Nougat 13

Greetings my dear

Please receive today’s Holy Nougat, an encouragement and command for the times.

“Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”” Matthew‬ ‭28:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Are we confident of this? That Jesus is with EACH of us individually and collectively always? What gives us the confidence, the assurance of God’s presence?

For if we don’t believe in Jesus’ omnipresence, we haven’t really accepted the Truth of the Gospel. We would have failed to accept Jesus as the resurrected Son of God and Savior of this world. And if we are challenged to accept that reality, then truly we are fooling ourselves about being followers of Jesus.

Let’s not forget Jesus’ response to Thomas when he finally came into his understanding of the Resurrection. John 20:24 onwards tells of Thomas’ natural doubts. Verse 29 promises a blessing for us, those who believe without having a literal encounter with Jesus.

Of course we recall that Saul the Jewish zealot had a personal experience of Jesus that transformed him personally. And we take Saul’s experience to confirm the validity of Jesus’ assurance. For through all of his trials, Saul (renamed Paul) remained assured of one thing – that He Who began that good work in Saul-Paul (the church at Philippi and now us) remains forever Faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).

He had that assurance from his own experiences; but also in relation to his experience at the execution of Stephen. In Acts 7:57-8:1, where we first meet Saul, we note that as part of the team who facilitated Stephen’s execution; Saul would have been privy to Stephen’s testimony. Not only did Stephen echo Jesus in commending his spirit to God’s care; but he also echoed Jesus’ forgiveness of his persecutors. That, if nothing else, was a sure testimony of one who KNEW beyond the shadow of a doubt the validity of Jesus’ promises.

I raise those two, so we recognize Jesus‘ presence is with us in the roughest patches and not only in the good times. I hope we note that in acknowledging Jesus with them had effect of creating disciples. And, when our lives point to Jesus we will find that opportunities to share what Jesus commands will follow naturally. And, the more we share, the more persecution we encounter; AND the more proof we have of Jesus being with us. It is an ongoing cycle.

Let’s comfort ourselves with these thoughts.

In Christ’s love and grace . . .