Walking through Open Doors
Acts 16:6-10, Rev 3:7
When Andy Griffith, star of one of the best television shows ever made and one of my personal favorites, entered his fifties, he found it very difficult to find work in Hollywood, and his personal finances became tighter and tighter. He wrote in Guidepost that finally he and his wife Cindi decided that things would be easier if they moved back to his home state of North Carolina. They put their Hollywood home up for sale and waited for a buyer. Months passed and no one gave them a decent offer for their home.
Then one day the Lord gave Cindi an insight. “Maybe it’s a good thing we couldn’t sell the house,” she said. “Maybe it was God showing us grace. If we moved to North Carolina you might never work again”. The next day they both went down to the office of the talent agency that represented Andy. They sat in the lobby and chatted with agents, and went to lunch with them. Soon there after, work started to come in: four TV movies and the pilot for Matlock, a show that ended up running for nine seasons.
Sometimes a closed door is a signpost from God. He has a better way for us to go. The Bible tells us that whatever door God opens no man can shut and whatever door God shuts no man can open. It seems as though we can see the doors that God shuts in our lives much more clearly than the ones he opens. I believe that is because some of the doors God shuts in our lives are the ones that our flesh desires. They are the fast track to fame and fortune with the beautiful wife or handsome husband. Sometimes God has other plans for you that might take a little longer to develop and you might not make as much money. I believe God will give you prosperity in this life, which really means provision for the journey! The doors that God opens in our life is of no less magnitude but it always seems like we struggle to know what God has for us or where He wants us to go. You will never easily see the doors God has opened for you if your focus is on the doors that have closed in front of you.
Take this week to examine the choices you have in your life. Think about how those opportunities could affect your life and how that would line up with the will of God for your life. When you pray, believe that God will shut the doors that you do not need to go through and open the ones that you do. Also pray that the Holy Spirit will give you strength to not focus on the doors that you want to go through because they are appealing to you. The Bible tells us that if we commit our way to the Lord: trust in Him; and He will “Act”...Psalm 37:5 ESV. I love the translation for this scripture. David tells us that if we will just commit meaning take our hands and influence off and out of the situation and trust by not worrying but substituting worry with prayer then God almighty will act! Man that gets me excited to know that God Himself will act on my behalf!
I am sorry that you are not receiving this until the afternoon. I had to load all the email addresses on my computer and that took me a little bit. I will try my best to have the devotional to you before lunch on Monday! I hope you all have a wonderful week and remember that you are the church wherever you go!