Have you ever heard people clattering on about how God had put a wonderful open door before them and they were “so excited.”
They talk as if their ship had come in, as if they had won the lottery, or as if the doors of heaven had swung wide and they were entering the celestial city.
Let me tell you about open doors—they are a lot of headaches and a lot of work.
When I was a kid and in a hurry to get in or out of the house, I didn’t worry too much about shutting doors. I had places to go. My grandfather would say, “Shut the door, you’re letting the flies out!”
One thing about open doors is that flies and mosquitos get in the house; if the air-conditioner is on, the cold air gets out and the hot air gets in. In winter time the opposite happens.
Open doors are complicated
Adversaries
Paul talked once of a thorny open door. “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1 Corinthians 16:8-10, NKJV).
The word “adversaries” comes from a Greek word “antikeimai,” which means, according to Mr. Strong: “to lie opposite, that is be adverse.”
Imagine this: you are a poor university student trying to sell something during the summer to finance you studies.
Your boss has sent you way out into the countryside and at the last 33 houses the people have either refused to come to the door or slammed it immediately when they see you are a salesman.
So you trudge up to this farmhouse, knock on the door with your left hand, because the knuckles of your right hand are raw from rapping on doorframes, when suddenly a farmer’s wife appears and opens the door wide.
“Come in” she says with a smile.
Are you happy?
You look and there next to her is a Doberman Pinscher, standing five-foot tall at the shoulders, his teeth bared, slobbers dripping to the floor and a wicked gleam of joy in his eyes.
The door is open, yes, but there is an adversary.
Often the devil is referred to as an adversary, and most all open doors have an assortment of devils standing on the other side waiting to sink their nasty little fangs into you.
So, when God tells you that He’s putting an open door in front of you, rejoice … and get ready to fight.
Get In the Game!
The open door is the coach putting you in the game and letting you play. Closed doors find you on the bench watching others.
But, when you are in the game, you get knots on you head, you get knocked on your rear end, you lose your breath. You get to do that to the fellows on the other side, too. That’s the fun part.
Afterwards, you’re dead tired. You’re sore. You’ve got bruises. But, you are ecstatic because you were in the game and you got to be a part of winning, or even losing.
Yea, for open doors.
We’re got too many players in the grandstands telling a few others who are playing their hearts out, how to do it. It’s time to go through that open door.
I talked to a young police lady who comes to our church. She’s not fat but she is tall and strong. Like a good father and grandfather I worry about the safety of young ladies, though. “What do you do if a fight breaks out when you’re dealing with a bad guy?” I asked.
“I kind of like it,” she responded. (Note to self: “Go meekly if she ever arrests me”).
Ask God for open doors to do His will. Ask Him to use you. Then get ready for a fight.
Yes!
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Hmmm …
“But that’s not the issue with love. Love honors even when it’s rejected. Love treats its beloved as special and sacred even when an ungrateful attitude is all you get in return.” The Love Dare (Alex Kendrick)
Flickr, Creative Commons Sean Carney The Open Window; CL.Baker, Princess; philippe leroyer March for Jesus (103) – 24May08, Paris (France)