Doors (by Tim Klink of Prison Discipleship Ministry)
1 Corinthians 16:9
For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.
A door is an opportunity. When a door is opened it allows you to move from where you are to a different place. When a door is closed it prevents you from going somewhere that you shouldn’t. The door is simply an inanimate object that really doesn’t care if it is open or closed. Opportunities are the same way since they are only meaningful by our response to them. We live in a world of many opportunities to not only live for Christ, but to proclaim God’s unconditional love in every situation.
When God opens doors of opportunities, we are only effective as we follow Him through them, and into the opportunity.
The size of the door, or opportunity, doesn’t effect what is waiting beyond it. What matters is that we walk through it when it opens to us. If all we do is stand fast, and gaze into what lies beyond it, the door will close, and we will have missed the opportunity. We can try to force the door open, but unless God opens it, the opportunity He showed us will be gone.
Every time a door of opportunity opens, there will be many adversaries, or things that will desire to keep us from entering in. Many times the adversaries are not other people or other circumstances, but our own selves. Fear of what may lie beyond the door can grip us, and keep us from moving through the door. Fear of the unknown is very common in humans, and the “what if’s” our mind presents can keep us from moving through the open door. Fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of not having enough knowledge to properly handle the opportunity will all keep us standing at the door looking in. God knows your capabilities and weaknesses, and He opened the door to you in spite of them. Simply follow Him.
When you do enter into the opportunity through the door that God has opened to you, it will have great rewards. Your faith will grow, and you will be more anxious for the next door to open. What door has God opened to you?