Sunday, October 2, 2011

Night of No Fear

When I was young my church did not turn Halloween into a  "night of no fear" with the inflatables and games and lots of free candy as the church I attend today does. When I was young, it was just plain ole' Halloween, but I will say as a kid I loved it anyway.

There are two things I remember about Halloween- two things that made the night really special. The first thing was the candy of course. The other thing that made Halloween special was the simple fact that my neighbors opened their door. I'd knock and they would open the door!  Now that may not sound like much to get excited about, but for me it was. I grew up in NYC and you see normally people just don't open their doors-- except on Halloween.

I remember two times a year I would get dressed up in my girl scout uniform-my beret, dress, sash, green socks pulled up to my knees and I'd have my clip board in hand. I'd go door-to-door selling girl scout cookies.  I would knock and no one would open the door. House after house no one would open the door. Now, you might think, "Well, no one was home" and that might have been the case for some, but not all. I remember knocking on neighbor's door and actually see the curtain of the window by the door move- they looked out, saw it was me and would not open the door. I even remember hearing the chain lock on the door sliding across and yet no one opened the door--not even to open the door and say, "I'm sorry dear" or something like that.

So you see, Halloween was pretty special to me- I knocked and my neighbors opened the door. and I will say that they not only opened the door, but when they did open the door they were kind. They were welcoming. they said things like, "So, what are you all dressed up as?" and talked sweetly to me. Yup, Halloween was different then all other days of the year for me and my neighbors.

Well, as time went on- I remember being 13 years old and still trying to get away with dressing up and going trick or treating. It was more like begging for candy because I knew I was too old to be going around, but I wanted to give it one last try. My very last year of trick-or-treating I grabbed a black garbage bag and pushed my feet through, pulled it up- poked my arms through--stuffed it with newspaper and pretended I was a bag of garbage!

Well, that was pretty much the last year I saw my neighbors, the door to Halloween was closed and life for me continued to have doors closing on me. The door of happiness, and the door of hope- life began getting more and more hard. When I turned eighteen years old i thought very seriously about giving up God's greatest gift- my life. Life was that hard.

One day I happened to be in a place that had a chapel. I stood in the middle of the room- it was empty- and stared at what I knew was a Bible. I had never opened a Bible before or read it's pages- but there it was- opened and sitting on a little table. I went over to it and glanced at the words. It was opened to Matthew 7.  "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds and to him who knocks the door will be open to him."

I read those verses for four days- it took me four days for me to come close to believing it. I had knocked on my neighbors doors and they wouldn't open them - why would this be different?  I wasn't sure I could trust it- but on the fourth day I said, "Lord, if you are there, I'm knocking- come in and be with me." I believe the Lord Jesus did come into my heart that day. The door of hope was opened and I began following Him.

After that, well, I wanted a Bible of my own. I wanted to know Jesus. I read the book of Matthew first and read clear to the end to the book of Revelation. And do you know what I found? In Revelation 3:20 it says Jesus is doing some knocking. It says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in. And will sup with him and him with me."

I think it is absolutely amazing to me that Jesus is knocking - and what is so neat is 23 years ago when I read that scripture- Jesus was knocking- and today if you read it - Jesus is knocking and tomorrow if you read it --Jesus will be knocking. You see- Jesus' heart is to have a relationship with you --and He will wait and knock until you make the decision to open the door and let Him in. He loves you that much.

He is waiting for you- to make a decision to want a relationship with Him. are you ready?  You have a choice.
We all do.
I did too.

I think, in my case, God had been knocking on the door of my heart since I was a little girl, but it took me about 18 years to get the courage to open that door.  I was afraid for Jesus to come into my heart. I was afraid of letting go of my life to Him and having Him change me. I was afraid of Him seeing all my sin-afraid of getting in trouble.  But all that fear wasn't from Jesus.  Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking. Waiting. hoping to know you. Jesus created you and wants to know you.  All we have to do is open the door- ask Him.

On this unholy night of Halloween- let's make it holy
on this night of fear- let's make it a night of no fear
on this night where people are knocking on doors- let us knock on the door of heaven and receive the free gift from Jesus which is a relationship with Him.

--If you you have never prayed a prayer to ask Jesus to come into your life-
--or you think you prayed a prayer when you were just a kid, but can't remember-- it never hurts to prayer it again.
--or you are a follower of Jesus, but know that you are not really living for Him- still have rage, bitterness, unforgiveness, gossip, judgement, Jesus is knocking on your heart too.

Let's knock and let's open the door.

I wrote a prayer below-if it is something you would like to pray-take a moment and pray it. Jesus hears your prayers, He will come.

Dear Jesus,

Thank you for knocking on the door of my heart.
Thank you for loving me so much that you would wait for me.
I hear you knocking and I open the door of my heart for you to come in.
Come into my heart Lord Jesus and make me your own.
Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.
And thank you for the gift of eternal life.
In Jesus' precious and holy name I pray.
Amen.

If you prayed this prayer and would like to tell me or have any questions please contact me: joy.in.jesus@cox.net.

No comments:

Post a Comment