In This Very Room

Here is a devotional that I read this morning and found very encouraging!


"Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.  Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.  So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you!  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.'  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'  Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.'  So he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.'  And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them.  Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!'  Then He said to thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side.  Do not be unbelieving,  believing.'  And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'  Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed.  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'
John 20:19-29

     At our church we often sing the beautiful song by Ron and Carol Harris: "In This Very Room."  It begins, "In this very room there's quite enough love for one like me."  This song reminds me that although there is great encouragement in gathering with other Christians for worship, the important thing is that Christ is present.  But it goes beyond that.  He is with us not just at church but in every room of our lives.
     I wonder where you're reading this-a kitchen, a coffee shop, a prison cell, a military post?  Perhaps you're in a hospital or a courtroom.  It may be a room that reflects everything thats right in your life or a place that represents all thats wrong.  And you might be afraid.
     In the aftermath of the awful reality of Jesus' crucifixion, His followers met in a familiar room.  John records that "when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood  in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be with you' "(John 20:19).  A week later it happened again where Jesus entered through locked doors to bring peace through His presence.
     Wherever you are today, "There's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom, for Jesus, Lord Jesus, is in this very room."-David McCasland
     "When in the midst of life with its problems, bent with our toil and burdens we bear; wonderful thought and deep consolation:  Jesus is always there." -Lillenas