Further in faith

You’ve probably heard it said, when one door closes, God opens another. It’s a common phrase you hear after experiencing a setback or disappointment. And in essence, it’s a nice way for someone to tell you, “your situation sucks, but hang in there.”

Don’t get me wrong, there’s no doubt that God goes before us & opens a number of doors on our behalf. New opportunities, relationships, & many other things. But as you move further in faith, you also experience your fair-share of locked doors.

These are the kinds of doors that make us most uncomfortable, because these are found within ourselves. They lead to areas we’re closed off, to places we’re less willing to go. They’re the kind of door we’d rather just ignore. And yet they’re the very door—

god uses to do more.

In the book of Jonah, for instance, you find the prophet Jonah commissioned by God to declare impending destruction on the evil city of Nineveh. Jonah has no problem with the justice God plans to execute on the Ninevites, yet he’s unwilling to go & do what God has asked.

Jonah runs from God, gets caught in a horrible storm, spends 3 days in the belly of a great fish, but ultimately ends up declaring God’s message. The people of Nineveh respond to God’s message by “stopping their evil ways”, and in response, God changes His mind & spares the city. In Ch. 4, we see why Jonah was unwilling to go & why God worked through his unwillingness.

“This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: “Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people.”

“The Lord replied, Is it right for you to be angry about this?…Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?”

Jonah 4:1-2 (NLT) | Jonah 4:4,10-11 (NLT)

Extending mercy to evil people was a place Jonah just “couldn’t get to”, but that’s where God chose to go to. God opened a locked-door (a lack of mercy) in Jonah’s life & it led to over 120,000 people being saved. What was impossible for Jonah was made possible with God.

“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians‬ ‭3:20‬ | ‭NLT‬‬

God’s not asking for part of you, but your entire self. When you truly open yourself up to God, there’s no limit to what He will do. He’s looking to do more in you. He’s looking to deliver more through you. God is calling you to more. The question is—

will you open the door?

closed doors

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one [God] who calls you.” Galatians 5:7-8 (NIV)

Galatians Ch. 5 gives us a picture for our life. It’s a picture in which we’re running a good race of faith. Then something comes along & convinces us to abandon His best. In one area or another, we find ourselves no longer persuaded by God or His truth. We become closed-off in obedience to Christ.

Proverbs 3:12 (NLT) tells us that God delights in us as a father delights in his son. And as any loving parent does, He “corrects those He loves”. Correction from God isn’t comfortable but it changes us for the better.

God wants to make you aware of any place you’ve locked Him out. To persuade you, with truth, to open the door & allow Him in. Ultimately, He wants you to run the race He specifically mapped out for you.

#1) The Door of your mind

It’s interesting to think about the role of the “6th man” in basketball. Aside from the coach, there may not be another person who’s more in touch with the mental-pulse of the team. The 6th man may not be one of the starting 5, but his role’s incredibly important.

He’s responsible for assessing the status of the team. He’s the one figuring out whether the team needs a spark or a steady hand. He’s the first guy off the bench, who comes in & does what needs to be done. The bottom line is—

he stays ready.

You’ve been equipped with an awareness as it relates to the people around you. There are needs you’re uniquely designed to meet, holes that you’re supposed to fill. Are you checked out mentally? Or are you aware & responding to the opportunities God has entrusted to you?

Ephesians Ch. 6 instructs us to equip ourselves with the readiness of peace that comes from the Good News, so that you’ll be fully prepared. We’re called to live with an ongoing, meditative assurance of our eternal hope in Jesus and to be prepared to share this Good News with others.

Big or small, we all have a God-given role to play. Keep an open mind, always stay ready. Ask God each day what’s needed from you. And by His Wisdom—

you’ll know what to do.

2) The door of your time

The door of freedom is a pivotal door that our spiritual enemy tries to convince us to close. If the devil had a motto, it might be “Anything but God”. Whether we’re pursuing interests that grieve the heart of God, or simply selling out to a lifestyle of unhealthy busyness—

we’re misusing our freedom.

The Bible tells us that Jesus came to set us free so that we could live in freedom. But what good is freedom if you surrender it to all the wrong things? To anything but God? 1 Corinthians 6:12 (NIV) says:

“You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.”

God has given you freedom but He’s also given you discernment. The ability to recognize what’s best & what’s not. You can’t be everything to everybody. Not all items on the agenda board have equal measure.

One of the most practical ways to measure freedom is to look at how you spend your time. Nobody had more demands placed on them than Jesus, and yet His allegiance was never tied to an agenda. He never compromised when it came to devoting time to God.

God wants you to live free in the truest sense of the word. That begins by spending intimate time with Him. Letting Him set the pace of your life & reallocating the currency of your time to—

life’s most meaningful pursuits.

3) the door of your heart

My wife and I were in the truck the other day & she was sitting in the passenger’s seat. Since I was driving, she was using my phone to play music through the truck. At one point, my phone randomly buzzed 5 vibrations, indicating some sort of alert.

Before she could open my phone to see what it was, I said, “I bet those are emails letting us know about the kid’s upcoming appointments.” And sure enough, that’s exactly what those “random vibrations” ended up being. It was a generic phone buzz to her, but it was something specific to me.

How much more attuned should we be to the Presence of God in our lives?

God wants our hearts to be so in sync with Him, that when His Spirit prompts us, we know what’s being asked. People often mistakenly believe that God is looking for great performers. That He’s looking for people who have their act together on the outside. When in reality—

god sees you for who you are on the inside.

In Matthew 15:8 (NLT), Jesus has the following to say regarding the religious elites of His day:

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”

In terms of public reputation, nobody looked better on the outside. Yet God wasn’t impressed because they were hollow on the inside. We don’t want to become so consumed with doing work for God, that we fail to let God do work in us.

God’s business is inward purity, not outward adornment. The devotion of a marriage should never be replaced by the duties of it. Your relationship with God doesn’t stem from performance, but rather the posture of your heart.

What are you offering to God each day? Are you bringing an offering of lip-service? Or are you truly surrendering your life’s service? God doesn’t desire “your best version of you”—

he just wants all of you.

An open-door policy

The essence of grace is giving you what you don’t deserve. That’s what God has freely given us. Unmerited, undeserved access to the greatest thing possible—His Presence.

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)

Jesus has opened the door to the Throne Room of God. Faith in Jesus is the key that brings us into God’s Presence. Because of Christ, God holds nothing back from us. Because of Christ, we can come boldly to the Throne of God—

holding nothing back from him.

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*Here’s a direct link to this week’s post: An Open Door

today’s Takeaways

• God uses Locked Doors to do more.

• What door do you need to open to Him?

• Jesus is our key to the presence of god.

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