An Open Door of Opportunities

By Elder Enoch Ofori Jnr

(Sabbath Sermon, 5th Jan., 2013)

The Future is Bright: Soldier on!

There’s cause for hope this year. Our God is a God of possibilities. The future can only look bright. Our God is the only One who is able to make a way where there is no way, even “a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters” and “rivers in the desert” (Isa. 43:16, 19). With Him nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37; Matt. 19:26).

Remarkably, He wants us to have the same mindset. He calls us to develop His very own unbending iron faith which enabled Him to create the world out of incorporeal things as well as call those things that do not exist as though they did (Heb. 11:3; Rom. 4:17). With this divine faith attitude, nothing shall be impossible for us (Mark 9:23; 11:22).

Already, an open door has been placed before us. The Lord Jesus assures us in The Sermon on the Mount:

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

“Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” (Matt. 7:7-11).

Ask and receive, seek and find, knock and have the door opened. The message is, God has set before us not a closed door but an open door of possibilities. So pray on and soldier on. The door He has set before us is an open door of opportunities. But we must persevere. There will be challenges and obstacles, yet we don’t have our backs to the wall. There’s an open door ahead of us at every turn and stage (cp 1 Cor. 10:13).

It’s not always that “asking” will do. Sometimes we will have to keep on “knocking” and “seeking” before we achieve a breakthrough.  The Master makes a call to prayer and hard work, but our effort will not be in vain. The Father is interested in our wellbeing and success.  Moreover, He will not shortchange us.  How could He, considering that no earthly parent, despite being naturally inclined to evil, will even contemplate doing that?

Indeed, “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing” (Ps 34:10).  Furthermore the scripture says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (Jam. 1:17).

So you just keep on asking, seeking and knocking. You will receive, you will find, and you will have it opened. Elijah the prophet, for example, prayed seven times unceasingly until the heavens gave rain in a cloudburst to set us end-time believers–subject to human weakness and doubts as he was–an example (1 Kings 18:41-45; Jam. 5: 17-18).  The rainfall, after a three-and-half-year drought, had been promised him by God Himself (1 Kings 18:1), and he needed to just keep on praying before it happened.

The opener of the door is none other than our living Redeemer, the One who holds “the key of David”, and no one undoes what He stretches forth His hand to do:

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

“I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name” (Rev. 3:7-8).

If by His grace your “works” please Him this year, be assured that He has set before you a door incapable of being shut by any man, power or demon. In addition, He has guaranteed you an unstoppable victory that will see your enemies fall prostrate at your feet: “Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews [true believers], and are not, but do lie [a false claim]; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (v. 9).

Beloved, this is your God-ordained destiny this new year. Claim it, pray over it and persist in it until it happens!  Heaven has guaranteed it.  Amen!