Lets say hypothetically speaking you have a Holy temple with 100 rooms. In Revelation we read about a message the Lord Jesus/Yeshua is sending to the churches that has a word picture of Jesus standing there and knocking at the door of the church in Laodicea. I mean people often use this to try and lead someone to faith in Christ and yet this is actually written to the church, the believer not the unbeliever. Revelation 3:14,” And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
This image was not given to the church of Philadelphia because they were staying on the right path of holiness. This message was given to the churches full of lukewarm, pew sitting, worldly minded, compromising, ignoring the gifts of the Holy Spirit, entertain me, tickle my ear type of believers. However, keep in mind that Laodiceans church, in all their error, in all their water down doctrines were still not terribly far from the bottom line truth of Christ’s love connection. All they had to do was turn to Jesus/Yeshua, turn and open the door so that the Lord Jesus would come in.
We read in Revelation 3:20,” 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.” Do you see now how this is actually written to the believer and not the unbeliever, yet how many try to use this verse to win someone to salvation? Jesus/Yeshua is saying you left him outside standing by your front door and He wants back inside.
Because whenever you feel like the Lord is not close to you it is not the Lord Jesus who has left you, rather the distance is on your side. Just as the Lord Jesus did not abandon the Laodiceans church, rather they had left him. The Word is God is for us today, maybe someone reading this is not walking as close to Jesus as Jesus is walking close to them. Maybe someone can relate to this.
Just as the Holy Spirit of Christ was knocking on the door in Laodicea, I would say to every believer and every church that has lost their zeal for evangelism, the good news is you are in fact not that far from the Gospel Truth. Part of being an ambassador of Christ and helping to heal the sick and cast out demons in His almighty name is also helping to win souls to Christ. I would have to say that soul-winning must be a priority for every true believer. Because the church of Jesus Christ is not a pleasure boat rather it is more like a lifeboat upon the flooded waters of this fallen world. I am not against entertainers in church, but truly no entertainers are bringing the depth of the Gospel we all need. None of all those slick productions are really accomplishing what needs to be accomplished today in the modern churches. Keeping in mind there are absolutely no seeker friendly messages to be found anywhere in the Holy Guide Book to the Supernatural we call the Bible.
Personally I think we have entered a time of all hands on deck. Every spirit-filled true believer needs to be helping to win souls for Christ. Anyone who does not help in this end time harvest to save the lost is probably lost themselves. I’m just saying, you’ll know them by their fruits. Revelation 3:20,” 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. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
So for example, suppose you had a Holy temple with 100 rooms you lived in and one day you heard someone knocking on your front door and you go to answer. You look and see that it is the Lord Jesus/Yeshua and you quickly run and open the door and invite him in. Wouldn’t that be amazing, I mean you have to be absolutely thrilled at such an honoured royal visit. So you say,” My Lord Jesus/Yeshua, and my King, please take the best room in my Holy Temple”, please take the main sanctuary as I am sure you will be most comfortable in there.
It is in here that I pray to you and play praise and worship music to you and read your Holy instructional manual. The Lord Jesus/Yeshua always being a gentleman’s gentlemen says, “thank you ever so much,” and is delighted to accept your most kind and gracious invitation. You then bring him the best meal you can put together and there is much rejoicing and divine fellowship.
Suddenly you hear another knock on the front door. You go and open the door and its the devil himself. You shout,” No devil you can not come in here’, and the devil pushes you aside with an evil defiant and sinister smile on his face and says, “I’m already in here”. You shout again,” No, no you can’t come in here”, and you forcible try and evict the devil. However, its like the devil can almost read your mind to some degree and he starts sending you filthy temptations that have some pleasure attached for you mixed with it. The devil sends you poisonous imaginations as he starts working at activating all those old negative memory trees in your mind, all those old strongholds you kept after you got born again and spirit-filled. So soon you find your mind is projecting and showing you the most grievous sinful thoughts from your past mistakes.
Nasty thoughts are activating feelings and emotions you thought left you long ago when you got born again. In other words you are now having one really bad hair day in a nightmarish technicolour sort of way. Finally you start to pray and you manage to gain great strength and as you do you are able to finally throw the devil out the front door, locking it as the devil is cast out of your 100 room Holy Temple. You now feel exhausted and then you remember the Lord Jesus is in your best room back there in your sanctuary. So you run in there and tell him what happen, and you ask him why he didn’t he come and help you fight the devil? The Lord Jesus gently and lovingly tells you it is because you only gave him your best room, the sanctuary to stay in. You suddenly see the mistake you made and fall at his feet and say,” Lord please, please forgive me I have 99 rooms left. Let’s make it 50/50 deal now, Lord you can have 50 % of my rooms in my Holy Temple .” Jesus always being a gentleman’s gentlemen says, “thank you ever so much” and is delighted to accept your most kind and new gracious new offer.
