SUNDAY SERMON: God will open doors to you

Today we will look at the story of Elisha to gain some insight.

Elisha’s servant was given the ability “to see the more”; this is what we need to experience. God has more working for us than we are often aware of. More provision, help, power and wisdom than our enemies who try to muster up or bring against you. God wants us to see “the more.”

2 Kings 6:16-17 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

I will call this happening a divine insight. So often, many doubt someone having an experience such as this, labeling an experience such as this as far-fetched. Isaiah stated, “I saw the Lord.” Here is an example we can look at in the book of Isaiah.

In Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet declares, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.”

I believe God gives those desiring this ability or insight to see and perceive beyond the natural layer of this physical world. I think this is having spiritual eyes, the ability to see spiritual realities. Why seeing spiritually is critical during this season. Because it might seem that nothing is happening, not much is happening, or the wrong things are happening, but know that the operation of God is continually in process.

Let’s go back to the story of God opening Elisha’s servant’s eyes, and he saw angels around them. These angels were always there, but his physical eyes could not see or detect them. So God supernaturally enabled him to see into the spiritual world with his natural vision and to know that angels were there. I am sure all of the fears or concerns he had regarding their well-being were removed.

Take note here both men face and see the same thing — a great army surrounding them. One filled with fear, Elisha’s servant, initially his only view was based on physical things, and the other Elisha, sees beyond this physical world and the resources of heaven available to them. This type of insight allows us to perceive spiritual things in our hearts. God will enable us to experience this insight by perceiving spiritual vision in prophetic visions, dreams, or by revelation.

I think this is crucial for the church to maintain because it allows us to see and seize opportunities to share the hope of the Gospel. In the book of John 4:34-38, “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

“Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Open your eyes and see what is before you. Jesus here is talking to His disciples about people whose lives are ready to hear and be strengthened by the Gospel’s message.

There is no better time than the current season because God is opening doors of opportunities to His people. There are conventional and unconventional things being open during this season. All with the same goal of expanding the Kingdom of God. That means spiritual doors, physical doors and financial doors.

The meaning of the term “open doors” symbolizes God providing a path to accomplish His purpose in your life. Bringing opportunities into your life to bless you and to create moments to share your faith. In the book of Acts 14:27, “On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

Four things to consider when dealing with “open doors.”

1. The life of the opportunity is in the moment: 2 Corinthians 2:12-13 “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.”

2. Some opportunities start small and lead to greater possibilities: 1 Corinthians 16:8-9. “But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me. Paul said many opposed him while God was the One Who opened the door. We must remember that our enemy will fight to hinder what God is doing in our life. He did not say in what form the opposition came. Maybe they tried to discredit him and put up barriers, but the good news is that Paul lived through them. We have to live through opposition.

3. God has opportunities that man could not open for you, nor can a man stop. (Someone says hallelujah … praise you, Jesus. I believe some opportunities had to be created for you … the saints of God.) Revelations 3:7-8 “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Who holds the key of David … Jesus has the authority to govern the church with a supernatural key that has supernatural abilities to open and close; Little strength, meaning I know you could not have made it to this point by yourself, and I am putting this opportunity right in front of you. Tell somebody you can’t miss this one. God shut doors in our lives as well because there are paths that He does not want us to follow.

We might want to follow, but He does not want us to follow them. So, God wisely shut the door.

4. Ask God to open doors for you and bring opportunities into your path” Colossians 4:2-6. “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

How do you know if a door is open from God? Or if it is the best opportunity to follow? The Bible gives us some principles to help us to pray about and consider if an “open door” or opportunity is really from God:

There will be no contradiction to biblical principles.

With the opportunity, confirmation will happen.

The opportunity will not cause separation from your walk with the LORD.