How do you know an open door is from God?
How do you know when a door opens if it is God’s will? Here, we discuss how to recognize when an open door is clearly not God’s will. And we also discuss which direction to take when it is not clear whether an open door is God’s will.
What do you do when you are faced with a decision to make but you don’t know what God’s will is? You will often hear God making His will known to people by opening doors. But did you know that the Devil also opens doors for you? And, he disguises them so cleverly. How do we know?
In our world of microwave buttons, we like to equate an open door with a quick response from God. We want quick answers just like we want fast food. We don’t take the time to examine our motives or see what God’s Word says before walking through an open door.
Let’s illustrate this with some current examples:
o A teenager decides to go to a party where there is alcohol thinking that it is an open door to be a witness to Jesus. The real motive here is peer acceptance, but the Christian here uses testimony to excuse his motive.
o A young man decides to marry a non-believer thinking that it is God’s will to win the other. The real motive here is attraction, but the Christian uses the testimony to excuse his motive.
o Two business partners form a partnership. One is a Christian and the other is not. Here again, the Christian partner thinks he can beat the other. The real motive is to make money and it overshadows any Christian principles.
The above examples are not 100% doomed to failure. Many times, teenagers are at a party and alcohol comes up, but they refuse to drink. And, there are times when a believer marries an unbeliever and is able to win the other person over. In the form of a business partnership, the Christian partner could be a strong leader and see that Christian principles are followed.
But more often than not, taking risks like these don’t turn out well. It is more than likely that a parent does not want their teenager at a party where alcohol is being consumed by minors. When partners in a marriage are divided in their faith, there will be problems raising children and most of the time the children end up having no faith at all. And businesses fail if business partners manage the business with different value systems.
God’s will is never something that is clearly contrary to His Word. But the Christian who does not study God’s Word regularly would not know what God’s will is not.
Reading the Bible will give you answers to the above examples. In Proverbs 23:20 (NIV), the Bible says about associating with those who drink too much, “Do not associate with those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.” And about marrying or forming partners with unbelievers, 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) says, “Do not be anointed with unbelievers. For what have righteousness and wickedness in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
And what happens when you see an open door and it is not clearly defined in God’s Word? For example, you are offered a job but you don’t know if it is God’s will. If the job you are offered does not violate Christian principles, take the job. If God doesn’t want you to have this job, He will block it. Read Matthew 25:14-28. It is the parable of the ten talents. God blessed the two knights who did something with their talents but could not bless the one who did nothing with their talents.
Study the Bible, pray for God’s wisdom, walk through the door when it clearly does not violate God’s word, and trust God to guide your paths. Remember Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
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