Living In Hope: John 10:9

                                                           Doors Pt. 1

                                                                      John 10:9 I am the door 

Recently I have been intrigued with doors. Yes, you heard me correctly, "doors." Doors we open and close and walk through everyday. Just common, ordinary, insignificant, everyday "doors." Is it okay if I talk about doors? 

There will be times in all of our lives where we sense God is getting ready to open a new door for our life. There will be those times when we sense God is really up to something new in our life that involves opening a new door for us. 

This thought has really captured my mind and has intrigued me to the point where I have been studying doors. Not spiritual doors, but common, ordinary, everyday doors that we open, close and walk through. I have been walking around my house really observing the doors I go through everyday. And do you know what I have discovered? They have so much to teach us about spiritual doors. 

So for our next few blogs in "Living In Hope," here is the question I want to answer:

What are some common characteristics of doors and what do they have to teach us? 

1 Doors are connected. 

   Doors are connected to door frames which are connected to walls. 

   So this is a great place to start. If the Lord is going to open doors for our lives, we have to be 

   connected.

   Yes, I know this, brother Tim. We have to be connected to God.

   Yes, but that is not what I am talking about. We have to be connected to people. 

   You see, the will of God is people. Jesus loves people. Jesus died to save, rescue and 

   transform people. No matter what doors the Lord opens for us, it will always involve people. 

   

   In my 30 years of walking with the Lord, I have learned "people are the will of God."

   So often we are asking the Lord, "What is your will for my life?" However, the question should be, 

   "Who is your will for my life? Who are the people that surround my life everyday that you want to 

   connect with through my life?" When we stop asking "what" and start asking "who" suddenly the 

   will of God is all around us. God's will is connecting with and changing people.

   Loving people and building relationships with them should be the focus of our lives. It is so 

   important that we have a heart to connect with the people God places around our lives everyday 

   because in doing so, God connects with them through us. 

    So here is the question: Is connecting with people and building relationships with them the 

    focus of your life? It should be.   

 In the past I have met Christians, especially newborns, who have this idea that a "spiritual giant" is someone who isolates themselves from people in order to pray and read their bibles all the time. 

"I am a spiritual giant because I stay alone and pray and read my bible all the time." But that is not how God designed spiritual growth. Can I tell you a secret? It is in your relationships with people that you grow the most. As important as reading the bible and praying is, investing into your relationships with people is just as important. To isolate yourself from people is to miss God's grand design for the body of Christ. 

My first point: if you want to see God open new doors for you in your Christian walk, you have to be connected to people. You have to take serious building relationships and investing in these relationships with people. If loving people and building relationships with them is something you do not take seriously, don't expect significant, meaningful, weighty doors to open for you. Whatever doors God opens for you will always involve people because people are the will of God.