Day 5
THE GOD WHO GIVES
Revelation 3:7-8
These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens: ‘I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.’
‘Free gift!’ is one of the great promises of advertising. Even if it is something you don’t need or don’t want, the idea that it is free often holds a magnetic attraction. All through history many have promised God’s favour if only the worshipper will make certain sacrifices, perform particular acts or travel to selected ‘holy’ places.
The Christian Good News is utterly and wonderfully different. One of the best loved verses in the whole Bible, John’s Gospel 3:16 says, ‘This is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.’ God gives and gives and gives again. If we are Christians, we have received the greatest free gift in the world. We have been given eternal life in Jesus Christ, and we have done absolutely nothing to earn it or deserve it. We can rest; we can relax in the truth that it is not about what we do, but what God has done.
Today’s verse from Revelation is from the message to the church in the city of Philadelphia in modern-day Turkey. It was a great centre of trade, where buying and selling was at the heart of everyday life. Jesus writes to give them another free gift. He assures them that they can rest in His character. He is not going to give them something that will do them harm, but rather a gift that will grow and develop the church…
He is giving them an open door!
Trilingual Thy Kingdom Come Event, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Does that sound a strange gift? They might have preferred more answered prayers, more gifts of the spirit, a closer sense of His presence, or a whole host of other things. What they get is an invitation to share Christ Himself with their friends, their culture, their city.
Thy Kingdom Come is simply about praying ‘Come Holy Spirit’ on the lives of people we know, perhaps just five people, so that they come to know the saving love of God in the Lord Jesus. Christ tells us that He has opened the door, what we have to do is go through it.
Whenever we speak or act with God’s love in our hearts for those around us, then we are going through the door that Jesus holds open.
Sometimes we feel that our efforts will make little or no difference. There is a humorous African proverb which sets us right. It says, ‘If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try spending the night with a mosquito.’ This proverb is real to me this week as I am writing in Juba in South Sudan, with many mosquitoes.
As you continue to pray for your five friends, ask God to open more doors for you to share His word with other people so that they come to a personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul