Living In Hope: John 10:9

                                              Doors Pt. 3

                                                John 10:9 I am the door 

Hi everyone. In the last couple of blogs we have been looking at "doors." We have been observing common ordinary doors that we walk through everyday, and what they have to teach us about spiritual doors. 

In our last blog we talked about "doors have handles." The truth we looked at was "If God is going to open to us a new door, we have to be able to handle it." New doors of opportunity are wonderful, yet, Paul reveals to us in 1Corinthians 16:9 that the greater the door, the greater the adversary. The greater the door, the greater the opposition. So our character must be fashioned to handle whatever is behind that door.  

Our third thought is going to coincide with what we discussed in our last blog. Thirdly, doors have locks. 

The doors that allow me to get in and out of my house have locks. My front door has a lock, and my back door has a lock. Any door that gives entrance into my home has a lock.

These locks require a key to get in. When I am not at home I lock my doors because, unfortunately, we live in a fallen world where so many people cannot be trusted. And the question that comes to mind is simply, When I am away, do I give these keys to just anyone? For example, when I go on a trip and need someone to go into my house to feed my pets or bring in the mail, do I give that key to just anybody? No. I give it to someone I can trust. 

Here is the question: Can God trust you with a new door? 

Do you know what the tragedy of ministry is today? We are so drawn to people's gifts and talents. If someone has a gift or talent like preaching or teaching or singing, we immediately put them in a place of ministry. However, the tragedy is, many people in these elevated positions have fallen because they did not possess the character behind the gift. They did not possess spiritual maturity behind their talent. Many have a great gift but not great character and so they fall when in the ministry. 

"Your character has to be able to keep you where your gifting takes you." 

The bible says, "A person's gift will make room for them." I once heard a Pastor say, "Your gifts will get you into the room, but your character will keep you in the room." 

God is saying, "Before I can greatly use your gift, I have to be able to greatly trust your character. Before I can greatly use your talent, I have to be able to trust your level of spiritual maturity."

You may be crying out right now, "Oh God! Why aren't you using me?! Why aren't you opening doors for me?!" And the Lord is saying back to you, "You have a great gift, but I don't trust your character yet.

You have a wonderful talent, but I don't trust your maturity yet. So right now I am building your character so when I greatly use your gift, you don't fall." 

Beloved, don't misunderstand me. When you have a gift the Lord will open little doors for you to use that gift in order to develop that gift. The Lord will use your Pastor or some type of spiritual leader to guide and watch over you as you begin using that gift. However, in order for the Lord to use that gift in a mighty way, He has to refine your character and then test that character over and over again until He finds a depth of integrity He can greatly trust.