As we begin to wrap up our week on seeking the face of God, today let’s explore how we can invite him into our lives and experience the intimate relationship we all long for.
God is a gentleman. He doesn’t barge into our lives uninvited but instead waits patiently for us to open up our hearts to him. As we begin to wrap up our week on seeking the face of God, today let’s explore how we can invite him into our lives and experience the intimate relationship we all long for.
“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”
Revelation 3:20
In the Keble College chapel on the campus of Oxford University is a painting created by the famous artist Holman Hunt.
The masterpiece is titled “The Light of the World.” It brings to life Jesus’ declaration to the church at Laodicea in Revelations 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.”
As Hunt depicts the scene, Jesus stands at a door, lantern in hand. Vines are growing on the ground with unclaimed fruit at Jesus’ feet. The painting is stunning in its precision.
However, it is missing one detail: the door has no handle on Jesus’ side.
The reason is simple: the handle of our heart is on our side of the door. Jesus must stand at the door and knock. Only when we choose to open the door can we experience the fullness of his presence.
The good news is, when we open the door, God promises that he “will” come in and eat with us. It’s not that he simply “could” or he “might,” but Jesus wants us to have an intimate, transforming, daily relationship with him. He wants us to experience the joy of fellowship with our Savior.
In fact, he is knocking at the door of your heart right now.
Scripture promises us in James 4:8: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” And David, the psalmist, said of our Lord, “Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lᴏʀᴅ, have not forsaken those who seek you” (Psalm 9:10).
Scripture assures us that “The Lᴏʀᴅ is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (Lamentations 3:25). And we are told in Psalms, “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lᴏʀᴅ lack no good thing” (Psalm 34:10).
Jesus’ promise is clear: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8). We are not waiting on God—he is waiting on us.
A small girl and her father once stood before Hunt’s painting at Keble College. They admired it for many minutes. Then the girl turned to her father and asked, “Daddy, did he ever get in?”
God is standing at the door of your heart today. Let him in as we spend time in guided prayer.
today’s devotional is written by Jim Denison
1. Reflect on your Savior’s desire for fellowship with you.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
2. Take time to experience his presence. Intentionally open the “door” of your heart to him. Welcome him into your life so you can have an intimate relationship with your heavenly Father.
“Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).
3. Choose to make intimacy with Jesus a lifestyle. Think about how you can invite him into your life throughout your day. Where can you find small moments to reconnect with him in the midst of today’s activities?
“May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is great!’” (Psalm 70:4).
In a sermon, Charles Spurgeon observed, “The sacred promises, though in themselves most sure and precious, are of no avail for the comfort and sustenance of the soul unless you grasp them by faith, plead them in prayer, expect them by hope, and receive them with gratitude.”
Of all God’s promises, the promise of his presence is foundational to the rest. So, when you open the door of your heart to your Savior, invite others to join you. Make time to experience him together in community and in worship. He will speak to you through your fellow believers and to them through you.
As the “body of Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:27), you will experience more fully the fullness of Christ. And you will answer Jesus’ prayer that his followers “may all be one” (John 17:21), to the glory of God the Father.
Extended reading: Ephesians 4
“May all be one” (John 17:21), to the glory of God the Father.
