The Devil at The Door

I hope this finds you well, I know that it has been a minute, but I have come with a WORD! and it starts with a question.

Have you ever been faced with a difficult situation just at a point when you felt like you were almost at a breakthrough in your life? You know those moments where you feel like an opportunity is right in front of you but then you come face to face with some obstacles or setbacks. These can be your insecurities, your past mistakes or trauma, your character, or a person (or people) that has let you down, someone you expected to be there for you, but they didn’t. At this moment, you have two choices, you can either choose to give time to these upcoming emotions that will lead you down a painful path which may keep you stuck in this situation, or you can choose to overlook the situation, despite the pain, and move forward into what God has prepared ahead of you. This is what they call perspective, how we choose to look at every situation that matters in life. If you choose to look at it from God’s perspective, you will believe, by faith, that God has prepared an opportunity for you to succeed in your future regardless of how the situation may look like on the outside. However, if you choose to look at it from a perspective of unforgiveness, pain, resentment, etc. you may find yourself going down a hall of more torture. We find out that the latter is an indication that the devil is always standing at the door to prevent the opportunities that God has set before us i.e., the door God opens.

This perspective was made clear to me in this week’s sermon from Pastor Steven Furtick (PSF) titled “A troubled Mind and an Open Door.” In his messages, he explains that an open door represents opportunities set before us by God. These opportunities can either come in form of a closed-door (disappointment) i.e., God shutting the door to something that is not good to protect us, or as an open door to something good. PSF employs the scriptures, 2 Corinthians 2: 10-13, 7: 5-7 and Revelations 3: 7-8. In these scriptures, we see first-hand the significance of a godly perspective. In Revelations, God tells us that he opens doors no one can shut and closes doors no one can open. Moreover, PSF believes that although the enemy has no power to shut or open the doors that God has opened or closed, he does have manipulative skills that he uses to distract us and lead us astray.

According to him, we often give way to the enemy, that is, the power to mess with our perspective by opening our minds to him to confuse. He further argues that this only disrupts the plans God has for us or that it shutters the opportunities for our future. For instance, you may have found yourself in a situation where your relationship with someone is destroyed, or your ability to move forward on a project you are working on is disrupted. PSF contends that in many cases, this means that the next stage that we are moving towards in life is an open door that God has opened for us, but the enemy will trick us by bringing up issues from our past or by using our insecurities to cloud our perspective and confuse us. The devil will remind you of painful experiences that fill your heart with resentment and unforgiveness, he will tell you that you are not enough for the opportunity ahead of you. His position at the open door of opportunities in front of you is to prevent your success and breakthrough. He is standing between you and your promise or your purpose. PSF says, he is there because “what is on the other side (of the door) is really important.” He further believes that the devil’s presence at the door indicates that ahead of you stands joy, reconciliation, hope and restoration.

Paul was hurt by the people in Corinth who were reckless with their faith and had undermined him. Instead of going there personally, he chose to send them a letter through Titus. PSF points to the fact that although Paul was hurt by their actions, he was willing to let “go of the offence and seize the opportunity” ahead of him. However, Paul explains to them (in his letter) that God had opened a door for him in Troas to spread the gospel, but he couldn’t do it because his mind was not right when he didn’t find Titus there. Therefore, he did not preach there but rather, he moved on to Macedonia. This provides a basis for PSF’s argument. He believes that Paul’s concern for the Corinthians affected his mind and his ministry in Troas and uses this incident to illustrate that “your body can be in one place, but your mind can be in another.”

He asks a convicting question which led me down a path of thought. He asks, “have you been standing at an open door (opportunities God has given you) but the enemy has got your mind so troubled that you can’t go through it?” I battle with this question because I have found myself in this situation so many times. I, on several occasions, have found myself in situations where my mind is stuck on things that could have been or focused on things that I believe I am not. In other cases, I choose to focus on my hurt or my painful experiences. The sad part about this situation is the fact that it drains you spiritually and gets you stuck in a cycle of regret, confusion, and more pain. It is a waste of time, in my opinion. I have even caught myself justifying the times I have been in this toxic space. This space can also be what they call a pity party (self-pity). What I am learning-in the process of my spiritual growth-is that I need to continue moving forward towards something better. I cannot stay in my past that the devil is presenting to me because I cannot change it, and neither can I change who I am. This sermon reminded me that I have been situated (where I am) for a reason. Just like Corinth was to Paul, I am valuable to God too because he created me in his own image and has placed me in every situation I face for a reason.

PSF believes that “the battle is not about strength, its about strategy.” Therefore, instead of pretending to be who you are not, you need to keep moving forward into forgiveness, self-realization, to drop the pride, invest in gaining Godly wisdom, and gain spiritual strength because there are great opportunities that God has planned for you. He says, “refuse to let unforgiveness in my (your) heart block the future that God has for me (you).” Furthermore, PSF contends that the enemy is trying to get you focused on Disappointment, Outcome, Offence, and Regret (DOOR). Therefore, when faced with a situation where pain is a hinderance, you must develop a better strategy and outsmart the devil and his schemes because “the opportunity is greater than the offence” says PSF.

God promises to prosper us and not to fail us. Hold onto the memories when something you thought was a hardship or an obstacle turned out to be a step or a blessing in disguise that you needed to move forward. Such memories are a mark in our lives that we need to preserve to remind us of His goodness. God’s message to us (in the bible) illustrates that He always knows the end from the beginning and that he has planned every step of our lives like a puzzle. He even knew us before we were formed in our mother’s wombs (see Psalms 139). This is enough to trust his process. No matter how hard life gets, we need to fight through the obstacles that present themselves before us. We need to also remember that some closed doors are planned by God to either prevent us from destruction or to build our character for our purpose. Not everything belongs to you. You need to be ok with not getting everything or losing some battles and be driven by the fact that something better is coming. You need to remember not to waste your time compromising yourself, your God-given identity to fit into a world that isn’t meant for you. You have nothing to prove to the world, only to God. Be smart and defeat the enemy and his tactics.

I pray that God may make you aware of the doors he has opened for you and those he had closed, may you always be reminded that he is for you and not against you. I pray for wisdom, knowledge and understanding to guide your mind and prepare you for the battles ahead. Amen

With love and prayers,

Resty Kansiime

Here is today’s sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIjIvvHGJ9E