“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
In Sunday school, we used to sing a song entitled, “One Door and Only One.” It went like this: “One door and only one and yet its sides are two! Inside and outside, on which side are you? One door and only one and yet its sides are two! I’m on the inside, on which side are you?” It made me think about what the Bible has to say about the subject of doors, so I looked up the references in my Bible app. There were 122 verses pertaining to “doors.” Here are a few of them for you to enjoy!
David said in Psalm 141:3: “Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.” That’s a good one to remember when we might be tempted to pass on a juicy bit of gossip. I knew a lady who had that verse next to her telephone as a reminder to control the words of her mouth.
In Hosea 2:15, “I will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.” God allows the valleys in our lives to bring us closer to Him. “Achor” means “trouble.” If we trust Him through the hard times, they bring the promise of new opportunities and areas of service we hadn’t known before! God turns trials into doors of hope when we receive them from His loving hands.
The New Testament has some wonderful things to say about doors. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:6. And Matthew goes on to say, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7. Don’t get discouraged or grow weary in your prayer life. Keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Sometimes God answers our prayers immediately, sometimes before we ask and sometimes our prayers are not answered in our life time! Often our requests are “WAIT.” He promises that He will hear and answer. It might not be what we pray for, or it might be something better!
Then there’s the “narrow door,” the door of salvation. Jesus said, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside.” Luke 13:24-25.
Here’s a verse that rejoices my heart! A “door of faith” was opened to the gentiles! “On arriving there, (Paul and Barnabus) gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.” Acts 14:27.
For Paul and Silas in Acts 16, prison doors became a “door of opportunity” for salvation to the distraught Philippian jailor. God sent an earthquake to open prison doors and loose the prisoners’ chains. The jailer fell trembling before Paul and Silas and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
The angel of the church in Revelation 3:7-8 wrote about “open doors,” “What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. The door of salvation still stands open. Jesus Christ controls the entrance to His kingdom, He is sovereign over the church and the enemy is powerless to stop Him. Keep asking, seeking and knocking for those loved ones still outside the “door of salvation.” One door and only one….I’m on the inside, on which side are you?
Your friend, Jean