Open Doors

Have you ever ventured out and taken steps that didn’t quite go to plan? You’ve prayed about it. Things seem mapped out in your head. But, when you step out in obedience, you encounter unexpected surprises and obstacles along the way. Doors that once seemed wide open suddenly seem shut. Opportunities that looked promising don’t materialise. Sound familiar? Ever felt like giving up?

Two years ago, it seemed clear what God was calling me and my wife into. We’ve since been blessed with some wonderful opportunities to testify to God’s amazing power to restore the most broken of identities and to minister to people struggling with disordered desires and beliefs around their own identity and those who love them. Yet, at times, it has felt as if we’re wading through treacle, as one unexpected life-event after another distracts us and saps our energy.

How do we navigate these unforeseen events and perceived setbacks? How do we respond to disappointments and strained relationships? How do we keep going when circumstances disrupt or overwhelm us? How do we recognise God’s leading and continue to follow His plan through all of this?

We can draw lessons and inspiration from Acts 16 which records the start of Paul’s second missionary journey. Paul experiences much that might rattle him and even cause him to give up. It doesn’t start well. Just as Paul and Barnabus are gelling as a team and planning their second mission, they fall out over whether to take Mark. They don’t give up, though. Instead, they agree to go their separate ways – Paul with Silas, Barnabus with Mark (Acts 15:36-39).

Still, it’s an inauspicious start. If that isn’t enough, we see Paul unsure where to preach next, prevented by the Spirit from going into Asia and Bithynia (Acts 16:6-7). And when redirected, instead, to Macedonia (16:9), we see him attacked by an angry mob, arrested, flogged, and thrown into jail (16:19-24).

Yet, despite these challenges, Paul carries on, knowing that those who ‘walk by faith, not by sight’ will never be derailed (2 Corinthians 5:7). And, amazingly, we see Paul witness the opening of ‘a great door for effective work’ (1 Corinthians 16:9). So, we see Lydia, so moved by Paul’s message that she and her family are baptised and she invites him to stay at her home (Acts 16:14-15). We see a Philippian slave woman delivered of an evil spirit, causing ‘uproar’ in the city (16:16-18). And we see a jailer so stunned by the opening of the prison doors that he falls trembling before Paul and, ‘filled with joy,’ being baptised along with the rest of his household (16:25-34).

Likewise, we too can carry on when things don’t go to plan. Because when we are obedient, when we stick to our current assignment and what He has placed in front of us, the One who has called us will open the doors we cannot open ourselves and no one can shut - doors to serving Him and advancing His Kingdom. Regardless of life’s surprises and setbacks, whatever the circumstances, He will do it. That’s His promise for us today. Don’t give up!