LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Tuesday 12th October 2021
THE LORD HOLDS THE KEY
Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:7-13
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens,” Revelation 3:7
Imagine that you are left to explore a vast mansion all by yourself. The estate has so many rooms. Some of the rooms have treasures in them, while others have traps. Every time you approach a particular door, you have to decide whether to go through that door or not. How would you decide which doors to go through and which doors to avoid? Such a prospect will make what lies ahead of you unpredictable and reduce your actions to a game of chance.
However, if you had a way to determine what lies behind each door, you would not gamble with your actions. What if the owner of the mansion gave you guidance on which doors to enter into and which ones not to enter? Imagine that before you open the doors randomly, the owner of the estate would give you clues for deciding which room not to enter. He would advise you not to enter any room with a locked door and to only enter the rooms whose doors are unlocked. That would make your choices much more straightforward.
In His message to the Philadelphian church, the Lord Jesus tells us that He has the keys to open and to shut doors. When He opens, no one can shut; when He closes, no one can open. Anytime we have to decide on any area of our lives, we must acknowledge that the Lord has the keys. He determines which doors must be open to us and which doors must not be available to us. The Lord holds the keys. He can shut some doors in our lives and open others for us. To enter any door, we must find out if He has opened it or locked it.
Every day of our lives, we wake up to new opportunities to affect others for good. When we follow Jesus closely, we will soon learn to identify when He opens the door to us. Those doors will not conflict with His will and values. They will be opportunities that lead to God’s glory. As the one who holds the key to our future, our Lord makes a way in unexpected places. Will you walk through the door that the Lord has opened for you or turn away from it?
On the other hand, the Lord shuts doors that He does not want us to enter. The door may appear so beautiful on the outside, but only the Lord knows what it holds for us. We can conclude that something that looks good externally has good things in store for us. However, that assumption is very deceptive. It is a similar assumption that got Adam and Eve into trouble. Judas might have thought that the enticement of 30 pieces of silver would lead to a happy life. See where that landed him.
To make the right decisions in our lives, we must accept that the Lord holds the key to which doors must be open to us and which ones must remain closed.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you hold the key to what is right for me and what is not right for me. I trust you to open the right doors for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.