5-17-2018

Good Morning All,

         Revelation 3:20; “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

     Paul McCartney sang about “someone knocking at the door, somebody’s ringing the bell, open the door and let him in.”  This is a lyric that, I think, proves the point that once you are so famous and rich you can sing whatever you want and people will buy it.  That, however; is a different devotion.  This one is about opening the door.  The phrase “opening the door” is often a euphemism for opening up our lives, our hearts and our deepest core being to someone else.

    This step is often the most difficult to accomplish.  When I meet with folks in some sort of a counselling setting, the most important and difficult step is to get them to open up and speak the truth to me.  If we withhold what we are really thinking, feeling or experiencing, it is difficult to deal with the problems we face.  Often times, it is the time we spend trying to build up trust that makes or breaks a counselling session.  If the person does not trust me enough to be honest, we usually don’t get far.  Not surprising, the same thing is true of our prayer life.

     There was a Norwegian theologian named Ole Hallesby who wrote that prayer is basically opening our hearts to Jesus.  Prayer, he wrote, is basically opening the door (our heart) to Jesus.  Prayer, true prayer, is honest.  It is an honest opening up of our heart to Jesus.  If we think about it in these terms, it can really turn our prayer life on its ear.  When we say, I don’t know how to pray, are we really saying, “I don’t trust Jesus to know this about me?”  True prayer is the opening of our deepest fears, our darkest worries and our most intense feelings to God.  When prayer is described in the Bible, it is as if the body of the person is sliced open and his whole insides are on display for all to see (think psalms 32 or 51).  It is this idea that we want to bring to our prayer life.

    Jesus stands at the door and offers to come in to those who will open their heart, who will have full confidence in his love and mercy to provide relief for our pain, our sorrows, our worries and our desires.  He is waiting, knowing full well what you are experiencing. He knows your pain, he knows what you are living with or without.  He knows your emptiness and he wants to fill it.  He wants to fill the void in your heart with his love and his mercy.  He wants you to experience his peace, his hope and his joy.  We can do this by opening the door and letting Jesus in.  Pray to Jesus that this is my pain, this is my fear, this is what keeps me up at night.

   Jesus stands ready to come into your life to give you hope; hope for a better tomorrow.  Trust in Jesus’ great mercy to keep you safe.

Lord Jesus, we open our hearts to you and seek your comfort.  We fear so much as our heart is filled with worry.  Still our cries and heal our souls that we may live in peace.  Strengthen our faith, enliven our hearts and bring peace to our spirit.  In your beloved name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret