“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20.
In the last part (Part VIII) it was briefly mentioned that spiritual exercises were an affront, even blasphemous, to God when they tried to by-pass or do away with the Lord Jesus, or when they are used to earn spiritual brownie points as they were taken to greater and greater (and more harmful) extremes.
However, there are a number of spiritual exercises that are good to do, and that are beneficial when it comes to seeking Jesus and enjoying Him – they are all ones that we can find examples of in our Bibles. One of those greatly beneficial, and greatly underused, spiritual exercises is the lost art of not just seeking Jesus, but of seeking to remain with Him also.
In Psalm 84 we find the Psalmist exclaiming, “A day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalm 84:10).
A doorkeeper, of course, remains at the outermost fringe of God’s dwelling place. It is the place furthest away from God’s inner sanctuary whilst still remaining in God’s house.
To be a doorkeeper in God’s house is to be given a place of tremendous blessing and privilege, but take a look again at Jesus’ offer in Revelation 3:20: we are invited to come and dine with Jesus, to eat at His table whilst enjoying His company… if we would only let Him!
We must remember that this offer is given to the Laodicean church – to Christians yes, but to luke-warm Christians! They are a church in danger of being spat out of the mouth of God. We can know, then, that this offer isn’t to be earned. It’s an offer of grace and as such the only qualification necessary isn’t that we feel we deserve to come and dine with Jesus, but that He has made the offer; that He has invited us to come…
And He has made the offer, to even the worst of Christians, to us wherever our spiritual standing might be – whether warm or cold; strong or weak; full or empty.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
We only have to look at the example of Mary, who when simply sat at the feet of Jesus was reprimanded by her sister for neglecting to help serve, yet was commended by her Lord as “choosing what is better” (Luke 10:42).
Or we can look at the example of Jacob, who, when in the presence of the pre-incarnated Jesus, wrestled with the Lord for a whole night until he had been granted a blessing from Jesus’ hand (Genesis 32:22-32).
How is it possible for us to remain with Jesus; to prolong our time in His presence; to both let Him in and then dine with Him?
We find communion with Jesus, firstly, in His Word. It is through His Word that He speaks with us. Have you ever tried reading a Bible passage, and then spending some time slowly praying over it and through it, responding to Jesus as He is speaking to you, and seeking to understand better what He is saying to you?
God also graciously communes with us through the means of preaching (when it is His Word that is truthfully and faithfully expounded). We also seek to come into God’s presence when we worship Him in unison with our brothers and sisters at our churches.
Once, when worshipping in a church located in a city centre, when leaving the church after the service had ended I overheard a young person say to their friend, “Come on, we can go shopping now!” Talk about making a swift exit from Jesus’ dining table…
Have you ever considered how you can prolong that time of worship back at home – whether alone, or with family or friends?
How often have you tried wrestling with God, like Jacob – when praying yet perhaps feeling distant from God so you wrestle and wrestle and wrestle with God, in prayer and in pouring over His Word, until you have received the blessing from Jesus’ hand? When talking about lost arts, here is another one!
One of my personal favourite ways of remaining in Jesus’ presence, especially after a time of feeling Him draw near, is to spend some time listening to and singing through hymns and worship songs. This is a wonderful way of saying to Jesus, “I love You, and I don’t want You to go!”
There may be other ways that you can think of that might be especially helpful to you as well.
But why is it important to desire to not just find Jesus but remain with Him also?
Not so long ago my wife spent a few days in hospital (nothing too serious, thankfully!). While she was away I loved her the same, and she loved me the same, but I still longed for to come home. I was grateful for the brief visits that were possible, but they just weren’t enough. Why not?
Well, its quite simple. I wanted to be with her and remain with her – to be with her for as long as possible (although with us both being human some time apart can also be useful as well!). I'm not sure if I'll get a kiss or a kick when she reads this, but, quite simply, the best times with people w love are the times that we spend together with them.
It’s because Jesus loves us that He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
What will your love for Jesus lead you to do in response to His love for you?