I am a prophetic being. Not the kind that can tell the future, but I do usually know the next step, the next creative step issued by the heartbeat of the Father, and I lean into that.
I think you know your next step too!
Sometimes we feel it should be different. We sometimes feel we should have all the details before moving forward. About all that gets you is stuck. This is a paradigm shift for me. I was the guy who wanted everything mapped out. Now, I try to simply take “next steps” and see where they lead me. I look for open doors and step through the ones I feel are right. I shrug at closed doors and express gratitude to God for sparing me whatever may be behind them… because we all know that with every door comes pain, not always bad pain, but the kind of good pain (of course there’s such a thing as “good pain”) that refines us, makes us better, and prepares us for successive doors.
It is a bit like James’ admonition to not seek to be a teacher unless we are sure of our calling, because those who teach others must live by a higher standard themselves. Don’t randomly pick doors, because every door comes with a price. I don’t want to pay a “price” I don’t need to pay because I walked through an appealing door that I had no business walking through. Let him who has ears to hear, hear.
The previous paragraphs are straight from my journal. Here’s some transformational expansion:
Do what you know to do… now.
One step at a time. I believe in planning, I plan when God prompts a divine strategy, and he does daily… hey, if God is laying a plan in your little brain, I would advise you write it down and systematically execute it. Fair enough? Don’t get ahead of God or yourself. Do what you know to do now without waiting for every single detail. Move, don’t freeze!
Walk through open doors, as opposed to closed ones!
Don’t force doors open. I am, by nature, a door knob jiggler. I can’t help it, but I need to stop it. I see an appealing door, I jiggle the door knob to see if it is unlocked, if it is I peep inside. Rather, look for open doors. Yeah, sometimes you have to just make your own opportunities, I get that, but the best things that have happened in my life have come from walking through doors divinely opened with a welcome mat out front, if you know what I mean. Look for open doors, look for sovereign welcome mats.
Embrace good pain and avoid bad pain, when you can.
Embrace good pain and try to avoid bad pain. Every path brings pain, it is simply living this joyful life. I remember the growing pains I had in my knees when I was a teenager. I thought something was wrong with me, and yes I responded to a few healing evangelists, but it was growing pains. Unavoidable. Choose your opportunities with discernment, because every one of them will cause you to grow in one way or the other. Growing hurts. If I must experience pain, I at least want it to be productive.
[shareable]If I must experience pain, I at least want it to be productive.[/shareable]
When I was a young man with dark brown hair, I couldn’t grow a beard and I couldn’t tell the difference between a closed door and an open door. Now that my hair is gray and my beard silver, I have no interest in closed doors. Oh, the curiosity hasn’t stopped, but open doors are obvious. They are the things we must do, the things in which we usually have little choice, the things painfully clear.
The thing about the doors God opens; they are awesome opportunities. Painful? Sometimes, but they are awesome opportunities.
Questions for Thought?
- How do you know the difference, practically, between an “open door” and a “closed door”?
- How far ahead must you see before you begin a journey?
- What are the “next steps” clear to you now? What must you do to take those steps?
- Are you reaching beyond the revelation? If so, how do you need to spiritually reorient yourself?
- How do you pay attention to pain to assure productive outcomes?
