28 September MATTHEW 1

God, Immanuel is with us Matthew 1:20-23(AMP)

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, descendant of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus (The LORD is salvation), for He will save His people from their sins.” All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet : “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL”- which, when translated, means, “GOD WITH US.”The Hebrew name Emmanuel literally means God is with us. It combines the Hebrew expression with us and one of the words for God (El) that derives from Elohim, a Hebrew word that denotes God or god. God is and always has been with us. He is omnipresent, which means He is everywhere all the time.God first spoke the promise of Emmanuel to ancient Judah’s king Ahaz. It was a tumultuous and fearful time for the king and his people when Assyrian forces occupied the land. God offered king Ahaz a choice: he could trust in God or suffer defeat from his enemies.At the beginning of every new year, we all face challenges. In the midst of the challenges that we face, we all want the new year to be our best year ever. At the turn of a new year most people hope that the new year will provide them with a better future. If the previous year was a bad year, the hope is that the new year will be a better year. When the prior year was a good year, the hope is that the new year will be even better. Well, it does not matter what your experience of the prior year was, what you hope the new year would look like, the key to all of this is that, like king Ahaz, you have a choice: you can enter this new year with the knowledge that you can trust in God, or you could suffer defeat. Isaiah 7:9b(NLT) Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.God offered Ahaz a sign, but Ahaz refused, so God gave His own sign, one that would be fulfilled long after Ahaz’s demise. Isaiah 7:10-14(MSG) GOD spoke again to Ahaz. This time he said, “Ask for a sign from your GOD. Ask anything. Be extravagant. Ask for the moon!” But Ahaz said, “I’d never do that. I’d never make demands like that on GOD!” So Isaiah told him, “Then listen to this, government of David! It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us).Because of Jesus, Emmanuel, we never have to be alone. We never have to wonder how to please God or worry that our efforts aren’t enough. We can simply rest knowing He is with us, in us, loves us, and will never leave us.We can therefore enter this new year, knowing that Emmaneul, God is with us; we are never alone.