I AM Right Here

By Anthony Martin

INSPIRING, ENCOURAGING, AND ENLIGHTENING!

I AM Right Here is a fundamental reinforcer of the Nearness of the Almighty in every situation and detail of our lives. Additionally, it provides theological insight regarding our eternal estate and relationship with God. Sometimes we often think of His presence in highly intense moments of fellowship, such as singing worship songs, praying fervently, or even in Sunday church gatherings. However, God wants us to know that He is always present. We don’t have to wait for those powerful, celebratory moments to feel His closeness. He is always there. Although we cannot tangibly see Him, He shows up through various situations to let us know He is watching and listening. Have you ever experienced a calmness or peace in your heart when thinking about God? It’s difficult to explain because it goes beyond a feeling. It’s a knowing or confidence that everything is going to be okay. Whenever we call on Him, we don’t have to wonder if He’s available; He doesn’t leave or take breaks. Furthermore, when it comes to God, there’s no guesswork involved because He remains the same and stands by His Word. He is present with you every moment because He is your heavenly Father! 

  

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Jul 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977266644

Anthony Martin

Anthony Martin has been in the helping field for over 34 years. He is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a concentration on Christian Counseling and a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. He is certified in Leadership, Personal, and Marital Life Coaching from Light University in Forest, VA. He serves as overseer of church and leadership development at Grace Christian Ministries in Columbia, MD.

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I AM Right Here

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2023 Anthony Martin

v2.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc.

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All Scripture is taken from the English Standard Version of the Bible

Outskirts Press and the OP logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Author’s website: anthonyvmartin.com

AVAILABLE BOOKS FROM ANTHONY MARTIN

I AM RIGHT HERE, the Nearness of the Almighty

JUST YOU, Your Value and Worth to God

That We May Know Him

Torn Between Two Worlds

From One Father to Another

Do it For Him

Fight, Refuse to Surrender Your Faith

From Pain to Purpose

Dedication

I want to dedicate this book to my wife, Patrice Martin. Our conversations about eternity and the presence of God have inspired me to share some of our discussions with those who also long for Him. It is with delight that I present this work of inspiration as a token of honor to you.

With All My Heart, Your Husband, Anthony.

CONTENTS

A Message From the Author

Chapter One – It’s Recorded

His Nature

His Presence

His Voice

His Actions

Chapter Two – His Eternal Love

He is Your Heavenly Father

He is Your Eternal Hope

He is Your Confidant

He is Your Trusted Friend

Chapter Three – He Watches and Listens

He Knows You

He Sees You

He Hears You

He Comes Alongside You

Chapter Four – He Is the Secret Place

He is Where You Dwell

He is Where You Abide

He is Where You Confide

He is Where You Find Rest

Chapter Five – He Sustains

He is Your Supporter

He is Your Strength

He is Your Defender

He is Your Provider

Chapter Six – His Foresight

He Has a Plan

He Confirms It

He Prepares You

He Brings It to Fruition

Chapter Seven – His Power

He Has All Authority

He Wills and Works In You

He Draws You Closer

He Helps You with Earthly Living

A Message From the Author

Suppose you were praying and calling on God, and suddenly, you heard a gentle but firm voice say, I AM Right Here. How would you react? What would be your response? Well, He speaks that comforting and securing phrase to all His children. I often hear it in my heart during various moments. Sometimes I read about His nearness to me in Scripture, and other times, it manifests in situations or through the faithfulness of others. Our heavenly Father displays His love and commitment regardless of His chosen methods.

In every season or moment, He makes Himself known to us because He is a personal and relational God. There is never an instance when He is not present. In our good days and challenging ones, He is there. In happy and joyous moments, He is there rejoicing with us, and in even our sadness, the psalmist declares He is …a very present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1). Not one detail about our lives goes unnoticed by Him. I must admit there are times in my faith walk when I wonder if God is present, especially during those emotionally turbulent moments. I’m sure we all had instances when we sought to reach for Him in prayer, hoping for immediate results. Yet, nothing happens in our lives that doesn’t pass before Him first.

The fact that our heavenly Father sees all our days before we live them out is comforting and relieves us while we live on Earth. The key is to keep our hearts and minds filled with His Word. Nothing else can sustain us greater than His counsels and promises. I recall instances when God’s Word came to my mind that reinforced His love and provision. I didn’t ask to be reminded; the words came to my memory. It wasn’t a coincidence. My heavenly Father wanted me to know He heard my prayer and was with me.

