God Is With You: Confident Assurance for Triumphant Living

By YP Accilien

God is With You is an empowering, faith-based, Christian book, whose message can inspire individuals and encourage them to overcome life's quotidian challenges through faith.  Its theme revolves around the idea of a loving God who is always nigh.  The topics and thoughts

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bookside Press
• Release date: Jul 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781990695704

YP Accilien

Y.P. Accilien is a Christian author whose passion for writing compels her to write messages of hope and inspiration for today's world. She remains committed to deliver uplifting and inspirational content on every page of each book she writes, aiming to make a difference in the lives of others.Y.P. has served as a Women's Ministry Leader in New Jersey, and as of today, she continues inspiring and motivating people through her public ministry as a speaker as well as a freelance writer.In addition to buying YP Accilien's books, you can support this author's endeavors by way of praying for her ministry, reading her literary works, and recommending them to other people. Please feel free to visit her website at www.yacciliens.com.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to the memory and legacy of my mother, Ramona, a noble woman who dedicated her life to love, help, and encourage people who needed physical, emotional, or spiritual help. Growing up, my mother’s teachings, and guidance shaped my life and made me who I am.

Today, I am following on her footsteps to continue this labour of love that our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted unto us. Thus, I also dedicate this book to everyone who is going through difficult situations and wants to break free from emotional and spiritual burdens. I hope that the contents in this book could encourage its readers and help them embrace confident assurances for triumphant living.

Disclaimer

This book includes excerpts from the book He Is with You, Unleash Your Faith and Conquer Your Worst Situations, which was originally published by WestBow Press (2015).

The illustrations in this book are original pictures provided by the author. Excluding the cited material, all the narrative and illustrations have been taken from original sources, and apart from the cited material, all the content in this book reflects the thoughts as well as personal and practical experiences of its author. Enjoy it!

Acknowledgments

Like every living creature on this planet, I too tumble and tussle with my joys and sorrows, ups and downs, failures, and triumphs. Through it all, I have found out that my loving God has touched, inspired, uplifted, and strengthened me amidst my difficulties. For this reason, I owe it to God and myself to share these insights with others.

Peace and happiness can be hard to come by nowadays for many. However, everyone can find spiritual motivation for confident assurance within the covers of this book.

I firmly believe that these words can encourage every reader, especially people who are going through troubling circumstances. The Lord can use the words in this book to bless individuals with comforting hopes as well as spiritual and emotional support.

For this reason, I gladly acknowledge the role that God Almighty has played in the writing of this book. He motivated and inspired me to write each word in this book. Therefore, I choose to honor the Lord and give Him all the credit for this work. I also want to thank Ms. Abbey Espinosa for helping me edit this book. I pray that the Lord may continue to bless Abbie all the readers of this book.

Foreword

The world gives us endless reasons to be fearful today for tomorrow. Our fears were once limited to what emerged from our personal experiences.

With our growing access to news in every corner of the world, we are burdened with the conflicts near and far. Though knowing means we may pray, it is still heavy on the heart. The professional media, together with social media, bombards us with grim reminders of these fearful occurrences.

It is in the context of mankind’s ever-increasing reasons to struggle with troubles and fears that Y.P. Accilien reminds us of all that the only possibility of freedom from suffering and fear resides in a faith relationship with God.

Drawing upon the experiences of many whose faith in God freed them from troubles and filled them with hope, enabling them to cope with the fear-producing challenges of life, she comfortingly assures us that we too can go beyond the hurdles and live triumphantly in the midst of the terrible things happening all around the world.

Accilien uses simple language to express profound thoughts. She prods and probes at the interface between our innermost sense of being and the outside world which we encounter daily.

In doing so, she provides practical recommendations and solutions, conveying hope and solace to everyone who, at times, feels overwhelmed by the demands of modern life. She confidently asserts that if we establish and maintain a trusting relationship with God, we can indeed move forward in faith.

Orlando Moncrieffe, PhD

Introduction

Every morning, we wake up to another day filled with surprising events both good and bad. We engage in numerous activities while we are at work, school, home, church, and many other settings.

We take care of family matters, ministries, and other affairs. Hence, as the days unfold, our lives get congested with even more activities and things that could make our experiences more peaceful and pleasant, or more difficult and stressful.

