God is Always With Me

Recently I have been thinking about how profound and prudent that statement is: God is always with me. And I have narrowed it down to two main ways it can and should be applied to my life.

God is always with me.

First, this should be an incredibly powerful warning. When we are tempted to sin, if we only think about the fact that God is with me, right there beside me, watching, that would be enough to scare me out of doing anything bad. It gives us the "No no" that we need all the time. For me, and I think for teenagers in general, this is probably the most useful application of that thought. It's one we should use and have need of every day, every hour. It also gives us the boot to do something we know we should, but we don't feel like doing, or don't want to do, because it's difficult. Like talking to the new person at church. Inviting him to sit with you at lunch, or even choosing to sit with HIM instead of your normal group, if need be. And that's just one example.

However, God being with me isn't just a warning. It's an encouragement in several ways. It can give us the boldness to stand up and defend Jesus when his name is slandered. It can give us the strength to get through trials that come our way. And it is a comfort when we need a friend to lean on, and there are none around.