This is the third book

Our Omnipresent God

(Psalm c139 & Psalm c23 v4)

The language of Scripture is special,it'sThe Word of our God, but we must recognize that the meanings of some words have changed over the years.As words in the Holy Oracles are altered, the doctrine must not be watered down in any way; it must be consistent with the whole of the Diving Writings.Translators have their difficulties

If the writings of Shakespeare were changed to modern English, they would loose much oftheir appeal and not able to keep their position in the modern market place, indeed it would mean large changes at the Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon

Having said all that I still like the Bible in what many consider as 'The Language of God', but we must not make a god, an idol of the version we use.Having stated that I am now getting used to the New Kings James Version first published in 1982, butoften go back to other versions.Just read what I considerbeautiful language as observed in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, the words are,

'I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine'

In consideration of our omnipresent God let's consider a few words from Psalm c139

'Thou knowest my down sitting and mine uprising.....there is not a word in my tongue, but lo O LORD, Thou knowest it altogether....whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit or from Thy presence?.....If I ascend up to heaven, Thouart there, if I

make my bed in the depth, Thou art there...how precious are Thy thoughts unto me

O God, how great are the sum of them?'

In our consideration of the words just quoted, we know that wherever we are our blessed Lord is with us.The LORD God Almighty always has been andwill ever be the great 'I AM THAT I AM',the ever present One, the self-existing One who reveals Himself

In my life and in the circumstances of yours, just think of all those 'high points', those personal times of rich blessings from our dear Lord and those real spiritual pleasures.Yes there are times when we, 'ascended up to heaven', yes and to find 'THOU ART THERE'.During the times when the pendlam swung in the other direction, as we think of the occasions when 'in the depths', yes even there, as we have had problemsour dear Lord seemed so far away YET He was still with us, proving Himself once more as the great 'I AM THAT I AM' yes 'THOU ART THERE'

We will now reflect on the life of our blessed Lord Jesus, when He was in time contracted to a span as a man

Jesus is with us in our 'Joys', 'Sorrows', 'Agonies', 'Work' and our 'Pleasures'.I will now draw from the life of our Lord Jesus in support of this, so that our dear Lord will be more of a reality in our lives today whatever our circumstances

Jesus is with us in our JOYS, indeed He is our JOY

As a baby is born there isjoy whatever the circumstances.The new baby might not have been planned, in some families with the birth of a babe financial strain might be put on the family purse or the little one born out of wedlock.But whatever the circumstances there is always joy as a new life is given

There were two teenage sweethearts, they were poor, humble, hard working Godly folk and were betrothed to be married, this being equivalent to our engagement.While betrothed they did not have sex, if they had and a baby was expected, the generally understood thing was that the maiden would be stoned to death.It was found this maiden was 'with child', this expected baby was conceived by the young teenager in a very special way indeed, He was the only begotten Son of the living God.Sex was not involved in the conception, had it been so the babe could not have been The Son of God.The LORD God Almighty over ruled in this matter with the mother to be and her betrothed one, to this humble couple a very special baby was born, He was the Son of Man and The Son of God.Mary was honoured with The Son of God resting in her womb, her husband was Joseph but he was not the father of the child

At the end of the nine months the couple travelled a long way to be registered, Mary riding the pony being led by Joseph.As they arrived at Bethlehem it was packed out with visitors, the only place they could rest was in a cattle shed.The manger was cleaned out by Joseph, lined with clean hay and the babe was born, there was joy in the lives of those two young folk

Yes, Jesus Himself understands our JOYS

Jesus is with us in our SORROWS

The pendlam now swings in the opposite direction.Mary & Martha lost their brother Lazarus in death, they were special friends of Jesus, but He was not with them at that time.With the folk in those days it was thought that as a person died, the 'spirit' of deceased would 'hover' over the body for three days, after that there was no hope, it was considered beyond the ability of man to revitalize a corpse

One can imagine Mary saying to Martha,'Never mind today is the first day, Jesus might come' - that day passed but no Jesus.On the next day Martha could have said to Mary, 'Jesus did not come yesterday, maybe He will be with us today' - that day passed but no Jesus.On the third day they would both have thought that The Master would have been with them - that day also passed but no Jesus

