The Lord's people are never alone; therefore they should not feel lonely.
God is with them as an Observer — He notices every thought, word, and action; every trial, every foe, and every danger. He is with them as a Father, loving and holding communion with them. He is with them as the Lord of Hosts, having all the armies of earth and heaven under His direction to befriend them.
He is with them as a Guide, to lead them; as a Counselor, to plead their cause; as a Friend, to supply and comfort them; as a Savior, to deliver and exalt them.
And as a holy, sin-hating God, He is present with them to try them, to reprove them, to humble them, to preserve them, to comfort them — and to save them with an everlasting salvation.
✦ The Mentor Returns
James Smith — the voice that opened this journal in March with Only Believe. The mentor who said: give God credit for meaning what He says. Returning now in July, in the testing season, with exactly the right word: God is with us.
Not God will be with us. Not God was with us. God is with us. Present tense. In the packing. In the stress. In the testing. In the boxes and the deadlines and the rooms being emptied. He is here — as Observer, Father, Lord of Hosts, Guide, Counselor, Friend, Savior. Seven roles. Not one of them absent during packing season. Not one of them waiting for France. 🙏
Beloved, let us remember that God is with us, everywhere and always. This will check carelessness, prevent impatience, make us honest, encourage prayerfulness, inspire with courage, and produce diligence.
If God is with us, He is for us; and if God is for us, who can be against us?
✦ Not Comfort Only — Practical Fruit
Smith does not offer comfort as an end in itself. The knowledge that God is with us produces something: it checks carelessness, prevents impatience, makes us honest, encourages prayer, inspires courage, and produces diligence. Six practical fruits — from one truth. The testing season is not only endured. It is worked — carefully, patiently, honestly, prayerfully, courageously, diligently.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31. Smith lands where Paul lands. The counsel of the enemy will come to nothing. The word spoken against you will not stand. Because God is with you. Not might be. Not will be. Is. 🙏
"The Lord's people are never alone; therefore they should not feel lonely."
James Smith · Seven roles · Present tense · In the testing seasonObserver · Father · Lord of Hosts
He notices every trial, every foe, every danger. He loves and holds communion. All the armies of earth and heaven under His direction to befriend you.
Guide · Counselor · Friend · Savior
To lead. To plead your cause. To supply and comfort. To deliver and exalt. Seven roles — not one absent during packing season.
Practical Fruit
The knowledge produces: checked carelessness, prevented impatience, honesty, prayerfulness, courage, diligence. Not comfort only — working fruit for working days.
James Smith returns. The voice that opened the journal in March — Only Believe — arriving in July with God Is with Us. The testing season gets the mentor it needs.
March 4 — Only Believe: "Give God credit for meaning what He says." And today: God is with us. The same directness. The same simplicity. The same refusal to complicate what God made plain. Smith has not changed. The truth has not changed. The soul hearing it has walked thirty-four days with Guyon and four days with Paul — and Smith's simplicity lands with new depth.
Guyon's gentle authority — Smith's practical fruit: Guyon taught the interior way — the silence, the suppleness, the child held in the bosom. Smith teaches the exterior result: checked carelessness, prevented impatience, courage, diligence. Guyon formed the interior. Smith names what the interior produces in the daily avocation. The two voices are not rivals. They are the inside and outside of the same soul.
The testing season — God as Observer: He notices every thought, word, and action; every trial, every foe, and every danger. The packing. The stress. The deadline. The blinking boxes. He notices. Not as a judge waiting to condemn. As a Father who loves. As a Friend who supplies. As a Guide who leads — even through the rooms being emptied, even through the transition, even through the evil days where the opportunities are hidden.
Isaiah 8:10 — it will come to nothing: Take counsel together — it will come to nothing. Speak the word against God's people — it will not stand. Because God is with us. In a testing season, this is the anchor: whatever is arrayed against Le and Roger will not stand. Not because they are strong. Because He is present. The same God who sold an unlisted apartment, who carried them through Normandy, who held the journal from Eymet to Caldas — is with them. Is for them. And nothing can stand against that. 🙏