It can be easy to look at a closed door as a bad thing. It is easy to think that a closed door is a sign of defeat. When we are really wanting what is on the other side of a door and we do not have access to it, we can get discouraged. In my time of reflecting on God's greatness today I ran across a journal entry from April 2009 and when I say it blessed me that is what I mean. I wrote it before corporate morning prayer and it spoke to me today 3 years after God deposited it in me. I wrote, "I thank you for every victory and for the victories that were clothed in defeat! For I know because I am in you I am made victorious in everything I do." Now that right there makes me want to stop typing and go back to praising God for His faithfulness! In order to praise God for what we see in the natural as defeat we have to be confident in who God is in our lives.
We have to remember that God is responsible for the open doors as well as the closed doors! His word declares that He will open a door that no man can shut and He will also close doors that no man can open! This lets us know that it is God alone that is responsible for those closed doors. It could mean that it is not time to go through that door or this could mean that what is behind this door is not for you my friend. We have to get to a place in Him where we can rejoice over what we see as set backs. Rejoice over what you see as a denial! Rejoice over what you see as a failure! Rejoice over what you see as a detour! Rejoice over your victory that is clothed in defeat!
Thank God for the plans that did not come to pass! Thank God for the rejection that you faced that brought you to the place that you are in Him now! Thank God for the friends that He moved out of your life! Thank God for the job that you did not get! Thank God for the house that you did not qualify for! Thank God for the promotion that you did not get! Thank God for the heartache you had to endure! Thank God for every "no" that you have received! Thank God for your victory that was clothed in defeat! Again think it not strange that certain things or people were removed from your life. Also think it not strange that certain things or people were not placed in your life at certain times.
I am going to leave you with one of my favorite scriptures. We know this scripture but now we have to stand on this scripture! "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."~Jeremiah29:11 We each have an expected end! We can live off of that promise for the remainder of the year! We can get so caught up in the beginning portion of this scripture that we do not take God at His promise that we each have an expected end! We serve a faithful God! So I encourage you today my friend to praise God for your victories that were clothed in defeat!
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