Acts 16:6
To pray effectively about the spiritual doors God wants to open, we must first find out what He says about them in His Word. To be honest, I never realized the Bible had anything to say about them until brother Halverson pointed it out to me. He was the first person to bring to my attention that John chapter 10 talks a lot about doors.
There, Jesus not only identifies Himself as the true Shepherd who comes through the door, He says that He is the Door. He also in that passage refers to the watchman (or the porter, as some translations put it) who opens the door.
Who is that watchman?
The Holy Spirit! He is the one who opens the door for Jesus to do what He wants to do on earth. But as powerful as the Holy Spirit is, He cannot do thejob alone. He needs our cooperation. As we yield to Him in prayer, we become the vehicle through which He moves. He utilizes our prayers to open important spiritual doors.
What kinds of doors do we help Him open?
First and foremost, the doors to people’s hearts.
Sadly, many believers don’t even realize God can open people’s hearts to the Gospel. They think folks either open or close their hearts to it by their own choice. But the Bible clearly indicates that the Holy Spirit can move upon someone and enable them to understand and receive the message of salvation when they otherwise wouldn’t.
That’s what happened in Acts chapter 16 when Paul and Silas went to Philippi. They hadn’t originally intended to preach in that city. They wanted to go to Asia instead. But the Bible says they were “forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.”
Isn’t that interesting? Apparently there was no open door for them in that area right then. And, as so many evangelists have discovered, you can preach until you’re blue in the face but if the hearts of the people aren’t open to the Gospel, it won’t do a bit of good. You’ll just be wasting your time.
The Lord didn’t want Paul and Silas to waste their time so He gave Paul a vision in the night. “A man from Macedonia stood pleading with him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us!” (Acts 16:9 Amp). Confident that they’d received direction from God, they headed immediately for Philippi, which is the chief city of that area. When they arrived, they went down to the riverbank where the Jews went to pray and addressed those who had assembled there. “One of those who listened … was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in fabrics dyed in purple. She was [already] a worshipper of God, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul” (verse 14 Amp).
Notice that verse doesn’t say Lydia opened her own heart. It says the Lord opened it! He also moved on her to open her home to Paul and Silas. As a result, they ended up staying there and launching a major work of God.
Think of it. One woman became the key to reaching an entire city for Jesus. That just goes to show what great things can happen when the Holy Spirit opens the door to even one person’s heart.
Scripture Reading: Acts 16:1–15
Excerpt permission granted by Lynne Hammond Ministries
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”