Isaiah 41:10
New Living Translation
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you
I loved holding my children’s’ hands when we walked. They let go of me quicker and quicker as they got older, but I never want them to. I want my kids to know that I am here for them.
God is the same way. God wants us to know that He is here for us as well. Even in tough times, even when we can’t see Him or feel Him.
Daniel 3:23-24
The Fiery Furnace
23 But these three men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, “Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “Certainly, O king.” 25 He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!”
here
adverb
1.in this place; in this spot or locality (opposed to there ):
Another word for here that I am referring to is attentiveness. It is no coincidence I think that hear and here sound the same.
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1 Timothy 3:1
New International Version
HERE is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.
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In English, we use the word here to start a lot of sentences. To hear you have to be here. Not there.
A great missionary said, ‘wherever you are, be all there.’ You have to be here in the present to be able to hear what the people are saying to you. So many people are guilty of being at a place physically, but their mind being elsewhere. To hear what someone is saying, you have to be in the here and now.
When we are in front of a person who is in desperate need, we need to realize that we are here for a purpose. God has sent us to them. Sometimes, without us knowing, they were praying for someone to ‘come here’ to help them. Quite often we are seen as an answer to prayer. The people that are living in extreme poverty see us as an answer to prayer. They even praise God out loud when they see us.
As a professing Christian in your home town, missionary in a third world country, or on the secular job, we need to be aware with how we are seen. We are here because God sent us, I am sure of it. Where ever that may be. We need to be attentive. We need to pay attention. While we are here, I think we should actually be here, and hear what the people are saying to us. Also we need to be attentive to what the Lord is saying to us.
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Philippians 3:13
New International Version
Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
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Past traumas take you from here to there in the wink of an eye. I have a brilliant friend. He should have been extremely successful by now, but he’s stuck in the past. He can’t get ahead because he flashes back. He gets angry about something that a perspective client reminds him of a past hurt, and his chances are ruined. Spouses can do the same thing. If you are living in thepresent, in the here and now, you are attentive to what is happening at that time. Past memories don’t haunt you. Future dreams don’t affect your performance today. Life is what happens while you make plans. The future keeps us from ‘here’.
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James 4:13
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” 14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.…
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God has you here for now. You should be here, now. God is here now, even if you don’t know it. Others can see it. I love the story of the 3 in the furnace, with Jesus. Jesus was there with them in the furnace. Just as God is here with us when we need Him, we should be here when people need our help.
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Isaiah 6:8
… And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send, and
who will go for us? And I said, Here am I; send me.
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