With Us

 "After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and He sat at the right hand of God." Mark 16:19.....'Christ is spoken of as seated at the right hand of the Father, but with Stephen's death by stoning, He stood....with Stephen." Chris Tiegreen

I love the reality and image of the Lord Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father. The right hand, the place of power. Infinite power. I love that He ceaselessly makes intercession for us, for me. Yet, this can also give us a Jesus who, though He loves us, is very far from us. At least in our thinking. That's why Tiegreen's quote concerning Christ being right there with Stephen in the book of Acts when he was killed for his faith and testimony in Christ is so powerful. I can't put into words how deep that truth is to me. While He is right there with the Father, He is also right here with me, through His Holy Spirit. In His Person and in His Almighty Power. Because of this, Stephen could be fearless as He faced death. In whatever it is we face, so can we.

I have had some very powerful instances where He came and stood with me. One that I will never forget and is the most awesome of them all is on a cold, snowy night in December of 1989. My wife had left several months before. I was out of the ministry and living on a secluded church campground in central Virginia. I was working the 3 to 11 shift at a Coca-Cola plant that was 40 miles away. It had been a very hard day. When I arrived at the cottage I was staying in, I was near despair. I saw no way out of the awful place I was in. What hope I had hung by a thread. I wanted to give up, yet I couldn't. I remember picking up my Bible and reading in 2 Timothy 4, Paul's words about making his defense before the power of Rome. He said that no one stood with Him, that everyone had abandoned him. This is exactly what I felt my position to be. Then he wrote the words that enflamed my heart, "but Christ stood with me." What happened to me can only be explained by the supernatural presence of the King. I "saw" a picture of myself standing before a raging lion, the devil. A lion whose sole desire was to destroy me and every bit of the purpose that He had created me for. I was paralyzed and unable to move. Then I "saw" Jesus come into the portrait, and without a word, silenced the lion/satan, who immediately fled. I was overcome with His peace...and His hope. I knew then that this place was not where I would die. It was not my end. A new hope was born in me and it was not very long after when a new door of opportunity opened to me. This led to another of His doors opening, and then another, as He rebuilt my life, my calling, and my ministry and His purpose for me. He has never stopped the rebuilding. He never will. Neither will He do so for you, both around and in you.

You may be on your own barren landscape today. You may feel alone and abandoned. You are not. The One who sits at the Father's right hand stands also with you. There is nothing to fear and there is nothing that can stop what He means to do and rebuild in your life. Believe Him. Trust Him. Obey Him. The doors will open. And the lion that threatens you....He will put him to flight. Every time. He will never fail you. Never. Press on my friends.

Blessings,
Pastor O