NEW OPEN DOORS

OVERVIEW

• Introduction
• Open Doors for Everyone
• The Key to Open Doors
• The Supernatural Power of Hands
• Declare Prophetically the Voice of God
• Sanctification and Complete Long Term Obedience
• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Isaiah 22: 22
22 The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23 I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the Lord has spoken.’ ”

This is a very interesting passage from the Old Testament that describes about a key which can open doors. The Lord saw the wickedness of Shebna, and had sent Isaiah to proclaim judgment on him by elevating Eliakim the son of Hilkiah from a lower position to become an important officer in the court responsible for the household whom God promised to honour for being His faithful trustworthy servant.

OPEN DOORS FOR EVERYONE

Why would God give an open door for everyone? Many a times we try to view God as a small entity to fulfil our worldly needs and desires. Here, God gives the promise of an open door not just to an individual but to someone who is in authority and has integrity. In the new covenant Church – the body of Christ is the only one system of institution which has dominion and Glory. Let us not be self-centred to expect and receive only individualistic blessings while it should be all about the Church and the Church family. One who stays close with the church fellowship, anyone who is a powerful participant and faithful in the church family and the ones who value church and the church household more than anything else will experience open doors in their life.

The same holds true for the promises of God that people receive individualistically which is not wrong in any sense. However, we are entitled to receive the keys of the house of David as we grow into a higher dimension and revelation. The word house is emphasised in the Bible as it was the very house of David where God exercised His Heart and His Authority. Many never understood what God really expects which made them sacrifice animals as their atonement for sins and express devotion to God. It was only David who understood that God seeks men and women with a good clean heart. God had to hide Himself behind the veil in the most Holy Place not giving access to encounter Him when generations after generations concentrated on the ritual slaughter of animals at the altar; however, there was no separation between the arc and the people when David realised that pure hearts along with clean hands are essential resulting in pure worship in truth. God always look at our hearts and will never measure worship based on any other parameters. God is ready to transfer the very powerful key of the house of David when every one of us come together as the body of Christ with clean hearts, pure hands and worship Him in spirit. Let us desire to be the people after God’s own heart devoid of selfish ambitions and lustful sins of the world. We need to be very passionate about God and His presence always.

THE KEY TO OPEN DOORS

Luke 11: 39
39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.
Luke 11: 52
52 “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

These are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Pharisees who hindered the people by not passing on the knowledge.

2 Corinthians 4: 6
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Let us understand what exactly is this knowledge mentioned in the above scriptures of the Bible. There is a very special knowledge from the face of our Lord Jesus Christ which is the revelation knowledge of the Glory of God. The key of an open door cannot be obtained by theologically and systematically studying the Bible, while the only way to experience open doors in our life is when we get to know Jesus by the revelation of the Holy Spirit God. Most of us would have been born and brought up in Christian traditions and families which helped to gain knowledge by hearing the word of God and never the revelation. We all had the understanding taught by the religion. There is always a revelation when we are anointed and filled with the Holy Spirit that the knowledge of Jesus Christ does not come through the understanding of human wisdom and convention but it is that unique relationship which helps us to know Jesus more.

In other words the key of the house of David is not released to the eloquent, wise, affluent or the smartest people in the church but to anyone who has the strongest relationship with Jesus Christ.

Why were the Pharisees not able to realise and comprehend the revelation of who Jesus is? The Bible explains the exact nature of the problem that blocked their mindset which is covetousness, self-ambition and greed. One aspect that will get us into a good beautiful relationship with Lord Jesus Christ is the gift of CONTENT – being happy with what God gives. It is a dangerous feeling to always yearn for more and never be delighted with what God has already blessed us. We should not have any other aspirations in life other than Jesus and Jesus alone if we need to attain the position which God wants us to be, using the keys of the house of David. There is always a greed operating in our flesh which is a barrier to blessings and miracles in our life. The system of intense selfish desire, possessiveness and materialism should be destroyed; for ourselves to operate in the knowledge of the Glory of God. Always seek His presence which will make us content with what we have.

Matthew 6:33
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
We can have desires for the Kingdom of God. People should be passionate about Lord Jesus Christ, His presence, His word, His Glory and His realm when all other blessings will be added into life.

