{"id":193,"date":"2015-01-30T18:12:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T18:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielgaul.com\/?p=193"},"modified":"2015-01-30T18:12:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T18:12:50","slug":"poem-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/?p=193","title":{"rendered":"Poem #3&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When writing this poem, I thought of a famous picture in which Jesus is standing at the door of a house, knocking to be let in.  It is my firm belief that everyone, at some time or another in our lives, has at least one encounter with Jesus, and the decision we make regarding Him is the most important of all.  What strikes me is how loving and respectful GOD is; He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and capable of reaching everywhere at any time, and yet He also gave us free will (knowing that many would choose to reject Him) and respects the decisions we make with it.  Why would GOD do so?  The same reason He told Adam and Eve about the forbidden fruit; He wants us to fellowship with Him and love Him by choice.  Which way will you choose?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Jesus came knocking\u201d (#3)<\/p>\n<p>When Jesus came to town, He knocked on every door,<br \/>\nNo one was left out-neither rich nor poor.<br \/>\nHe even went to the outcasts-the drunkard and the whore,<br \/>\nEveryone who listened to Him- these and more.<br \/>\nThey came in great crowds, young, mature and old,<br \/>\nMost of them eager to listen to the message that He told.<br \/>\nSome answered instantly, in numbers like droplets in a cloud.<br \/>\nOthers, mostly religious leaders, just yelled out loud<br \/>\n\u201cGet out of here!  I\u2019ve no use for you; the Law causes enough strife<br \/>\nInside me, without giving it up with the rest of my life!\u201d<br \/>\nThese rejected Him, and then He had to leave<br \/>\nSadly knowing that many of them would never believe.<br \/>\nBut of those that believed He freed from their fleshly strife,<br \/>\nAnd gave to them the eternal gift of renewed-and everlasting-life.<br \/>\nSo how will you react to Jesus when He comes to your heart\u2019s door?<br \/>\nWhen He knocks, will you let Him in and cleanse you of your sinful life before?<br \/>\nOr will you shrink back, not wanting the gift that can be yours today,<br \/>\nAnd out of stubborn pride, send the Savior away?<br \/>\nI pray that you will accept Him, and the hope that He brings,<br \/>\nThe cleansing and renewing of everything.<br \/>\nBecause, my friend, though all mankind took part in the Fall,<br \/>\nJesus is the One who can cleanse us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When writing this poem, I thought of a famous picture in which Jesus is standing at the door of a house, knocking to be let in. It is my firm belief that everyone, at some time or another in our lives, has at least one encounter with Jesus, and the decision we make regarding Him &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/?p=193\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Poem #3&#8230;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5w0VP-37","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danielgaul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}