Opportunity Knocks

Acts 9: 4-6

4He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5"Who are you, Lord?" Saul asked. "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," he replied. 6"Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do."

We all talk about how Christ works in our lives, and make no doubt he is working in each of our lives daily, but sometimes I think we might not be seeing the full picture. While God does answer our prayers more often than not, it will not be a direct “event”. What I mean by that is prayer takes faith, and faith takes action. For us to realize God’s plan, we must choose to seize the opportunity. When Jesus spoke to Saul, Saul chose to seize the opportunity and go in to town and seek out the house Jesus sent him to. HE could have just as easily packed up and gone home. When Balaam’s donkey spoke to him, Balaam could have decided to get off the donkey, and continue on foot. All of the prominent people in the bible chose to seize the opportunity that was presented to them, even though it did not seem to fit in to their plans.

My point is that God will deliver on his promises, but we have to recognize the opportunity when it comes to us. Often, just like Saul, that opportunity might not seem like the direction that we would want to go. Moses did not want to go to Egypt; he certainly did not want to go speak before the Pharaoh. When Life is throwing us challenges, and it might feel like we are far out of our comfort zone, which is when we should be looking for that opportunity. It is there, more than likely we just have not taken the time to look for it. As a result, we are sailing by the very opportunities that we are praying for.

I bring this up, because I often hear people say that they are praying for something to happen in their lives, but it has not come about. The first thing I always ask is: “are you actively looking for it?” Are you doing anything in your life to make that happen? Have you taken a step back and looked at your life and where it is going? It might very well be that your prayers are waiting to be answered; you just have to see the opportunity that is right in front of you. So slow down, look where you are going. Remember it takes faith to pray, and faith requires action. God will put the opportunity in front of you. The question is, when opportunity knocks will you be listening to answer the door?

Peace,
Rev. T