3 Ways to Know If an "Open Door" is from God

Just because an opportunity presents itself, and it looks appealing, doesn't necessarily mean it is from God. And likewise, just because an open door looks a little uncertain, doesn't mean you shouldn't walk through it.

The key is knowing how to discern if an opportunity is really an open door from God. I don't want to miss those open doors because I was afraid to walk through them. But I also don't want to take every opportunity that comes along, assuming it is from God's hand and has his blessings attached.

In a recent conversation with a friend we talked about the faith and courage to walk through a door that God is holding open for us, even if we're not exactly sure of what's on the other side. But then the question came up: How can you tell if God is the one opening the door?

The Bible gives us some principles to help us discern if an "open door" or opportunity is really from God:

1. The Door that God Opens Will Never Contradict His Word

Many Christians see opportunities to make more money as an open door from God, even though the opportunity means a job that will keep them from regular fellowship or service in their church. However, God's Word tells us not to neglect meeting together for worship (Hebrews 10:25). Some women have told me that they believe God opened a door to a dating relationship for them, even though it meant being in a situation where they were "unequally yoked" with an unbeliever, which Scripture also warns against (2 Corinthians 6:14). God will not lead you toward an opportunity that contradicts what he clearly says in his Word. Nor will he open a door that would require personal compromise or disobedience in order for you to enter. As humans prone to sin, we have an excellent way of turning a clear mandate of God's completely around and justifying it by our circumstances, but that is not how God works. If there is a compromise in any way, or we have to bend Scripture to justify our "open door" then it is likely not a door that God is opening for us. I would call anything that contradicts his Word a temptation, rather than an open door from God. And God's Word clearly says that God does not tempt us (James 1:13-14).

2. The Door that God Opens Will be Accompanied by Confirmation

In Matthew 18:15-16, Jesus laid out instructions for confronting sin among believers saying "But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses'." I believe the same applies when it comes to God confirming something in his Word. He will often confirm or establish a matter by "two or three witnesses" whether they be verses from the Word of God, advice from a pastor or well-respected person who is grounded in Scripture, or a non-compromising circumstance that continues to present itself. Through prayer, discernment and seeking godly counsel, you should be able to tell if that "open door" and its confirmations are truly coming from God.

3. The Door God Opens Will Require You to Depend on Him

God is not going to give us something that will alienate us from him or make us believe we no longer need him. He is a God of relationship, and a God who insists upon being first in our lives (Matthew 6:33). Therefore, if you find yourself saying "I can't do this unless God goes before me," or "I can do this, but only with God's help and leading" I would say, in my personal experience, it's likely something God is calling you to do. Hebrews 11:6 says: "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him." Many times an "open door" from God is one that allows our faith to be stretched and strengthened. That, after all, is God's objective for us: to grow in faith and Christ-likeness.

Take your opportunity or "open door" to God and ask for his confirmation - through his Word and godly counsel from others - and his peace in the decision, and you can have the assurance that you aren't just choosing a door at random, but you're carefully walking through the ones he wants you to enter.

Emile Durkheim On Religion

A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden--beliefs and practices which unite in one single community called a Church, all those who adhere to them".

"The believer who has communicated with his god is not merely a man who sees new truths of which the unbeliever is ignorant; he is a man who is stronger. He feels within him more force, wither to endure the trials of existence, or to conquer them".

"At the roots of all our judgments there are a certain number of essential ideas which dominate all our intellectual life; they are what the philosophers since Aristotle have called the categories of the understanding: ideas of time, space, class, numbers, cause, substance, personality, etc. They correspond to the most universal properties of things. They are like the solid frame which encloses all thought; . . .They are like the framework of intelligence. Now when primitive religious beliefs are systematically analyzed, the principal categories are naturally found. They are born in religion and of religion; they are a product of religious thought".

"Thus there is something eternal in religion which is destined to survive all the particular symbols in which religious thought has successively enveloped itself. There can be no society which does not feel the need of upholding and reaffirming at regular intervals the collective sentiments and the collective ideas which make its unity and its personality. Now this moral remaking cannot be achieved except by the means of reunions, assemblies, and meetings where the individuals, being closely united to one another, reaffirm in common their common sentiments; hence come ceremonies which do not differ from regular religious ceremonies, either in their object, the results which they produce, or the processes employed to attain these results. What essential difference is there between an assembly of Christians celebrating the principal dates in the life of Christ, or of Jews remembering the exodus from Egypt or the promulgation of the Decalogue, and a reunion of citizens commemorating the promulgation of a new moral or legal system or some great event in the national life?".

[Religion is] "an eminently collective thing".

"We must discover the rational substitutes for these religious notions that for a long time have served as the vehicle for the most essential moral ideas".

"Society is not at all the illogical or a-logical, inherent and fantastic being which has too often been considered. Quite on the contrary, the collective consciousness is the highest form of psychic life, since it is the consciousness of consciousness. Being placed outside of and above individual and local contingencies, it sees things only in their permanent and essential aspects, which it crystallizes into communicable ideas. At the same time that it sees from above, it sees farther; at every moment of time it embraces all known reality; that is why it alone can furnish the minds with the moulds which are applicable to the totality of things and which make it possible to think of them".

