God Has an Open Door for You

If I Chose the Wrong Door I Missed Gods Will for My Life
Now, I’ll just have to settle for second best. People who don’t like the outcome of one decision obsess over what might have happened if they had chosen differently.  Like person who comes to believe he should have made a different career choice and lives with a chronic sense of guilt.  A woman believes she married the wrong man and fantasizes over an imaginary marriage to the man she now decides was Plan A.

It seems that many of us tend to think more often in a negative direction than a positive one. We think disproportionately about the outcomes that disappoint us and not the ones that filled us with gratitude that we could have missed out on.

As author John Ortberg says,“The Apostle Paul makes a great distinction. He says there is a godly sorrow that brings repentance and a worldly that brings death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)  The right kind of sorrow over a bad decision creates energy rather than despair. It helps us to learn from past mistakes and grow into wisdom. Worldly sorrow is depleting. In worldly sorrow we look at our bad choices as though the world rather than God is our only hope.”   

God’s will for my life is centered mainly in who he wants me to become.

God Could Never Understand My Frustration about Closed Doors
One of the most famous pictures of a door in the history was by the  artist William Holman Holt. It

shows the figure of a single man, standing outside the little home he wants to enter to be allowed in. We cannot tell if there is anyone inside or if the door will ever be opened. 

Imagine if you stood outside someone’s home knocking on the door, not knowing whether you will be allowed in. God has given to every person the door to their own heart, and God himself will not force his way in.

No person has ever faced the pain of rejection as much as God has. God is not just the one who opens doors; he is the one who stands knocking at closed doors. He is the most rejected person in the history of the world. If he is willing to stand at the door of my heart and knock, who am I to give up?

Some Doors Are So Closed That God Can’t Do Anything About It
Locked door are God’s specialty. If God can open the heavy door of a sealed tomb, no door is closed to Him. Consider after the resurrection the doors of the house the disciples were locked, but Jesus appeared to them. Later, doors were shut were his followers were he showed up and said, “Peace be with you.”

The doors of our lives are not closed to God. Know that he can enter our everyday stuff with his presence and peace and show us that his power can change our perspective even when things  look grim. Open doors are new every morning.

A Better View of Your Heavenly Father

We can be grateful if we’ve been fortunate enough to have had Dads that left a positive and memorable impact in our lives. But, unfortunately, that isn’t true for all of us. Some Dads were physically or emotionally absent or maybe married to their jobs. They didn’t affirm us as they could have or perhaps never said, ‘I love you.’We’ve heard this before.

Today in 41% of U.S. homes fathers are not living with their family. Additionally, 66% of all kids in America will live with only one biological parent by age 16. You’ve probably heard that there is a connection between our earthly fathers and our perception of God.

Although our concept of God may have been distorted by our relationship with our fathers it doesn’t need to define our view of God. 

We have a choice between believing what God has said about Himself or allow our own experiences to determine that for us. Regardless of where and how our view of God was developed God is able to reveal Himself to you and me accurately. Jesus referred to His father over 100 times in the Gospel of John. 

Jesus loved to talk about his father, his favorite subject. But the religious of Jesus’s day were like many today confused about the fatherhood of God. God is not merely like a father, He is a Father.

  

The greatest need for everyone regardless of their parentage is to know the Father.
The prophet Jeremiah said, “Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me,” ‘Understanding’ is to have correct insight into the nature of a thing. The word ‘know’ is the Hebrew word yada, which is ‘to know intimately.’

When we understand God’s heart and posture towards us it helps us understand not only who He is, but ourselves as well. It helps us to accurately interpret our world and experience true lasting significance and security, preventing a whole lot of wasted religiosity.  Here are a few truths about life’s greatest pursuit - Knowing God.

Your Divine Dad is personal - Hebrews 4:15
He is not a force, a concept or doctrine or a distant monarch. He is not unmoved by our suffering and pain. There was a father and three year old daughter who were grieving the loss of their wife and mom who was killed in a traffic accident. It seemed that all happiness had gone out of their lives and the night after the funeral the father was putting his baby girl to bed when all the lights went out in the house. 

The dad decided to go into the basement to investigate and said to his daughter. “I’ll be right back dear, lie still and I’ll be right back.” She was frightened at the thought of being left alone and begged him to take her with him. He wrapped her in his arms and made his way through the darkened hallway and went down the dark stairwell.

In the basement the little girl hugged his neck tightly and said, “It’s really dark daddy, but I’m not afraid because you’re my daddy.” The dad buried his face in his daughters’ hair and began to weep and said, “I’m not afraid either because my father is with me to.” So even in the midst of the sadness and sorrow the thought of Gods’ loving watch care over them brought light and hope to their darkness.  Hebrews 4:16; I John 5:14

He listens to you. Psalm 91:14-15; Mark 5:33 

One day while working in my home office my daughter wanted to talk to me and I told her I was busy studying, but that I was really listening. She put her two little hands around my face and said, “No Daddy, listen to me with your face.” Thankfully, God the Father listens to you with His full attention.

Myths About God That Can Drive Us Crazy

Myths about God can drive us crazy. Last time we saw how the myth that God is unreasonable has really up messed up our lives.  Another myth that many have been duped into believing is that

God Is Unreliable
He can’t be trusted. He is inconsistent and fickle. The temptation that Adam and Eve experienced is no different than what we experience on a regular basis. Doubt in what God had said was introduced, “Did God really say that” and did He mean it? Gen.3:3-5  Nothing has changed since.

People say, “That was way back then, but things are different now.” We hear the incessant cultural message of, “it can’t hurt, no one will know, everybody is doing it, just this one last time…”

Truth - God is a Reliable and Consistent Father
There is far too many inconsistent earthly fathers that have screwed up our perceptions of God. Many think that God is like their earthly father who was happy with us one day and mad the next.

Thankfully, God is not moody or capricious. He never has a no good miserable day. He’s never late and never holds back His love. God is not a morning or night person.We find it hard to trust others because of too many broken promises, but in stark contrast God’s love can always be counted on. God doesn’t break His promises.

The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made. Psalm 145:13

For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn; he will never go back on his promises. Romans 11:29

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19

Today everything is up for grabs, but God will never stop loving you. It doesn’t matter what happens to you or through you God will never stop loving you. Why? Because that is who He is, a loving Father who will always be compassionate towards you.

Myth – God Doesn’t Care About You
Perhaps not spoken out loud, but many believe that their stuff is insignificant, that God has bigger things to deal with like the guy with cancer, world hunger, the homeless and natural disasters. The little voice wherever it comes from, whispers in your ear and capitalizes on your fear, “who do you think you are to ask God anything, just look at your life.”

Countless people have bought into the lie that they don’t matter to God, that they’re a no count, a zero. Believing this myth drives us utterly crazy, miserable and insecure.

Truth – You Matter to God!
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

If you think you don’t matter to God you have a misperception of God. God never has information overload. He is never too busy to hear your concerns and has every resource to help you. He wants you to talk to Him about your life. Nothing is too small for Him. 

Rest assured you are of highly valued by God. If God had a wallet your picture would be in it. He created you with a unique personality and purpose.

Far too many people live for the approval and expectations of others to be happy. You and I don’t need it to be happy. What you do need to be happy is the truth, the truth that God really is madly in love with you and cares about you. 

He is always present. God is closer than you think. Everywhere you go He goes with you. If you’re a Christ follower He lives with you and inside you. He can’t get any closer than that and He’s not leaving.

Join us next time for the myth that God is unpleasable.

If you liked this theme you might the audio message of Your Divine Father by clicking here.