Praying For StrengthSmakprov

DAY FOUR: Walking in the Word

What is God’s open door? There are many! Essentially it is walking in the way that His Word would have us walk.

The courage to forgive your enemies is an open door. Reconciling a broken relationship is another. Stepping out to talk to that unbelieving friend that the Lord has put on your mind is an open door. Speaking up for a victim or helping someone in need can be an open door. Confronting a family member in love regarding something the person is doing that is harming him or her is yet another door.

Open doors are never easy to go through in our own strength and reasoning—that’s why you need to be in prayer and you need to have faith to step through that door in the Lord’s power.

The Lord has told me to do a lot of things. One particular open door that the Lord wanted me to walk through was to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:39).

Why that? Of course we are commanded to love our neighbor. But I had a hard time loving people because I didn’t love myself. When you loathe yourself, how can you love others? But God is ever faithful and ever patient. He showed me how to love my neighbor when I didn’t even love myself. He said, “You must come to the point that you love the work I am doing in you. That’s the self I want you to love.”

It’s about seeing myself, and others, in the light of Jesus Christ. God loves that person you work with; God loves that person who has annoyed you; God loves that difficult family member. And just as the Lord is working in your life, He wants to work in their lives as well!