In the third chapter of Revelation, Jesus writes to the church at Laodicea, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev.3:20). This is a familiar passage to most and most have seen the painting by William Hunt depicting Christ standing in front of a heavy wooden door knocking and waiting. The painting symbolizes Jesus knocking on our hearts. It’s interesting to think that the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth does not command the door to open but waits on our permission, our invitation.
Permission is a powerful thing. We need to be sure that we issue constant permission and a constant invitation to Jesus to enter our lives and our hearts. We need to make sure that there aren’t places in our lives and hearts where we deny him permission to enter. If we aren’t careful, a denial to Jesus becomes an invitation for the enemy.
Satan has permission to tempt those who are in Christ but cannot enter to kill, steal and destroy unless we or those who have had authority over us, give him permission. The “sins of the fathers” give Satan permission to attack the blood lines until those bloodlines are cleansed by Christ and that cleansing depends on our request, our invitation. Where we personally have unrepented sin, ungodly relationships, or unforgiveness in our lives, that agreement with Satan constitutes permission.
Even when ministering deliverance, we need the one being afflicted to no longer extend permission to the enemy through half-hearted commitment to the Lordship of Jesus or half-hearted commitments to holiness. Any secret sin the afflicted wants to hold onto or leave unconfessed, gives the enemy permission to stay and deliverance becomes a much greater task.
Both Jesus and the devil are always standing at the door and knocking. We need to be very sure about who we are inviting in.