“The notion of the infinite, then, appears only at those times when moral discipline has lost its ascendancy over man’s will. It is the sign of attrition that emerges during periods when the moral system, prevailing for several centuries, is shaken, failing to respond to new conditions of human life, and without any new system yet contrived to replace that which has disappeared”.

“Whenever moral rules lack the necessary authority to exert, to a desirable degree, a regulatory influence on their behavior, we see society gripped by a dejection and pessimism reflected in the curve of suicides.

“The totality of moral regulations really forms about each person an imaginary wall, at the foot of which a multitude of human passions simply die without being able to go further. For the same reason—that they are contained—it becomes possible to satisfy them. But if at any point this barrier weakens, human forces—until now restrained—pour tumultuously through the open breach; once loosed, they find no limits where they can or must stop. Unfortunately, they can only devote themselves to the pursuit of an end that always eludes them”.

“During periods when society is disorganized and, as a result of its decadence has less power to exact the commitment of individual wills, and when, consequently, egoism has freer reign—these are calamitous times. The cult of the self and the notion of the infinite go together”.

“A group is not only a moral authority which dominates the life of its members; it is also a source of life sui generis. From it comes a warmth which animates its members, making them intensely human, destroying their egotisms".

“The old gods are growing old or are already dead, and others are not yet born”.

“Religion is in a word the system of symbols by means of which society becomes conscious of itself; it is the characteristic way of thinking of collective existence”.

“It is not possible for a social function to exist without moral discipline. Otherwise, nothing remains but individual appetites, and since they are by nature boundless and insatiable, if there is nothing to control them they will not be able to control themselves”.

“The unleashing of economic interests has been accompanied by a debasing of public morality. We find that the manufacturer is aware of no influence set above him to check his egoism. He is subject to no moral discipline.

The great things of the past which filled our fathers with enthusiasm do not excite the same ardor in us...In a word, the old gods are growing old or already dead, and others are not yet born...But this state of incertitude and confused agitation cannot last for ever. A day will come when our societies will know again those hours of creative effervescence, in the course of which new formulae are found which serve for a while as a guide to humanity; and when these hours shall have been passed through once, men will spontaneously feel the need of reliving them from time to time in thought, that is to say, of keeping alive their memory by means of celebrations which regularly reproduce their fruits. We have already seen how the French Revolution established a whole cycle of holidays to keep the principles with which it was inspired in a state of perpetual youth...There are no gospels which are immortal, but neither is there any reason for believing that humanity is incapable of inventing new ones. As to the question of what symbols this new faith will express itself with, whether they will resemble the past or not, and whether they will be more adequate for the reality which they seek to translate, that is something that surpasses the human faculty of foresight and which does not appertain to the principal question.

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I chanced upon this interesting article on religion by Durkheim...and it made me ponder on the complexity of the human brain.

6 January, 2015 - Assholes united

Today is the second day of work after the two weeks hiatus. And I am reminded that work indeed sucks. I don't know if things have changed or it is I who have changed. As i read my past blog entries,  and discovered that i no longer feel like i have the same energy to play ping pong ball (emails) or entertain unreasonable requests from colleagues, suppliers, customers etc In fact i seem to be looking at this company using a magnifier glass. One that magnifies all it's flaws and and the stark difference compared to when i first joined.

Yesterday, I learnt that i might need to work with Sarah again. Like in Pemco days. Except that this time, we both have changed and the relationship has also changed. God works in mysterious ways...perhaps she is my "last job" in this company. I have to work on introducing more of God to her and then perhaps God can move me to the next place to serve?

I go to work with anticipation everyday..hoping that i will get selected for the social worker scheme. At the same time, while i feel refreshed from the break from work, I have been encountering irritating people and assholes from Hong Kong to test my patience to the very limit. There are so many people (let's just call them assholes) in this company who came to work not expecting any problems to be thrown on their lap, who expects smooth day everyday and by having this expectation, inconvenience others greatly because they would be lazy and try to do the most minimum work that they can.

I think i have mental block in writing..

To end off, JFK came to pick me up from work and we had a nice dinner at The Loading Bay. It was a cosy place to be at and much as it was a shit day, I had a great evening :)

Yesterday, my menses also gorily arrived. No..i am not pregnant. Again. At least it's not another miscarriage this time.

To all the assholes out there, I hope that one day you will realised what an ass face you have, get paid for all the asshole-ness you have been in due, and get stuck with other assholes for the rest of your life.

P.S. Forgive me for i have no forgiving heart to the above said asses

2 January, 2015 - Paddington Bear

Today is the last weekday of of our little stay-home-vacation :) We had lunch at Great World city, watch the movie Paddington Bear and shop a little while. The pantone colour for 2015 is masala and i went to Sephora to pick up a lipstick in this shade. Couldn't find any..left the shop empty handed, might as well..save money :)

We drove to East Coast to watch the sea, and play some sand. Samuel was happily playing sand when he found a fifty cents coin! Lucky little boy. Earlier in Great World city, he had donated ten cents out of his pocket money to a charity box. He has been saving up to buy a toy by collecting ten cents from daddy everyday lol

After a tiring day, it was ice cream time!

