March 23 Lenten Devotional "Knocking on the doors of Mercy"

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN. . . "Ask and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For anyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matthew 7:7-8)

CONSIDER. . . .Locked doors can seem daunting.  Sometimes even after repeated knocking that grows into pounding, the door is unrelenting. Other times, our perseverance is rewarded; the door creaks open. . .and we breathe a sigh of relief. This scripture comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is encouraging his disciples to pray--to ask, to seek and to knock. "Knocking on the doors of mercy" is a Jewish expression of prayer. Prayer opens the doors of mercy and God acts. Prayer is about our relationship with God..

SO WHAT. . . No matter what you face today, no matter how many closed doors you encounter, keep calling on the God who loves you for help.  We are encouraged to bring our needs to prayer, not in order to in form or change the way God acts in our lives, but to express our relationship with God as Disciple of Jesus Christ. What doors seem closed to you today? Have you given up in knocking on those doors? God wants you to "keep knocking on the doors of mercy", lifting our prayers and concerns to Him. He hears your knocking. . .


PRAYER. . . Dear God, thank you for inviting me into a relationship with you and for answering my prayer with gracious and wise gifts.  Bless me with a portion of your generous spirit so I may freely give to others wherever I find an open door.  Amen.