December 6th 2025

“See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name Him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.” Matthew 1:23 

Funny story, I was named after this passage of scripture. My middle name is Emanuel and my parents told me it's because they always wanted me to remember that God is with me. There are a few miracles happening here in this scripture, a virgin birth, and the birth of Jesus. When things like this occur, unheard of events, it should cause us not to doubt more, but to strengthen our faith. God being this all knowing, all powerful, everywhere at once being, and knowing that he is with little ole us should be a great comfort to our souls.  

To be honest, life is scary and there are alot of unknowns out there, but as believers one of the promises we have is that God is with us through all of it. Our feelings and the facts at times can be two different things. And typically our feelings are in opposition to the facts when it comes to spiritual matters. The outside noise of everything we get during the week drives our feelings and sometimes puts a damper on the fact of what God has already promised us. It's imperative as believers that we spend  just as much if not more time in reading what God has to say than believing what the world wants us to hear. 

If you think about it everything is fear based in our country, if we dont vote for this person then our world will be like this, or if we dont get a good job then we won't have enough money to provide, or if we dont get married we’ll be lonely the rest of our lives, and the list goes one. This mindset goes directly against what scripture tells us. God tells us that He didnt give us a spirit of fear, he tells us he’ll never leave us or forsake us, He tells us that he is with us. So this holiday season let this devotional be a reminder that wherever you are in life or whatever you are going through that God is with you.

- Corey Goss