then this child is unable to pay his school fees as an undergraduate and he begins to cry and say words like "Where is my father? Am I been given birth to so that I can suffer?" For the child to have said all these it's either the father borrowed money to help those several people or the child does not know the worth of his father.

With that illustration, it happens to be that many children of God today do not know who their father is or where he is. That is why knowledge is key to our Christian Faith. I must know and have an experience of the God I serve. Therefore, who is God? John 4:24 says: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. The word Spirit in Greek is the word PNEUMA which means wind, breathe, breeze, air. Hence, He can't be seen as we can't see wind, nor can we see air, but we can feel them, and we know that they are real. Also, the question where does He live?

In the Old Testament book of the Bible God appears to man in types and shadows, no one saw God physically. In John 1:18 the scripture says “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him”. The Bible also says the only begotten son (Jesus) has revealed him (God) to us. That is, Jesus is the revelation of God! Jesus is the first appearance of God on Earth. Jesus is God on Earth:

In John 1:1 the scripture says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Also, in John 1:14 the scripture says “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. God, who is the Word, became flesh (human being, man) and dwelt among man! That is why the birth of Jesus is supernatural and not the actual natural birth.

Luke 1:35 says “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So, Jesus' birth was by the Holy Spirit! This can't be understood logically as God is the Almighty! The word of Jesus in John 14 is very instructive to know where God lives as we know that Jesus is God and God is the Spirit. Furthermore, John 14:8-9 says “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Jesus affirmed to Philip that he is the Father!

John 14:16-18 Says “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. In verse 16, the word another Comforter is from the Greek ALLOSPARAKLETOS which means THE SAME SPIRIT. In other words, the same Spirit shall abide with (in) you FOREVER!

What same Spirit? Verse 17, the same Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. In verse 6 of John 14, Jesus said he is the way, THE TRUTH and the Life. So, TRUTH is a person and that person is Jesus. Hence, even the spirit of Truth will mean even the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, the comforter is the Spirit of Christ. Jesus was the one talking here, he said in verse 17 that, the spirit of Truth dwells with you (currently, he was the one dwelling with them there) then he said HE SHALL BE IN YOU (futuristic, in his resurrection). Verse 17 means that Jesus is dwelling with them, but he will die, resurrect and live in them!

So, God plans to live in man! Verse 18 says I will not leave you comfortless. The word comfortless is the Greek ORPHANOS it means Fatherless. Hence, Jesus is saying he won't leave man without a Father. God has a plan for Father man. So, you are not Fatherless. You have a sure Father! He is still the only sure Father who promised that he will live in you FOREVER! FOREVER MEANS FOREVER! HE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU NOR FORSAKE YOU!

Where is your everlasting Father living today? 1 Corinthians 3:16 says “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? The word temple means house, a dwelling place! The Spirit of God is forever in you! You are housing God! Colossians 1:27 says “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: We can therefore say, God in me or Christ in me or the Holy Ghost in me the hope of glory.

God is not far from us anymore. In the Old Testament books, before they can speak to God, they ought to meet a priest who will enter the holies of holies who then will speak to God, but it was an angel who responds on their behalf to God. That is a lot of process to speak to God. Today, we need no process or channel of speaking to him anymore, he is right here in me. So, if I enter my room, on the bus etc. He is there etc.

Therefore, I must truly act that he is always right in me forever in my dealing with life situations. This gives us confidence in praying to God and calming down because he is working in me! The strength to face the challenges is in you! You are not facing it alone it is you and God facing it! Imagine that! You can never know defeat! So, fight on with this knowledge! You win always (Amen).

In conclusion, Psalms 23:4 says “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. No matter what you go through, HE is with you there! Also, Isaiah 59:1says “Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; Stay with these scriptures above and be rest assured that your help is not far from you, he's right there living in you”.

ACTION POINT

Be rest assured, God has not forgotten you and He is close by you. Speak to him and He will be of great help to you.