One of my friends, K, shares a story of a visiting student from Japan, named M. One day early in M's visit to the USA, one of her Christian friends challenged M to ask G^d to speak to her. M did not believe in G^d, but decided to put G^d to a little test...
Later that evening an American Christian walked up to M, without knowledge of M's "prayer" and handed M a Bible in Japanese! M was shocked that G^d apparently had answered her prayer so quickly and clearly. She began to read the Bible a bit.
Our friend K kept ministering to M faithfully and looking for opportunities to share the gospel. One day, M posed the important question to K, "How does one come to know Jesus?" K happily responded and shared with M, Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."
After K elaborated a bit, M ended the conversation without further comment. K was disappointed but invited M to our congregation's Palm Sunday service in which our service leader invited everyone into observed a few minutes of silence to confess their sin by writing it onto a small slip of paper (some folks needed 2 or 3 slips).During this time Mami thought “ K said that J was knocking at the door of my heart. I do not hear his voice, and I do not hear him knocking.”
After confession, the leader provided hammers and nails for people to come up front and nail their sin to the wooden cross up front. The first person came up and their hammering sounded exactly like someone knocking so very loudly on the door. And that person was followed by another "knocking", followed by another and another.
G^d's message to M was very clear. G^d was knocking loudly and longly. And M got the message and accepted the truth of the gospel. G^d was speaking and knocking, and M accepted the truth of G^d and His promise to respond to the invitation to come into her life.
G^d speaks, even in these modern times.
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