Tuesday, January 23, 2007

 

When Opportunity Knocks

 

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

—1 Peter 3:15

 

To recognize opportunity is the difference between success and failure. When opportunity knocks, we have to get up and answer the door. And we never know when it will knock.

 

If we as Christians are going to obey the Lord’s command to go into all the world and preach the gospel, then we must know what we believe and how to present it. The Bible tells us, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

 

Sadly, many Christians are unable to do just that. They have little to no understanding of why or what they believe. The Bible warns that “we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14). When we don’t know what we believe, we are vulnerable. And because of this spiritual deficiency, we are ineffective witnesses for the Lord.

 

The Bible tells us that Stephen certainly was not such a man. He was prepared for a significant moment in his life, a defining moment in both his life and the church. We see from Acts 7 that when he was brought before the Sanhedrin, Stephen was ready for the opportunity God dropped in his lap. He seized the moment and made a difference.

 

You can do the same. Because you never know when those golden opportunities will come your way. As they would say in the 19th century, “Trust in God and keep your powder dry.” Be ready for that opportunity, because you never know when the Lord will drop it in your lap.


For more relevant and biblical teaching from Pastor Greg Laurie, go to  www.harvest.org.

 

Copyright © 2007 by Harvest Ministries.  All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.  Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.