“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.”
Hebrews 11:8 NLT
The psalmist, Kind David, declared in Psalm 91:1-2(ESV), “1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” These verses prompt us to ask, “Where am I dwelling?” Where do we live each day in spirit, soul, mind, and heart? It’s a most important question, and with it, God presents us with a most important choice. We don’t have to live in darkness, where ignorance concerning God keeps us blinded to the truth. It is possible for us to live in spirit, soul, mind, and heart this very moment in a place that is more glorious than our minds can imagine. That place is the secret place where God lives. He tells us that dwelling in His shelter means that we are close to Him as His shadow. We can abide there with our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ continually, and there isn’t a more glorious, safe, and loving place to be.
Psalm 91:2 says that God is our refuge and fortress, nothing can get through to us when we’re abiding in Him through Jesus Christ. When we trust and not doubt, God will place a hedge around us and our homes. He will cover us with His favor, and everything that we set our hand to do will be placed by Him. Psalm 91:4(NLT) tells us, “4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” God will keep us in His arc of safety, but you and I have to want to be kept.
To be kept by God is to reject those things God dislikes and do as He commands in Ephesians 4:22(NLT). He directs us to “throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.” The ‘old sinful nature’ is the one we left behind when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior. God tells us to close the door to all of it. He commands us in Ephesians 4:23-24(NLT), “23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” God will not force us to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us. He will not force us to change the way we think and put on our new nature that is the same nature as Jesus Christ. You and I must desire this for our lives, and we must remain committed to pray to God often, to read and study His Word, and to change the way we think and behave. This is the way to grow in God’s Word so that we become stronger and more like Christ with each passing day.
We need to understand that the powerful and extraordinary finished work of Christ has given us tremendous rights and privileges as God’s sons and daughters who live in Christ. Because of our precious Savior and Redeemer, we have the power of God’s Holy Spirit living inside us. Mark 12:36 tells us that the Holy Spirit will humble our enemies under our feet. Mark 13:11(NLT) tells us that when we are wrongly accused, “Just say what God tells you at that time, for it is not you who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit.” Acts 10:19 says that the indwelling Holy Spirit will tell us information that we need to know about the present and Jesus said in John 16:13 that the Spirit will tell us about the future. The Spirit will guide us into all truth. So, the Holy Spirit will speak through our mouths when our faith is in God. He will tell us about the future, and He will tell us what he hears from Jesus Christ. All of this and more is available to us under the shelter of the Most High God.
The shelter of the Most High God is Jesus Christ. He’s our shelter in God. When we became born again, we became a part of Christ, so God has placed us in Christ and Christ is in us. This is the great mystery that God kept hidden until after Christ came to the earth. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3:4-6(ESV), “4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” We are members of the body of Christ, again, we are a part of him because we live in him. He’s in us! Colossians 1:27(ESV) says, “To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Jesus Christ is the only door for the Christian. Acts 17:28 (NKJV) says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being.” In Christ, the Holy Spirit is protecting, guiding and helping us, but many of us will still try to dabble in those old dead things we left behind. Before we came to God through Christ, we chose to walk through doors that led us to places outside His peace, love, joy, and power. Make no mistake, those doors we used to walk through are closed to us now, but God will not force us to keep our hands off them. We can still open the wrong doors if we choose, but don’t do it. It’s never worth it, and we’ll be disappointed in the end. We must let closed doors remain closed in our lives. When they are, those old habits, the toxic relationships, the sinful thoughts, and profane conversations are dead to us. Let them remain that way and honor the rights and privileges that God has given you through Christ with your whole heart and with everything that you do.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“When Closed Doors Remain Closed”, written by KLizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.