“Honey, the Church is Here!”

Blog by TJ Spykstra.

It was a hot Colorado evening and there was little relief from the sun. After work I made my way down to Colfax, where a group of believers from various congregations join every Tuesday to walk alongside those who are “living” in the motels there. Most of those in the motels are fighting paycheck-to-paycheck to just stand on their own two feet, trying to keep a roof over their heads. 

We go out two-by-two knocking on doors offering “just” food and prayer. I say “just” loosely as the food and prayer has opened a multitude of doors leading to relationships and friendships among one another. 

However, there was one door that we knocked on last Tuesday night that stood out. We knocked, the door was opened, and we were greeted by a massive smile. My partner Amy, wearing her signature do-rag and I had on a sweat-stained cap we both were exhausted that night. Yet, when the door shot open we regained our energy were greeted warmly. We had spoken to this particular middle-aged lady on several occasions, established a trust relationship and began to ask her how she was doing.

She proceeded to tell us how that day she had been kicked out of her room because she was a $1.63 short on her payment. No grace was given and she would not be let in until she had paid the $1.63 plus the $64 that was owed for that day. Then all of the sudden, she stopped and said I’ll be right back. Through the doorframe I could see her knocking on the bathroom door. She raised her voice, “Honey, come out the church is here!” I smiled to myself as I heard those words echo through their small cluttered motel room “the church is here.”

It was a statement that rang forth truth to me. God wants to use each one of us. The church or “the way” as it was called in Acts is just that a “way of life.” It is not confined to a building or temple, because Jesus our Savior redefined and refined us, so that the church is in us.Jesus lives in us and because of that when we knock on His door and we are greeted by a smile that radiates this love and grace. This grace cancels our debts of sin and gives us a home for eternity. 

To end I would like to share this quote from David Guzink:

“God always wants us to go deeper. We tend to sip where we could drink deeply; we drink deeply where we could wade in, and we wade in where we could plunge in and swim. Most of us need to be encouraged to go deeper and further into the things of the Holy Spirit.”

What door is the Holy Spirit calling you to knock on? Is it a friendship? Is it to dive deeper into His word? Is it at your job or a new job? Whatever it is, may you seek to be the Church? 

2 Timothy 2:6-7 

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline”