Behind Closed Doors

I found myself behind a door once, almost tempted to keep it locked and never letting anyone in ever again, but instead I used that time behind the door to seek God for help and comfort so that I could be healed and willing to open the door for others who may need my help someday.

Behind Closed Doors

John 20:19 ~~ Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, peace be unto you.

Acts 1:4 ~~ And, being assembled together with them, Jesus commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

Acts 1:12,14 ~~ Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath days journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room where abode both Peter, and James, and John and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, with his brethren.

Closed doors. They can do one of two things: They can imprison us or they can deliver us. In John 20, the disciples imprisoned themselves behind closed doors. It was their fear that hid them behind their locked doors: Fear of the Jews. They had just suffered heartbreaking disappointment. Their hope had just been crucified. Their hope had just suffered what seemed like severe defeat. They shut themselves away behind closed and locked doors to grieve. They were grieving because their hope had died. Yet, the risen, resurrected Savior slipped behind their closed and locked doors to bring them fresh hope.

Thomas refused to believe in or accept this hope for he had not seen it for him self. He refused to believe the words of hope the others tried to instill within him. Maybe he feared getting his hopes up only to have them dashed again.

Fear is the greatest chain that binds us. It imprisons us and locks us behind doors that only the Master himself can slip through. Thomas was focused upon his own grief; upon his own hurts and wounds and disappointments. When the risen, resurrected Savior slipped through the closed, locked doors of Thomas heart, Jesus said to him, ...behold my hands.... Jesus sought to have Thomas remove his eyes from his own wounds, and to focus upon the wounds inflicted upon the body of the Lord; wounds that were inflicted upon Jesus for our own healing and restoration. Thomas responded with the words, My Lord, and my God!

When we take our hurts and wounds, and our grief and disappointments, to the Lord, and place them in his wounded hands, we remove the focus from ourselves, and place our focus upon Him who is able to restore hope to us.

In Acts 1:4 Jesus commands the disciples to return to Jerusalem, and wait for the promise from him to be fulfilled. The disciples once again shut themselves behind closed doors. But it was different this time. The Lord had commanded them to do so. There is a big difference between locking ourselves behind closed and locked doors to focus upon ourselves, and locking ourselves behind closed doors to shut ourselves in with the Master. The disciples and many others remained behind those closed doors until they had an experience with the Master that would literally erupt them from that upper room, and turn the world upside down.

When we shut ourselves behind closed doors to be alone with the Savior, and tarry behind those doors until we have a life changing, world shattering, experience with Him, we emerge from those shut doors, with the power and the anointing of the Holy Ghost upon our lives. That power is able to minister and transform the lives of all we come in contact with.

There are times we lock ourselves behind closed doors because of fear or hopelessness or despair or grief. These times are not of God, nor are they His will for us. During those times of enforced imprisonment, Jesus softly slips through our locked doors, and asks us to look upon his hands. He then gives us the keys with which to free ourselves from our self-imposed prison. There are other times Jesus commands us to go behind closed doors to meet with Him and to receive a greater anointing upon our lives from Him. When we obey Him, we emerge from behind the closed doors of our prayer closet with joy and with the power of the Holy Ghost resting upon us. And it will be like a burning, consuming fire shut up within us.

Which door are you behind today?

Connie J. Schmoll