Solitude with Emmanuel
First15 Devotional
First15
4.9 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2023
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
How often are you alone with God? Truly alone, pulled away from the rest of the world, in the quiet and stillness of his presence? I believe God is beckoning his people this holiday season to experience his Immanuel, God with us, nearness. Our souls need it, and God longs for it. Just as you desire to experience his presence and peace, God wants to experience your nearness too, simply because he loves you. May you be encouraged and motivated today to get truly alone with the Father in these days.
Our Scripture for today comes from John 1:14, and today's worship is Jesus, You're Beautiful by Jason Upton.
Thanks so much for listening to today’s podcast, Solitude with Emmanuel.
The older I get, the more I realize how hard solitude is to come by. As my home is filled with kids, and work gets busier and busier, it can be so difficult to make space to simply be quiet with God. But I’m also learning that the harder it gets, the more important it probably is.
So as you go about your day today, take time to simply recognize your need for quiet. And if possible, find little moments throughout your day where you can make some space to rest in solitude.
Have a wonderful rest of your day, and may God bless you as you seek him.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | How often are you alone with God, truly alone, pulled away from the rest of the world, |
| 0:11.0 | in the quiet and stillness of his presence? |
| 0:14.0 | I believe God is beckoning his people this holiday season to experience His Emmanuel, God with us, nearness. Our soul needs |
| 0:24.5 | it and God longs for it. Just as you desire to experience his presence and peace, God wants to |
| 0:30.9 | experience your nearness too, simply because he loves you. May you be encouraged and motivated today |
| 0:37.4 | to get truly alone with the Father |
| 0:39.7 | in these days. Welcome to the First 15 podcast. One of the greatest privileges of the Christian |
| 0:47.0 | faith is solitude with God. Engaged in solitude with our Creator is a life-giving celebration |
| 0:54.1 | of his heart. Our God isn't |
| 0:56.3 | after what we can do for him. He's not after fixing us. He's all about having us. He's all about |
| 1:03.6 | being with his people in restored, unhindered relationship. Isaiah 714 prophesies about the birth of Christ saying, |
| 1:13.2 | Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgins shall conceive and bear a son, |
| 1:20.2 | and shall call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with us. How amazing is it that the king of heaven and earth would desire to be called |
| 1:30.8 | God with us, and that our creator would want to be known as one who would write himself into the |
| 1:37.0 | story of his creation in such a way as to be tangibly, truly present. When we take time to get alone with the Father apart from any other agenda, |
| 1:48.7 | to simply open our hearts and be with Him, |
| 1:51.0 | we declare to ourselves and to God that our lives are centered around Him. |
| 1:56.3 | When we make space to hold off questions to simply rest in his nearness, |
| 2:00.3 | we discover that |
| 2:01.8 | God is far better and far more loving than we could ever have guessed. |
| 2:07.6 | Solitude with God is a place of abundant joy. |
| 2:10.5 | It's a place of peace and encounter that no other spiritual discipline can bring. |
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