Letting Jesus Into Every Room In The House

This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly Biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. So today we're going to talk about letting Jesus into every room in the house.

But what does that mean exactly? Well, some years back, Robbie, there was a little book by Robert Boyd Munger called My Heart, Christ's Home. You may remember it. It told the story of a man who had received Jesus and what that was like when he first invited Jesus into the house that was his life. It was like opening the windows and turning on the light, and there was a fresh ness about his life that he hadn't had before, and there was help and direction for places that had otherwise been dark, and it was just so cool, you know? Oh, yeah.

You know, as funny as I bought that book about two months ago. It's a little bit easy. And, yeah, I forget where I saw it noted, and it's quite an adventure. He's basically, you know, the front entry in the living room of every man's life, right? Right.

Yeah. And, of course, Jesus doesn't leave, you know? He's been invited to leave there. But there are several other rooms in the house. You know, there's the dining room where the man takes in a steady diet of the things that fill his heart and mind through the day. Oh, yeah. And he lets Jesus in there, but the man's a little uncomfortable because he thinks about some things Jesus is going to encounter.

You know, that's it. But he lets him in anyhow, and that's just the beginning. And I may not remember it all correctly, but there are other rooms in the house, like the bedroom and the hall closet, and, you know, the man struggles because he knows that there are some things that have been going on in his heart and mind that wouldn't exactly make Jesus happy.

But he knows he needs to invite him into those places as well. And eventually he does that, but it takes some time. And basically, Jesus helps him work through it.

And in the end, the man, as I recall it, gives him the whole deed to the house, doesn't he? Oh, yeah. That's so cool because the man gets to the point where he doesn't want to hold anything back from Jesus. But, you know, all that takes time because it's one thing to say you want him to save you, but it's another thing, really, to follow him. Yeah.

Yeah. And that's just the point. You know, we don't want to just believe in Jesus. Believing is only the beginning. And if we really believe, that's going to be followed up in our actions as well. And Jesus talked about this when he told parables about being ready.

You know, we don't want to miss him. And those really should make us stop and think. Oh, you're right because Jesus also told us that we need to repent of our sins. And that means change, really, in the way we live. That doesn't save us.

He does. But if we're sincere, you know, we're going to want to change. So let's talk about letting him into those places in our lives that we may not want to. And let me guess, I have an idea. This is going to have a lot to do with prayer.

You should mention that. Last night, I was reading a classic prayer book, A Diary of Private Prayer by John Bailey, who was a professor at the University of Edinburgh and the chaplain to King George, King George VI, who was Britain's King, of course, during World War Two. And the language is a little formal, but just listen to this. This is a prayer for the sixth day in the evening. And he says, Oh God, let thy spirit now enter my heart. Now as I pray this prayer, let not any room within me be furtively closed to keep thee out. Oh God, give me power to follow after that which is good. Now as I pray this prayer, let there be no secret purpose of evil formed in my mind that waits for an opportunity of fulfillment. Oh God, bless all my undertakings and cause them to prosper. Now as I pray this prayer, let me not be still holding to some undertaking on which I dare not ask thy blessing. Oh God, give me chastity. Now as I pray this prayer, let me not say to myself secretly, but not yet or but not over much. Oh God, bless every member of this household.

Now as I pray this prayer, let me not still harbor in my heart a wrong or feeling of jealousy or bitterness or anger towards any of them. And he goes on from there. But do you see what he's doing? Darrell Bock Yeah, I mean, he's getting specific, right? He's not only praying that God will help him control himself in certain areas. He's getting specific about those, right?

Whether it's lust or greed or a need to forgive somebody. You know, he's letting it go, giving it all to God. Dr. Gerry Breshears Yeah, he is. He is. And he's letting the Spirit in while he's doing that. The first part of this is asking that the Holy Spirit enter his heart. And that's a great biblical way to pray, you know.

Scripture reminds us that we're to be filled with the Spirit, but the wording in the original language means that we are to keep on being filled. It's something that needs to happen day after day. Darrell Bock Yeah, you know, there's really power in the honesty of praying like that.

Dr. Gerry Breshears Yeah, there really is. I mean, I like the way, you know, he keeps repeating now as I pray this prayer, you know. In other words, don't let it just be words, you know. There's something about letting God into those places that we'd rather not talk about, especially the secret places, you know, the hall closets, the bedroom, whatever, that we don't want to talk about with others. And if we can really do that, you know, openly, sincerely with him, open ourselves to the Spirit, then real change can happen. Darrell Bock Yeah, it's kind of like giving God the Dean to the house.

Dr. Gerry Breshears Yeah, it is. And it doesn't mean you won't have struggles, but if you stay honest with God and keep letting him in, you know, into those very places again and again, then you're going to make progress because it's just not easy to keep carrying on when Jesus is in the room and you know he's right there. Darrell Bock Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, that's so true. So let's wrap up our time together with a prayer about that. So, Lord, thank you, thank you for this reminder of the house, which is essentially your kingdom in our own way, in our hearts. And, Lord, we pray that you would help us turn our hearts to you, our ears towards you, so that we can listen in our prayer time as well as offer up the opportunity to spend time together with you in all those rooms as I know what you're really doing as you're making it into a kingdom.

And it's so exciting to do that with you. Help us to remember to get back to that as soon as possible. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. James Banks Amen. Darrell Bock You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray.