Knock, Knock

Pastor Tony Hauck, COTRM- April 9, 2010

There are two types of knocking on doors in the New Testament. One is in Revelation 3:20, where Jesus knocks on our door. Let’s call this passive, since all we have to do is open the door when Jesus shows up.

The other is in Luke 11:9-10, where we knock on His door. We’ll call this active for obvious reasons.

Now I love when Jesus initiates spiritual activity, but I think we may be unbalanced. Our default mode seems to be to wait around for Him to do something. And when nothing happens, we spiritualize by playing the “God is sovereign” card. But consider some things He has said.

You don’t have because you don’t ask (James 4:2). Draw near to God (i.e. you go first), and He will draw near to you (James 4:8). You can’t please God unless you believe He rewards diligent seeking (Heb 11:6). Always pray (knock) persistently and don’t give up (Luke 18:1-9).

Seems to me we’re supposed to be doing most of the knocking. We need to realize that we have the power, through prayer, to stir up the activity of God. If our spiritual lives are boring, it’s not His fault.

Have you knocked on the doors of heaven recently?

At Wits End

Pastor Gary Stebbins, COTR- Melbourne, March 30, 2010

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We have all heard people say that “God is a crutch to those who are weak.” For many Christians when they hear this, the hair on the back of their neck bristles and they immediately want to defend their belief in God. “After all, just because I believe in God, that does not mean that I am a weak!” However, in one way, the statement is quite true. For those who recognize that their own strength, wisdom, and resolve are not enough turn to God. They come to the end of themselves and recognize their need for God.

To take it a step further, it is often desperation in the human heart that causes someone to cry out to God in prayer. Oswald Chambers says it like this, “It is not cowardly to pray when we are at our wits’ end; it is the only way to get in touch with reality. As long as we are self-sufficient and complacent, we don’t need to ask God for anything; we don’t want Him. It is only when we know we are powerless that we are prepared to listen to Jesus Christ and to do what He says.”

Are you experiencing difficulties in your life; does what is happening in the world today scare you? These are great reasons to turn to God in prayer.

Remember, prayer is not so much about getting something from God, as much as it is getting to know God. Prayer is the food that nourishes the life of God that is within us. We must pray if we want our relationship with God to flourish.

Again, in the words of Oswald Chambers, Christians “need to concentrate more on how prayer changes us and less on how it changes things. Prayer is getting ourselves attuned to God, not getting God attuned to us. It is developing the life of God in us, not self-development.”

As God said to Paul the Apostle, “my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Paul’s response to God’s Word, “therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

I am not ashamed to say, “I am weak and therefore I need God.” In my weakness I pray and seek the face of my God. Prayer is a vehicle through which I get to know God and the power of His life that lives within me. Prayer brings me into alignment with God’s will and releases the provision of heaven for my life.

When I am weak, I PRAY, and He proves Himself strong. What about you?