June 30th, 2021
By Bob Ayers
My first experience in truly hearing of the Lord was after becoming a member of St. John's United Methodist Church. I especially remember walking hand and hand with my wife, Marjorie, on Labor Day, 1981. It seemed that Heaven opened and I was told about my acceptance into Heaven. The first blessing I remember receiving was in the love of reading the Bible every day and continually reading through it every year.
The first small groups I joined were the Prayer time on Saturdays and the Wednesday Breakfast Bible study, both of which I still attend. In 1995, while on a mission trip to Venezuela, Pastor Ed Davis gave each of us members a copy of Oswald Chamber's Daily Devotional, which I still read every day because of all the different Spiritual nuggets God is continually showing me. The sermons at St. John's are so meaningful that we then started a Sunday School class to help clarify or to gain more meaning from what had just been preached. It continues each Sunday morning.
Forty years might be a long time to some, but I get the feeling that I'm just beginning to know and understand God's gift of Grace, walking and abiding in the Spirit, and the whole Gospel message. Finding 'Rest in the Lord', allows us to increase our faith, but it takes commitment, effort and lots of time. As a new Christian, I was also a new fifth grade Sunday School teacher, studying the lesson all week and not having a clue as to what to say. As I entered the church to go to my class, the Lord would whisper, "We will do this together." In later years, in teaching the middle school lessons, the Holy Spirit again gave me each verse and idea.
God's most intimate touch to me occurred a few years ago when I was struggling with a very difficult jig-saw puzzle. The Holy Spirit conveyed a thought that I was to look for signs of His goodness in everything, every day. In putting together the jig-saw puzzle, I finally put in a piece, then I found another and I thanked Him again and again. After the third time, God allowed me to know that my joy had given Him joy. In Oswald Chamber's Devotional, he writes that God's most intimate touch is His Joy.
My first experience in truly hearing of the Lord was after becoming a member of St. John's United Methodist Church. I especially remember walking hand and hand with my wife, Marjorie, on Labor Day, 1981. It seemed that Heaven opened and I was told about my acceptance into Heaven. The first blessing I remember receiving was in the love of reading the Bible every day and continually reading through it every year.
The first small groups I joined were the Prayer time on Saturdays and the Wednesday Breakfast Bible study, both of which I still attend. In 1995, while on a mission trip to Venezuela, Pastor Ed Davis gave each of us members a copy of Oswald Chamber's Daily Devotional, which I still read every day because of all the different Spiritual nuggets God is continually showing me. The sermons at St. John's are so meaningful that we then started a Sunday School class to help clarify or to gain more meaning from what had just been preached. It continues each Sunday morning.
Forty years might be a long time to some, but I get the feeling that I'm just beginning to know and understand God's gift of Grace, walking and abiding in the Spirit, and the whole Gospel message. Finding 'Rest in the Lord', allows us to increase our faith, but it takes commitment, effort and lots of time. As a new Christian, I was also a new fifth grade Sunday School teacher, studying the lesson all week and not having a clue as to what to say. As I entered the church to go to my class, the Lord would whisper, "We will do this together." In later years, in teaching the middle school lessons, the Holy Spirit again gave me each verse and idea.
God's most intimate touch to me occurred a few years ago when I was struggling with a very difficult jig-saw puzzle. The Holy Spirit conveyed a thought that I was to look for signs of His goodness in everything, every day. In putting together the jig-saw puzzle, I finally put in a piece, then I found another and I thanked Him again and again. After the third time, God allowed me to know that my joy had given Him joy. In Oswald Chamber's Devotional, he writes that God's most intimate touch is His Joy.
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