Its getting late and you say goodnight and go to sleep in one of your 50 rooms that you still have complete control over. You are suddenly rudely awakened and realise the devil has somehow re-entered and is in your room with you. Another battle ensues and you are totally exhausted before you manage to cast that devil out the door again. You go and find the Lord Jesus and ask him, “Why didn’t you come and help me fight the devil this time? The Lord being a gentlemen’s gentlemen says, “My dear precious friend, why don’t you give me your whole entire Holy Temple instead of just half of it, and let me fight all your battle for you, then instead of me staying with you as your guest, you can be my guest and stay with me?” So you realise what an awesome opportunity this truly is and quickly hand over the deed and the key of the front door of your holy temple to the Lord Jesus/Messiah Yeshua.
You finally said the word he has so long to hear. “Please be Lord and King over my entire life Jesus/Yeshua,” and you give 100% of everything to the Lord Jesus/Yeshua. The next morning before the sun rises, someone is knocking at the front door again. I mean they are knocking like it’s a matter of life or death. They are knocking so hard the windows rattle and stuff is falling from the ceiling. You look out the window and see it is that horrid beastly devil again and your feeling the spirit of fear emanating from him like you never experienced it before. Then suddenly you hear footsteps running through your Holy Temple. This is even better then when the cavalry shows up in the movies to recuse someone, for it is the Lord Jesus Himself, and He comes and stands in front of you and all you can do is stand in awe of his majesty and power as he reaches out and opens the front door. Jesus is holding the key of your holy temple in his mighty hands that still show the holes where the nails went through. Jesus stands there in all his glory which is simply overwhelming you. There is Jesus standing there in the front door protecting you as you see for yourself it is indeed the devil standing out there. Immediately the devil bows down as low as he can bow and says,” I am so sorry Lord Jesus, I have obviously knocked on the wrong door again’, and the devil runs away as fast as he can.
James 4:7,” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Have you made the Lord Jesus/Yeshua Lord over every part of your life? If he is only Lord over some of those 100 rooms that is problematic as a true born again spirit-filled Christian. Some people have given the Lord Jesus 99 rooms in the Holy Temples of their life, but there is a sign on the door to room number 100 which says “Private – No entry”. That room contains all those hidden un-confessed sins. It where the spirit of deception dwells with all the other unclean spirits and things that they know Jesus would certainly cast out into the dry place if he is invited in.
So many believers sadly keep a room like that, so in essence they live a double life. Because in that room of sin are the very things that give the devil the legal right to keep knocking at your front door and finding ways of forcing his way into your life. We read in Matthew 10:30,” But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If God knows about every hair on your body then he knows everything else about you as well. We read in Psalm 139:23,” Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:’
We find in 1 John 3:20,” For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.”
1 Corinthians 10:20,” But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.” The Lord Jesus/Yeshua cannot ever be deceived. He knows absolutely everything about us. He knows what is happening in every room in our life all the time, even in those places that we try keep from him away from seeing. Won’t you give him the entire Holy Temple of your life today. Give him everything there is to give, hold nothing back. Give the Lord Jesus every part of your holy temple. Allow him the freedom to do as he pleases and so you understand it is for your good that He wants to come in and remove all the filthy stuff, all the dirt, and clean it up, get things into proper order for you to bless and keep you. Because the Lord is totally Holy all the time, so it be nice to have him come and tidy us all up, open all the windows to let His glorious light and fresh air come in. 1 Corinthians 6:19,”What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”
Philippians 1:6,” Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
The Lord Jesus/Yeshua wants every part of your life to be somewhere where he can come and stay and feel at ease. Let us invite him wholeheartedly to be Lord over every single part of our life.
I pray the Lord’s supernatural peace, healing, provision and protection cover you always with oceans of Agape love in the almighty name of Jesus/Yeshua!
PASTOR CASPAR
Pastor, Author, Musician, Artist, Researcher, Lecturer,
http://www.casparmccloudmusic.com/
Caspar McCloud Ministries ©2014 http://www.theupperroomfellowship.org/
Luke 21:28 “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”
