"...I'm standing at the door, knocking" Revelation 3:20-22 (TPT)

When John was writing the words in the book of Revelation, he was writing the words of Jesus for the Churches, specifically this passage was for the gathering at Laodicea.  

Laodicea was in present-day Turkey. It was an ancient city located in the Lycus River Valley of Anatolia, near Hierapolis and Colossae, in Denizli province. It was founded in the 3rd century BC by Seleucid King Antiochus II in honor of his wife, Laodice. The word of God has had far-reaching effects upon many countries in the ancient world, with Turkey being a country where the word of God grew mightily.

Jesus starts out by saying “I’m standing at the door, knocking..” He is making a point by telling them ‘I am already here’ and I am wanting you to “open the door within” so I can have a ‘feast with you, and you with me’.  The Church at Laodicea was not unfamiliar with Jesus, in fact, they were once a stronghold that was moving in power and evangelism, but something happened, they began to drift away from an intimate relationship with Jesus to be a Church that was more focused on prosperity and worldly blessings.  

What Jesus is saying to them is “I want to be brought back into intimate closeness with you again, for you to realize that I want you to know me and have me be the center of all that you are and all that you do.”Jesus is desiring to feast with the Laodiceans, He is calling for a celebration to partake together with them intimately, both personally and corporately.  

Jesus is also saying is that true riches come from the treasure which is hidden in Himself, He is their true treasure, not worldly wealth.  It is because they have lost sight of the beauty of Christ and have settled for a gospel which was based on works and not of Christ.

It is so easy to fall into the trap of a ‘works-based gospel’ and say all the right things and do all the right stuff and be totally devoid of the power of Christ.  I have seen this so many times in my Christian walk and have fallen into this trap myself many times, no one is immune from this trap.  

But just like the Laodicean Church, Jesus still knocks at the door of the heart to be let back in so He could feast with us again and restore us back into intimacy with Him again that He might be at the center of all that we do or say.

The key to staying connected with Jesus is recognizing the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to speak with us daily about what Jesus would want us to know and how we should respond.  It is not engaging our mind, but rather engaging the Holy Spirit to speak and receiving what He would want us to hear.

We do have spiritual ears to hear because we have believed in and received the testimony of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit always speaks about Jesus and continually makes Him known, so there is no excuse for anyone to say they do not know what Jesus wants them to do, Jesus always wants us to hear what the spirit is saying to us.

In this text Jesus is drawing this group of believers back to Himself, it is as if He is saying “hey guys, let’s regroup and realize that I have been missing in action for a while from your gatherings, because I wasn't invited and you were pursuing other things, but I am back now and it is time to feast in me, see what riches I have for you as you partake of me.  If you do this you will find yourself conquering over the desires of the flesh and find eternal riches which even equates to the privilege of you sitting with me on my throne”

We like the Laodicean church are called to feast in the Lord, literally to partake of Him and receive our moment by moment impartation of what He has for us in the Spirit.  We are no different than this Church because of fact we are all called to partake of the Lord and become intimate with Him just like He is suggesting the Laodiceans do.  

When we receive Christ we are receiving His zōē life as described in the bible which is different than just daily life in general, zōē life is real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God. Abundantly or Perissos means over and above, more than is necessary, superadded, and to last forever.

May you receive from Jesus the feast which is in Himself, and may you partake of Him to such a degree that you are ruined for anything less. 

Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.   John 6:53 (GNT)

Jesus was speaking of the nature of the spirit here to receive of Him and His zōē life with which we (feast) to celebrate the life of Christ in us, in that we may be more than conquerors (overcomers) in Him.

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett