~Gates & Doors~

"Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the Lord!"

~Proverbs 8:34-35~

{Ask, Knock and Seek after Widsom!}

Hey there Amazing People!
I'm grateful that you stop by my blog and am excited for what God gave me to share today!

I have a love for gates and unique doors and God blessed me, while in Colombia, to walk down streets with one after another of them!  

I thought I'd share some pictures of those sights, some scripture and thoughts regarding gates and doors for today's post! :)

"Enter ye in at the straight gate: for wide is the gate,

and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and 

many there be which go in thereat:

Because straight is the gate, and

narrow is the way, which leadeth

unto life, and few there be

that find it." 

~Matthew 7:13-14~

Choosing the "straight gate" and "narrow way" is

choosing to live in an all-out abandon of self and giving

God first place completely!  It's not the most easy road - 

but it's a road of adventure and one that we get to travel with

the best travel companion there ever was or ever will be - 

our all powerful, ever loving God, Himself!

:)

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what 

the Spirit saith unto the churches.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,

These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, 

he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, 

and no man shutteth; 

and shutteth and no man

openeth;

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee 

an open door, and no man can shut it:

for thou hast a little strength, 

and hast kept my word, and hast 

not denied my name."

~Revelation 3:6-8~

I absolutely love these verses above!

They give such a vivid description of the power

of God's will!  What He "opens",  no one can "shut"

and what He "shuts", no one can 

"open"!  His will - WILL be done!

What an humbling honor to be able to 

be apart of His will - to be able to walk in His truth, 

keep His Word, and never deny His name through

His strength made perfect in our

weakness!  How awesome it is to see His 

clear direction made known in our lives

as we listen and obey!

:)

"For a great door and effectual is opened unto me,

and there are many adversaries." 

~I Corinthians 16:9~

"These things I have spoken unto you, 

that in me ye might have peace.  In the world

ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;

I have overcome the world!"

~John 16:33~

God opens up "great doors" in each of our lives!

There's no other YOU and the so the doors that

God opens for you to share the Gospel are opportunities

in which He wants to use one-of-a-kind YOU to share

His love as only you can!!!  The second part of the first verse 

above probably doesn't sound as exciting though does it?  lol.

"...There are many adversaries" -that phrase sounds pretty

intimidating and scary, but it only is when your focus is in the 

wrong place!  John 16:33 answers that fear in the face! lol!

We're talking about being on God's side here folks!!! (Talk about

making the enemy quake with that fact! Yeah!!!)  In God, we have

peace through every trial or attack and we can be full of CHEER - 

because greater is He that is in us and

 HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD!!!!  

(Fun fact about the door above:  It's huge!  A man's head will only come

up to around the bottom of the window!)

:)

"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah;  We have a

strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth

the truth may enter in." 

~Isaiah 26:1-2~

A friend shared these two thoughts -

"Truth unlocks the beauty of God"

&

"Truth acts as a door and allows 

only what is pure into our heart and mind.

It keeps out evil and defends us against the

attacks of satan."

It's so true!  When we claim and live out

truth - we "unlock" more and more of the 

in-exhaustible beauty and glory of Christ!

How incredible is that?!

God's truth also is a "door" to the

strong "city" of our lives!  May we only

open it to what is pure and of our 

Lord Jesus Christ and "bolt" it closed

to evil, compromise, lies and

enemy attacks!

:)

This picture ^ was taken at an orphanage that

we stayed at and I miss that little guy that I'm holding

so much!  I treasure this picture as a reminder to 

walk humbly with God and always be ready to step in

His ways and boldly go through every door He opens!

He loves to use us in other's lives and use others

to impact ours in ways beyond what we can imagine!

{Faith is excitedly anticipating the unseen, with a heart

full of assurance that God will make His will clear

and will open and close every "door" as His

perfect plan unfolds in our lives!}

"For ye shall go out with joy, 

and be led forth with peace: 

the mountains and the hills shall

break forth before you into singing,

and all the trees of the field shall

clap their hands!"

~Isaiah 55:12~

(A happy truth to claim indeed! :)

Blessings to each one of you friends!  Ask, seek and knock before the Lord and He WILL show you His way, which is the way you would choose for yourself, if you could see what He does!!!!!  TRUST HIM, live with joy the journey before you and praise Him for every open and closed door that are part of His personal, perfect plan!!!!! :)

~Bri

~Special thanks to Richard and various team members from the Colombia mission trip for the great pictures! :)