Walking Through an Open Door

By Steve Johnson

All of us, looking back on our lives so far, can view things in terms of open and closed doors. As a child I dreamed of becoming a professional football player. I played incessantly but was never good enough to make the grade. That door that would always be closed to me. Other doors are always open. A child born into a wealthy family may always have certain advantages familiar to those born into wealth and with generous parents. Many doors are open for a season and shut for a season. When I look back on where God has taken me I see doors that have been supernaturally opened. My first mission trip to Kenya was facilitated by a miraculous provision of £1,000. The second trip was preceded by numerous unsolicited donations, without which the mission would not have been possible. My recent trip was all the more remarkable because of closed doors as well as open ones. Nearly every mission contact was not available to me for one reason or another. One in particular was the result of a painful and difficult circumstance. Recently I struggled with the details of that circumstance and then I realised that God shuts every other door to get you through the one He wants you to go through. At very short notice I ended up spending three weeks in Mombasa working with several churches, involved in an open air crusade, seeing people saved, healed and delivered from demon possession. All of which happened in predominantly Muslim areas. Areas I would not have chosen to minister in but God had other plans for me. The time was marked by meetings with significant people in Mombasa. One of these people was a man who headed up the East African arm of a worldwide mission organisation. I also ended up preaching at a pastors meeting with around 25 ministers present {and I've never pastored a church in my life!}

Hey, you know 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful thing isn't it. Perhaps we need to remember that when circumstances are against us, everything is going wrong and even Christians and churches seem to be a stumbling block to us. I was thinking about just such a seemingly impossible situation when a scripture came to mind.

For a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries. 1 Corinthians ch 16 v 9 {a.v}

Paul describes a situation in Ephesus as being 'an open door'. Bear in mind it is God who opens a door no man can shut and closes a door no man can open. Here is a divine opportunity. An opening from heaven yet Paul says there are many adversaries. It suddenly struck me that when God opens a door the devil is there to resist you and make things as hard as possible. He knows that when a door is opened it leads to the establishing and expansion of the kingdom of God in people's lives. As a result, part of Satan's kingdom is torn down. An open door doesn't necessarily mean an easy door.

Consider also Joshua who received a great promise from God. Every place where the sole of your foot shall tread, I have given it to you for an inheritance. {Joshua ch 1} Notice how God used the past tense. It has already been ordained that Joshua would take the land yet if we read on we find that Joshua and the Israelites still had a lot of fighting to do. Again there was an open door and many adversaries to resist them.

Last year I was with a group of friends in my church on a mission trip to a city called Galati in Romania. I had wondered previously whether this was a one off or if God would bring me back again. I wanted God to make it clear to me rather than just make a decision for myself. As we walked into a place called 'the valley' I knew that I knew I would be back. It was the same impression I had when I first went to Kenya. Not just a desire to return but a confirmation from outside of myself. Now herein lies the difficulty. I have subsequently heard much of the problems of the church in the valley. It is an area of great poverty both materially and spiritually and there was not a single church to reach the people. Then God sent a man to evangelise the area and a church was set up. Now things have gone wrong. Time constrains me from going into detail but things are not going forward. The church is stagnating and there are numerous problems within. And yet, and yet, and yet I sense it is an open door. It is an open door but there are many adversaries. Wherever you have division in the church you have the work of the enemy. He fears a united church. Here is an open door and here also is an adversary. How does this all work out? I don't know but I know this from experience. Trust God's leading and prompting regardless of what the circumstances tell you. I know that I know I will be there. I don't know when or how but the God who leads me through an open door will show me how to walk through it and how to deal with the adversaries. Incidentally a clue in all of this is to remember that people are not the enemy, the devil is! Grace is Gods secret weapon. As Paul the apostle states where sin abounds grace does much more abound. God has a way of checkmating His opponent. We must understand that in the constraints of time we view life only as far as we have lived it. God sees everything from beginning to end. {He is, after all, both the author AND the finisher of our faith. How many authors do you know who DIDN'T finish the book they wrote before you began to experience it for yourself?} We have 20-20 hindsight but God has 20-20 foresight. He inspired the book that contains hundreds of fulfilled prophecies. Do you believe He can fulfil His purposes in your life? Do I believe He will fulfil His purposes in mine? How about in the valley? Perhaps it's time we learned to focus on the open door rather than on the adversary.