You Are Never Alone

Christ Prays For Us" © Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved.

                  ~Romans 8:35-39 (NLT)

"Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? 

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, 

or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 

As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; 

we are being slaughtered like sheep.” 

No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, 

who loved us. 

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. 

Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, 

neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—

not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 

No power in the sky above or in the earth below—

indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us 

from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord."

During the Middle Ages, pious Christians believed that if your life was beset with afflictions and trials it was a sign of God's great favor.

The New Testament mentions suffering at least 33 times. The apostle James wrote, 

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing." (James 1:2-4 NLT)

St. Peter wrote, "Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world." 

~ 1 Peter 4:12-13 (NLT)

Sometimes when we are facing difficult circumstances or any sort of trial, we may feel all alone, as if we have been abandoned by God or that He does not love us as much as He loves others.

Even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself cried out in His pain on the cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:45)

Pain has a way of isolating us, whether it be physical, emotional or spiritual pain, it makes no difference. It makes us feel alone and abandoned. 

However, God assures us in His word in Psalm 139 that we are never alone, that He is ever present with us. 

He promises us that He will never forget us in this beautiful verse from Isaiah:

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,

And not have compassion on the son of her womb?

Surely they may forget,Yet I will not forget you."

 (Isaiah 49:14-15) NKJV

We also have the comforting assurance that even if no one else is praying for us on our journey, there is One up in Heaven who is always praying for us, night and day. 

He knows each one of us intimately for He created us, He knows our every need and all of our hopes and longings. 

His prayers that He prays for us are always answered. He will never give up on us. 

No one else may know my name, but Jesus Christ, our Heavenly High Priest, knows me. 

He loves each of us so much, that He has engraved a picture of us on the Palm of His hand. 

"See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me."(Isaiah 49:16) NKJV

He cannot, nor will He ever forget about us. 

We may imagine that He has forgotten us sometimes but God's word assures us that the One who is praying for us night and day is always thinking about us. 

"I am poor and weak, yet the Lord is thinking about me right now!" ~(Psalm 40:17 ERV)

The Psalmist wrote, "How precious it is, Lord, to realize that You are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day Your thoughts turn toward me. And when I waken in the morning, You are still thinking of me!" (Psalm 139:17-18 TLB)

The One who "ever lives to make intercession" for us is constantly thinking about us, praying for all of our needs. 

He is at the right hand of His Heavenly Father, the Bible says, pleading for us.

And nothing will ever be able to separate us from His immeasurable love toward us. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving everything to us when You gave us Your Son Jesus Christ to be our sacrifice to redeem our souls from the penalty of sin and death. Thank You that Thy word promises that Jesus is our High Priest forever and able to "save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25 NKJV)

Thank You for such wonderful promises from Thy word. 

Father God, we love You and praise You for forgiving our sins and for giving us eternal life in Christ, in Jesus' name. Amen. 

"Christ Prays For Us" ~ 5" inch x 7" inch, Double-Matted Fine Art Print. Copyright © 2015 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved.

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Unto The Least Of These, © 2015 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved.

Scripture Verses New King James Version Bible © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc. 

(ERV)Easy To Read Version © 2006 World Bible Translation Center

(TLB) Today's Living Bible © 1971 Tyndale House Publishers 

(NLT) Holy Bible New Living Translation © 2013  Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

Christ, Our High Priest

                                     Christ Prays For Us

Jesus, Our High Priest © S.D. Harden 

There is one thing I can always count on. No matter who I am or what I have or haven’t done, God will always love me.

I can be totally friendless with no one in the world who seems to know who I am or care one bit about me. 

Yet there is Someone who is always watching over me. 

He cares very much about me. 

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God the Father praying for me.

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” 

~Romans 8:34

It is comforting to know that even if no one else knows my need, and no one is praying for me, I have a Friend in Heaven who is standing up for me. 

He is pleading my cause right now, whispering my name in His Father’s ear, to His Father’s heart, and He will never give up on me.

It does not matter what path I am on, for He knows right where I am at all times. 

Whatever my need is, He knows it before I can even pray it.

 He even knows the number of hairs on my head!

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

Jesus Christ will never give up on us. God wants to be our Friend.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Though we can’t see Him, we can feel Christ’s love when we invite Him into our hearts.

Only it must be done by faith and even this is a gift from God. For Jesus said, “…no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me.” ~John 6:44

 We love God because He first loved us and died to save us from our sins. He gives us the gift of faith to believe in Him. (*1 John 4:19)

Everything we have is from Him; a free gift of grace that we did not earn or deserve. Our God is a God of love and mercy.  (*Ephesians 2:4:10) 

Christ Knocking at the Door © S.D. Harden

Jesus is always only a prayer away.

He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” Revelation 3:20.

He is knocking at the door of every person’s heart.  

                                   

Trust

The ability to trust God is also a gift. We come to God with nothing but a willingness to accept His love and friendship. He supplies all the rest. All we have to do is open the door of our hearts to Him.

 

 

Developing the Gifts of Faith, Hope, and Trust in God

How does God develop these gifts of love, faith, and trust in Him? When we invite Him into our hearts, His Holy Spirit helps us by drawing us towards His word. 

As we read the scriptures our hearts will grow closer to 

God and we will get to know Him personally.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

We will actually feel His love growing inside of us through the presence and power of His Holy Spirit within us. We need never feel alone for His abiding presence will always be available to us.

The Scriptures call the Holy Spirit our “guarantee or foretaste of heaven.”  (*2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:14) We have been sealed with the very Spirit of the living God!

 

Christ, Our Living Bread

Think of Christ as giving each of His children a little piece of Himself to be inside our hearts.

One slice of a whole loaf of bread is just as wonderful as the whole loaf!

Now we each have our own “piece” of Jesus Christ and the Heavenly Father through the Presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit all to ourselves. (*John 14:16-17)

Our God can love each one of His children as if we were the only ones to love.

Each child of God is a sacred temple wherein dwells His holy presence. 

(*1 Cor.6:19-20)

Our Holy Friend

Within us we have a divine Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

When we are so overwhelmed by life we don’t even know how to pray, our Helper prays for us: “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

He will never leave or forsake me. He will never give up on me. He is in me, He is for me, He is with me, and He loves me like no one else ever will.

After all, He gave up His life for me.

Prayer

 Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the comforting assurance that even if no one else is praying for me, You are always at the Father’s right hand and in my heart interceding for my every need and that Your prayers are always answered.

Encouraging Scriptures

And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Romans 8:31 MSG

“Therefore (Jesus) is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV)

“We love Him because He first loved us.” ~1John 4:19

Jesus said, “Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don't let go.” ~John 6:37 MSG

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” ~Ephesians 2:8-9

Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” ~John 14:16-17

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”~ 2Corinthians 1:21-22

“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”~2 Corinthians 5:5

” Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  ~Hebrews 4:14-16

Jesus said, “ I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20