"Welcome back!"

God never turns his back on you.  He's waiting for you.

Sometimes, I feel that I have let God down and he won't listen to my prayers.  That is a serious mistake.

Satan rejoices when I give up and stop talking with God.  He's good at tossing condemning thoughts into my mind.  He knows the power of prayer and he does his best to pull the plug on people who pray.

There is, of course, the great story of the Prodigal Son that Jesus tells (Luke 15:11-32).  I often come back to that because it shows God the Father's heart.  He never stops loving and he always welcomes us home.

As you know, the younger son in the story asks for his inheritance, leaves home, and wastes it in living the high life.  It's while working with pigs for a little money that he decides it would be worthwhile returning home and asking his father if he could work as a servant.

When the father, who has been waiting for him, sees his son, he rushes out and embraces him BEFORE the young man blurts out his apology and his request to be a servant.  And the old man rejoices at his son's return, showers good things upon him and welcomes him back into the family.

The father didn't condone his son's wild living.  But he knew his son was sorry and wanted to return home.

In her wonderful little book Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ, Jeanne Guyon talks about sins and distractions from prayer.  She says: "Once you have departed from God, you must return to him as quickly as possible."

Don't beat yourself up, she says.  Confess whatever sins you may have committed.  Go back to God.  He'll welcome you.

I am reminded, as well, of the words in Revelation 3:20 - words that inspired the name of this blog.  In this passage, God is speaking to the lukewarm church of 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."

Here I see Jesus knocking on my door, asking to speak with me.  My job is to open the door and listen to him and talk with him.

He's always there.