Open door

Jesus is Knocking at Your Door

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20 KJV

I enjoy watching Police Dramas and the popular show Bluebloods is my favorite. I especially love scenes when Detective Danny Reagan stands outside the bad guy’s door shouting. “Police! Open Up or we’re coming in!” Then two seconds later he kicks the door open yelling, “Put your hands where I can see them!”

Photo by kat wilcox on Pexels.com

In some ways Jesus Christ is like Danny. He has collected all the evidence against us and has obtained a search warrant from the Judge of the universe. But there the similarity ends, because Jesus hasn’t come to arrest us and His plan is not to slap us in handcuffs and drag us down to the station. Even though He is able to knock down even the heaviest door, Jesus chooses to stand outside and knock. That gives us hope in three ways. First, we know that God has our address. He knows where we are and cares enough to come to our door. He has not forgotten us. Secondly, Jesus wants to enter our home. He has been knocking since He came to the manger of Bethlehem and He kept at it all the way to the cross of Calvary. Now He wants to sit down at our table – the one with a few spaghetti sauce stains and a chip or two on its corners. He didn’t come to see how perfect our house is. He came for us, and He is waiting just outside this morning to see if we will hear His voice and open our door.

Welcome Home!

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When we are praying and asking God for help it is a great comfort to know that He is not irritated or annoyed by our requests. We are not bothering him. He is not too busy doing something more important. In fact

1509619173182_image.jpgtoday’s scripture reminds us that in fact God is saying, “I’m so glad you came and asked!”

He is glad because when we ask our Father for help, we are recognizing Him as the one who can provide our needs. God is not a cheap skate. He is not a miser sitting on His throne counting the eternal gold of heaven. God is the biggest giver in the universe and is delighted to promise that we will receive.

God is happy when we seek. He sent stars for wise men, dreams to men like Joseph, and angels to women like Mary. He wants us to find what we are looking for. Jesus said that He was the way to the Father because He had come from heaven and He knew His way back home!

One afternoon when I was working as a salesman I arrived for an appointment with a customer who was expecting me. As I knocked on the door I heard loud barking and the sound of dogs running. In my mind I pictured Doberman Pincers lunging for my throat, so I grabbed onto a porch pillar and jumped up on the railing. As I nervously prepared to fend off the attack, two happy looking Golden retrievers came bounding around from the back of the house and up the stairs wagging their tails. Next, the front door opened to reveal a very surprised  and amused customer! That may be just a funny story but it is exactly the way many of us come to God. We are afraid of what might happen when we knock,. We are not sure what He will do with us and anything unexpected we regard as an impending attack. But God is not angry with us for coming. God is willing to give us all that we ask. He is waiting just inside the door ready to open if we will only knock!

A Door of Faith

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Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Acts 14:27IMG_3249

A door is something that keeps things out. A door is something that keeps things in. A door is meant to be locked. A door is meant to be opened. Every home has a doorway.  When our doors are locked it gives us a safe place to live. Our home is also our base of operations from which we can choose to go out into life.

So often when we say things like, “God opened the door” or “God closed the door” we are speaking of personal opportunities granted or denied. But in Acts, Paul reports back to his home church that God had opened a door of faith for others, through his ministry. Paul’s calling was to help people find their way through the door. It wasn’t about Paul’s opportunity or about Paul’s success, it was about God opening opportunity for others to find eternal life.

A door is the difference between a home and a monument. Paul saw that God wanted to use him to build a heavenly home for others, not a monument to his own success. Today there is still a door of faith that God is giving. We get to choose whether we will lock the door and stay inside or walk through to what we can believe by faith is on the other side!