I used to only pray for open doors. God, open the doors of opportunity for me to walk in. Eventually, I started believing every open door was MY door and I wandered my way right into some unholy messes.

Do you realize Satan can open doors too? Do you understand just because you CAN do something doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Just because the opportunity is in front of you does not mean it’s God’s best for you.

Now, I pray for God to close doors just as much as he opens doors. I’m so grateful for the doors God closes so I’m kept out of the rooms I simply don’t belong in. Closed doors are a gracious gift from a loving God who sees where it leads and knows what isn’t right, what isn’t good, what isn’t fruitful, and what isn’t in his preferred future.

Did you know God has a PREFERRED FUTURE for you? The one who sees the future, the one who holds the future, has a preference for you. And if you will pursue the doors he has opened and stop trying to beat down the doors he has closed, you will walk in his preferred future.

But, you don’t have to. You will not be forced to walk in that preferred future. You can walk your own way into a future of destruction and disaster. You can walk your way into a future of unnecessary stress and overwhelm. You can walk your way into the plans the enemy of your soul has for you – plans of defeat and despair. Plans of a little life with no way out. YOU DON’T WANT THAT!

Lord, please open the doors to your best plans for my life, and please close the doors that do not lead to your preferred future for me. I trust the position of your doors. I trust them enough to walk through the ones you open, without hesitation – and walk right past the ones you have closed, without complaining.

Jesus tells John to write a letter to the church in Philadelphia. This is the 6th church and the 6th letter in the book of Revelation. If you’ve been following along in our study for the past 2 weeks, you likely notice a patterN in these letters from Jesus. Jesus identifies a specific quality of himself as a reminder to his people, he recognizes what they are doing right, then he corrects them in what they are doing wrong.

This letter to Philadelphia (not Pennsylvania but modern day Turkey) is different. Jesus has nothing negative to say to these people. They’re doing it right. There’s no correction! And what they are doing right is what we need to get right! Let’s look at this, because Jesus is speaking directly to us today.

Let’s begin in Revelation 3: 7 where Jesus first reveals a specific quality of himself to his people. “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia. This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open.”

Jesus says, I ALONE HOLD THE KEY. If I open it, no one can close it. If I close it, no one can open it. And because Jesus is holy and true, we can trust he knows which doors should be opened and which doors should be closed.

When we really trust Jesus, we can walk through his opened doors with confidence. We don’t have to second-guess. We don’t have to stress. Walk right in and know this is leading to his preferred future for you.

But that also means when we really trust Jesus, we can face a closed door and not question. We don’t have to stand there wondering. We don’t have to grow discouraged. And we’re certainly not supposed to stand there complaining. Hey, the longer you stand disappointed over that closed door, the more delayed you are in walking through the open door he prefers for you.

Are you going to trust him or not?

Trust means faith to confidently walk through open doors, and the same faith to confidently walk right on by the closed ones.

Jesus identifies himself as the door opener and the door closer to his people because he has opened a door of opportunity for them. Verse 8, “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me.”

It’s easy to think we will walk through those doors of opportunity when we are strong enough, but Jesus is so pleased with his people here because they had such little strength, yet they were obedient. I’m realizing I don’t need more of my own strength to do what God wants me to do in my life, I need to be emptied of my self and become weak enough to be used by God.

Lord, empty me of my own strength. My own efforts are not what you desire. My emptied, open hands and willing feet to walk on in is what you ask of me. I’m not supposed to be strong and sure. I’m not supposed to be self-sufficient in my own self-confidence. I’m God-confident. I’m God-sufficient. I’m powered by God, guided by God, and chosen by God for a door of opportunity that leads to his preferred future.

Jesus was completely pleased with his people because they saw the opportunities he had placed before them, they relied on God instead of their own strength, and they were faithful to Jesus. This is what he asks of us. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to do it perfectly. You have to go in the strength God will give you, seize the opportunities of the doors he has opened, and remain faithful on the journey.

In that Jesus is pleased. In you, he is pleased.

And to his people who will go in His strength, seize the opportunities of open doors, and remain faithful to Jesus no matter the hardship and no matter the success, Jesus says this:

Verse 10, “Because you have obeyed my command to persevere, I will protect you from the great time of testing that will come upon the whole world to test those who belong to this world.”

Okay, stop right there. Now we’re beginning to see the doom and gloom stuff we all fear in the book of Revelation. But before you start assuming we’re in end times and that’s the cause of the tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, fires, famines and wars, really read Jesus’ words. He says to MY PEOPLE WHO OBEY AND PERSEVERE, YOU WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THE COMING TEST ON THOSE WHO BELONG TO THIS WORLD.

The question is, who do you belong to? Do you belong to this world, or do you belong to Jesus? Who’s your Daddy? Who’s your God? Who’s your source? Who are you following? Where do you place your focus?

To those who have allowed this world to become their guide, those who’s ways just fit right in with the world and are guided by what the world says, then you belong to the world. And you are subject to the great time of testing to come. It will be unbearably hard. You do not want to be in that test.

But to those who belong to Jesus, those who place their full trust in him, those who look to him and obey him, then you are PROTECTED FROM that time of testing. That means the doom and gloom simply doesn’t apply to you. It’s not your test. It’s not your trouble.

I don’t have to figure out a way to survive what is to come, my relationship with Jesus has already promised my protection from it. Isn’t that great news? We don’t have to live in fear. The thing we must remember is THIS IS NOT OUR HOME. We are on our journey to home, and that home is Heaven. Everything here is temporary on our way to eternal.

That is what we must remember. When I become hyper focused on things of this world, then the world begins to own me and I then belong to it. When I focus on God, he owns me and I belong to him. Where’s your focus?

Finally, check out verse 12, “All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God – the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.”

That doesn’t make a ton of sense until you understand Jesus is writing this letter to a city that was often devastated by earthquakes. Everything would be shaken and massive buildings would fall, with only their pillars remaining. Jesus is offering strength to his people to stand when everything around us crumbles. You know why we can stand – because our foundation is the solid rock of Jesus!

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us to build our life on him and we will stand. Everything else is shifting sand. We will stand as pillars with God’s strength and stability. We will overcome and have our permanent place in God’s preferred future!

But for now, we stand here and we see some things crumble. We stand strong and trust in our Jesus. And we look for those doors of opportunity. If he has opened the door, walk through with confidence. If he has closed the door, walk on by without complaint.

Jesus knows what he is doing!

God open the doors you have for me, and close the ones that are not. I choose your preferred future for my life!

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