1 Corinthians 1:19
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Why did God refer to this key as key of the house of David? The entire dependence of David with a broken and a contrite heart was on the Almighty God, even though he was more astute and brilliant than Saul in every aspect. David always looked towards God for help and refuge.

God will not open the doors but will give the keys to open doors for people with higher revelation.

Exodus 14:15
15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

Israelites are at the brink of the red sea followed by the army of pharaoh behind them. Until this moment it was God who worked by inflicting the ten plagues when Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites leave Egypt. However, in this scenario God asks Moses to lift the rod and stretch his hands over the sea to divide it to take the children of Israel forward. There was a pure act of worship between the incidents of the ten plagues and the partition of red sea. Israelites came together as a family and celebrated Passover as a righteous gesture of reverence and adoration.

The word Passover has two inferences; first one being the angel of death which passed over as the lock was closed by the Israelites. God told Moses to tell the Israelites to mark their doors with lamb's blood so that the Angel of Death would pass over them as every firstborn son, farm animal, and livestock would die in Egypt. The Israelites were spared from the plague, while the Egyptians experienced loud wailing and death which ended the enslavement of the Israelites.

The second inference of Passover is when the Israelites passed over from death to life at the red sea. This is the powerful key—the keys of the house of David—that God has given each of us to operate. It not only prevents the angel of death from passing over our homes and lives, but it also allows us to use the same key to employ the angel of death to pass over from life to death. The Bible says, the wages of sin is death. Salvation is the reason why we all are alive. The same power of death would have operated in our lives if we were not saved. Sins give legal access to death in our life by destroying the body which God created.

1 Corinthians 3:16, 17
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

The above verse explicitly states that our body is the temple of God and God will destroy it if anyone degrades the temple of God. We need to ensure that our body which is the temple of the Holy Spirit is always Holy and acceptable to the Almighty God. We are not allowed to use our body to sin, while our body should be used for the works of righteousness.

Let us examine how the key operated when it was in the hands of Moses. It closed the power of death as well as opened up a day of deliverance in the life of Israelites. Our miracle is when we operate the keys in our life. We have been given the power and authority to open and close doors using the keys.

THE POWER OF HANDS and SPIRITUAL MATURITY

Hebrews 5:13, 14
13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

God expects us to be His mature children. God expects us to evolve to rely on the Pastors only to lead us and not demand Pastors for breakthroughs in every situation of life. Our progress depends on how we operate the keys of the house of David in life. Immediately start operating the key to close the problem when we foresee or encounter a trouble in life while the same key can be used to release blessings in our life. May the Holy Spirit help each one of us to operate the keys to close the unwanted doors and open new doors in our life.

It was the stretched forth hands of Moses that divided the water, as we carefully read through the chapter of Exodus that describes the partition of the red sea. Our hands have supernatural power not because of who we are but it is all about Jesus living inside of us. The keys are effective and powerful when Jesus is inside us which is a beautiful feeling. The Holy Spirit operates our hands and always regard the keys of the house of David handed over to us when we encounter a distress the next time. May God elevate us to a higher understanding and realm to comprehend even deeper the revelation of the keys. Doors of favour will open when the mighty keys of the house of David is in our custody.

LIFT UP THE HOLY HANDS TO WORSHIP

Lift up our Holy hands to worship each and every time we need to operate the keys to open doors which release the presence, the power and the Glory of God according to the new covenant.

HEAR and DECLARE PROPHETICALLY

2 Kings 6:25
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and one-fourth of a kab of dove droppings for five shekels of silver.

The head of a donkey is considered useless which lacks both intellectual and physical value. In comparison, Judas purchased a large field for thirty shekels of silver while the donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver due to severe famine in the land. The situation was so grave that a quarter of a kab (one pint or 600 millilitres) of dove droppings were sold for five shekels of silver and even women were forced to boil and eat their own children. There is absolutely no ray of hope over the perilous crisis.

2 Kings 7:1
1 Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: ‘Tomorrow about this time a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.’ ” 2 So an officer on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “Look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” And he said, “In fact, you shall see it with your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

Here is a man who uses the keys of the house of David. As we read and understand the scripture, the famine would come to an end the very next day. The other important way to operate the key to open doors is to hear the voice of God and prophetically declare over the circumstances and our own life. Let us never speak our desires and plans but always hear the voice of God and speak over the problems. We should always prophecy over our own lives. Believers who are considered as the Sons of the Glory of God are never powerless but the true power house of God.

