When God
Closes A Door
As believer’s today, we have the ability to
operate all nine manifestations of Holy Spirit. They are not gifts.
Two of those manifestations are Word of Knowledge and Word of
Wisdom. Word of Knowledge is when we receive
information from God to our spirit which teaches our mind, that which we cannot
possibly know by our five senses. Word
of Wisdom is God telling us what TO DO with that Word of Knowledge which we
have received. It’s simple. God may tell us that something has happened that
requires a change, and what we are to do about it. These manifestations are referred to as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the Church of the Body of Christ – the
Church to which you and I belong.
Very often, in life, God will close a door
meaning that He no longer wants you to continue doing a certain activity or
going to a certain place or keeping company with a certain person or
persons. He will show you this outright
or He will at first give you signs to ease you into this change. If we listen to God, we get blessed. If not, we will face consequences. Often, by our own free will, which involves
a habitual lifestyle, we fail to listen to God because we make ourselves
believe that it cannot be Him trying to stop and/or adjust our behavior.
God is a God of order and He possesses a
great ability referred to as foreknowledge.
Only the true God can see into the future. He can of course, see the present and He can see the past. Actually He can see all three time periods at one time. So if God can see into the future, He can and will warn you of a trap that the adversary may be setting. If we are listening to God, we will know that the enemy is up to something evil, so we will stop an activity we may have been doing for a long time. Why? Because God has closed the door for our protection.
For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (from on high) -- Ephesians 6: 12
Satan will do anything in his power to trip up a believer
and make him stumble. I have heard it
said that we should always keep variety in our lives. Habitual behavior is very predictable and Satan lies in wait to
trick us usually when we least expect it.
So God will close a door for the following reason:
Lest Satan should get an
advantage of us: for we are not
ignorant of his devices. -- II Corinthians 2: 11
Actually, because of the Word of God that we have learned
and applied, we are well aware of those devices.
Here is an example of what we are NOT
supposed to do.
For about eight years, my dog and I walked
a certain trail that we simply loved.
We had a great time and then they redid this natural trail and put a bed
of gravel on top of it, and took down hundreds of trees that made the trail
majestic. It was disgusting. God eased me into the fact that He was
closing this door for me and eventually He told me outright that the door was
closed! That settled it. At least it should have. I rationalized myself into thinking this
could not be God and that everything would still work out. I kept going up this trail even though I
found a new one farther away. Eventually
everything started to go wrong. The
bicycles on this new trail made it impossible to have any peace and the
population doubled or tripled. To make
a long one short, I became miserable not listening to God when He told me
clearly that the door was shut even after eight years. I did a teaching called “Don’t Argue With God”. You should read it. This
present teaching is simple, but an important one.
I looked through a group of Scripture retemory cards the other evening looking for help as to what to focus on regarding this subject. It came as a complete surprise that almost every Scripture I looked at did pertain, in some way, to the subject matter.
Not slothful in business;
fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; --
Romans 12: 11
Now here’s a trick.
You may be doing a certain type of work task in your life and guess
what? God, the true God Almighty wants
you to stop doing that task. Now
you are doing this type of work or task for a long time and may ‘think’ (5
senses) that you are surely getting slothful (lazy) in regards to your
work. You see, this may not be the case
at all. This is where Discerning of
Spirits is essential – what God is this coming from? If you’re sharp enough and have been praying, studying and
speaking in tongues much in your private prayer life, you will be able to
separate truth from error.
Example: I have
been doing my own work on my cars for a long time. However, one day I woke up (literally) and realized that God was
telling me that I was to stop this because I was financially much better off
and could have a professional work on my car.
He apparently had something better for me to do with my time – like
doing this teaching. I had realized at
this time and prior to it that I was really fed up with my head under a
hood. The timing was perfect. And God knows us better than we know
ourselves, so he allowed me to continue to detail my cars which I can do
professionally and I still enjoy. It
can get tricky. You have got to know
the genuine very well to recognize the counterfeit. A person who does not study God’s Word cannot and I mean CANNOT
discern the two. A believer knows in
his heart ‘When God Closes A Door’.
There are many devices in a
man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. –
Proverbs 19: 21
How true this is.
We have so many ideas and plans, don’t we? And yet our blueprint for living is written in the Word of God.
Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: Fear (reverence) God, and keep his commandments: for this is the
whole duty of man. –
Ecclesiastes 12: 13
Isn’t that beautiful?
The only reason we are alive is to respect God and God is His Word. That’s the conclusion of the whole
matter. That’s life in the fast
lane. That’s my classic Corvette in my
garage – that’s the money I can burn in my fireplace – that’s the problem I was
told I had – NO FEAR. Life is
tough. Why? Because God is first and nothing moves me. My feet are in the cement of God’s
Word. Ha! And you thought I was some kind of religious wimp.
It’s the counsel (Word) of the Lord – THAT SHALL
STAND! Everything else is a well
disguised lie. The world will take you
on the ride of your life and just when you’re all excited at the top of the
roller coaster, the drive chain breaks. The true God will never let you down. He promises us mercy and grace forever if we stand and respect
Him.
He that trusteth in his own
heart is a fool: but whoso walketh
wisely, he shall be delivered. – Proverbs 28: 26
How do you walk wisely?
You listen to God. He shuts the
door – you don’t kick it. You wait and
God then opens another door – a much better one. If you trust in your own heart and ideas, God says you are a
fool. I didn’t write the book. Do you want to be delivered? Then you listen to God. How simple can it be? The world has nothing to offer you but
deception, fleeting happiness and overall long lasting misery. Make your choice – it’s a tough one. I look around this world and I see idolatry
in the form of love of self, the vehicle people drive, and God Almighty, don’t
take away a person’s cell phone. The
god of this world is working overtime and he’s laughing because he has had more
success lately than ever. God is last
in peoples’ lives, not first. The
enemy’s time is getting very short and he knows it. Soon he’ll burn every day being tortured forever in the lake of
fire and brimstone. God is not a man
that He can lie. It’s going to
happen. I bet my life on it – 36
years. Am I stupid? I graduated first in my class at The Pennsylvania
State University. I’ve been to court
five (5) times – I haven’t lost yet.
Stand up to the adversary and he runs like a coward. It’s the Word that lives within every part
of my being. I felt it was time for you to know a little bit about the person
who is teaching you God’s Word. You
surely don’t want to be like the people that knock on your door with their
garbage pamphlets and their suit and tie.
That’s what turns people away from the true Word of God. I took my Bible out one time after they kept
bothering me and they ran out the door shortly. They were embarrassed because they realized they actually know
NOTHING about the rightly divided Word of God.
God gives us wisdom as to what we should do and what we
should not do – the what, who, when, why and where of every part of our
lives. He is our Father and He cares
more than we can understand or imagine.
He’s there to help us – waiting and wanting. Listen to this Scripture from His Word.
If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. –
James 1: 5
This means that God will give you wisdom without a second
thought. Now you must be in fellowship
and it is imperative to be peaceful if God is ever to speak with you. This teaching covers all categories of
life. If you don’t fulfill the
requirements to receive revelation, then you will not know that God has closed
a door. You can go on making the same
mistakes for a long time. This happens
to every believer at one point or time in their lives. REMEMBER, when things are going wrong most
of the time, you are out of fellowship.
You must have sinned somewhere.
You need to get back in fellowship.
Then God will give you the wisdom that you need.
A man always sows what he reaps – there is no
exception. When we make an effort to
stay in alignment and harmony with God, we reap the benefits – such as
revelation as to what we should do. You
can fool man and you can escape his justice, but you cannot fool God and you
can never escape the justice of God.
Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. – Galatians 6: 7
Since we live in this world, not by choice, for the
present time, we are allowed to use it and not abuse it. This world will eventually pass away.
And they that use this world,
as not abusing it: for the
fashion of this world passeth away. – I Corinthians 7: 31
It took me a while to finally rightly divide this
Scripture. We can use the things of this
world, HOWEVER, how long should we use something?! That is the paramount question.
Who knows? God. So here it is in a few words telling us that
we can use the things of this world if we don’t abuse them. But it is God who determines how long we are
to take part in a certain activity and when He wants us to stop. You must grasp the renewed mind principle
that God’s timing is perfect. He knows
the exact right time to begin something and the exact right time when to quit
and move on to something new. This
ability of God, we must tap into to live the more than abundant life. God will always close a door when He sees,
in His foreknowledge, that trouble is ahead.
He will tell you, His Sons and Daughters, that there is danger
ahead. If you ignore this warning in
your heart, you may continue the activity, but you will be bound in the
spirit. That means that something will
be holding you back. But we still have
free will to obey God or not to obey Him.
Let’s take another real life example that we may face
every day or only on certain occasions.
Let’s study a Scripture that fits with a sexually promiscuous society as
the one we now live in.
Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own
wife, and let every woman have her own husband. – I Corinthians 7: 2
It is a great thing to love your brother or sister in
Christ, but that love is not the same as the love we manifest towards our
spouse. I have experienced the love of
God towards a sister in Christ with a binding friendship that literally blew my
mind. The farthest I ever took it was
holding that person’s hand. And yet I
felt like I was holding my own hand.
That’s how much our hearts were knit together in love. But it was common knowledge between the both
of us that God surely had the door shut anywhere past that point. And why?
Because it was wrong. God was
protecting us. It was such a beautiful
thing, it’ll stay with me all of my life.
Sometimes, God will allow something like this to happen as a complete
surprise to prove Himself to you.
We are NEVER to mess around with another person’s spouse,
whether it’s a believer or not. It will
eat away at you like a cancer. It’s one
of the greatest tricks and traps the god of this world uses today. Fall for it and he will destroy you. Friendship can be and is just as rewarding,
more rewarding, than having sexual intercourse with another’s husband or
wife. And I’m not going to look up the
Scripture, but it goes something like this:
“Jealousy is the rage of a man. He will not spare in the day of vengeance.” How many people have gotten killed as a
result of jealousy due to rage? Is it
worth it? There are stories throughout
the Old Testament about men who have coveted after another’s wife and paid a
dear price. This is a very dangerous
part of life. Genuine Godly friendship
is a beautiful thing, but take it a step farther and you will cut your own
throat while the adversary, the one who tempted you, laughs hysterically. Remember, when you are tempted, it is always
wrong. ALWAYS!!!!!!! Got it?
God always has a door shut permanently here when a relationship outside
of marriage goes past friendship.
Listen or pay. I know people
that this has happened to. All of it is
of the devil.
He that committeth sin is of
the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. – I John 3: 8
In conclusion, I would like to say that there are endless
real life examples to study for such an obvious principle. The principle is simple.
It is the APPLICATION
of that principle that is the essence of this teaching.
And finally, I could not have found more fitting
Scriptures than the ones we are about to study. When God tells you to stop something you are doing, just listen
to Him and trust in Him. Do not turn to
your five senses – turn to God Almighty.
Trust in the Lord with all
thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he
shall direct thy paths. – Proverbs 3: 5, 6
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