THE STRENGTH OF GOD

There is a story about a boy who was trying to lift a big stone. His father asked him, son, are you using your strength to lift this stone? He replied yes dad, “I am using all my strength.” The father said to him, “no you are not. You haven’t asked me.” That is what many Christians do. We use our own strength to do things while God is saying to us you haven’t asked Me.

JESUS IS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR
Billy Graham tells the story told by a Pastor he met in Glasgow, Scotland. There was a woman in this pastor’s parish who was in financial difficulty and behind in her rent. So the pastor took up a collection at the church, a love offering to help this lady catch up on her rent. The pastor then went to her home to give her the money. He knocked and knocked and knocked at the door, but there was no answer. Finally, he gave up and went away. Later, he happened to run into this woman at the market. He told her he had been to her house and explained why. Her eyes widened and she said, “Oh, was that you? I thought it was the landlord and I was afraid to open the door.”

Jesus stands at the door and knocks, ready to make the riches of a relationship with God available to us—riches beyond imagining. We have only to open the door and receive those riches. The Lord’s riches cannot help anyone whose door is shut and barred from within. (Quoted in Ray C. Stedman, Talking with My Father, 141)