“Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7
As I said at the outset, God
opens doors to produce growth in the lives of His children. I want to point out
four areas where we can see immediate growth as a result of those prison doors
being opened by the Father.
1. Faith
Not only did the faith of Silas and Paul grow that
night, the faith of the other prisoners and jailer grew also. In fact, the
jailer and his entire family trusted the Lord for salvation that very night. Imprisonment
was part of the journey that led to the door God would open for them. Pain and
punishment was on that same path. Those two men of God were stripped and beaten
in the town square before they were imprisoned, and yet there is no mention of
doubt in this entire passage. Their faith grew.
2. Patience
Because they had to be willing to sacrifice to self
to see that door open, they also had to be willing to wait for God's perfect time.
As I said earlier, they had no guarantee of God opening those doors that night.
We are commanded in the Scriptures to “Wait patiently for him.” In my opinion,
this is one of the hardest commands in the Bible. At times, God is going to
bring us to a closed door, and He will find out just how much we want to go His
way. We must be at the right place while knocking on the right door, waiting patiently
for God to answer in his time. As the saying goes, “When God closes a door,
praise Him in the hallway.” Another saying goes, “When God closes a door, He
opens a window.” You know, that may not be God opening the window. The window,
that is often an escape rather than an entrance to God’s path. After a storm on
the Sea of Galilee, God gave this message to the Apostles when they questioned
Him, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” He rebuked the winds, saying “Peace,
be still”, then He turned and said, “How is it that you have no faith?” They
had prayed for escape rather than praying for the power of God to guide them
through the storm. God is not planning to rescue us from our circumstances. God
wants to guide us through our circumstances. When God closes the door, praise Him
while you patiently wait in the hallway or praise Him in the dungeon.
3. Knowledge
They gained a better grasp of how God works. God
allowed them to establish a church where the Jewish customs would not impede
its growth or confuse its doctrine. Paul did not have to correct doctrine that
had been contaminated by what the Jews believed in the Old Testament time
period. God was doing something great! God was doing something powerful! They were
able to learn a little bit about how God works because they were willing to ask.
They were willing to seek. They were willing to knock until God opened the
door. Paul and his group received some experience. God showed Himself powerful
through the earthquake. None of the prisoners dared to move. God put Paul and
Silas right in the middle of the people with whom the magistrate had a problem.
There was camaraderie there. They grew in understanding; realizing,
God always has a plan. You and I benefit from the Epistle written to this
church. Think of all the wonderful truths that are recorded for you and me
today in the book of Philippians.
4. Desire
Ask yourself this question, “Do you want to see God
work and bring glory to His name, or do you just want to have God's blessing on
whatever it is you do?” He is not going to open doors for those He cannot trust
with what is on the other side of their doors. If you're going to get to the
other side of that door and bring glory to yourself and gratify your flesh, mark
it down, that door will remain closed. Does it seem that the Apostle Paul was
trying to establish a church at Philippi so everyone would say, “Wow! What
amazing job Paul did.”? If that had been his desire, this might have been the
last we ever heard of him. He would have died a prisoner in Philippi. God saw
his desire was pure. and allowed him to be used in a great way. Our true
intentions to go beyond the door and our level of desire for God’s glory are
revealed by how hard, how often, and how long we're willing to knock. I
believe, Silas and Paul's desire for God grew that day.
God is never going to open
a door you don't knock on. You can't knock on doors you can't reach. You must
be willing to go where those doors are and be willing to let God open the door.
Ask Him! Seek Him! Knock until He answers! Paul did not begin to develop a prayer
life when tragedy struck. Matthew 7:7 Ask,
and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you: Those are definite terms and absolute promises given by
Almighty God.
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