Time Out for God
Devotional Ministry
By Danna Appleby
God’s Amazing Love
Listen to Amazing Love:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtF_8ZGbgZ8&feature=related
I pray that out of His glorious riches He may
strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being
rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints,
to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to
know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God. (Eph. 3:14-16 NIV)
Years ago when I first began
reading the Word of God, the Lord directed me to a study about His love. It was as if He wanted me to see Him as the
God of love He truly is. After all
Scripture tells us that, “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
Even though I had been raised
in a Christian home and always attended church, I never fully understood
God’s love until many years later. At
the time, I seemed to hear a lot about God’s anger instead of His lovingkindness;
a lot about hell and not enough about heaven. God wants us to see Him as being about love, compassion and
mercy. Of course, we must remember
that as long as we’re walking in the light of the Lord, we will receive those
blessings, but if we are not, we need to be concerned about His judgment.
With guidance by the Holy
Spirit, my study went on for a long time. While I was learning, God was at work on my character. Actually, He
had a lot of shaping to do in me because old mindsets had to go. As I studied, my eyes were opened to the endless
love the Lord had for me and His people.
The Lord is still teaching me
that His love surrounds those who fear Him.
Many
are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man
who trusts in Him. (Psalm 32:10 NIV)
Each day, He reassures and
gives me hope. I know I can put my
trust in His unfailing love and that’s why I surrendered everything to
Him. His will became more important
than mine.
When I look back at that time
of consecration, I realize how His love transformed me as I opened my heart
to Him. He softened it in a way no one
else could. It was a pivotal point
because God’s love is very powerful. When we surrender to Him, God will
change even the coldest of hearts and mine had been like one big iceberg.
When God does His
transformation, an individual is never the same. God won me over because of His deep love
for me and I became even more determined to live for Him. I decided there was
no turning back. Sometimes His love
humbled me to tears. In fact,
sometimes I wept bitter tears of sorrow for past actions and words I had
spoken. That’s God at work. Through it
all, I believe God wanted me to see Him in a different light than I ever had
and His will was definitely accomplished.
Since then I have wondered
what I would have done if the Father had not shown His love for me. I feel as if the Lord reached down, pulled
me to safety and touched the core of my being. Where would I be if He had not made me new
and free in Christ? Only He knows. Everything changed because of the Father’s
love, mercy and grace. Now, Christ is
the Center of my joy and my heart can sing in victory!
The Lord loves us with the
most amazing love and draws us to Himself with His lovingkindness. His Spirit longs for each of us to come to
Him. That’s how much He cares.
“I
have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, with lovingkindness have
I drawn you.” (Jer. 31:3)
Another thing, God cares about
what we’re going through. He cares when you’re suffering from physical or
emotional pain, a broken heart, or wounds that never seem to heal. Possibly
harsh words have been spoken to you, but God sees those tears in your eyes.
His deep love and compassion is for you.
God cares if you have food for
your table and clothes for your family. After all, He is the Good Shepherd.
He cares if you’ve lost your job or even lost your way. Whatever is
happening, He cares about what concerns you because He loves you.
God sees us with eyes of love
in spite of what we’ve done. In spite
of our selfishness. In spite of our
weakness. In spite of our pride. In spite of our unfaithfulness. In spite of our sin. Through it all, He
loves us and wraps His loving arms around us. God asks you to seek Him while He may be found and repent of all sin
so you can live for Him each day. Sin
will keep you apart from our loving God and there is no other way. Sin will never enter heaven so we must ask
the Lord to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and stay pure before
Him. God wants you to become His own
and become known as His very own child.
How great is the love the Father has lavished
on us, that we should be called children of God. (1 John 3:1)
How can we really know that God has lavished His love on
us? It all hinges on the cross, death
and resurrection of Jesus. The Father
sent His pure and holy Son down to the world to be born and then to die the
most horrific death all because of love.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for
us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:21 NKJV)
Jesus knew He was going to have to suffer death on a cross. Even though He did not want to have to die,
He submitted totally to the will of His Father. The Father did not want His
Son to have to die either, but without the shedding of blood there can be no
remission of sin. (Heb. 9:22)
There was no other way for redemption to be accomplished but
through the shed Blood of Jesus and He freely laid down His life for us.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay
down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13)
Jesus came to die for the sins of every man, woman, boy and girl
ever born. He took the weight of our
sin upon Himself and became the ultimate sacrifice once for all because of
God’s love for us.
By that will we have been sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. (Heb. 10:10)
There is someone reading this
message who needs to know that God truly loves you. You may be feeling as if God has deserted
you and doesn’t care. Perhaps, you are
wondering where He is and why He isn’t helping you. You may want to give up on God altogether,
but I encourage you to wait on Him and He will see you through. You may be feeling alone because your
dearest loved one has left you, but God is with you. He is there to help you if you will call
upon His name. He is waiting for you
with outstretched arms, but asks you to make the first move toward Him
because He doesn’t force us.
If you are having doubts,
start speaking encouraging faith-filled words. Believe and proclaim aloud, “God loves me
beyond measure. God wants the best for me. I am highly favored in the sight of God. I am healed in Jesus’ name. He proved His love for me at
At this moment, I encourage
you to get to know the Lord. Learn of
His character and partake of His goodness. Once you do, you will enjoy the amazing love of God.
O
taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who trusts in
Him. (Psalm 34:8 KJV)
Prayer: Father, I come to You, the One so precious,
full of love, mercy and grace. Thank
You for caring for us like helpless lambs which You keep close to Your
heart. Thank You for Your love. Thank You for sending Your Son to die for
our sins. Thank You for the stripes He
took on his back for our healing. Thank You for the blood that streamed down for the cleansing of
sin. Thank You for the nails He took
in His hands and feet. Thank You for
His death and resurrection. Forgive us
of all of our sins. Help us live a
holy life, pure and blameless. Help us
turn from all sin and walk in victory from this day forward. Help us walk in the fullness of the love of
Christ and we will live with You forever and ever. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Amazing Love
(By:
Graham Kendrick)
My Lord, what
love is this that pays so dearly Chorus:
Amazing love oh what sacrifice
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