Praying in 2017- Day 28- Asking For Open and Closed Doors

Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray. (Psalm 5:2 ESV)

Day 28- Asking For Open and Closed Doors

Today we ask the Lord to clearly open the doors He desires us to go through for 2017, and to close those that are not His plan.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. (Psalm 121:8 ESV)

My days and my life are in the Lord’s hand. As we prayed yesterday for clear direction for the path to take, we follow on by asking specifically where He would have us concentrate our efforts.

The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalm 16:5-6 ESV)

Wherever Jesus places us, it involves a beautiful inheritance. It will also be a “pleasant place” because that is where Jesus is, which is not the same as saying it will be easy. Let’s pray for the courage and faith to stay right in His hand.

Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked. (1 Chronicles 4:10 ESV)

The prayer Jabez spoke to God is so famous it has its own books. It expresses a great deal of faith as Jabez requests enlarged borders. I also will be bold to ask God to use me more than ever before, and to bless me that I might build His Kingdom in 2017.

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. "'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3:7-8 ESV)

THIS… this is my prayer for 2017. I will ask Jesus all through the year to shut doors no one can open and to open doors no one can shut. I may have little power, but I desire to keep Jesus’ word and never deny His name. So I ask for doors through which to take that Name.

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. ... And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6, 10 ESV)

Sometimes the Lord shuts doors to our desires. Even though Paul had planned to go to Asia, the Lord forbade it. Instead he went to Galatia and now we have the book of Galatians. God’s closed doors are as important as the open ones. Today we will ask the Lord to make it just as clear what we are NOT to do, as what we are.

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison... (Colossians 4:3 ESV)

Paul was praying for open doors to preach WHILE in prison for doing just that! What are my excuse for not declaring Jesus? I don’t have time? I don’t have money? I’m too busy, too tired, too occupied? This year, I am done with all these distractions. If Paul can ask from prison, I can ask the Lord from my current circumstance to open doors for me to declare the mystery of Christ in 2017.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, … a door was opened for me in the Lord, (2 Corinthians 2:12 ESV)

Effective ministry results when the Lord opens a door. Let’s be willing go out to preach the Gospel in the places God has planted us and ask Him to open as many doors as possible.

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:8-9 ESV)

This is the full disclosure. A wide door may be thrown open for us to do effective work for Jesus. But that does not mean there won’t be opposition. We will experience adversaries because open doors are often flung wide into enemy territory. And all those in forward positions experience enemy fire.

Today’s prayer takes bravery and utter confidence that Jesus will lead and protect through the year. I will never have the courage I require without the Spirit. So let's pray and ask Him to fill us so we can march through every door He opens!

Day 28 Prayer

Dear Lord,
You direct my going out and coming in. You establish my territory. My days are in Your hands.

I ask You this year to close every door that would lead to distracting or lesser things. With so many opportunities it is often hard to discern which to choose. I ask You to bar my way when necessary. Please keep me from activities and opportunities that would lessen my ministry in Your name.

I ask You Jesus to bless me and enlarge my borders in 2017. I pledge to go to the very boundary of where You allow. I will not hold back or play it safe, but in the power of Your Spirit, I will press on.

Please open doors for me this year that no one can close. I ask for open doors to spread Your Word. May I make it known in places and to people I couldn’t have imagined You would send me. Help me to preach the gospel wherever You allow me.

Lord, I want to accomplish effective work for You this year, so I ask You to open doors wide for that. Then, as I walk through those doors, I ask You to protect me. When I encounter adversaries, I will need Your counsel and Your wisdom. I ask You to surround me and make me brave in You so I don’t shrink back. Please fill me with Your Spirit to continue with courage where You direct me.

In 2017, I ask You to help me to go where You send me, and to stay for as long as You keep me there. Please forbid me to go where I should not be. And where I am, may the work be fruitful.

My desire is to be used by You, for Your glory, for the spreading of Your Word, and for the growth of Your Kingdom.

This year is Yours Jesus. It is all for You.

Amen

Dear One, if you believe in Jesus then He has a ministry for you. Dare to keep praying this prayer. Trust Him with the closed doors, and run through the open ones. His provision is just on the other side!

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. (Psalm 118:19 ESV)

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