Are You Wishing For An Opportunity To Move Forward In Your Goal Or Dream? Grab Hold Of These Four Biblical Keys To Open Doors
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A few days ago, I decided to browse through some of my old journals. I picked up an orange Moleskine notebook, which contained entries from 2018.
Inside, I found this prayer:
“God, what I would really love and could really use to grow as a writer…is to be a regular contributor to a great Christian website, like (in)courage or iBelieve or Joyful Living [Joyful Life.] Please let a door open like this for me.”
Soon after writing this, I came across the application for the Joyful Life devotion team. I submitted my application, and, three months to the day from my prayer, I opened my email to find a message with this heading: Welcome to the Joyful Life Devotion Team!
Just as I had asked, I became a regular contributor to Joyful Life. From there, additional doors opened. I’m now an editor for their blog and have also published multiple articles on their website.
FOUR KEYS TO OPEN DOORS
Before I came across this journal entry, I hadn’t remembered praying specifically to contribute to Joyful Life. Finding this record of answered prayer was an encouraging reminder of God’s faithfulness to provide the right doors of opportunities for me at the right time.
If you’re wishing for some open doors in your own life, I have good news: God wants to open doors for you too!
Listen to what Jesus teaches about how to find and receive open doors:
“Ask and keep on asking and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking and you will find; knock and keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened" (Matthew 7:7-8 AMP).
Here, Jesus gives us four keys to open doors:
1. Ask. Would I have ended up at the Joyful Life if I hadn’t prayed for such an opportunity? I don’t know. It’s possible I might not have. There is so much God wants to give us, but the Bible also makes it clear that often the prerequisite is asking. Have you started asking for doors of opportunity?
2. Seek. God wants to move through us with His power, but we’re not puppets. We can—and often need—to take action. A stork didn’t leave the devotion team application on my doorstep. I found it because I was seeking—I was searching online for writing opportunities. Where can you look for opportunities?
3. Knock. Once you find a promising opportunity, don’t stop—knock! Knocking requires investing time and energy into pursuing an opportunity. For me, in the Joyful Life scenario, knocking was completing the application and submitting it. Is there a door you need to knock on? Is there an application you need to complete, a phone call you need to make, or an appointment you need to arrange?
4. Persist. Notice that asking, seeking, and knocking are not one-time activities. We’re told to ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. We’re promised that when we do this, in time, the door will open.
GOD IS FAITHFUL
When we’re eager to advance in God’s dream and callings for our lives, waiting for opportunities can be hard. While I’ve seen some doors open relatively quickly, as in the case of Joyful Life, there are other doors I’ve been knocking on for much longer.
As we persistently ask, seek, and knock, let’s be faithful to do what we can with what we have, in whatever situation we presently find ourselves. When we do, God will be faithful to open the right doors at the right time!
What opportunities are you praying for? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!
In purpose and faith,
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