The Power Station
Evangelist Dea Warford
Ministering the Word and the Spirit
Evangelist Dea Warford
Ministering the Word and the Spirit
(All quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the New King James Version, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1981)
Word: "God shuts (a door) upon a man, and there can be no opening." Job 12:14
The above truth is established several times in scripture: ""He opens and no mans shuts, and shuts and no man opens" (Rev. 3:7); and "He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isaiah 22:22). When God shuts a door (figurative of the opportunity to walk through it into new chapters in one's life) it is impossible to open. By the same token, when God opens a door, no one can "shut it." Simply put: we can trust the Lord to keep us from going the wrong direction with our life and keep us on the right road by opening and closing doors before us.
I had become a born-again Christian at a youth camp in the San Bernardino Mountains in the summer of 1966. I had previously registered to begin classes at Cal Poly in Pomona, California that fall, and even paid the registration. I planned to major in Social Science to further my career goal of being the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (To read the whole testimony, see our website: www.evangelistdeawarford.org.) On the way home from camp, I told my mom I was going to LIFE Bible College in Los Angeles to become a preacher. She immediately said, "No you're not!" (she wasn't about to let me mess up my life by enrolling in an at that time unaccredited college). However, she later relented and drove me to the Bible College to try to register.
Classes were to begin in just weeks. I was so disappointed when the registrar said there was no room left in the men's dorm. (Living in Ontario 38 miles away and having no car, a place in the dorms was a necessity at that time in my life.) I didn't understand. God had called me to preach. I thought it was His will. Yet, the door seemed to be closing. As we reached our car for my sad journey home, I heard someone cry out, "Dea!" Looking up, I saw Dave Palmer. He had been a dorm counselor at camp that earlier week and we had befriended each other. He was a senior there at the Bible College. I told him of my problem. He said, "I'm a senior, and I can have anybody I want as a roommate!" and marched me right back to the registrar who immediately accepted my registration (the door now open). We got our deposit back from Cal Poly (a closed door) and soon I was in preparation for my future ministry.
I had experienced my first "miracle" of God closing a door behind me (the Ku Klux Klan) and opening a door that no one, (even the college registrar), could close. For 42 years since, God has opened and closed doors for me. He's doing the same for you, if you'll but trust him. A common saying is, "when a door closes, God opens a window." Ridiculous! God doesn't expect the children of the King of Kings to crawl out of windows. He expects you to walk confidently, upright with your head held high, past closed doors and through wide-opened ones.
These doors, however, don't open automatically with us doing nothing but sitting until God "shoves" us through them. No, Paul understood that even with God-ordained open doors, there were still challenges to walking through them: "A great door for effective service is opened for me, and there are many adversaries." (II Cor. 16:9). Satan will try to stop you from doing God's will. People who don't believe in you or like you might try to close doors on you. But, if you obey Him (Isa. 1:19); if you trust him (Ps. 37:5); and if you wait patiently in prayer (Ps. 37:7, Isa. 49:23): God will, in His time, close or open the necessary doors.
If you feel God is leading you because He's closing a door behind you, watch in expectancy for that open door. But, be careful! Don't in impatience get ahead of him and climb out some window because there seems to be a little light pouring through it. There might be a cactus or mean dog just below the window pane!
Prayer: "Jesus, heavenly "doorman", help me to discern when you are moving me out of current assignments and into new ones. Don't let me lag too far behind you or get ahead of you. Don't allow me to impatiently crawl out of a window!"
Confession: "God closes and opens doors for me. I'm trusting and ready to obediently walk through them."
Word: "God shuts (a door) upon a man, and there can be no opening." Job 12:14
The above truth is established several times in scripture: ""He opens and no mans shuts, and shuts and no man opens" (Rev. 3:7); and "He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." (Isaiah 22:22). When God shuts a door (figurative of the opportunity to walk through it into new chapters in one's life) it is impossible to open. By the same token, when God opens a door, no one can "shut it." Simply put: we can trust the Lord to keep us from going the wrong direction with our life and keep us on the right road by opening and closing doors before us.
I had become a born-again Christian at a youth camp in the San Bernardino Mountains in the summer of 1966. I had previously registered to begin classes at Cal Poly in Pomona, California that fall, and even paid the registration. I planned to major in Social Science to further my career goal of being the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (To read the whole testimony, see our website: www.evangelistdeawarford.org.) On the way home from camp, I told my mom I was going to LIFE Bible College in Los Angeles to become a preacher. She immediately said, "No you're not!" (she wasn't about to let me mess up my life by enrolling in an at that time unaccredited college). However, she later relented and drove me to the Bible College to try to register.
Classes were to begin in just weeks. I was so disappointed when the registrar said there was no room left in the men's dorm. (Living in Ontario 38 miles away and having no car, a place in the dorms was a necessity at that time in my life.) I didn't understand. God had called me to preach. I thought it was His will. Yet, the door seemed to be closing. As we reached our car for my sad journey home, I heard someone cry out, "Dea!" Looking up, I saw Dave Palmer. He had been a dorm counselor at camp that earlier week and we had befriended each other. He was a senior there at the Bible College. I told him of my problem. He said, "I'm a senior, and I can have anybody I want as a roommate!" and marched me right back to the registrar who immediately accepted my registration (the door now open). We got our deposit back from Cal Poly (a closed door) and soon I was in preparation for my future ministry.
I had experienced my first "miracle" of God closing a door behind me (the Ku Klux Klan) and opening a door that no one, (even the college registrar), could close. For 42 years since, God has opened and closed doors for me. He's doing the same for you, if you'll but trust him. A common saying is, "when a door closes, God opens a window." Ridiculous! God doesn't expect the children of the King of Kings to crawl out of windows. He expects you to walk confidently, upright with your head held high, past closed doors and through wide-opened ones.
These doors, however, don't open automatically with us doing nothing but sitting until God "shoves" us through them. No, Paul understood that even with God-ordained open doors, there were still challenges to walking through them: "A great door for effective service is opened for me, and there are many adversaries." (II Cor. 16:9). Satan will try to stop you from doing God's will. People who don't believe in you or like you might try to close doors on you. But, if you obey Him (Isa. 1:19); if you trust him (Ps. 37:5); and if you wait patiently in prayer (Ps. 37:7, Isa. 49:23): God will, in His time, close or open the necessary doors.
If you feel God is leading you because He's closing a door behind you, watch in expectancy for that open door. But, be careful! Don't in impatience get ahead of him and climb out some window because there seems to be a little light pouring through it. There might be a cactus or mean dog just below the window pane!
Prayer: "Jesus, heavenly "doorman", help me to discern when you are moving me out of current assignments and into new ones. Don't let me lag too far behind you or get ahead of you. Don't allow me to impatiently crawl out of a window!"
Confession: "God closes and opens doors for me. I'm trusting and ready to obediently walk through them."
“Don't Jump Out of a Window!"
By Evangelist Dea Warford
By Evangelist Dea Warford