When we got home, little Samuel wants to follow Keller and Kellie to Kallang Wave stadium to play with their scooter bikes. We have such fantastic neighbours :)

What a wonderful day it is to spend time with our family. It's a blessing just to be alive and and see God's creation everyday.

Thank God for this wonderful day, for family, for great neighbours and for keeping us safe.

Amen

1 January, 2015 - Happy New Year

Time
It's 2015, time did zoom past fast. I am turning 39 this August and soon I will be 40.  I wonder if i can still make it in time for a baby number 2. After baby Joshua and Matthew's brief stay on earth, I have serious doubts about being able to have another baby. We didn't plan on having any kids when we got married. Ironically, this is one big regret that I have now..not starting a family earlier. But then again, thank God for Samuel. He is indeed the biggest joy in our life.


Family
They are the most important people to me in life. To put it bluntly, without them, I am nothing. Family reminds me that I am not alone in this world. We have our disagreements and tiffs now and then but we will always be family. Always.

I want to say I really, really love you.  Jeffrey, Samuel, Pa, Mummy, Jervoise, Jervis, Marvin, Sharon, Jasmin, Benjamin, Dad, Mother...
Also my Aunties, Uncles, cousins..i do feel a tinge of regret for not hanging out enough with my cousins in their growing up years. But I am thankful that they so readily accept us back into their gatherings.

Family = love :)


Friends
I do not have many close friends. Not because I'm not sociable or unfriendly. On the contrary, I can be quite a "professional hala queen". There is an on-off button that I selectively press depending on my mood and instincts. But i choose to be cold so as not to make so many friends. Because friendships require time to maintain. I do not think I want to spend so much time with people who are merely "friends". I only keep friends who do not judge each other, who will be there when the going gets rough, who will be there and weep with you silently, who despite time apart, will always re-connect easily like distance never existed.  Thank you very much for being there for me. You know who you are.


Work
Been in this company for almost eight years. There were good times and bad times. This is the same company that I joined since I started this blog. I would be lying if I say I have no feelings towards this company.
Having said that, I have just sent in my application for a mid career change, to explore social services in Singapore. If my application is successful, I will be doing two years of study at SIM followed by another two years of bond to the employer who hired me.  If this is what God wants me to do, I pray that He will open doors. Sometimes I wonder why did God download this thought in my heart, why me? I am not sure if I have the criteria of a social worker in terms of personality. I'm not exactly even temper, I can be quite impatient, vindictive and the list goes on.  But God works in mysterious ways. This time, i took the leap of faith and submitted my application.

Also, there is the online business that I am struggling to make it work out. I would really like to see it kick off..any small start is a great beginning. I need to find like-minded people, to share this dream and make it work out..for a better life style and a challenge I set for myself.


Thank You God for everything.

Concurrently, we will also try for a baby. As JFK said ~ leave it to God.
Counting my blessings everyday :)

17 September, 2010 - Life

I have forgotten how long ago it was that i enjoyed updating my blog so much that it has almost become an obsession.  I have the habit of writing diaries...the old fashion way.  Writing about my thoughts and all the happenings of whatever is going on in my life.  So that when i am old and bored, i could sit back and reminiscence..and hopefully smile.  That has been replaced with a blog but the writings have stop for almost two years...sigh

Too many things have happened these two years.


When I say... "I am a Christian"

I'm not holier than thou.

I'm just a simple sinner,

Who received God's good grace.


** This blog entry is 4 years late...

30 December, 2014 - Thankful thoughts

It's coming to the end of 2014 and I'm feeling pensive.  My holiday started last Tuesday and it is really blissful not having to go to work.  I love staying at home with Samuel and not having to go to work, stuck in a nine to five job. Sometimes when i read magazines of mothers who stay home to look after their kids, i wonder why don't I have the guts to do the same.  Is it because i chased after monetary gains?  Or because i just want to work? To be honest, i'm not confident that I can be a good stay-home-mum because i can't cook, am not good with housekeeping, not really great with kids as well.  I think I'm beating up myself.  Ouch.

Anyway, this has been a great year.  Jervoise and Alisa got married on April 1, we went to Sydney and Gold Coast with mum and Jervis.  And most of all, it is such a joy to watch Samuel grow up day by day, learning more and more :)  Samuel has taught me how to play like no one is watching, how to laugh at simple, silly things, not fret the small stuffs and just enjoy each day as a blessing from God.

Samuel is indeed my biggest joy.  He is so precious to us and we love him very much.  Thank God for sending Samuel to us. Amen.

P.S.  Samuel read this post and said I'm a good mummy :) but mummy also love me. (typed by Samuel)  :)) i am a happy mummy.