Finding Open Doors (Pt.1)

1 Cor 16:9, Rev 3:8

Our first Sunday in January, we considered the questions, What do I need to put off? What do I need to put on? Remember the cinnamon rolls and fruit bowl? This week and next week, I want to consider another set of questions related to what to put on as part of God’s plan for your life. Here’s the question(s): How do we know God’s plans for us? How does He deliver them, and how do we can find them?

The Delivery: God’s plans really aren’t delivered. They are discovered. And, they’re more often discovered through a series of closed doors, and open doors. This is what it means to “walk by faith.” In 1 Corinthians 16:9, Paul says, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. The open door will be a place where God is working—in your life. So, where is God working in your life? Your business? Your military career? Your athletic interests? Your financial and linguistic abilities? These are probably the first places you’ll discover an open door in your life ministry. Because God works through your life, that is the first place to discover an open door to His plan for you. God might place an open door through your finances, your family, or your own personal and spiritual growth and maturity. So, ask yourself, “Where am I growing spiritually right now?” 

“What do I understand now as result of my own personal life lessons that God may be forming me to do?” That’s the first place to look. Have you suffered loss and grief? You can probably help a military family who just lost their husband and father in a plane crash. Have you been reared in two cultures and realize that at any given moment, you may be accepted by neither? Can you talk about how that feels? Do you understand feeling torn between two value sets and unsure of either? You could probably understand kids in our church that are only now discovering their unique and often misunderstood self.

Let me also say at the outset, that when God provides an open door for your life ministry, Paul adds, 1 Cor 16:9b, and there are many who oppose me.

The Downside: Open doors come with problems—many problems.

When you got married, did you ever imagine that you’d encounter the issues you did? The person you married was “perfect” for you . . . until you discovered that they weren’t. You overlooked their shortcomings before the wedding. Now, do you suddenly feel overwhelmed with interpersonal impasses? Now, attitudes you didn’t see before. “Who is the person I

married—FOR LIFE!?”

Suddenly—PANIC! Some people quit here. Most do not, but some do. God opened the door for you to meet and marry your spouse. Even if you weren’t a believer, God understood what He was doing in your life. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.—Romans 8:28

What we discover are that some doors to our spouse and their heart may be closed—at least for now. Their wounds may be obvious to us, but not to them. Opening those doors will take a long time along with hard work and effort. But, God gave knew that you take your spouse knowing that you had yet to discover the doors to intimacy with that person. He knew that.

Guys, before you married her, you didn’t know everything about this woman—even though you thought that what you knew was enough! Most men think, “I know enough to go on a honeymoon—that’s all I need.” Then we begin to discover our own naiveté. We didn’t know enough. We have to learn more to discover our wives’ true hearts. Yes guys. You don’t know everything, and God knows that you don’t. We have much to learn. Don’t cheer too loudly ladies, because “you’re next!”

NEWSFLASH! Ladies! Have you discovered that men don’t think like women? Male brains are not like female brains. Before you married, you probably just thought, “He’ll change. We all do.” But, he doesn’t. Was that something new to you? Men don’t think like women, because God didn’t make men to think like women. Even if they learn and understand women more, they still won’t think like women. He made them to think and feel like men—according to His design. This usually shows up in emotions. Emotionally, men are fundamentally different from women. Guys take note! Women are at their foundation, emotionally different from you. They don’t think like you. They don’t feel like you. If your spouse’s emotions surprise you, you’re on the road to discovering new open doors in your marriage. God designed marriage that way. We may not really understand how to relate as husband and wife when we’re first married. Much of that struggle is a consequence of sin. Still, we discover one another in the process of being married. But, because we believe that our husband or wife loves God and puts God first, we trust God even with our mate’s limitations and failures. And even if our spouse is not a true believer, we still trust God that He will use our unbelieving spouse to help us discover new truths about ourselves in finding open doors to serve God and our spouse. We trust God that as believers, He’s leading us through life with the spouse that He gave us when we covenanted together on our wedding day. We trust God that even though we see the influence of sin in our husband or wife’s life, we follow God believing that He knows what He’s doing in my life through my spouse, my marriage, and my life. His plan for me includes my family. That’s where we find open doors.
So, Paul notes that God's doing great work, even though problems exist. It may seem like nothing spectacular to you, but God’s work in you, your home and your marriage is a great work. So, walk with God when He’s opening your eyes to changes that He wants you to make as you live and work with people not like you. When God opens the doors for your family to grow and develop, God’s doing something special in your life. He’s giving you a ministry starting with your spouse and your kids.

The Distinction: There’s something great in God’s open doors.

In Revelation 3:8, Jesus says,

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.

When God opens a door, no one can shut it. I know some of you are worn out from knocking on doors that don’t open. You're weary inside from trying to force doors to open. And, maybe they're good doors too. They’re good things you want to do. But, they just don't seem to be opening. Instead of trying to force doors open, let’s Discover God's Open Doors. Because when God opens the door, no one can shut it. That's the door we’re searching for. That’s what we’re going to look at next week.

Here’s a sneak preview, Acts 16 tells the story.

Question: How do we know God’s plans for us in life? How does He deliver His plans to us, and how do we find them?

The Delivery: God’s plans really aren’t delivered. They’re discovered. 1 Corinthians 16:9, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.

The Downside: Open doors come with problems—many problems. Romans 8:28, And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The Distinction: There’s something great in God’s open doors. Rev 3:8 Jesus says, see, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.

Consider these things:

1. Are you trying to force open doors in your life?

2. Would you be willing to consider that God may be planning something very different for you than what you’ve hoped until today?

3. Will you commit to being in church next week to explore keys to finding God’s open doors for your life and ministry?

David Ronan, Ph.D.