Prayer Points: A Door Opened for the Word
“meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains…”
Colossians 4:3
Read: Acts 16
Oftentimes, when I think of doors being opened for the Word to be preached, I immediately think of opportunities being given to preach from the pulpit in a new church, or I think of big evangelistic crusades and campaigns like those we hear about happening in Brazil and Nigeria. It’s a big door that I think of being opened.
Nothing wrong with that. Sometimes it is a big door that God opens for the Word to be preached, but we have to be aware that the door God wants to open up to us is not always the door we have in mind.
I think back to something God spoke to me when I was living in Tulsa. I was walking in my neighborhood thinking about God’s call on my life to minister and I saw a small piece of trash in the grass. God spoke to me to go pick it up (to be honest, it was small enough and in a place where I would have ordinarily ignored it). I did what He said. I saw another piece of paper or something, and He said again, “pick it up”. I did.
Just as I was picking up the second piece of trash, I heard Him say to my heart… “Are you willing to reach your million piece by piece?”.
You see, as a Bible college student preparing to go into the ministry, I was surrounded by like minded people, each of us dreaming of someday preaching at one of those big evangelistic crusades where a million people are gathered to hear the Word and are saved. Unfortunately, we can be willing to preach to a million people gathered all at once, yet be unwilling to preach to that same million people one at a time in the routine of everyday life, sharing the Good News in everyday places; in the grocery store checkout line, in the classroom or in the workplace.
God sees the individual and He was asking me if I’m seeing the same thing… what is my motivation? Love for the individual or love of a stage? Was I willing to submit my dream to His plan?
In Acts 16, Paul had a couple of ideas about where he wanted to go. He first thought about Asia. There was certainly a great multitude of unsaved people in Asia at this time. However, Acts 16:6 says they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.
Paul then tried Bythinia with the same response from the Holy Spirit - they were forbidden to go there.
Praise God, Paul knew the voice of the Spirit and obeyed Him even if it didn’t fit into his dream or make a whole lot of sense! It’s so important that we follow HIS plan, not just what we think makes sense, even when we’re motivated by the right thing… seeing the lost saved.
God had opened a very specific door according to His divine purpose - a door in Macedonia. Lydia, a seller of purple was the door that God had opened to Paul and his team (Acts 16:14-15). When God opens a door, it’s always with reason and purpose. God started with Lydia, and through her opened up the door to many others. Phillipians is the letter to the church that was started there through these connections.
God does things strategically, even when we are completely unaware of any strategy. His goal is to reach the lost and He’s using us to accomplish HIS vision. We simply cooperate with Him by going where He sends us… walking through the doors that He opens.
In his book “The Tipping Point”, Malcolm Gladwell describes a particular kind of person he calls a connector. A connector is a type of social glue, the kind of person who knows everybody and whom everybody knows. I tend to think that Lydia was a connector. She knew people. And God strategically used that quality to plant a church in Philipi!
When we pray for doors to be opened for the gospel to be preached (Colossians 4:3), we’re not trying to come up with a strategy or make our best guess as to how that is to happen (we saw what happened when Paul tried, even motivated by the right things). We simply ask and trust God to send us where we need to go, to bring the right people across our path, and to speak to their heart, opening the door for us. The results will be that many shall hear and be saved!
Thank you for partnering with us to reach the nations! When you partner with us, YOU GO with us, sharing the Gospel of hope with the lost, making disciples, and reaping a harvest for the Lord Jesus!
Amen!
