The mystery and the miracle of the birth of Christ was the fulfillment of the promise that God would be with his people.

The very name Emmanuel means God with us, and Jesus Christ is our Emmanuel.

In this study, Scott Pauley reminds us of our ever-present Savior, God with us.

My faithful pastor said to us for years that our vision of God would determine everything else.

That how we see the Lord would be the determining factor of how we saw people and circumstances

and ourselves and difficulty. And I want you to know I've lived long enough now to know that is exactly

right.

In Judges chapter 6, the angel of the Lord, I believe, the pre-incarnate Christ, the Lord's great messenger, comes to a man named Gideon to make him the judge of Israel at a most difficult time,

a season of middenite oppression.

He finds him cowering in a corner, but he

transforms him into a man that could be greatly used to the Lord. Aren't you glad for the grace of God?

And in our last study, we talked about the fact that he changed his perspective. He helped

get in to begin to look through God's eyes. That began by seeing himself as God saw him, not as a coward, but as a man chosen of God,

ordained of God for a purpose.

And then not only to see himself as God saw him, but then to see the enemy as God saw

the enemy.

And how did God see the enemy as a

defeated foe? But now we come to the real crux of the whole thing. The only way you can see yourself

like you ought to see yourself and the only way you can see others as you ought to see others is you

have to see God as you ought to see God. You see the word of God is a mirror on us, but it's also a great lens on God.

It gives us a clear view of who God is. And I want you to know that Christ not only wants

you to see yourself a certain way and see the enemy a certain way, he wants you to see him a certain

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