Knock, Knock. Who's There?
Hello and welcome to My Little House of PrayerMinistry. I am your host Dayla Smith. So glad you could join me today. At the time I prepared this message, I went through something very serious. I won’t go into detail about it. I do want to talk about that.
Do you remember the knock, knock jokes we used to tell as kids. Well, Satan and his cohorts do this. They knock on the door of our hearts. But, it’s not a funny joke. It’s more like the story with the 3 little pigs. And, our survival depends on our relationship with the LORD.
Let’s look at Matthew 7:24-27says, 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. I think this passage sounds like the three little pigs.. One Little Pig built his house of straw. Another pig built his house of hay. Another pig built his house out of brick. The first 2 were lazy. So, when the big, bad wolf (Satan) came to blow the house down, they had narrowly escaped and ran to the brother who built his home out of brick. And when the wolf (Satan) came to blow that house down, he found out it could withstand him. So, our salvation is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. Isaiah 28:16 says, 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. 1 Peter 2:6 says 6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. I find it interesting that in the old testament the word they use haste. Which means, hurry or run. Then, in the new testament the word they choose is confounded which means, confused or perplexed. So, when our foundation is based on our salvation in Jesus Christ, we will not hurry, run, be confused, or perplexed. Here in the south we would say, If you don’t stand for something, you won’t stand at all. That is why James 4:7 says, 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. You know, as a parent, all I would have to do is stand up and look at my daughter when she was misbehaving. The nonsense would immediately stop. In spiritual warfare, when you resist satan enough, he will stop for a time. He waits to see if there is another way in. And, he will try again. 1 Peter 5:8 says, 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Revelation 5:5 says, 5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
In warfare you need to know who you are in Christ and to whom you belong. Christ Jesus. If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, you are no match for satan and his cohorts! I am so tired of him eating my brothers and sisters lunch because they either don’t know who they are in Christ or even how to fight. This is what my ministry is about. To teach people how to fight for themselves. How to pray effectively. James 5:16 says,16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Because, it hurts Jesus’ heart even more. Let’s look at Acts 19:1-16. 19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, 2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. 3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. 4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. 7 And all the men were about twelve. 8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. 10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. 11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: 12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. 13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
I find it interesting that verse 14 mentions 7 sons of sceva, a jew and chief priests. The priests were definitely supposed to have a relationship with the Lord. So, you see, you can be called a christian and yet have no relationship with the Lord. And, if you think you can just warm a pew and do nothing, that he will leave you alone. You are sadly mistaken. If you think that you will just avoid this Christian walk all together and he will leave you alone, he will. And he will laugh while you don’t make heaven your home at the white throne judgment seat of Christ. Please don’t wait to ask Jesus in heart. We are not promised tomorrow. We don’t have later. And, for our pew warmers. We need your assistance. Your pastor needs your assistance! How refreshing it would be for him to wake up and not have near the warfare to deal with because everyone took their place and fought in the night for him and his family. Because we took our place and fought for our brothers and sisters in Christ. How refreshing would it be. You know, you reap what you sow and your prayers return to your own bosom.
Matthew 12:25-30 says, 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
You know, we all like to talk about the revival that God is promising is coming. He has also been saying it is going to be soon. The LORD does not work on our time schedule! He works on His. We are called to get ready. We aren’t called to say maybe later Lord. I’ll get ready tomorrow, Lord. Revival is coming whether you are ready or not! And the rest of the word was that when revival comes after that He will call us home. Do you still want to tell Him that maybe later you’ll get ready?
We have all gone through something traumatic in our life. Some of us are going through something traumatic in our life now. Let me say this, if you think that just because you got saved that you are a complete new creation. Therefore, there is no need for change. YOU ARE SADDLY MISTAKEN. If you are unteachable, you are unreachable. Plain and simple. Jesus cannot use someone that is not willing to grow. We called to grow in Him according to Ephesians 4:13. 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: So, you see. We are instructed to grow in Him. How? You ask. Read your bible and pray. If you don’t, you will die spiritually! I can’t express the importance of this. The Word of God is your spiritual food. Your bible pages are a plate. When something speaks to you, highlight it, or underline it. A pastor advised me to do this. If you want to put notes in there, I use sticky notes. Just sayin’. That same pastor said, “picture the page as a plate. The words are your food. When you eat, There is residue left behind that says you had eaten there. That is what the highlighting and underlining is. Evidence that you ate there.” I’ve held on to this advice since 1994.
