“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be
earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears
my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they
with me.” – Revelation 3:19-20 NIV
The main reason why Jesus Christ was
crucified on the cross for our sins and resurrected back alive in the Spirit is
to fully come into our hearts as the Spirit of God (John 16:7-15), to counsel and to advocate
us to do the will of God until the end of the age (John 14:15-27). This is because God wants to
make us the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24-25; Isaiah 53:4-6), due to the fact that we
have been created by God, to be His image (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and
sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) However, most of us do not
open the door of heart at all, or we open it for a little while and then get
rid Jesus Christ off our hearts. This is mainly because we want to live comfortable
and easy lives. To be honest, Jesus Christ does not work that way because God
wants us to choose the narrow and hard road rather than the wide and easy road,
as the wide and easy road leads us to destruction but the narrow and hard road
leads us to eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14). The world makes us want
to go through the wide road but we have to choose the narrow road that God
wants us to go through in.
You adulterous
people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?
Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of
God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for
the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (James 4:4-5)
Therefore, if we want to open the door of hearts
for Jesus Christ to fully come in as the Spirit of God, then we first must repent
before Him (Matthew 3:2) and acknowledge Jesus Christ
as our Lord and Savior (Acts 3:19-20). This is because the Apostle
Peter addresses, “Repent and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your
children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will
call.” (Acts 2:38-39) After the repentance, we have
to crucify our worldly nature and then abide in the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25) The main reason for this
is that the desires of our own sinful nature are contrary to the desires of the
Spirit (Galatians 5:17). We know that the Spirit of
God lives within us when we want to glorify God in every way, regardless of our
circumstances and situations. “For the
kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) This is what we have been
created by God for—to worship and to glorify God—even it means to sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) and deny ourselves for God’s
sake (Matthew 16:24-27).
For those who are
led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does
not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you
received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if
we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if
indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
(Romans 8:14-17)
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