The Year of Doors

In the blink of an eye, we have transitioned from 2023 to 2024! How time flies! One of the things we have to get used to is writing out dates! It’s no more ’23 but ’24. As quickly as the year has started, we find ourselves chasing after time again. While the world looks at the year 2024, we as Christians should ask ourselves what does the year hold for us according to God’s timing?

Did you know that God has His own calendar? While for us the year begins in January and ends in December (according to the Gregorian Calendar), God’s calendar runs from September till September the following year (Hebrew Calendar). In the Hebrew Calendar we are now in the year 5784. The Hebrew Language is a very colourful language and every alphabet and number has a meaning. 5700 means ‘May it be a year of…’ and 80 is the decade of Pey which means the mouth (making declarations). In the Hebrew language, 4 is Dalet, meaning door. So we are now in the season of heaven where doors is the key. God’s calendar actually shows us what we can expect to see happen and how God intends to move this season. So it will help us be discerning as we live as His children. In 1 Chronicles 12:32, the sons of Issachar were referred to as those that understood the times and knew what to do. They were so in sync with God’s calendar that prophetically they could perceive what God was going to do. Based on that they were able to make decisions and lead the people with a voice of counsel. So what can we expect in this year? That is the burning question.

According the law of first mentioned in theological studies, in order to understand a word and its meaning/significance in scripture, we should go to where the word is first used in the Bible. In the case of door, we first find it referenced in Genesis 4:7:

If You Do Well, Will You Not Be Accepted? And If You Do Not Do Well, Sin Lies At The Door. And Its Desire IsFor You, But You Should Rule Over It.

The first door that we must all beware of this season is the door of sin. Before God can open doors for us, we have to ‘rule over and master’ the door of sin. Sin should not rule over us, rather we must rule over it. It is possible for us to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit in us. How did Jesus overcome sin and temptation while on earth? When He was confronted by the devil in the 3 temptations (Matt.4:11), Jesus used God’s word to nullify every encounter He faced. Can we do the same this season? Use the word of God to nullify every temptation and sinful desire that comes our way.For the purposes of this article, let us look at 4 doors that we can expect to see in our lives.

The first is the Door Of Influence. Doors or gates in the Old Testament, refers to a place where decisions are made. In Gen.19:1-2, we see Lot negotiating with 2 angels at the gate of the city. In Gen.23:10, Abraham stood at the gate (door) to discuss a burial site for his wife Sarah. In Amos 5:15, we see that justice was established at the gate, meaning disputes were settled. This is year/season where God will place us at the door of influence to bring change. He will move us into our sphere of influence to operate in the authority of God so that lives are changed for the better.

The second door is the Door of Hope. In Hosea 2:15, we read about the Valley of Achor. This was the place where Achan stole gold and silver and hid it (Joshua 7). This led to the death of his entire family and they were buried in the Valley of Achor. So this valley represented something cursed and something negative. It was never seen in a positive light. That was until God spoke in Hosea 2:15. God said, 

I Will Give Her, Her Vineyards From There, And The Valley Of Achor As A Door Of Hope; She Shall Sing There, As In The Days Of Her Youth, As In The Day When She Came Up From The Land Of Egypt.

What this means for us is that for every desolate place or event that happened in our lives that was negative, God is about to overturn it! He will make it into a place of rejoicing where once we cried, but now we can sing over it! God is about to shift what was negative into becoming positive in Jesus’ name!

The third door we will see opened is the Door of the Word. The book of Colossians in the New Testament is one of the prison epistles along with Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon. It was written by Paul while he was imprisoned between AD60-AD62. In Colossians 4:2-3, he writes,

Continue Earnestly In Prayer, Being Vigilant In It With Thanksgiving; 3 Meanwhile Praying Also For Us, That God Would Open To Us A Door For The Word, To Speak The Mystery Of Christ, For Which I Am Also In Chains

Notice that he did not ask the church to pray for good health or strength, but rather for a door to be opened to preach the gospel. What does this mean for us? This year/season, God will open for us a door to share the word of God in the midst of our trials, difficulties and struggles. God wants to display His power and strength through our weakness. He wants to use our lives as a testimony. So, can we have the faith to believe that God will come through for us? He is about to re-write your story for His glory!

The fourth door that God will open for us is the Door of Responsibility. In Isaiah 22:22, the word of God declares,

The Key Of The House Of David I Will Lay On His Shoulder; So He Shall Open, And No One Shall Shut; And He Shall Shut, And No One Shall Open.

Reading the whole chapter we see the story revolve around 2 characters, i.e. Eliakim and Shebna. The responsibility that was placed on the shoulders of Shebna was shifted to Eliakim, because God saw the heart and posture of Eliakim, which was one of servanthood and humility. Keys are only given to people who understand responsibility and are trustworthy. You don’t just give a key to anybody! It must be a trustworthy, reliable person. This season there is about to be a shifting taking place. As we remain faithful and obedient to God in a spirit of humility, keys will be placed in your hands. There will be an authority given to you and you will see a shift in responsibility.

As we march into 2024, let us keep all of this in mind. And most importantly master the door of sin so that we are not disqualified from what God wants to do in our lives in Jesus’ name.