OpenHeaven.com - Everything Is Beyond The ’Door’

Plain Talk - A Clear Word

"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter opens and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he puts forth his own sheep he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him. For they know not the voice of strangers."
John 10:1-5

Most of us are very familiar with the scripture
in this chapter in which Jesus spoke of himself as the 'door'. In the NIV the word 'gate' and 'watchman' are used instead of 'door' and 'porter'(gatekeeper). Either way there is only one way in to the 'sheepfold', the kingdom, and it is guarded. Have we really thought about this or searched it out?

God doesn't just let anyone into His heart.
Neither should we. The way into His heart is through Jesus. We know this, but have we come to the revelation of this, the truth of it and the submission it requires? They are revealed in Jesus, especially in His cross.

This post is for those who are headed for a 'crucifixion',
those who are being 'crucified', and those who have been 'crucified'. For it is only upon our own cross after the pattern of Jesus' Cross that 'flesh' dies. If you have not personally experienced a 'cross', a 'crucifixion' of your own, everything that you are going about to do for Jesus has some of 'you', some 'flesh' in it! I'm not trying to judge anyone or to point anything out, nor am I attempting to make myself out to be greater than anyone else. We're all the same in the Lord and in our flesh. The 'cross' makes the difference for everything for all of us without exception!

In our own 'cross' our life comes to an end!
Everything we were before, everything we were trying to do, everything we hoped for 'died'! Most of all what we were trying to do for Jesus! Just as with Jesus and the disciples long ago the last time He went to Jerusalem. Jesus was 'cut off' from the living. The disciples ran for their lives. He was 'buried' and written off, forgotten about We have been also. There were precious few who mourned over him and put forth the effort to see him 'buried'. Same with us. Many of us have been buried for many years.

Our crucifixion is different than His.
He was without corruption. His body did not decay and stink(Psalm 16:10). We are corrupted by sin. That's why we die and our bodies decay or rot, but in our own 'crucifixion', 'death', and 'burial' the person of the spirit in us is being dealt with, not our natural bodies. We have been cut off from everything else so that very important things inside of us, in our spiritual makeup, can be dealt with. Many of us haven't yet experienced this and others who have, haven't gotten past the 'experience' of what happens in our 'crucifixion' and death of 'self'.

In 'burial' we are to come to the truth that God alone is righteous!
We weren't 'right', nor were those who 'crucified' us. We ALL are unrighteous. Jesus causes us to realize in 'burial' that all that WE were trying to do for Him was 'tainted' by our flesh. He causes us to see how it 'stinks' to others(being corrupted by our flesh) and why they rejected it rather than received it. We can't see this in ourselves. It takes a 'cross', a 'crucifixion' experience.

Jesus descended to Hell and confronted Lucifer, the devil himself.
We must also. As the Lord brought us to great revelations of truth we began to readily identify everything that wasn't of the truth, everything that was of the devil you might say. We begin to see the devil easily in others and most likely didn't hesitate to point it out as we challenged others with our 'truths'. We didn't know what we were setting ourselves up for. We didn't see what was coming. At least not until the confrontation came and we were 'crucified'. We had exalted ourselves above others and had accused them either knowingly or unknowingly and condemned them as wrong while seeing ourselves as right. We didn't know what we were doing. Jesus' disciples didn't either as they entered Jerusalem that last time which led to that 'fatal' moment. They were seeking important places and wanting to call down fire and judgment upon others.

Jesus spoke of the 'son of perdition' in our own hearts(John 17:12).
There's a 'devil' secretly hidden away in all of our hearts. That 'devil', that 'seed' of sin, must be confronted, exposed and cast down. This is what Jesus was addressing in Peter when He said, "Get behind me, Satan...!"(Matthew 16:23). It's our nature to totally deny this, that is, until it is revealed unto us by Jesus and Jesus alone. Later, in the courtyard, when Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed twice, and Jesus looked at Peter: at that moment the devil in Peter's heart was revealed to him, exposed for what it was, never to be 'covered' or hidden again! Peter went away and wept bitterly.

