Quality Time With God
Quality Time With God
By: Online Pastor Dianne Ashton
By: Online Pastor Dianne Ashton
“We Have Been Touched”
Contributor: Rev. Dianne Ashton
August 16, 2022
Jeremiah 31:3 says “The Lord hath appeared of old unto me saying, Yea I have loved thee with an everlasting Love; therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.”
We have been touched by God’s love. We must come to know in our spirit man the fullness of God’s love for us. This requires faith and us coming to love Him fully. Our simple act of faith allows us to not question God’s constant love for us, and when we come to this place in life we come to the beginning of a lifelong love story; for He is the lover of our soul and He understands us perfectly and loves us eternally.
He has this incredible and everlasting love for us. Often times the human mind cannot comprehend this kind of love. The love of man has not always been good to us and because many of us have experienced the dysfunctional love of man our emotions flicker and falter in the when it comes to love and then we try to project our fickle and fleeing feeling on to God.
God’s love is not like man’s love. God’s love for us is not based on how well we do or how badly we mess up. We must know in the spirit man that our accomplishments or the lack there of has no bearing on God’s love for us; for His love is a pure gift that flows out of His perfect righteousness and secures our connection with Him for all eternity.
Even though man’s love is an awesome love to have experienced or to be experiencing right now no man can love us like God loves us nor can any man be with us always. They will never know the intimacies of our heart, mind and spirit. God is the only One that knows everything there is to know about us therefore we do not need to work to reveal ourselves to God like we have to work and reveal ourselves to a man in order to be loved.
Somewhere in our minds and hearts we have many experiences of God’s unfailing love for us and His loving kindness towards us. We need to magnify and examine these touches of God’s love and enjoy them over and over again. This will help convince our doubting hearts that His extraordinary and undying love is really ours. Many of us have been touched by the love of man only to lose that love, but we will never lose the love that God has for us. His fingerprints of love are all over us for we have been touched by His everlasting love.
Prayer for the Week:
Most Holy and Loving Father we do not always understand why you love us so, but we are ever so thankful that you do and we simply receive and walk in that love. Your loving kindness has drawn us and Lord God your everlasting love has touched us. We see the fingerprints of your love all over us. We will meditate on your loving kindness and everlasting love towards us that we may know in our hearts that your love for is ours to behold, in Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen.
“Rest & Enjoy”
Contributor: Rev. Dianne Ashton
August 3, 2022
Psalm 62:1 says “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.” (NIV)
Our salvation comes His grace, His precious gift that frees us from our sins, because of the taking on of our punishment for our sins on the cross. We are forgiven of our sins, justified by God through faith in Jesus, declared not guilty, delivered from sin, experience new birth, receive eternal life, have a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus and receive the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He has saved us from the power and penalty of sin therefore we can rest in Him who gives us salvation.
Our soul finds rest in the Lord and our salvation comes solely from Him. It is in Him that we can lay down in peace for He is our safety. He has offered us the invitation to Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30) When tired of living a sinful life, when tired of struggling He can give us rest. We must just come to God through Christ Jesus for it is Jesus who frees us from carrying the burden of our own sin because He has already done the work for us.
When we seek God with all our heart and all our soul we will find Him. He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It must be our earnest desire to seek Him, to hunger and thirst after Him. When we own Him as Lord and Savior of our lives the Word says “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”
For as the Host High He shows Himself to be greater than any threat we will ever face, as the Almighty He shows Himself as the All Powerful One who can confront and destroy all of our enemies, as the Lord He assures us that His presence is always with us and as our God He expresses the truth that He has chosen to associate Himself with us for we trust in Him. We must make every effort to enter into the rest of the Lord, for it is in His rest that we will not perish.
Know this Ephesians 2:4-5 says “But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions, it is by grace you have been saved.” Let us just rest in and enjoy our salvation for Jesus paid it all.
Prayer of the Week:
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the precious gift of Jesus and of grace that saves us and frees us from the bondage of sin. We find rest in You and know that it is in You Lord Jesus that we lay down in peace, you are our safety and our hope and we trust in you and you alone. We take refuge in you and the finish work of the cross. We continually seek you with all our heart and soul and we find rest and take joy in our salvation, in Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen.
“Suit Up Stand Up Withstand”
Contributor: Rev. Dianne Ashton
July 19, 2022
Ephesians 6:11 says “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
As we wear the Armor of God we must use each piece properly. As we gird ourselves with the belt of truth around our waist we must daily commit ourselves to Jesus Christ as the foundation of our lives. Acknowledge that it is with His strength that we will resist the temptation to stand on any worldly foundation; for Jesus alone is our solid foundation for any situation that will arise in our lives.
On our hearts we must put on the breastplate of righteousness knowing that we can fight any battle that comes our way because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and not our own righteousness. We must declare that He is our righteousness and that through the victory on the cross we can stand victorious against any temptation, sin and attacks of the enemy.
On our feet we wear the shoes of readiness and peace. We put on the shoes of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We stand prepared by knowing Jesus in a deeper way. We let the Word of God become the guiding light for every step that we will take during the course of the day. We also, let our knowledge of the good news of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection be our daily source of peace.
Above all we must daily take the shield of faith in our Hand. It is our faith that connects us to the power of Jesus. Our faith causes us to trust in Him and His strength alone. As we rely on His power and stand in His strength we are protected from the arrows of the enemy from day to day. It is by our faith that we can go forth daily doing His will.
As we put the helmet of salvation on our heads let us remember that Jesus is our salvation and our deliverer. He will cover our mind and deliver us from sin and spiritual, physical and emotional weakness. He will strengthen us, anoint us and bring us to complete wholeness in Him.
We take the sword of the Spirit in our hand (the powerful Word of God). We take with us the living version of God’s Word (Jesus). His Word will give us wisdom that allows us to apply His Word to our life’s situations and daily troubles. Suit up, stand up and withstand!
Prayer for the Week:
Lord God prepare us to suit up, stand up and withstand all that will come our way from day to day that we may stand against the wiles of the devil. We stand on your Word and in your power and strength. We trust you and we walk in your wisdom for our faith is solely in you, in Jesus Christ name. Amen.