God sometimes demands entrance into our lives at the thickest walls of resistance. That is something I have discovered over the years as a pastor. If we give Him entrance there, then I guess He has our lives, our hearts. When I was a younger minister I often casually dismissed people’s difficulties or reasons for reluctance in coming to Christ, in order to “help” them do so. For example, if  they raised smoking  or drinking  as a reason why they could not come to Christ, I would knock that out of the way as a non valid and unnecessary reason for hesitation. I would tell them that Christ was far more interested in other aspects of their lives than that. These could be taken care of in due course. I have come to believe that though on occasion my approach may well have been right, it was probably wrong more often than I realised. Christ may indeed have been knocking on the thickest most well barred door of defiance and resistance which I was dismissing as an irrelevance. They realised it and I did not. What seems a non issue for one person may be a very real issue for another.

I found myself thinking tonight of the same sort of thing in relation to those who are already on the road of Christ. The beginning of next phase of divine purpose for us, in us or through us, may well depend on us dealing with something in our lives that even other believers would dismiss as an irrelevance, and put down to us having an over sensitive and faulty conscience. They might even  sincerely try and “help” us by suggesting we were suffering from the influence of a legalistic spirit of religion,  which we should not listen to and resist in the Name of Christ.

Believer, is Christ standing with a fresh commission, rivers of renewal, fresh purpose in His hands outside a well defended door? Don’t presume that you can invite him in through another door. You cannot tell Him which door you want Him to use. He is the Lord of the manor He has been gifted  by the Father and has also bought with His own blood. We are doubly His and doubly not our own. He decides what door to use. Don’t presume either you have the luxury of time to answer His call, “Open to me.” You may rise to open the door and find that the One you genuinely love is gone. The moment has passed and you may have to go searching and seeking for what He was offering. That can mean a purpose being delayed for years which could have been fulfilled in days; all because of what happened in one moment of choice concerning one issue that seems not to bother any other person close to you, but for you has felt like sitting on a pin.

I found myself strangely challenged by these words from Psalm 119 verse 50 a day or two ago:

“I have chosen to be faithful.”

God Bless

Kenny