Oftentimes in the scriptures, an open door speaks of evangelistic opportunity. An example of this would be 2 Corinthians 2:12 where Paul writes, ‘Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me.’ God had opened doors of opportunity for Paul to share the gospel in Troas.
What about you? Are you walking through the open doors that God has placed before you? Did you even know that God has set doors of opportunity before you? He has! In your neighborhood… At your workplace… God has strategically placed you in order that you might bring the good news of the gospel to those around you. Acts 17:26-27 says that the times and the places where we live are predetermined by God in order that those we meet might seek God and find Him.’ Now how does that happen? That happens through us as we love on people in the name of Jesus! Oftentimes we miss these open doors of opportunity to share because we’re not looking for them. But if we would just pay attention, and begin to pray for opportunities, we would start to see them pop up more regularly. These open doors often come up in the course of regular conversation. A co-worker shares with you about a struggle. A friend asks for advice. Those are opportunities to share!
Another way that the Scriptures employ the metaphor of an open door is to speak of opportunities for ministry. In 1st Corinthians 16:9 Paul refers to this when he writes, ‘a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.’ As Paul was ministering as he looked around he saw two things, he saw great opportunities for the work of the kingdom and he also saw great opposition coming against that work.
There are opportunities to join the Lord in Kingdom work all around us. If only we would have eyes to see. How do you know if God is opening a door for you to serve in a certain place? 1) Do you have a natural desire for a particular need or ministry. Maybe you love kids… 2) Do you have a growing burden for a particular area of ministry. 3) Has God made you aware of a need. That’s always the way it works. He gifts you in an area, gives you a growing burden for that ministry and a need presents itself. But please understand, wherever God is opening doors of opportunity, Satan comes against that work to oppose it.
One more thing I’ll say about this and then we can move on… God is not only the one who opens doors of opportunity. He is also the one who closes doors. We see an example of this in Acts 16. Paul and Barnabas were doing missionary work in various cities and when they tried to make their way to a certain city to preach the gospel, Acts 16:6 says that they were ‘forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word there.’ They had good intentions. They wanted to bring the gospel to a particular area, but the door was closed. We don’t know for sure how the Spirit forbade them, but what we can be sure of is that the door was closed.
Maybe you had a desire to do something for the Lord, but it didn’t work out. You wanted to go here or do this or start that but it never happened. It could be that God closed that door for a reason. But one thing is for sure, God never closes a door without opening a window. If He closes one door, it’s only because He has something better for you.
God bless,
Daniel Bentley