Jesus is not out to humiliate us nor to degrade us, rather, in our cross
He allows us to be taken away from everything else while he deals with our innermost being. Jesus takes us down into the depths of the darkness of our own hearts and there uncovers the 'seed' of evil and flesh. Before we can ever wage a pure warfare against darkness in others or in the world, we must first have the victory over it in our own hearts. We must have victory over the hidden man of sin in us(Matthew 12:29)! Jesus alone does this. We don't. When the 'man of sin' in our own hearts is exposed and cast down we will experience true humility. We will see ourselves as the worst of sinners among sinners and will never desire to accuse or condemn others again. It opens the way for the true love of Christ to flow through us to everybody! Especially those who are under the condemnation of sin! There will no longer be any barriers for you in loving people, all kinds of people.

The tomb in which Jesus was placed was sealed off by a great stone.
One that no man could move by himself. The 'stone' that seals our own tomb is the 'hardness' of our hearts. We don't see this either until Jesus reveals it. It's what's in our heart toward others, others whom we see as having 'wronged' us in some bad or hurtful way, especially those who crucified us. It's a very hard thing to get past. Many don't ever get past these things. They can take you back to the event and exactly what happened. The hurt is just as painful now as it was then. Will it never heal? Will 'peace' concerning those things never be made?

This is about true forgiveness.
Forgiveness as it is in Jesus alone. We say we forgive and mean it sincerely, but only the forgiveness of God through Christ can truly forgive. We forgive today and tomorrow we still feel it and will most likely bring it back up at another occasion somewhere down the road of life. The two foregoing things that have been presented, 'burial', the stench of our own flesh, and 'hell', the man of sin' in our hearts, must be affected before we can come to any realization of our own need for forgiveness. For it is in that great revelation, the great need for our own forgiveness that forgiveness for others begins to flow out. The Lord in teaching the disciples how to pray brought this out: '...forgive us as we forgive others..." Our need for forgiveness is paramount in forgiving others. When this revelation comes home to us we will rush to make things right with everyone! Especially those who crucified us and those who have wronged us!

God promised to take away the 'stony' hearts we have and to give us a new heart,
one of flesh(Ezekiel 36:26). Not flesh that's carnal, but a soft and warm heart that's no longer hard, but feels and loves as never before! When this becomes a reality in us the 'stone' that covers the tomb will be rolled away and we will come out into the light of a new day having become a new creation in Christ. We will have passed from 'death' unto 'life'.

All of this is the reason for Jesus' 'three days and nights' in the 'grave.
It's ours also. Without it we will never go on to those things which are beyond. The 'door' is guarded. Some haven't entered into the 'three days and nights' yet, others have and are still there, yet others are about to emerge or to be 'resurrected' from theirs. This is where 'who' we are is determined. It's where we become 'sons' or 'bastards'. The 'cross' of Jesus, our cross, is the 'door and everything else is beyond it. Every one of us can identify and find ourselves in one place or another when we see and understand the 'cross' of Christ and its work in our lives. This 'cross' is where our most important transformation takes place.

Merely attempting to 'identify' with Christ or His cross will never work.
That's why so many are powerless in trying to do the works of Christ or in attempting to come against the evil in the world. Words won't do it. It takes 'power', power that only comes through a 'cross' experience with Jesus. Jesus determines our 'cross' experience, we don't. As long as we are trying to do something for Jesus, it will never go anywhere. But when we lose all confidence in our 'flesh'(this is what the cross does also) and completely become submitted to Jesus, then, He will truly begin to work through us and to build the kingdom. Only then will we find the love and fellowship we have always desired. Jesus is 'gathering' many today into that kind of a new 'brotherhood'.

For those who are looking toward all that is 'next' in their lives
hopefully, this post will help. The 'door' to other things will not open until all of the matters of the spiritual person inside of us are met or dealt with. It's a deciding time, a moment of decision for sure. It's not so much about a decision on our part, but, rather, a 'decision' being made as to 'who we are'. It's about whether we are truly Christ's, or are not. All it requires is a genuinely repentant heart, one that is teachable, mold-able; and a 'broken' or submissive spirit. Jesus does the rest. Nothing else will do. For Jesus is the 'watchman' at the 'gate'.

Thank you so much for allowing the Lord to share through me. I love you all and greatly appreciate all that you share as well. Give Christ praise in all and God will be glorified. Amen

This post also goes along with 'Do We Really Want To Deal With Self?