JIM “PAPPY” MOORE: God is Always with You

Everywhere you are, every moment of every day and night, God is right there with you. He is always close enough that you can grab hold of Him any time you need to. God’s abilities are far, far beyond the understanding of humans. It is ironic so many can believe Artificial Intelligence can with lightning speed tell us anything we can ask it, but they don’t understand that God makes that look like ants carry a leaf.

I don’t know how God does it, but I know He is right there, all the time, any time, anywhere. You can ignore God. You can tune God out. But if you need Him, he’s there instantly. He’s far more forgiving and understanding than we are. Imagine you had a small percentage of God’s abilities. Would you be as forgiving as He is? Would you be ever helpful, even if your friend in trouble got that way from not listening to what you told them they needed to do with their life.

 Suppose you need God, and you pray with sincerity. Does God say to you “sure you do now, but how come you’re still hating on that person you thought did you wrong, last week, last month, last year, or ten years ago?” Do you think God doesn’t know about that? Do you think God is letting that slide?

And yet, God helps you when you call on Him and need His help. Now, He doesn’t give us everything we ask for. Sometimes when we ask for something, His answer is NO. He may not say it. He’ll just won’t let it happen. “No,” then, is your answer.

Imagine God is like AI times a billion. Imagine He is all-knowing, all-powerful, capable of doing anything. And yet, He has rules for himself. Was He unfair with King David? Was He unfair with Samson? Was He unfair with Abraham’s wife? Was He unfair with Moses?  Was He unfair with so many of those He loved and took care of? No, God was never unfair. He came through even when they didn’t really deserve it.

Imagine you had been judging King David for his sin of murder to take another man’s wife. Would you have been as kind as God? Would you still say “he’s the apple of my eye”? God goes the next mile far more than we do. Sometimes we don’t even put our shoes on and leave the house. We stew with our anger and never really get rid of it.

Thankfully, we are not God, but we do have part of God in us if we try to follow his requirements. Most of us know we’re doing wrong when we’re doing wrong. We deny it to ourselves, to our family, to our friends. But we know in our heart that God knows our heart, and He knows better.

I am asking you to think about how reasonable and loving our God is. In spite of our constant shortcomings, He is always right there beside us. Waiting for us to call Him, or even better, to praise Him. He doesn’t need false worship. He knows your heart. If you’re just mouthing the words, He’s not listening to that. He tunes it out, but remembers you did it.

Choose God. Choose to believe He is far, far, far beyond anything humans can conceive, a force everywhere, all the time. The more you open your heart to God, the more of Him you will have in your life.

You don’t have to specifically say a prayer aloud, but I think it helps to say it out loud, so that you hear yourself saying the words. It reinforces what you are saying. I like to say The Lord’s Prayer out loud, so I can say and hear it at the same time. Hearing it stores that file in a different part of my brain than the part that is saying the prayer. Try listening to the words as you pray them and say them.

 Your sincerity in accepting those words is key.