Saturday, January 23, 2016

Opportunity Is Knocking

Opportunities are in front of you to grow your faith, build your courage, and experience the power of God in your life. If you rather have comfort and convenience, then opportunities are not your thing.

Today, I pray that you look at life from a different perspective. Winston Churchill said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, but an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

Over the past two weeks we have looked a little deeper into what we need to ask for and how we need to seek God. So now we come to the point where we are facing, hoping for, and praying for opportunities. What is the significance of opportunities? F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss." How many opportunities have we seen and missed? How many have we not recognize because we were distracted with temptations? Can we be patient while being persistent? 

You may be in a storm (as I write this in NY this weekend, quite literally we are in blizzard) or you're in the middle of spiritual warfare. How do you battle? With the snow, you just wait it out and shovel out of it. With the spiritual battles, you just keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.

If we pray, God has some opportunities for us. Let's look at a few that Lord shared with me through the scriptures. 

Opportunity To Be Blessed - Matthew 6:6
If we pray, we'll have the opportunity to be blessed. If you can close the door to the distractions and even routines of life and make time for prayer, God will respond. You'll face constant opposition from you finding the time and space to pray but you have to fight through that and pray. Close the door and pray; He will open the "doors' and bless.

Opportunity To Be Amazed - Acts 12:13-16
If we pray, we'll have the opportunity to be amazed by the miraculous power of God. Your answer to prayer is at the door. How many miracles are we not seeing, receiving, realizing, or even enjoying when those miracles are staring you in the face.
When your answer is at the door, go and open it and receive it!

Opportunity To Serve - 1 Corinthians 16:9
If we pray, we'll have opportunities to serve God. Can we ask God to open "doors" for us to share our story and how the work of Jesus shapes our lives with other people? God will provide those opportunities to live our life on purpose. You can serve God at home, work, school, and His church. Ask God to give you those opportunities and seize them. Serving God is not an easy thing but every sacrifice we make is worth taking the opportunity to grow.

Opportunity Of A Lifetime - Revelations 3:20
If we pray, we'll have the opportunity of a LIFE-time! Not just our life time but for our eternal life. Jesus is knocking on the door to your heart. Will you answer that knock and welcome Him into your heart? Or will you just let him stand outside and keep knocking? I'm thankful Jesus is patient and persistent with us even when we are neither with Him.

Opportunity is knocking, will you answer? You will have opportunities, will you seize them? You can experience "good enough" in your life or "God is enough" in your life. God is waiting for you to knock with prayer so He can open doors in your life. What do you want? Who are you seeking? Will you answer?

Enjoy The Ride,
Pastor Cee