9/27/25

1 Corinthians 16:9 NASB95 for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Paul desires to go to Macedonia and then to Corinth, but he will remain for a while in Ephesus, and here we see the reason. God has made it clear to him through a wide door that He has work for Paul to do.

When we truly seek God's will He will make it clear. He will open a door, and when we walk through, there will be effective service for the Lord. What we must notice through this text is that when there is an opportunity for effective service, Satan will send many adversaries to hinder that work. We must not think that because there are difficulties or a lack of results in our service, it was not God's will. Sometimes it is just not God's harvest time. We, like Paul, must continue to go through God's door, do God's service, be faithful against God's adversary, and wait on God's time. I read once of a missionary who was confident of God's calling to a certain foreign country. He was there for several years without a single convert. When the time came for him to return, he was discouraged, yet the week he left, one person came to Christ. When the next missionary arrived several months later he found a thriving church. He found that the persistent work of the previous missionary against great adversity had touched many, and when they saw the change in the one who was saved, many more followed.

Make sure you go through God's open door. Be dedicated to your service for God. Be diligent in your faithful service when facing adversity, and wait on God's timing.

This will produce effective growth in God's kingdom.

Love Bro. Scott