Our hearts can also be touched by the things that happen to the people around us. Consequently, what happens to others may affect us as well. This is the driving force that compels people to cheer for their winning teams at the game or empathize with total estrangers whose lives have been affected by unfortunate occurrences.

A mix of panic and fears is what is left in the aftermath of unwanted circumstances and heartbreaking events. I am very sensitive to these things. So, I feel empathy for all the people whose sufferings have been caused for unwanted and tragic events.

For this reason, I have answered to the call of uplifting people’s lives with inspirational words of hope and faith. Writing this book allows me to do this. Before I started to write, I asked God to impress upon my mind with the words He wanted me to use. I am certain He heard my prayer.

This book contains insightful information that can lead readers into a path of confidence in God’s promises. I believe the Lord knows what we are going through and walks by our side each moment of our lives.

This concept of an ever-present God is embedded in all pages of this book. The Lord has spoken to us His promises of hope, strength, and peace. All these promises point to the same central idea: The Lord is with us, upholding us, keeping us, blessing us, and helping us get through our situations. This, my friend, is the main theme of this book.

Those who walk with the Lord by faith have the privilege of discovering that God has given us wonderful promises for every situation. Many of them are cited in this book, but all of them are written in the Bible.

I encourage you to learn more about the promises of God. One good way to get started is by reading this little book. So, start your reading journey. Discover the plan and purpose God has for every season in your life. Then, move forward in faith, be blessed and be a blessing!

The Author

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9

Chapter 1

He Is with You

I have, at times, felt profoundly overwhelmed by my adverse circumstances and in my oblivion, I have come to believe that I was alone and forsaken in the world. I am not the only person who has ever felt this way.

Thousands of years before the birth of Christ, the ancient Israelites felt terrified by the Canaanite people. Then, speaking on God’s behalf, their leader Moses comforted these people with the assurance of an ever-present and caring God that was always by their side. Tenderly, the beloved leader spoke to his people and told them:

Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31: 6).

Several millennia later, a noble young man wrote the beloved song that is known by many as The Psalm of the Shepherd. Describing his own feelings, the young Cantor wrote:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I will not be in need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul.

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For the sake of His name.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me.

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

Certainly, goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life,

And my dwelling will be in the house of the LORD forever.

(Psalm 23 NASB).

This psalm is one of the most beautiful poems ever written in religious literature. It is about the confidence of a sheep in his shepherd. The song begins with the expression the Lord is my shepherd. Does this mean that this song was written by a sheep? How could this be?

Sheep do no write poems. Then, who wrote this one? It was David, the noble shepherd boy of Israel. As he pastored his flock, this young man took time to meditate in God’s love and tender care for His creatures.

His familiarity with sheep flocks led this young shepherd to compare his relationship to the Lord to that of a shepherd and his sheep. This was a picture he could relate to. David thought of himself as a sheep led by God, his good Shepherd.

Now, let us imagine ourselves as sheep of a flock. Can we do that? I do not know about you, but I cannot do it. Personally, I think that this type of mental exercise could be a bit difficult for anyone who is not familiar with the business of tending sheep or any other type of cattle.

However, let us keep in mind that this example is based on David’s personal relationship with the Lord.

David could not imagine himself as a student because the setting and theme of his poem had nothing to do with acquiring academic knowledge. The guide in the poem could not have been a parent because David was a child, not a father. Hence, his experience could not be compared to that of a parent.

The only position David could relate to as a leader was that of a shepherd. How about you? Do you have a personal relationship with God? What allegories can you use to compare your relationship with Him? Who are you, and who is the Lord in that relationship?

Whenever I think about applying this psalm to my personal life, the only thing I could use to compare my relationship with God is my motherhood. As a mother, I am related to my children as their parent, guide, and caregiver. As per my relationship with the Lord, I see God as my Father and leader of my life. This allegory makes it is easy for me to understand God’s love.

I am not a sheep farmer and know nothing about working with farm animals. Nevertheless, I have heard that sheep are very delicate animals. This narrow notion concerning sheep has broadened my understanding of what David might have been thinking about the day he wrote his pastoral song.

The expert opinion of sheep farmers and other individuals who do not work with sheep but have devoted numerous hours to researching the dynamic of farming cattle, has also helped me understand the message David was trying to convey through his lovely psalm.

In addition, I have picked up some concepts from preachers and presenters of the parable of the lost sheep.