Knock, Knock...

It’s amazing God is giving out all kinds of free stuff through Jesus dying for our sin and we are not receiving it. Love, grace, forgiveness, life, joy, patience, all the other fruits and gifts of the spirit. And most importantly His Spirit. He’s actually letting his spirit come and live in us. He’s offering us the power of the Spirit, the same power Jesus walked around with, the same power that raised Him from the dead. He wants to give that to each of us who believe the good news, but we have to receive it. I’m not sure I quite understand it yet myself to be honest, how it works, but I know that he’s showed that his word is true and that the things Jesus said and did were true so I could receive forgiveness and salvation. He’s helped me to receive those things and he’s breaking through with his Love and His Spirit. I don’t really have words to explain that either, but in Romans 8:16 it says "the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit."(NIV) And in the NLT it says "the Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts to tell us we are children of God." And even though my mind gets fooled, the spirit always pulls my heart back. He always brings me to a place where I can receive his love. It's not always easy, sometimes it's even painful, but he always get through with His love.
Ask and you will receive, knock and the door will be open. I got this picture of God going around and setting up buckets of above all the doors. We hear him doing something so we knock and say what are you doing out there. And then he’s on the other side calling to us to go through, He dumps out a big ol’ bucket of love and the spirit and living water, it’s like lemonade for your soul. And then we’re refreshed and clean and have the power to do whatever is on the other side of the door.
But we’re afraid to open the door, what if it’s not Him calling us? What if our hair gets messed up by the water? If people see that I’m all wet and covered in Love and the Holy Spirit they’ll know Jesus loves me and I Love him and I’ll have to talk about it.
Don't be afraid. It’ll be easy. You’ll know what to say. You’ll just be like, "well God told me to go through that door and I did, but he’s funny and loves me so he set up this joke bucket and I got all wet and well... why don’t you go through the door too, he’s probably got another bucket set up by now... The spirit will give you the words to say, it’s his job not yours. It's his bucket too by the way, he's got to fill it.
We have to receive what God has for us, the Holy Spirit so we know we are children of God. We have to receive the Holy Spirit to have the power to go out and do the things God is calling us to. We have to receive the Holy Spirit to know his word is true and his love is real. We can’t keep doing it in the reverse order. We can’t keep trying the secret back door, or climbing up the fire escape so we miss the messy stuff. It’s not going to work. We can’t pretend to be the church. We can’t keep showing up on Sunday morning, singing a couple tunes, then riding the pine for the rest of the week while people around us are lost and hopeless. If we’re not calling out for and receiving and living in the love of God, people are going to walk out those doors and be lost in a world that is telling them there is no God that loves them. He does. If you know it and have received it, tell someone else so that they can know it and receive it.