Things are not always as they seem, but Jesus is with us always, no matter how it may appear at the moment.
The God Who Walks with Us
Your mind always needs a reference point to correctly see reality. For example, imagine that you see a photograph of an object and the object fills the frame. It looks big. Then you see a photograph of that same object, but held in a person's hand. Now, with the hand as a reference point, your perception of the object's size changes. Or, imagine that you are in a traffic jam and all around you are big trucks that obscure your view of the horizon. If the trucks begin to move, it will feel as though you are the one moving. When your horizon comes back in view, you will reorient and know that you are sitting still. The horizon is your reference point. Without a reference point, your perceptions are skewed. Jesus invites us to make His presence our one and only reference point. Fix your eyes on Him.
My late husband was very tall. His stride was much longer than mine. When we walked together, I could not match his stride. He would sometimes forget and be far ahead of me, talking to me as if I were right beside him. He had to be intentional about pacing his steps so that I could walk with him instead of behind him. He had to want to walk with me. When I read that Enoch walked with God, the first thing that amazes me is that it means that God walked with Enoch. God was willing to condescend to calibrate His stride for Enoch’s sake—to take into account Enoch’s frailty. When Almighty Eternal God took on flesh, He showed us in no uncertain terms that He would walk with us.
When you pray, the indwelling life of Christ changes everything. You are not trying to get the attention of a God who is far away. You don't have to devise rituals that will make your prayers reach a distantly located God. He has made His home in you. If you have ever said to yourself, "I don't feel like my prayers get past the ceiling," then I have good news for you. They don't have to go even that far. Christ in you is moving you to pray, and reproducing His prayers in your heart. This is the very Jesus who said to the Father while standing at Lazarus' tomb: "I know that You always hear me."
This content taken from the book Life Unhindered by Jennifer Kennedy Dean.