Then on the fourth day all hope had gone for the two ladies according to their understanding, the body of Lazarus was in a state of decay, but Jesus came when all human hope had gone.Our Lordwent to the tomb and just spoke three words and Lazarus was alive once more

Yes, Jesus Himself understands our SORROWS

Jesus is with us in our AGONIES

We will now dwell on some of the circumstances of our Lord Jesus during Holy Week and The Crucifixion.Firstly remember that our Lord as The Son of God was and is omniscient, He would have known beforehand everything which was going to take place during that week.What agony of mind and spirit would have been our Lord's as He went through that evening in Gethsename, His heart was broken for our sins.What mental torture Jesus must have experienced to be tossed too and fro between the ecclesiastical ways of Caiaphas, political authority of Herod and the military power of Pilate.Our Lord Jesus was scourged, please try to understand what that experience must have been like.Jesus was a fit, strong man, He worked hard in the carpenter's shop for a number of years to support Mary and her four other sons and two daughters.Such was the scourging Jesus had prior to Calvary that He was too weak to carry His Cross.When Jesus got to Calvary He would have been nailed to The Cross, the structure dropped into position and a crown of thorns pressed hard on His head.The final agony was when our dear Lord Jesus Christ in taking our sins unto Himself, He became sin for us, through this experience His Father God could not have any fellowship with Him at all, Jesus uttered those piercing words, 'My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?'

Yes, Jesus Himself understands our AGONIES

Jesus is with us in our WORK

The disciples after Calvary were a dejected group of young men, their leader had been crucified, Peter one of His friends had denied His Lord to a young teenage lass as he comfortably warmed himself in front of a brazier.All the disciples were depressed and maybe Peter was on the point of suicide, their life style had to be changed again.They 'packed their bags' and went fishing, work to do, a living to make, it was night time and dark.All night they laboured hard, it was a 'Hard Nights Work', no fish were caught so once more their hopes were dashed then someone spoke. Instructionsweregivento,'Cast your nets on the other side of the boat',they did and one hundred and fifty three fish were caught'

Yes, Jesus Himself understands hard WORK

Jesus is with us in our PLEASURES

Just think for a few moments of the pleasure of having a breakfast cooked, this done early in the morning by the seaside.A feast prepared for you of choice tilapia fish,bread and a refreshing drink, this tasty fish is known today as 'St. Peter's Fish'.This happened to the disciples after the resurrection of our Lord, what pleasure the experience brought the disciples and our Lord

Yes,Jesus Himself understands our PLEASURES

In whatever situation we find ourselves, our Lord Jesus is capable of correcting any unfortunate circumstances whatever they are, with us learning lessons in the process

The LORD God Almighty always has been andwill ever be the great 'I AM THAT I AM', the ever present God whatever our circumstances, He is with the moment we believe.At this very point in time, as I write this article, our dear Lord is with me just now in the study, yes and as you read this script wherever you might be,our dear Lord is also with you, giving the same degrees of pleasure.Please understand that He is the same Lord and I cannot take away from you the joy of His presence with you right now or at any time, neither can you deprive me of any part of my pleasure of His presence with me, such is our God!

The Psalmist wrote in the 139th, he tells that our Lord's hand will lead us, it is emphasized it will be His 'right' to guide us, what does this mean?

For a man in the area where David the Psalmist lived, to have something in ones 'right hand' would indicate it was in his control, he was the master of the situation, it was under his direction.This is so with our beloved Lord, He has us in His 'right hand' which was nail pierced for us, we are in our Lord's control, so may we all see a purpose for everything inour lives and give thanks as encouraged in the Scriptures.Even Calvary was not out of the control of our LORD God Almighty, it was all in the purposes of our God,yes and as our dear Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper He 'gave thanks', in doing this He fully knew what was going to happen within the next few hours, for me that is mindboggling

The Christian way is not easy, we are taught that, 'When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, the rivers they will not overflow you' and 'As we walk through the fire, we will not be burnt'.In our experiences in life we will get 'wet', it will be 'hot' but with the Lord as our Shepherd we will pass through the difficulties of life and not go into them.'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of difficulties, ill-health, financial problems, unhappy relationships and death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me'

'I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine',

He is with us in our Joys,Sorrows,Agonies,Work&Pleasures

This is the third book