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Priscilla Shirer tells Liberty students to answer God’s knock, invite Him into their lives

Priscilla Shirer expounded on the importance of answering God’s ‘knock’ to enter one’s life. (Photos by Jessie Jordan)

As Liberty University students gathered in the Vines Center Friday morning at the end of their first week of the spring semester, New York Times best-selling author and speaker Priscilla Shirer spoke on the importance of not ignoring God’s knock on the door of their lives and allowing Him to be more than a guest when they answer.

As the daughter of recurring speaker Dr. Tony Evans, mother of Liberty men’s basketball guard JC Shirer Jr., and relative of multiple other Liberty students over the years, Shirer has many connections to Liberty. Her brother, gospel music artist and Liberty alumnus Anthony Evans (’00), led students in worship prior to Shirer’s message, which was her third appearance in Convocation.

Shirer shared a recent experience in which she was at home alone in “hibernation mode” enjoying solitude and silence when a knock came at her front door, and she ignored it. Undeterred, the person on the other side of the door continued to knock strongly and unceasingly. When Shirer finally opened the door, her friend was standing there and explained why she continued to knock: she knew Shirer. She knew that Shirer was either blocking out life for a while or was so busy with her many distractions that the knocking might be drowned out.

“‘She said, ‘I had to knock passionately enough to get you to pay attention,’” Shirer said.

The entire book of Revelation, Shirer said, is a call from God for the attention of His believers. In Revelation 3:20, God tells the church of Laodicea, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

She said while this verse is often used in evangelistic efforts, the original recipients of the message were Christians who were not allowing Him to be in their lives.

“In this verse, when Jesus says this, He is describing His relationship with the church of Laodicea,” Shirer said. “This is not a message that is about Him and people who are not already in relationship with Him. He is speaking to the church and describes Himself as being outside of the very entity that is supposed to already belong to Him. Inside, the people are busy and brimming with ministry activity and movement, but they have inadvertently relegated the one for Whom they are supposed to be doing it for to the periphery.”

“Lord, help us if we are in here (a gathering of Christians), and He is outside,” Shirer added. “Help us if we are just replacing the joy of His presence with programs and platitudes and personalities. Father, convict us collectively and individually, if we are building a church that You are not even in.”

Much like a Starbucks being out of hot coffee or a Kentucky Fried Chicken location not having chicken available, Shirer said there are churches missing the Holy Spirit that they are expected to be filled with.

(Photo by Jessie Jordan)

“As outrageous and hilarious as it sounds to us that these places would not have these items, that is absolutely as ridiculous as it should be for there to be the people of God not marked by the presence of God,” she said. “Our whole goal as believers is to make sure that we are marked by the Holy Spirit’s presence in our life. You are the Church; the Church is not a building, it’s us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit of God.”

When Jesus gave this image of standing at the door to our lives and knocking, He knew that families, at the time, lived in compounds filled with people with an outer door that might not be heard or answered for some time.

“When someone stood outside and knocked, they were doing so knowing it would take a lot of patience for the door to be answered, and they’d just stand,” Shirer said. “This is the King of the universe ready to stand at your door. I want you to see and celebrate the patience of a Savior who is willing not just to save (us), but then to keep showing up at the door … and stand there and keep on knocking on our door. May it never be lost on us, may it never be casual to us, that a God like that would stand patiently waiting for us.”

Shirer shared a closing anecdote of visiting a woman’s lavish home with furnishings that guests couldn’t touch, carpets they couldn’t walk on, and items they couldn’t use, yet the homeowner invited Shirer to “make yourself at home.” This partial invitation is how some Christians treat God’s desire to enter their lives, keeping some parts — like entertainment choices, relationships, and other lifestyle choices — for themselves.

“At some point, we as believers in Jesus Christ have to answer the knock at the door, fling it wide open, invite Him all the way in, and say to Him, ‘Everything is at Your full disposal — my mind to think Your thoughts, my hands to do Your work, my feet to walk Your path, my mouth to speak Your words, my eyes to see Your will, my ears to hear Your voice. Every part of me, Father, is at Your disposal because not only do You belong here, but You own the whole house.”

(Photo by Emily Cuthrell)
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