A Prayer for Doorknobs

During our nightly prayer several years ago, our daughter, Sara, thanked Jesus for doorknobs.  At first, I thought it strange, but then it dawned on me why she would be thankful.  Sara had just learned how to turn a knob and open a door.  Once the door was open, there was a whole new room to explore with great treasures to uncover.

When do we become too old to explore, to dream, and to thank Jesus for doorknobs?  God is in the door opening business.  Ephesians 3:20-21 says, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

No wonder Jesus loves children; there is no limit to their imagination, their believing, sense of adventure, and faith.  Give them a stick and they become a mighty warrior with Excalibur.  A football helmet transforms them into a running back crossing the goal line for a Super Bowl win. Dress them up like royalty, and they become a king or queen for a day.  God wants us to open our minds to a world of wonders as well.  The world He wants us to enter is His world, one that can change lives, touch hearts, and love the unlovable.  It is doing things outside of our power relying on Him.

When is the last time you awoke with great anticipation of what God was going to do in and through you that day?  Do you dream God size dreams that can come true only through His power?  Sara is now five years old, and everyday she is ready for a power packed adventure!  She drills us about where she is going, what she can do, who will be there.  She is preparing herself for a day of new things.  Her big brown eyes reveal a mind of amazement, contemplating the adventure that day holds.  If only I could have that same enthusiasm.  Too often, I see today like all other days, I am in my routine.
 
I wonder if, when Moses awoke seeing a Red Sea in front of him and his enemy behind him, he had any idea that God would part the sea and destroy his foe.  Do you suppose Nehemiah had any idea of what he and the power of God could accomplish in just 40 days?  On his way to take lunch to his brothers, I doubt seriously that David dreamed of slaying a giant.  Or what about Paul? His passion was to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If anyone talked to Paul, I guarantee that they heard the story of the Cross.  When imprisoned, beaten, chained to guards with limited people to share his Jesus, did he become discouraged?  No, he sang praises to the Lord and wrote letters of encouragement and instruction to his brothers and sisters in Christ.  Do you think he had any idea of how many people he would share the gospel and encourage when he penned those letters?  God’s sovereignty is still using those words today to touch lives, encourage us, and bring the lost to Himself.

All these folks had this in common: they were ordinary people like you and me with a great faith in God, desiring to do His will and bring Him glory.  They never lost their sense of adventure, their ability to dream and believe, their child like faith in God.  On one side of the door was a man with finite abilities but limited results; on the other side was a world of wonder with great and unsearchable things that they could not fathom.  All they had to do is reach up with faith and turn the doorknob to release God’s power and bring glory to Him.
What door does God want me to open today?  Listening to Sara ask about her day, seeing in her eyes the excitement makes me think of what God sees and hears from me in the morning.  God wants to use us to part a sea, slay a giant, build a wall, tell someone about Jesus, and encourage a brother or sister.  We must awake crying out, “Today is a day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!”  Walk out the door of your ordinary world into a world of wonder and awe, a world in which God does great things through people who never grow out of dreaming, believing and having child like faith in Him.
 
Oswald Chambers’ prayed this:

“O Lord, explore down to the deepest springs of my spirit where Your Spirit works, and read my deepest prayer I cannot pray in expression. Lord, touch my body; it is Your temple. Shine out in and through it, O Lord.
 
O Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us this day, and make us to fit in with Your plans with great sweetness and light and liberty, and a lilt to You all day.

O God my Father, the clouds are but the dust of your feet.  Let me discover in every cloud of providence or nature or grace no man but Jesus till there is no fear”