Doors and Gateways

Doorway to Powderham Castle by Paul Collings

Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Prayer-time is never wasted. Good things come in prayer even if they are maybe not what we asked for. Prayer opens the heart for good things from God. Be grateful at the end of prayer for time spent with the God of all goodness. Prayer time is always productive by making us people of more love. True prayer brings peace of mind and heart. It also brings the peace of knowing we are loved and of being called into following the Lord.

I recently read of a single mother who has just taken a low-paid and exhausting job so that she can make life a bit happier for her two children. This means of course that she is now less available to her kids, and this makes them upset and insecure. She is caught between a rock and a hard place.

But when she turns to God, which she does, what does God think of her? Does God blame her or try to find help for her? What does Christian community mean in this woman’s life? Maybe, just maybe, God is knocking on my door, calling out my generosity…? I am, after all, called to imitate the generosity of God.  

Heavenly Father, thank You for laying out so clearly the principles and practices that should govern our lives as we die to self and live for God. Thank You that my salvation does not rely on what I have done but on what Christ has done on my account. Lord, at times I have tried to do things in my own strength, only to fail. Help me to live aright and pray according to Your Word and will. Give me an understanding heart and the desire to live and work and pray in a manner that honours Your holy name. I praise and thank You that You are my sole Provider. May I pray according to Your will, seek to grow in grace and in a knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and submit to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.