Now, back to the subject at hand. These traumatic situations can make or break you. From personal experience they are allowed so that we can learn something. I don’t know what that something is. You have to go and pray. Seek His face. And ask Him what it is you are to learn. I promise if you will ask your question. Then, you will be quiet loooong enough for Him to answer. I promise that He will answer you. People don’t like to wait. Excuse #1. I don’t have time. He says make time. Excuse #2 My life is too busy. He says get unbusy. Excuse #3 You don’t understand. He says He understands. You see when you truly love someone, you make time. You aren’t too busy. This is what he understands. True love is not like Burger King. Your way, right away. What if your spouse came at you all the time, just demanding of you. Asking constant questions and just walking away without waiting for the answer. How would you feel on that type of receiving end? Then, let me ask you this. Why would you do this to the Lord your God? Deuteronomy 6:5, 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deuteronomy 10:12, 12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
You can also find this same commandment in Deteronomy 11:1. And in 19 verse 9 says that if we love Him this way He would give us 3 cities. I can think of the 3 I would want. Can you. Ville Platte would be first on my list. He also said beside the 3 we already had. That is a grand total of 6 cities! Chapter 30 verse 6 He says He will save our children and our children’s children that we might live! And, just so you know that this is the same in the new testament also, Matthew 22:37 says, 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. So, it is there also. You see, the Lord your God wants a relationship with you.
I Had an incident happen to me. Let me tell you that in all my life, I have never been pushed to the level of anger that I shot to. Never! Let me tell you that I cried out immediately for the Lord to help me. And He did. It took all of Him to help me hold my flesh back. I was angry. But, I promise you that I did not sin. I did not have to do any repenting due to it. Thank you Jesus!!!!! Because the old Dayla wanted to rise up something terrible. My entire flesh hurt from the event. Let me tell you this, there is nothing like the devil showing up saying, “I’m in your house and ready to hurt you and the people you love.” The mama bear rose up. Fear came to knock on my door. And, it wasn’t a gentle knock. Let me tell you that. It was an in your face knock. I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down, knock. Open up and let me in. It screamed at me with a high pitch voice. If I had chosen to open the door just a crack, a crack was all it needed to take over and his buddy, anger would have been right behind him wrecking everything I loved and cherished. You see the enemy, be it anger, fear, doubt, unbelief etc….) doesn’t just come with a soft knock and let you open the door before you let him in. He knocks and then waits for you to turn the knob. Then, if you turn the knob, he comes bursting through the door. Jesus is the door. But, He is a gentleman. He will knock and then wait for you to invite Him in. He will dine with you. He will visit with you. In Revelation 3:20 it says, 20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
We do not have to open the door to every Tom, Dick, and Harry that knocks on the door of our hearts. We are supposed to close the door of our heart to the will of the flesh and the devil. But, we are supposed to open the door of our heart to the will of the Father and the Son. In John 10:7-10 it says this, 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
You see, the Lord is about blessing His children. He wants us to open our hearts to Him so we can commune together. You would say, “This sounds like a call to salvation.” Yes, it is. We all need saving everyday. No, we do not have to beg. But, our new man has to grow, and our old man has to die till the day that Jesus comes. Look at Exodus 20: 20-22. 20 And the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be. 21 And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. 22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. The Lord revealed a truth to me right here. That when we open the door of our heart to Him and we let Him in. He, then, turns our hearts into a kind of ark. An ark of the covenant. When we get saved, we make a covenant with the Lord. His blood is upon the mercy seat. Inside the ark are the 10 commandments of love and all of our testimonies. When we bow our knee, and we come to Him in prayer, He promises to meet us there. Don’t you want to meet with Him? Do you know He wants that more than you do? I absolutely love this scripture! I also love His presence. I love to watch Him mold and make me. I love the testimonies we put in the ark of my heart. I love His law of love.
So, I ask you today. If there is anyone in this room today, and you don’t know Jesus, can I introduce you to Him. The word says that if we call on the name of the Lord, we shall be saved. That if we repent of our sin, turn from our wicked ways, pray and seek His face. We shall be saved. Won’t you pray with me today? Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Let’s take a moment to acknowledge our life of sin before Him. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen. I want to be the first one to welcome you to the family of God. I also want to let you know, heaven is having the biggest shindig over your decision. Welcome and we love you.
Now, I hope you all enjoyed today’s message. I hope you learned something today. I sure did. May you have a blessed day and week. In Jesus’ mighty name, amen.
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