Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
From the Spirit during a gathering of the saints in Louisville, Kentucky on July 8, 2005
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.”
Matthew 7:7
Jesus promised that if we seek, we will find, and that if we ask, it will be given, and that if we knock, it will be opened to us. We have spoken of that often, and rightly so; it is a precious promise. But the Spirit challenged us to look at those words in a new way when we were gathered together. It asked us if we loved God as He has loved us. Are we as open to His heart’s desire as He always has been to us?
If He asks, will He receive? If He seeks, will He find? And if He knocks on the door of our hearts, will that door open to Him, as He has opened His heart’s door to us? Jesus pleaded with one group of saints, “I have been standing at the door, knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter in to him and dine with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20).
Has Jesus ever asked something of you, but not received it? Has he ever sought something from you that he did not find? Oh, how hurtful it is to consider that we may have treated our Lord that coldly! Don’t you want to give Jesus a warm reception when he comes knocking at your door?
Let us pray together to love God as He has loved us, to be as open to His requests of us as He has been toward us, as quick to respond to His desires, and as eager for a visit from Him as He is to hear from us.