In the Presence of Almighty God

We can pray to God and hope that He is near and hears our supplications.  It seems that what any of us seeks is an answer to the crisis that has confronted our life.  Jesus told us to “Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”  

(Mt. 7: 7-8).  Did you ever consider how close the Lord is to us without verbally reaching out to his providential care?  Silence in our trust to listen and feel the knock on our hearts as Jesus stands waiting for our response to open and remove the pride that holds our very sense of refusing our Lord’s yearning to enter this stubborn heart and let him in.

Today, we only need to look at the uncertainty that faces our nation and the need to pray for divine intervention for the world’s dilemma.  But these sometimes are just words without belief unless we see fast and furious actions that God has indeed listened.  It is individual closeness that one must feel as our realization that there is someone standing at the door to our hearts and is knocking to enter our very souls in the cluttered business that keeps us from welcoming the Lord into a personal relationship.

Can anyone feel, hear, or see this is the God who actually waits for each of us to touch the hem of his garment, listen to a voice that soothes our anguish, and looks upon the vision of a peaceful sight we will share when our heart opens and allows the Creator of our souls to take residence.

This is the type of prayer that God awaits from each of us.  He knows the dilemma our nation suffers from.  It is the personal invitation from individuals that he patiently wants to hear.  “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish?  If you then, who are wicked know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him?  (Mt. 7: 9-11).

If this appears too easy, it is!  However, this is a humble attitude that far too many have neglected to use.  “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  (Mt. 11: 28-30).

Ralph B. Hathaway, God is knocking 2021