Step Out In Faith – Part Three
Stepping through God’s open doors leads to changed lives. As Christians, we will find doors of opportunity opening before us every day. The question is, do we have the courage and passion to walk through them?
Let’s agree on this: Any door God opens for you is a door you can and should walk through.
Here are four considerations that will help set your faith and spiritual feet in motion.
1> Your faithful response to God’s opportunities will pay dividends in time and eternity.
It will cost you to walk through God’s open doors. At the very least, you will give up the security and comfort of the familiar — and usually more. But no harvest is reaped without first sacrificing a seed. Only when we learn to view life through the lens of the long view, even the eternal view, will we see that the sacrifices of this world are nothing in light of what is gained by going through God’s open doors.
You may need to pay a price now to help a friend endure a crisis, find shelter for a homeless person, adopt an orphan, or any number of passionate ministries to Jesus and others, but think of the eternal dividends! Passionate, faith-filled people recognize that they must sow in order to reap, and they willingly release possessions, comfort, and security in order to gain the blessings of tomorrow.
2> It will cost you and others dearly if you fail to grasp God’s opportunities.
Just as you cannot estimate the positive outcome from passionately embracing God’s opportunities, neither can you guess what you and others will miss when feeble faith freezes you at the freehold. We do not have the big picture when we walk through that open door. We have no idea of what benefits we and others will receive by our step of faith into the future God has planned. But, this is certain; we will never receive the blessings and benefits that God has planned for us – still unknown and not yet within our grasp – if we don’t pay the price and step out in faith at the moment the door is opened for us.
3> Your faithful response to God’s opportunities will be aided by those who encourage and support you.
We more readily act upon our passion when we surround ourselves with people of like passion. You need a team of supporters and encouragers on your side, such as your spouse and children, a Bible study or fellowship group, prayer partners, accountability partners, spiritual mentors, and counsellors. These individuals cannot act on the opportunities God has set out before you; that’s your job. But they can supply counsel, instruction, encouragement, comfort, and even correction to help you follow through with what God has given you to do.
4> Walking through God’s open doors will serve as an example for others.
Who is watching when you contemplate the open doors God places before you? Who is learning from your example as you express either feeble or passionate faith? Your spouse, your children, and your closest friends, to be sure. But there are doubtless many others of whom you may not be aware. A new Christian who is looking to you as a role model to follow. A Christian friend who is paralyzed by fear. A coworker or neighbour who has never learned to trust God.
The apostle Paul did not hesitate to say, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). This was not a statement of self-promotion; it was the confident assertion of one who knew the will of God and was passionate about doing it.
Can you make a similar, bold claim?
