04 December 2022
Love Changes Everything
02 December 2022
Open the Door to Jesus
When we hear an unexpected knock at our front door, it is natural for our minds to quickly determine the proper course of action. The first consideration when it comes to opening the door concerns our current personal state and appearance. The second may be the state of our house. If we are in the middle of cleaning or things are in disarray, we may choose not to answer or open the door. There may be a situation, depending on who is at the door, that we would exit the door or close it behind us. This way we can politely engage with our visitor without the welcome offer of hospitality. There are those who invite people in and apologise profusely the place is not immaculate, and others that seem to pay the condition no mind whatsoever. Our homes and our hearts are personal things we all handle differently.
Another reason we might not open the door is because we do not recognise the person and do not want to converse with strangers or sales people. Even when we know the person who knocks at the door it does not guarantee we are inclined to open the door. Like the bride in the Song of Solomon, we might not immediately open the door because it does not fit in with our plans. When her beloved husband came to the door and knocked, the bride lamented she had just bathed and climbed into bed. It was an inconvenience to shed the covers, put on a robe, and get up go to open the door. In the song after awhile she decided she would open the door only to find her beloved had departed and no one was there.
In Revelation 3, Jesus describes Himself standing at the door of the church of Laodicea and knocking, calling out to those inside. Jesus said in Revelation 3:19-20, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." It is possible for people who know and believe in Jesus, genuine believers, to ignore Jesus at the door. We can be more focused on how presentable we are rather than His worthiness to be joyfully welcomed as our Saviour. It is good for us to be zealous in our repentance for sin even as Zacchaeus was when Jesus came into His life and volunteered to dine with him. The chief tax collector responded joyfully and immediately offered to give half of his goods to the poor and if he had swindled anyone to return four-fold.
When we open the door of our hearts to Jesus, He comes in and contributes all that is needed for our forgiveness and cleansing from sin. He does not condemn us but works to change us from within. I remember when my mum visited my house and as we were talking she was putting away cutlery and casually pulled out the plastic tray and gave it a good clean. This was done cheerfully and without censure, a beautiful picture of the cleansing work Jesus does in our hearts and minds when we simply let Him in and fellowship with Him. As long as we hide behind closed doors and block His entry, we deny Him and ourselves the opportunity for growth in our relationship. Praise the LORD Jesus loves us, stands at the door and knocks, calling out our name as His beloved brethren. Let's open the door and welcome Jesus into our lives for His glory.
01 December 2022
God's Purposes and Prayer
"It is a transforming experience when we realize that God wants to work through us to accomplish His work and goals, particularly through our prayers. God does not do anything apart from His people. Certainly, we have the storms and hurricanes and fire and all of that. But when God wants to accomplish His purpose and goal, He always does it through His people...Moses did not have what he thought he needed to do what God was calling him to do....
That is the problem with Christians today. They think God is interested in their education and skills in that the more they have of these, the more God can use them. However, God cannot accomplish His goals through our abilities alone. He can only accomplish His purposes through us when we yield ourselves completely to Him. It is only when I as a Christian surrender everything to God, and hold on to nothing bad, that He can accomplish His work through me...God send David against Goliath to show that He uses people regardless of the equipment they have. David's victory over Goliath wasn't David's victory; it was God's victory, without question. God's strength is not in our weapons....
Another mistake many Christians make is to believe God wants to use their past to get a present victory. God does not give us a reservoir of wisdom and power. If He did, it would soon be stagnant. God does not come to a man and pipe him full of wisdom and then say, "If you get in any trouble, come see me or call me up and pray, but in the meantime, you have the whole cistern full of power. You draw on that wisdom because it's yours." God never did it that way. Instead, God gives a man a word of wisdom and give to him power, but God is the power in that man. He is the word of wisdom in that man. It is God working in the man, not the man working. God becomes wisdom to us and becomes power to us....
The Church of God is going to bless, and the Christians whom God is going to bless will be those who have come to the end of their hoarded resources. Then they will experience the grace of God in their lives and ministries. God can only begin to work when we have come to the end of our resources and have nothing to fall back on. People cannot build the Church. It takes the Holy Spirit to work in a man who has surrendered everything and allowed God to do the work through the ministry of prayer. God is not building His Church simply to have a religious organization." (Tozer, A. W., and James L. Snyder. Going Higher with God in Prayer: Cultivating a Lifelong Dialogue. Bethany House Publishers, a Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022. selections from pages 133-137)