Day 13: Open Doors of Opportunity; Resting in the Lord

Welcome to Day 13 of Morning and Night: 21 Days of Praying for Your Ministry! Today, in the morning, we are praying for open doors of opportunity. In the evening, we are asking the Lord to help us rest in Him the way He calls us to, even while we go about our daily work.

Beloved, God is the Great Door-Opener and the Great Door-Closer too.

As our Shepherd, it is His responsibility to open for us the gates of righteousness. That means opening the doors that He wants you to walk through, and also closing the doors He doesn’t want you to walk through. But, you know what? You can trust Him to do this for you, for He only has good plans for you:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:11-13 NKJV).

When you’re praying for your ministry to grow, it’s important to ask God to open doors for you.

God has opportunities for you that you cannot even imagine. He is doing things for all His children right now that we cannot yet see, but which will change our lives for the better forever. And in order to bring those things to the forefront, we need to ask the Lord for open doors of opportunity.

Read the following Scriptures to build your faith for open doors of opportunity:

Isaiah 22:22: “The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open” (Isaiah 22:22 NKJV).

Ephesians 2:10: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV).

Hebrews 4:3: “For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3 NKJV).

It is God’s will to open doors of opportunity for you.

It’s not even a stretch. He has actually already finished all the works that He has planned for your life. So, we need to pray them into our visible experience, for He has got them all ready for you already!

Are you ready to pray?

Pray as follows for open doors of opportunity for yourself and your ministry:

• Tell the Father that you come to Him in Jesus’ name.
• Thank Him and praise Him for His great power at work in your life.
• Thank Him for already finishing all the good works that He has for your life.
• Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and wisdom, and for Holy Spirit to pray through you and for you today.
• Pour out your heart to Him about the different types of open doors you yearn to have in your life. (For example: doors to relationships; doors to activities; doors to invitations; doors to new customers, new work, new deals, or new businesses; and so on.)
• Because you are hidden in Christ, ask Him to give you the key of the house of David. Ask Him to lay that key on your shoulder, and to help you open, and no one shall shut; and to shut, and no one shall open.
• Ask Him also to open doors for you that no man could ever open, and to shut doors for you that no man could ever shut.
• Ask Him to help you discern clearly when HE is opening or closing a door for you, and to have great peace about the state of every door as He moves in these areas.
• Pray that the Lord will help you move with Him as He opens and closes doors for you.
• Pray that you will not hesitate to move forward boldly when He does open a door for you.
• Ask for His help to let the past be the past, and to move forward without regret or pain, when He closes a door for you.
• Ask the Lord to bring all the good works that He has prepared beforehand–those things He finished for you from the foundation of the world–into visible manifestation for you, so you can walk in them.
• Thank Him and give Him all the praise!

In the evening, we are praying for help resting in the Lord.

Resting in the Lord is likely a challenge for most people. Nevertheless, the Bible commands us to rest in Him while we go about our daily activities.

Yes, you can still work and rest in the Lord. You can still wash the dishes, cook breakfast, go to your job, do the laundry, and parent your children while resting in the Lord.

Resting every day, all day long, is first and foremost a state of the heart. And taking one day out of seven for a physical Sabbath rest is also required, but we are to rest in God every day, even if we are not avoiding physical work on the other six days.

Read these Scriptures about resting in the Lord to build your faith for rest:

Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV).

Hebrews 4:1: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1 NKJV).

Hebrews 4:9-11: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9-11 NKJV).

Psalm 127:1-2: “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2 NKJV).

Exodus 20:8-11: ““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV).

And pray as follows, asking the Lord to help you rest in Him every day:

• Tell the Father that you come to Him in Jesus’ name.
• Ask Him for help to pray right now. Pray that His Holy Spirit would pray through you and for you according to God’s perfect will.
• Thank the Father for giving us Jesus, in Whom we live and move and have our being.
• Tell the Lord that you are coming to Him, for you are weary and heavy laden. Ask Him to give you rest for your soul–as well as your body and spirit–right now.
• Ask Him to give you a holy fear of coming short of His rest; a holy fear of failing to rest.
• Pray that He would convict you powerfully of what His Word says about the importance of resting.
• Pray that the Lord would help you be diligent to enter His rest, and that you would not enter into disobedience by not resting.
• Ask the Lord to build your house, so that you do not labor in vain in building it.
• Ask Him to “keep the city” of your life, family, and ministry, so that you are not a watchman staying awake in vain.
• Pray that He would give you good sleep as you rest in Him in every way.
• Pray that you would remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; and that He would help you to remember to do all your work on six days and take the seventh to rest and not work, according to His commandment.
• Ask the Lord to help you feel His anointing, His presence, and His Spirit in powerful ways as you rest and receive healing for your soul from Him.

Beloved, the rest of God is anointed–and it doesn’t get in the way of living a successful, active life.

When God pulls you back on the seventh day, it’s only to heal you from your week and recharge you for the following week. And regarding the rest He tells us to enter into every day (Sunday through Saturday), it’s a rest in Christ that keeps us walking in the Spirit, rather than striving in our own flesh.

Did you pray and ask the Lord for open doors of opportunity today? Are you also committing to Him to rest in God every day? If so, leave a comment below!