Elisha clearly hears from God and declares it over the famine.

Galatians 5:25
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Always live in the spirit. We can hear the voice of God and speak prophetically in the realm of the Holy Spirit. Never allow the flesh to speak to us. Hear not what we desire, not what we wish for and not what others dream but speak only what the Lord says. We should be extremely sensitive to pick up and understand God’s voice else we will get deceived and be completely deprived of the spiritual life. Sometimes God talks to us through dreams or by even showing us the happenings surrounding us for us to believe what He says. Speak with authority what we hear from God for the keys in our hands to work.

Elisha heard from God, looked at the extreme crisis and declared that the famine will come to an end the very same time the next day. People in the fellowship doubted the possibility to which Elisha replied that they would see the end of famine but never experience it. Let us not be mere spectators of what God does in life but experience the blessings to the fullest.

Be in the atmosphere of hearing from God and speaking out boldly.

SANCTIFICATION and COMPLETE LONG TERM OBEDIENCE

Joshua 3:5, 6
5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

As we read in the Bible, the strategy to bring down the walls of Jericho was to march around the city walls with the Ark of the Covenant, priests, trumpets, and then shout when the priests blew the horns on the seventh day. Joshua might have expected some military action to besiege Jericho, and must have been surprised when the Lord revealed the plan of action to bring down the walls of the city.

Two aspects which are the keys to open doors in the sequence of events that brought down the walls of Jericho are Sanctification and Complete Long Term Obedience. We all like short term obedience. Many Christian believers only obey God in the short term while on a long term we are not willing to obey the voice of God. May the Holy Spirit grant all of us the grace to obey Jesus on a very long term basis that will exhilarate the dimensions which God operates in all our lives. We should always yearn and pray to be completely obedient to the voice of God because he is the King. Our life will be always so beautiful if we adopt this system of obedience.

Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says, we are sanctified by the word as well. However, obedience is completely our choice. In reality there is a drastic progress in the life of people who obeyed the voice of God when compared to the ones who opted not to obey which eventually led to their downfall. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Ask the Lord to speak to us for obedience. Always be in the attitude to obey the voice of God. It shows clearly that we are obedient to the God Almighty as well, when we are even obedient to the physical people around us. Let us be known for our strong obedience never to be adamant, have our desires and be dependent on our own strengths.

Joshua was a powerful warrior from his early childhood fighting battles after battles and he was the personally appointed successor to Moses who led Israel in the conquest of Canaan after the Exodus from Egypt. God asked Joshua not to fight anymore, be quiet and to combat the battle without any weapons. Sometimes God gives us directions difficult to comprehend by our human minds because He has given us supernatural keys in our hands. Many born again believers try to take control of the situations into their own hands if God’s plan does not work. We always prepare an alternate scheme to God’s plan which will never be fruitful. We should always learn to rest in the Lord. Trust in the Lord, be still and experience the salvation of the Almighty God.

Joshua led the Israelites to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days and then seven times on the seventh day in complete obedience which brought down the huge walls surrounding the city. Obedience operated the key to the Promised Land. The reason why many of us miss the promises in life is not because God lied or proclaimed incorrect prophecies, but only for the reason we are not able to obey God to the fullness in the long term.

God is eager to give His sons and daughters the keys to open blessings in life.

CONCLUSION

Doors are a symbol of opportunity, and key the symbol of authority. Open doors are a metaphor for choices we make and our destiny is shaped by the doors we walk through and the doors we walk past. A door may represent an opportunity from God, a distraction from others and can also be a trap from Satan. We must be careful to open the door to our future by knowing God’s view point for our life. An open door truly from God’s will never contradict with His word. God always wants to keep us close and be completely dependent on Him. Jesus describes Himself as the door, the gate for the sheep, emphasizing that He is the only way into the Kingdom. He is the only way to salvation. Ultimately, all authority to open and close doors lies with Jesus, the Son of David.

                    EVERY DOOR IS A DECISION