We often think of God’s presence in only highly intense moments of fellowship with Him, such as singing worship songs, praying fervently, or even in Sunday church gatherings. However, God wants us to know that He is always present. We don’t have to wait for those powerful, celebratory moments to feel His closeness; He is always there. He doesn’t leave and then comes back later. The Almighty is always present. He’s not on standby or looking from afar. He is a God that is At Hand. Whether we shout out to Him, whisper, or say nothing, He hears and knows what we think and feel.

The phrase I Am Right Here stays with me constantly, no matter where or what I’m doing. I always hear it in my heart and mind. One day I was praying, and the unction came to me about how reinforcing and reiteration those words (I Am Right Here) is so profoundly needed amongst His children. I was led to several passages of Scripture where the Lord God spoke to His people about His abiding presence with them. Throughout the Bible, it is a common theme of the Almighty to enter and intervene in human life. However, none is greater or more significant than His presence through Jesus Christ.

It all started coming together. The light turned on in my mind. God showed me that He has always existed since the Earth’s creation. And on a personal level, He was present at my birth. I thought about passages such as Jeremiah 1:5, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and Psalm 139:16, Your eyes saw my unformed substance. I started remembering different situations that occurred (favorable and unfavorable) in my life, and it came to me, That was the Lord God, working out the details on my behalf. It was Him who stepped in and helped me.

I could hardly contain my emotions. I thought about schoolteachers, counselors, friends, bystanders, relatives, spiritual leaders, those in the Body of Christ, and of course, my parents, who all were being used by my heavenly Father. They were all tools in His hands to help craft my development and growth. He was right there the whole time through those individuals and various situations throughout my life. Amazing!

The narrative of your life is also inspired by God, who places specific people along with various factors that help shape you for His glory. Take a few moments to sit with the idea of God’s presence in your life. He didn’t show up when you started following His Son (Jesus Christ). He has always been with you behind the scenes of your life. He was present at every major and minor event. He was there cheering you on in your achievements, smiling when you took your first steps, and bottling every tear you cried. God knows you.

However, the only way we can know Him is by Spirit. We cannot tangibly see or touch our heavenly Father, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t close to Him. Have you ever experienced a calmness or peace in your heart when thinking about God? Not the kind of serenity you would come away with when sitting beside a lake or in a park. But the kind that lets you know He is present. It’s difficult to explain because it goes beyond a feeling. It’s a knowing or confidence that the Almighty is guiding you.

Furthermore, you have His nature (the Spirit) dwelling in you. The Holy Spirit knows everything there is to know about God. The Bible explains this in First Corinthians Chapter Two, …For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God (v.10). He (the Spirit) knows the deep areas of God because He is the third person of the Godhead (I John 5:7). Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit (also known as the Helper or Comforter) to aid us in our lives upon Earth.

Chapter One details God’s nature, presence, voice, and actions. It is the groundwork for several statements about the Almighty in the rest of the chapters. Additionally, referring back to Chapter One as you read throughout the book would be a good idea because it will help you process the relational connection between you and God. The central message is to inform and inspire about the Almighty’s presence and nearness to you in every aspect of your life. Let’s get started…

CHAPTER 1

IT’S RECORDED

"Before the mountains were brought forth,

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God" (Ps. 90:2).

THE ABOVE PASSAGE declares the eternal and infinite person who is God. Nothing and no one is comparable to Him. He is the Almighty. He is unfathomable to the human mind and beyond our processes and reasonings. If we are to know anything about God, it will take unveiling His divinity in a manner that will help us to grasp and comprehend Him. He graciously gives us information about Himself within a collection of sixty-six books comprising the Holy Bible. All Scripture is Breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Everything He wants us to know He inspired from eternity into time, yet that doesn’t encapsulate all of God. However, the inspired Text, the Bible, provides insight into the self-existing reality of this extraordinary and all-encompassing Being.

The Bible first shows God in the context of the Creator (Gen. 1:1-26). He created everything from stellar space (including galaxies and stars) to the planets, with Earth being His masterpiece. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork (Ps. 19:1). He sets the stage for the existence of creation and upholds or sustains it by His power. Nothing can exist apart from Him because He is the source and origin of where all life begins. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:36). Yet, beyond all living matter, nothing can compare to the highest form of created life, more significant than human beings.

