Walk Through the Open Door with God

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  It’s a great decision….walk through the door that leads to joy in the Lord!

            In Revelation 3:8, Jesus says to the church in Philadelphia, “I have placed before you an open door.”  If we continue reading, we will see that He did not specify which door.  Have you been there?  Believing that God is directing you toward a different door, but not knowing WHICH door to walk through?  We certainly don’t want to miss His best for us, but often when we try to figure it out, we’re really not sure which door is best.

            Could it be that we are leaving something out of the decision-making process…like PRAYER and the desire to search for wisdom on the pages of God’s Word?   As author John Orberg reminds us, “’OPEN DOOR’ isn’t a phrase to describe just any opportunity. An open door is an opportunity provided by God, to act with God and for God.”  Do we see our open doors in that way? 

            Ortberg goes on the explain, “In the New Testament, James says that if any of us lacks wisdom, we should ask God..  He doesn’t say we should ask which door to go through but for the tools to choose wisely.  God’s primary will for your life is not the achievements you accrue; it’s the person you become.”

             Are you becoming a person of joy because of the wisdom you are seeking from God? Walk through that door with God-confidence!

The Open Door to Joy

Have you had your Joy Juice today? Let’s determine to find the door to joy!

Recently I read a book by my husband’s favorite author, John Ortberg entitled, All the Places to Go….not to be confused with Dr. Seuss’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Ortberg reminds us that there is always a door ahead. Life is series of choices…doors that we can decide to walk through or close tightly.  According to research, the average person makes about seventy conscious decisions every day….approximately 25,550 decisions a year! That’s a heap of choices, isn’t it?  Sometimes we make good decisions; sometimes we don’t! But the bottom line is that our life course is tied to those decisions.  See why we need Godly wisdom?  And we can’t have that without God!

John Ortberg says: “Open doors in the Bible never exist just for the sake of the people offered them. They involve opportunity, but it’s the opportunity to bless someone else.  An open door may be thrilling to me, but it doesn’t exist solely for my benefit.”

            It’s our human nature to be short-sighted and selfish when faced with an open door.  “What will this mean for me?” is a common question that we instinctively ask.  But if we look at a new opportunity through the lens of blessing others, our decisions may become much clearer. 

          

            When faced with an open door, let’s pray that God will show us how to move forward with joy by blessing others.

God's Steadfast Love Leads to Joy in Him

                 Have you had your JOY JUICE today?  Your individual serving is labeled with a personal note that says: “Made with love, especially for you!”

                God is such a generous God.  He pours out His blessings on us in countless ways! One of His many expressions of love is His written Word…the Holy Bible.  Within the pages of this matchless book, we find reminder after reminder of His love for us.  It’s as if He has compiled a treasure chest of love letters… written especially for you and me.  Have you read them lately?

     Listen to this verse from Psalm 36:7:  “How precious is Your steadfast love, O God! The children of men take refuge and put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.”

       Because of His love for us….His STEADFAST love….we can always trust Him. Regardless of our circumstances---whether it’s the loss of a job, sickness, death of a loved one, or when it looks as if everyone has deserted us….GOD IS STILL THERE.  And He loves us…in the tough times as well as the good.

1 John 4:16 tells us that!  “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him”.

       Let’s be intentional about drinking in our personal servings of joy and bask in the warmth of God’s great, steadfast love.