Open Doors
Excerpt from Revelation 3: 7-13
"See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." (NIV)
Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel
The book of Revelation was written by the disciple John to Christians who were experiencing severe persecution by first-century Roman emperors determined to destroy the church of Christ. With doors of social acceptance, religious tolerance and political favor being closed violently in their faces, John proclaims to Christian believers that "God has set before you an open door!" Really? How realistic is it to believe that God will open doors in contexts of systemic confinement, disenfranchisement and oppression?
I grew up in the slums of New York City – the South Bronx. It was an economically depressed community, full of drugs, delinquency and crime. But in that concentrated ghetto of closed doors, God sent me a teacher by the name of Ms. Hutchinson, who taught and mentored me from grade 7 to grade 9. Upon my completion of the 9th grade, under Ms. Hutchinson's tutelage, I was able to apply for and receive a scholarship to a private, prestigious college preparatory school in the hills of northern New Jersey. Upon graduation, I received four-year scholarship offers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. God does open doors.
This summer, a group of about 30 of my church members and friends journeyed to Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa on a cultural excursion. In The Gambia, we visited an orphanage that educates and serves children with special needs. The Gambia is a developing country with not very many doors of educational and economic advancement open to the vast majority of its citizenry. But after our visit, our church made a commitment to adopt that orphanage and to give what we can to provide consistent financial and material support so that it can keep its doors open for the impoverished children of The Gambia with special needs. God does open doors.
The church I serve is itself located in an area of metro-Atlanta that has seen doors of business development and employment opportunity close consistently over the past ten years. Like many black and Hispanic urban areas across the country, we are experiencing the consequences of diminished resources for investment in transportation, infrastructure and education. But in partnership with a local community college, our church has recently launched a program that offers free GED prep classes to the growing number people in our community who have slipped through the public education system without a high school diploma. God does open doors.
Are there any doors of opportunity, advancement or blessedness that God could open through you today?
Prayer
Lord, we are grateful for the doors of opportunity that you have opened for us. Now please give us the opportunity and the desire to open doors for others who would otherwise be locked in or left out. Amen.
Excerpt from Revelation 3: 7-13
"See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." (NIV)
Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel
The book of Revelation was written by the disciple John to Christians who were experiencing severe persecution by first-century Roman emperors determined to destroy the church of Christ. With doors of social acceptance, religious tolerance and political favor being closed violently in their faces, John proclaims to Christian believers that "God has set before you an open door!" Really? How realistic is it to believe that God will open doors in contexts of systemic confinement, disenfranchisement and oppression?
I grew up in the slums of New York City – the South Bronx. It was an economically depressed community, full of drugs, delinquency and crime. But in that concentrated ghetto of closed doors, God sent me a teacher by the name of Ms. Hutchinson, who taught and mentored me from grade 7 to grade 9. Upon my completion of the 9th grade, under Ms. Hutchinson's tutelage, I was able to apply for and receive a scholarship to a private, prestigious college preparatory school in the hills of northern New Jersey. Upon graduation, I received four-year scholarship offers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. God does open doors.
This summer, a group of about 30 of my church members and friends journeyed to Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa on a cultural excursion. In The Gambia, we visited an orphanage that educates and serves children with special needs. The Gambia is a developing country with not very many doors of educational and economic advancement open to the vast majority of its citizenry. But after our visit, our church made a commitment to adopt that orphanage and to give what we can to provide consistent financial and material support so that it can keep its doors open for the impoverished children of The Gambia with special needs. God does open doors.
The church I serve is itself located in an area of metro-Atlanta that has seen doors of business development and employment opportunity close consistently over the past ten years. Like many black and Hispanic urban areas across the country, we are experiencing the consequences of diminished resources for investment in transportation, infrastructure and education. But in partnership with a local community college, our church has recently launched a program that offers free GED prep classes to the growing number people in our community who have slipped through the public education system without a high school diploma. God does open doors.
Are there any doors of opportunity, advancement or blessedness that God could open through you today?
Prayer
Lord, we are grateful for the doors of opportunity that you have opened for us. Now please give us the opportunity and the desire to open doors for others who would otherwise be locked in or left out. Amen.
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