The Lord Is With You

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” ~Luke 1:28

The angel isn’t telling Mary, hey, the Lord is in the next room or the Lord is watching you from heaven. Gabriel’s not even telling the future mother of the Messiah that God is living in her heart. “The Lord is with you” is a biblical formula that means so much more.

“The Lord is with you” is what the angel told Gideon in Judges 6. Gideon balks at the divine instructions to fight so God himself jumps in to say, “Go in the strength you have! Am I not sending you?” The Lord is with Gideon and a great victory is won for God’s people and Yahweh is glorified.

“The Lord is with you” is a statement of promise. It’s a guarantee of God’s help in the assignment he’s about to give you. “The Lord is with you” means God is intervening in your life in a special way to fulfill his promises to you and his holy purposes through you.

In Genesis 39, the writer makes it clear that the Lord was with Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph in Potiphar’s house and blessed Potiphar because of Joseph. The Lord was with Joseph in prison and blessed the warden and the cupbearer. The Lord was with Joseph in Pharaoh’s palace and blessed all of Egypt and the rest of the known world because of Joseph.

The angel tells Mary, “The Lord is with you,” and God works with her and through her to bring the prophesied Messiah to save the world.

Our problem is that we never get to hear the whole story today. The truth is that “the Lord is with you” today at work. And he’s blessing all the people around you, because of you. “The Lord is with you” today in your home. And he’s blessing your spouse and your kids because of you. You must understand that “the Lord is with you” when you preach on Sundays and he’s blessing all the people in your church because of you. “The Lord is with you” today at the grocery store and the post office and the soccer game. And he’s blessing everybody you contact. 

Our God is calling you to live for him in everything you do and say and think. And he’s promising to use you to fulfill his salvation will for the world.

“The Lord is with you” is a personal guarantee you can take to the bank.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have donated $870 in bail money in advance of my arrest and imprisonment at noon tomorrow. It’s all part of a fundraising event for MDA. I need to raise a total of $1,480 in order to get out of jail. We’re almost there. You have been hilarious in your comments via email and blog. And you’ve been overly generous in your contributions to the cause. Click here for more information, a clever little video, and to donate. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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If nothing else, the Rangers are fun to watch. Last night was another one of those games that dripped with drama on every pitch. Four lead changes and men on base in almost every inning. Twice the Rangers got down to their final strike and delivered the key hit to re-tie the game. There was a bullpen meltdown and some shaky defense in a couple of critical moments but, man, they just keep coming back. With guys we’ve never heard of before.

My regret is that, with a one-run lead heading into the 9th, Ron Washington decided to leave his well-rested ace closer in the bullpen for Darren Oliver. Big mistake. He admitted as much after the game. I’m still not sure Wash is a qualified good-decision maker. Period.

And all Rangers fans are concerned about the financial state of the team. It’s never been good. Ever. But it’s never been this bad. Not even close. By the end of the week, it looks like Bud Selig and MLB are going to take it over. It looks like there are going to be lots of lawsuits and hearings. And if Texas is still within a game or two of first place by the trading deadline, they still won’t be able to make a move. It’s frustrating. Again.

I can’t imagine they’d ever contract or re-locate the Rangers. That’ll never happen. This is a major media market. It’s impossible. MLB has to have a team here. But the last time Selig took over the day-to-day operations of a team, they moved the Expos to DC. I hope it’s just a coincidence that the Expos and Rangers logos look exactly the same.

Peace,

Allan