A Great Door and Effectual is Opened for Us
1 Corinthians 16:9
There are times in our lives where God gives us an opportunity, a set time that is most favorable or conducive to action. There are doors of opportunities in missions. There's another door of opportunity opened to us for salvation. There’s another door of opportunity we have when we come together in the Name of Jesus. There’s a set time and opportunity whereby we have the best chance ever to exercise and practice our faith. But, there comes a time that your faith is not acceptable to God, unless it is practiced and given to Him when the door is open.
1. God Opens Doors for His People:
a. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: (8)For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” God has doors of opportunity ready to be entered into by faith. Doors that may open today but not tomorrow. Kingdom opportunities that may come our way once in a lifetime!
b. (Deuteronomy 1:21-41) Israel is at the Jordan River, ready to go into Canaan. Moses encourages the people to go on. Instead, the people demanded that 12 spies be sent to scout out the land for 40 days and report back. That was unbelief. They didn’t trust God and wanted a strategy instead. The spies were never a part of God's plan. It grieved God. Ten spies return with an evil report. They say, “We can’t do it. It’s hopeless.” And unbelief swept through the camp. They wept and turned-on Moses and murmured against him. Only Joshua and Caleb stood up and said, “They're meat for us. God has given us the land. Let us go up at once and possess it!”
c. God gives us a promise and then throws it in a borrowed tomb. He kills every chance of us bringing it to pass in the flesh. That’s the door! God brings us to a place of absolute hopelessness. It’s humanly impossible. Why? Because it is at that point the door of faith is most open, and the darker it is, the more open the door, and the greater the opportunity to give Him glory and honor. God has set before Israel an open and effectual door. But they murmured and wanted to go back to Egypt. And it angered God. He shut the door. The opportunity was gone to believe. The opportunity to have faith was gone. This was a great and powerful door of opportunity. And when they heard this judgment, they came back to Moses armed for battle saying they were ready now to go into the promised land but it was too late. The door of opportunity was closed.
d. Take advantage of those doors of opportunity. Sometimes they only open once in a generation. And it takes someone walking by faith, fully trusting in the Lord, hearing from God through His Word for clear direction from Him. God did it for Abraham, for Joseph, Moses, and Paul, and He’ll open those great and effectual doors for you as well! It’s a door of opportunity to demonstrate your faith in God! That's what it is. In Joshua 3, after 40 years in the wilderness, God opens another door for Israel to enter the land of promise (Verses 4-5). Whatever the need is today, give it to God. Demonstrate your faith and trust in God to open that great and effectual door of opportunity for you to go through.