God Can Shut And Open Doors

God Can Shut And Open Doors "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." Romans 26:3 What do you do when God allows doors to shut in your life. With the economic problems over the past 6 years, since the housing bubble burst, I am dealing daily with more and more people who have lost their job, and those who are dealing with great financial hardships. I receive messages for prayer every day from people who need employment, people who need financial needs met. However, what I am dealing with in increasing numbers are people who have lost their job after 5, 10, 20, even 30 years of employment. Today, I have a very practical word for you, especially those who are out of work, those who are struggling financially, those who are business owners and have either had to shut down or are just barely hanging on. First of all, never forget that the Lord loves you and He knows your pain and He knows your needs. He is with you each step of the way, even though you may feel like He has abandoned you in your darkest hour. Jesus promised to never leave you nor forsake you. He will see you through these difficult days. Life is made up of seasons. The older you get, the easier it is to look back on your life and see those clearly defined seasons. You can see them begin and end. Nothing happens in our life that God doesn't allow to happen. That is often hard to swallow, especially when we are facing hard times. It is interesting that very few people question why God allows the good things to happen to us along our journey through life, but will always question God when we are faced with difficult circumstances. However, let me give you some counsel today that may help you. We get comfortable with our life. We get comfortable with our job. We get comfortable in making the money we need to live on. We get comfortable with how our life operates. We get used to the way we live. When something changes, we lose that comfort level. Most people don't like change. So when we lose our job, or when we can't pay our bills, or when our business is failing, it turns our life upside down. People instinctively seek the Lord in prayer for their job, for their finances, for their business. That is natural. They pray for God to basically put things back the way they were. I want you to know today that often things happen in our life because God is allowing one season to end and a new season to begin. Never forget, He loves you and cares about you. He loves to bless His children, and only wants the best for you. He often is allowing one season to end and a new season to begin so He can bless you more than you have ever known. Sadly, most people would rather keep things the way they are since that is what they are comfortable with, when God is trying to change things so He can bless you in a greater way! When we lose our job, when we are having financial difficulties, when we have a failing business, most people need outside counsel. It is their life and because they are so invested in things the way they are, they can't see anything else. Often it takes an outside pair of eyes from someone who knows the Lord to give you wise counsel and to help you see other paths that you may not be even thinking about. We are so focused on how we want things done and how we want God to move, we often don't even see or consider other paths. Having wise counsel from the outside can often help us see that there are options we never even considered, ways to get things done we simply haven't thought of. In many cases, it is as simple as God closing the door on a season in your life in order to move you into a new and better season. He may allow you to lose your job so He can give you a better job. He may allow you to suffer financial hardships to help you reorganize the financial side of your life so that you can move forward and as He blesses you, make you a better and wiser steward of what He entrusts into your care. So my word for you is to fear not, and while change is never comfortable, embrace it. Be excited by it. Life is exciting. Know that as you seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, He will insure that your day to day needs are met. Robert W. Brock My Daily Devotional Volume Seven November 15