Do you hear Jesus knocking on the door to your heart?

Jesus knocked on the door to my heart over thirteen years ago and changed my life forever. I was searching for God when in a moment of prayer I heard God speak to my heart. God asked me this question: “What is love?”

Thinking I knew what love was, I replied “love is a feeling”. To this Our Holy Lord answered gently, “wrong”. So I asked God “what is it then?” God said, “Love is a choice”. In that moment, the Holy Spirit illumined my mind and my heart to realize that I needed to reconsider my choices in order to please God.

In the Book of Revelation Jesus says, “”Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.” Revelation 3:20

Jesus calls us in so many ways. He knocks on the door to our hearts wanting so much to come in. In fact Jesus is the door to every blessing we seek, but we must first open our hearts to receive Him. When Jesus helped me to understand that “love is a choice” I began to reflect on my life and I realized that I was being selfish. I was not focused on doing His will; I was focused on doing what I wanted and what ‘felt good’. I was seeking purpose and meaning but only if ‘pleasure’ came right along with it.

I was not evangelized at the time. I had never read the Bible and I was not going to Church. These were the first two important choices I made. I bought a Bible and commenced trying to learn the Word of God; I even enrolled in some formal Bible studies. I went back to Church and I confessed my sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and I began receiving Jesus in the Eucharist.

This very day, ask yourself do you hear Jesus knocking on the door to your heart? Do you feel stressed and in need of a helping hand?

Jesus is that helping hand. Turn to Him and know that He will help you, He will comfort you and He will help you to figure out what choices you need to make to improve your life.

Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11: 28-29

Jesus is asking us in this Scripture to trust Him and to embrace His commandment of love. This is His yoke, His way of love and forgiveness. To take ‘His yoke’ means give Jesus your hand and walk with Him and let Him show you the way of truth and honour.

When I returned to Church one thing struck me. What struck me was how easy it was for people to pray the “Our Father” prayer. I was listening especially to people say: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” At the time I was struggling with how do I forgive people who have hurt me and have not said “I am sorry”. I was struggling with the pain that had been caused by injustice and I really wasn’t sure I was going to be able to forgive certain people in my life. It seemed to me that no one in Church must have a problem with forgiveness because everyone seemed to be rhyming off the prayer without even the slightest hesitation.

It took years for me to realize that I needed to ask Jesus for the grace to forgive. When I did, I received it. And do you want to know when I received it?

I received the grace to forgive those who had hurt me and had not said “I am sorry” when I began meditating on the Passion of Christ. In my meditation I saw Jesus lying down on the Cross being crucified saying, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 In that moment I realized that I needed to imitate Jesus and pray the same prayer. So that’s what I did and I can tell you with great confidence that “forgiveness is freedom!” I forgave and I prayed that God would forgive those who had hurt me and God gave me peace.

I remember year’s ago a priest telling the congregation that “prayer is desire”. Sometimes we pray like we are reading a poem with little or no desire, but that’s not prayer; that’s a recitation of verses that will likely not yield a single grace. If we want God to hear us we must approach Him with reverence and thanksgiving and with holy desire (i.e., a desire to please Him and honour Him)

Let’s take some time today to pray with hearts full of desire for the Spirit of God to help us to forgive and be free, free from the hurt and anger that injustice causes. Let’s remember the instructions of Jesus “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” Matthew 5:44

This very day, let’s tell Jesus we are sorry for our sins and let’s pray for those that have hurt us and ask God to help them to repent.

I started really praying about ten years ago and the more I prayed, the bigger my prayer became and one day I realized that I needed to pray for the whole world. This desire was not born out of a sense of “I am so big that I should pray big”; it was born out of a sense that “Even though I am so little, God is so great and He can restore and renew our world, creating peace .

The Scripture says “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Luke 17:6

Do you have this kind of faith?

Do you believe in God’s desire and willingness to heal the world and end violence, creating peace and justice?

If yes, then join the global prayer movement that is praying for the whole world to receive God’s mercy and forgiveness. We unite in prayer at the time Jesus died for us (3pm in our local time zones) and we remember Jesus being crucified for love.   What a choice He made for us!

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” Romans 5:8-9

Please join the Christian prayer movement that is changing the world, one soul at a time. The movement is called The Mercy Movement.

Let us pray…

My Lord Jesus, I know You gave us everything that we needed to prosper and succeed on earth. You gave us Your Law through Moses but we, Your people, failed to obey. You promised to bless us if we obeyed and punish us if we disobeyed and as Our God and Our Father You were forced to punish us for our sins. But I know You grieved having to punish us and You looked upon our sinful state with compassion, desiring to forgive us and bless us and teach us Your holy will.

Jesus, You came into the world to save us. You taught us to love by loving us and You proved Your love on the Cross. You suffered so much so that You could cleanse us of our sins, anoint us with Your Holy Spirit and nourish us with Your Body and Blood. You provided everything for us but still the world sins and disobeys You. I am sorry! I am sorry for my sins and I am sorry that the world still offends You.

Holy One, we are coming to You at the Holy Hour, 3pm, the time You died for us, to pray for Your infinite mercy upon all souls!

We know that You want to forgive us and that You are knocking on the door of all hearts to receive You with faith and trust and thanksgiving.

Holy Husband of all souls, You are Our Creator, Our Teacher, Our Redeemer, Our Consoler and Our Counsellor. Help us Holy Lord to bring the world to its knees to experience the Holy Desire you have for us. For this reason Almighty God, we are summoning all Christians of every denomination to come to the foot of Your Cross daily at the Hour of Mercy (the time You died for us 3pm) to be reconciled to You, to pray for Your mercy to be poured out like a healing balm upon all souls, especially those most in need of Your mercy.

Help us Great One to amend our lives in perfect alignment to Your Holy Will through Your grace Sweet Saviour Jesus Christ!

Jesus I know that You will never oblige Your bride to love You and to obey You and honour You because ‘love is a choice’ and true love is born only when we surrender to Your holy will. I understand that love is my privilege Lord Jesus to desire You and want to love You and all souls on earth.

We love Jesus because You first loved us!

We pray for Your mercy Holy Lord upon our world so broken by hatred and violence. Help us to forgive!

Help us to see You suffering on the Cross to redeem us because when we do we will be born again! Our hearts will be circumcised by the immensity of Your love and Your name will be written upon our hearts, upon our minds, upon our souls and everything we do we will do it for You!

Jesus I know that by Your Passion, Death and Resurrection You have won a victory over sin and death and have purchased for us the gift of eternal life. Help us to reclaim our birthright to be Your people blessed to serve You and honour You and one another not out of fear but out of reverence and holy desire to love You as You have loved us so that we can become Your Bride Jesus, purified by Your Holy Blood.

We love You! We need You! Hear us Holy Lord and renew the face of the earth!