December 28, 2026 -Doors and Eyes Wide Open
- brooks16055
- Dec 28, 2025
- 3 min read
REVELATION 7:1-10:11
Revelation 9:20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk! 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
I was reading this and also thinking about the people in my life who don't believe in Jesus and even those who don't believe in God at all. I wonder if there is a difference in those who don't believe in Jesus but who also don't worship demons, murder, practice witchcraft or live a sexually immoral life etc. I know that unbelief is unbelief and all will suffer eternity separated from God but I wonder if there is a difference in going through the suffering of the end times.
I was thinking mostly about my children. My daughter who grew up in church and was taught all about Jesus and the bible, went to college and turned away from God. And my son who also grew up in church and was taught the same things who did not go to college but also never really had any interest in faith. When I talk to him about faith he would say that he believes in God and in Jesus but I think he is like I was when I had first become an adult. Head faith. I pray that they will both hear the knock and open the door of their hearts before it is too late. This got me thinking about my progression of faith in the context of yesterday's post.
I have always believed in Jesus. I grew up going to church and never doubted who Jesus was or what he did for me. When I became an adult I stopped going to church. The things of the world were much more important to me. I never changed my mind about who Jesus was but it didn't have any influence on my decisions. I had head knowledge. I know that Jesus was standing at the door and knocking but I didn't even hear it. When I got a little older and got married and had kids, I heard about a church that was great with kids. I wanted my kids to know about God so they could make their own decision about what to believe. I started to take them to Sunday school and church. That is when I started to hear the knocking, so I opened the door and stood in the doorway talking to Jesus. Instead of going home I stayed and went to adult Sunday school, I joined bible studies, I attended events and started thinking about spiritual matters, reading the bible and praying. I opened the door to my heart but kept Jesus on the porch. I wouldn't move out of the way for him to have full access to life. Then one day in Sunday school he showed me what I was doing. I came to realize that I needed to get out of the way and give Jesus access to my entire heart and all of my life. I stepped to the side and invited Jesus in and that is when everything changed. The eyes of my heart were opened and my reason and motivation for everything I had been doing changed. I pray that my children would have ears to hear the knocking and open the door and step aside inviting Jesus in to have full access to their heart.
This was a song that had a big impact on my one night at a worship service while I was going through this time surrender to Jesus.
Open the eyes of their hearts Lord. That the would see you for who you are. Holy, Holy, Holy!
We are almost done with the Chronological bible in a year reading plan. For the new year I found the plan below on the You Bible app. Being someone who loves music I think this is going to be great. If you don't care for the music part just do the reading as you normally would and skip the devotional music. I will continue to post the reading for the day at the top of the page as well.
Join me in reading Bible in a Year Through Song beginning January 1, 2026.