We are carriers of the immaterial (eternal) world. God said within His Deity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) (I John 5:7), Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… (Gen. 1:26). How is this possible that we are fashioned in such a manner as described in the previous statement? It is due to the life-giving substance of the human spirit that places us in an eternal state. Scripture records both our physical and infinite composition in Genesis 2:7, …The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. All three aspects of our human structure are captured in the previous passage, the dust (physicality), the breath from God (spirit), and becoming a living creature (soul) with the capability of thinking, feeling, and choosing.

The most mesmerizing part is that God, as Creator, gives us the substance of eternity, the spirit and the soul. These immaterial components (of spirit and soul) are the real you, while your body, as your read, is made of dust. It is incredible how God fashioned us and how we have an extraordinary capacity to correspond with Him. Additionally, we can ration, feel, and choose, which speaks to the great wisdom of God. The psalmist declares, I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well (Ps. 139:14). There is nothing about us that our Creator left out, and He gave us precisely what we need to exist with a dependency on Him.

Consider the rest of the creation and how each part has its make-up and functionality. The sun, moon, and stars each have a purpose, along with the animals, agriculture, and the waters. The design of the Earth and the specifications laid out speak to God’s self-existing and majestic nature. He is utterly breathtaking and beyond comprehension. Yet, He avails Himself to us in the most unique and practical ways that we may correspond with Him. God involves Himself in His prize creation and is up to date with our affairs. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is absent from the Almighty. He declares, "Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? (Jer. 23:23).

I must admit that the ability to be continually present without a yesterday or tomorrow to consider is utterly fascinating to my mind. The fact that God is in every moment of my life is comforting and erases all doubt about ever being alone. Although I cannot experience Him tangibly, I know He is with me because I believe it! The creation testifies to His intelligence, and my human structure speaks to His meticulous attention to every detail. I truly believe with all of my heart that He is with me at this very moment, guiding my hands to arrange this manuscript so that someone will get a hold of it and consider His graciousness and goodness. There aren’t enough words to explain our God, but I think you get the jest of it. He transcends time and is beautiful beyond description. Everything about Him is poured into the closeness that He shares with us. He is always present. He leaves nothing out. Every detail about our heavenly Father is exhibited within the context of His nature, presence, voice, and actions.

His Nature

Everything created has qualities, tendencies, and behaviors that characterize itself. The distinguishing traits help us to identify what it is and its functionality. Well, God is no different. His infinite nature depicts who He is and how he acts as an eternal Being. We understand that God is spirit (John 4:24); however, He thinks, feels, and decides as we do within our personalities.

On the other hand, He is significantly and eternally higher with divine attributes that comprise His person. Without those distinguishing qualities, we could not understand or know Him. For example, those who know you do so because of a unique set of characteristics that make you who you are. Otherwise, how could they identify or set you apart from others?

So it is with God. We learn and discover Him according to how He manifests Himself. That is, what He tells and shows us. God’s divine nature is flawless, perfect, and strikingly upright; He is holy and filled with all knowledge and wisdom. Everything that comes from Him is a result of His divinity and goodness. For example, when creating the Earth, God saw that it was good, an extension of His beneficence. As stated, God is spirit. Nothing and no represents Him. He is before all created things in heaven and upon earth. Not even the angelic hosts can mirror what God is like. He is self-existent and sustaining. One of a kind!

One extraordinary aspect of God’s nature is the strength of His emotions. Yes, God has feelings. One in particular that captures my heart is His love. The Bible says, … God is love (I John 4:8). Typically, love shows or displays affection toward a particular object; however, according to Scripture, God is love. It’s His nature to love without a cause or reason. He needs no motivation to shower unmerited and unconditional feelings toward us. He’s free to love without any inhibitions or reservations.

The highest act of His love was demonstrated in and through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). He offers His Son on our behalf regardless of our response to receiving Him (Christ) or not. I don’t think that I could give someone so precious and dear to my heart unless I knew it would be welcomed. That’s why God’s nature is superior to ours. I couldn’t do it. But He did it to bring us closer to Him.

It says in I John 4:9-10, In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Notice the phrase, …not that we have loved God but that he loved us, which says it all. Once we truly grasp the reality of God loving us, it will silence all insecurities and doubts about being loved ever again. I cannot fathom how someone of His