Dale Cresap's blog

Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any man open I will come in and sup with him. Have you heard this passage used as an evangelical tool, to provide some imagery in encouraging people to be reconciled to me through salvation? Use whatever illustrations are helpful in gospel work, but know that this passage was written to people who were already saved. How then was I still standing at the door and knocking? Even after you are saved you still need to make a daily decision to abide in me, to make your life an experience of ongoing communion with me. Listen for my knocking and open the door for an abundant life in me. 

I promised that you would find what you seek, so be careful what you seek. Do you seek the truth? Yet how many people do you know whose first response to everything they encounter is to contradict, criticize, or oppose it? Their argument that this type of scrutiny is necessary to establish the truth is invalid. If they seem to be looking for faults, is it surprising that they find them? In so doing they fulfill my promise in a negative sense, and become anti-seekers. It would be better that they gave up the search. Be sure to keep your own search positive, for whatsoever things are true and lovely. 

Do you ever feel like you run out of day before you run out of things to do, or accomplish all that you intended? Does one day seem to carry over into the next with a cumulative deficit of accomplishment? It is possible that you have picked up a heavier burden than I have given you, for I promised that my yoke was easy and my burden was light. I taught you not to worry about tomorrow, for sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Yet you do not have to consider this teaching only in a negative sense, for the day is also sufficient for the good things I have given you to do. Before I left your world I declared that I had finished all My Father gave me to do. If you follow me you will be able to say the same thing. 

Your reflection in a mirror is an accurate image of your appearance. Do you like what you see? You live in a culture obsessed with an ideal image that is attainable only by a few, so many people do not like the image in the mirror. Do you know that you also have a spiritual reflection? For now you see in a glass darkly, but then face to face. For your spiritual reflection you do not have to match a cultural template, but you should aim to please me, for it is in my light that you see who you really are. This is not as difficult as you may suppose. You are my child and I look on you with grace and favor. Don’t be afraid to look at your reflection in me. 

Do you desire certainty in the things you know? My word tells you to be teachable, to be a seeker of the truth. Do you see that these goals are in conflict? Your search should not lead you to contradict the non-negotiable foundation of your faith, but it should make you open to receive the truth I have already imparted to others and embrace it. You should put more effort into seeking truth than into defending what you already know. Seek me to defend the truth. Seek me to guide you into all truth, and be prepared to follow where I lead you. 

How firmly do you hold your denominational affiliation? The ancient proverb is to love your friends and hate your enemies, but I taught my followers to love their enemies. You may think of those in your own church as your friends. Hopefully you do not think of those in other denominations as enemies, but if you can love your enemies you should be able to love your brothers. For I have only one body and I love it when brethren dwell together in unity. I gave this as the criteria by which all men would know that you are my disciples by the way you love one another. This is particularly true when it occurs across denominational lines. Don’t let your denominational affiliation prevent it. 

Are you led by the Spirit? My word says this is true of the sons of God, so you may have a theological basis for a doctrinal position, but do you walk in a daily awareness of this guidance? Do you require complete evidence and rational certainty before you act? Even people who do not claim to be led by the Spirit do not demand this, or they would be paralyzed. There are times to start moving when the picture is incomplete. Yet if you in faith and good conscience seek my guidance you will get it, even though you may not understand how it works at the time. Have you not looked back to see how I was leading you even when you were unaware? Be confident that I will continue to do so even as you move forward. 

Have you set your heart to seek me? Where do you expect to find me? Most people who take this search seriously look in my word, in my church, in the writings and messages of those who have excelled in this pursuit, and in the company of fellow searchers. There is value in each of these things, and I use them in combination to work in your life. Have you considered another place to look? I said that my Kingdom was within you. If I dwell within you I can conduct business with you directly, but you are not able to pursue multiple approaches simultaneously. If you seek a place of stillness and look for me within I will meet you there. 

Would you like to see a miracle? Be directly involved in one? How about a lifetime full of them? The accepted definition of a miracle is something that could not occur without my direct intervention. Perhaps you set the bar too high. I can and do intervene in your life in ways that are not obvious. Other people may not be convinced that this is irrefutable proof of my involvement with you, but you should be. Ask of me to open your eyes to see the little coincidences, improbable events, and perfect timing in small things that are the fingerprints of my watchful care over you. Are these things miracles? They are just as beneficial for you whether you call them that or not. 

You have my promise that I am with you always. Are you always with me? I enjoy the time you spend with your attention focused on me, but I realize that you are finite and mortal in attention span, and that you have many things competing for your attention, including the necessities of life. Do not let this discourage you, for it is possible for you to be with me always even when your attention is diverted. Have you ever pondered an idea ‘on the back burner’ or in the back of your mind? At this level you can have a continual awareness of my abiding presence with you and receive my peace and guidance without interruption.