How Do You Know An Open Door Is From God?
By Nigel Lane
How do you know when a door opens if it is God’s will? Here, we discuss how to recognize when an open door is clearly not God’s will. And, we also discuss which direction to take when it is unclear as to if an open door is God’s will.

What do you do when you are faced with a decision to make but don’t know what God’s will is? You will hear often that God lets people know His will by opening doors. But did you know that the Devil opens doors for you too? And, he disguises them so cleverly. How do we know?

In our microwave push-button world, we like to equate an open door with a quick answer from God. We want quick answers just like we want fast food. We don’t take the time to examine our motives or see what God’s Word says before stepping through an open door.

Let’s illustrate this with some modern-day examples:

•A teenager decides to go to a party where there is alcohol thinking it is an open door to be a witness for Jesus. The actual motive here is peer acceptance but the Christian here uses witnessing to excuse his or her motive.

•A young person decides to marry an unbeliever thinking that it is God’s will to win the other person over. The actual motive here is attraction but the Christian uses witnessing to excuse his or her motive.

•Two business partners form a partnership. One is a Christian and the other is not. Here again, the Christian partner believes he or she can win over the other. The actual motive is making money and it overshadows any Christian principles.

The examples above are not 100% doomed to failure. Many times, teenagers find themselves at a party and alcohol appears yet they refuse to drink. And, there are times when a believer marries an unbeliever and is able to win the other person over. In the form of a business partnership, the Christian partner could be a strong leader and

see that Christian principles are followed.

But most times, taking risks like these do not turn out well. A parent will more than likely not want their teenager at a party where underage drinking is taking place. When partners in a marriage are divided on their faith, there will be problems raising the children and most times the children end up having no faith at all. And businesses fail if the business partners manage the business with different value systems.

God’s will is never something that clearly is contrary to his Word. But the Christian who does not study God’s word regularly would not know what God’s will is not.

Reading your Bible will give you answers to the above examples. In Proverbs 23:20 (NIV), the Bible says about socializing with those who drink too much, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat.” And about marrying or forming partnerships with unbelievers, 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NIV) says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”

And what about when you see an open door and it is not clearly defined in God’s Word? For example, you are offered a job but you don’t know if it is God’s will. If the job you are being offered does not violate Christian principles then take the job. If God does not want you to have that job then he will block it. Read Matthew 25:14-28. It is the Parable of the Ten Talents. God blessed the two gentlemen who did something with their talents but could not bless the one who did nothing with his talent.

Study you Bible, pray for wisdom from God, walk through the door when it clearly does not violate God’s word, and trust God to guide your paths. Remember Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”