Open Door Policy

This post is not for everyone. It’s important for you to take this back to the Lord and confirm with Him that this is for you. Not every word is meant to be applied to your life in the immediate moment. If you are receiving this in season it should not be the first time you are hearing about it. If the Lord has not been speaking to you about this already, take the wisdom and knowledge as a form of learning the ways of the Lord that you might choose to walk in them. If this is for you it should serve as confirmation and give you understanding. Idolizing being called or chosen without truly being led by God is dangerous. Proverbs 25:6-7 reminds us, “Don’t demand an audience with the king or push for a place among the great. It’s better to wait for an invitation to the head table than to be sent away in public disgrace.” Meaning to claim a position before it’s been given to you will not end in the validation you are seeking. Seek His kingdom. Glory be to God!

I used to sit in turmoil when God would ask me to give words of wisdom that don’t feed the flesh. It used to be a daunting thing to know that what He gave me is not going to be received well by others and might be offensive to some. Now, though— I understand to be called higher means to step out of people pleasing and in to obedience. I remind myself of Proverbs 12:1, “Anyone who loves correction loves knowledge. Anyone who hates to be corrected is stupid.” I would rather be corrected and receive knowledge than to be destroyed for lack there of. (Hosea 4:6) So for the sake of caring more about the condition of your spirit than I do about how much you like me— here is some wisdom for the wilderness.

The Christian walk isn’t linear. You can get called forward, away, deeper or higher and no matter which direction you’re going there is the purpose of the Lord at play. To answer the call is your choice, but it would serve you well to seek understanding to activate the conscious aid of the Lord in your life. What does that even mean? Let me give you what the Lord gave me but understand there is so much more than this to discover. I could never give you everything because I will never have it.— What happens when the uphill walk that comes with being called higher— creates in you a weary spirit?

I remember when I was being called. I recognized that the Lord was literally speaking to me and so I started to seek Him. I opened up my Bible and surrendered to being sanctified. It was me and Jesus, we were walking. At the time the way I spent my free time looked like partying, gossiping and entertaining people and places that were not serving my good and so the Lord walked me out of them and I watched my old life disappear. I no longer saw my old friends and the places I had made a home in couldn’t fit the new me but it wasn’t easy. I can’t imagine it’s easy for anyone who has not yet fully been in the secret place— restored to their true identity in Christ and reunited with their Father, to walk away from the life they knew in blind faith. Losing friends, healing wounds, trusting the one true King in the heavenly realms over everything you can see in the natural. It get’s heavy. It feels burdensome. To wake up from a life of being spiritually inebriated and toward the clarity that’s found in Christ is not a simple journey and often times we get stuck in the middle when our flesh gets really tired, scared or heavy burdened. That’s when we reach out for comfort. We seek something familiar, something that will allow us to rest for a minute. Refuge. The walk ahead is still uphill, you can see it but it’s daunting and you can’t go back to where you came from— you love the Lord too much. So what do you do?

In a perfect situation you would call on the Lord but being called higher doesn’t mean you know everything it means you are learning for the sake of gaining wisdom for the purpose of growing in spiritual maturity. A mature in Christ follower would say, “DUH! Matthew 11:28-30, ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’” But respectfully— we aren’t perfect. We dont start with understanding— we gain it through discipline and correction. Most of us seek refuge in something that is easy. We find rest on our journey in the in between by settling in places that aren’t beneficial to our walk. We revert to letting people take some weight off of our shoulders, trusting the face of man before seeking the will of God. Be mindful of the familiar faces and places that open their doors to you when you are being called higher. Not every connection is a good one. Not every invitation is a God one. Not every door is just one door and you can not force anybody to see what God is showing you; eyes to see are gifts from Him. Do not let your weariness become the open door that leads you into the places that keep you stuck. Do not put a pause on your call. Redefine rest. Honor the rest that comes in the Lord. Learn to discern the places you go when you are feeling weak. Surrender to truth. This is where it gets hard; the truth. If you’ve made it this far you’re probably wondering where that harsh correction is. Well here it is.

• 1 John 3:7-10, “Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.”

When you are being called away from the world and into the presence of the Lord you are being called to be separate. 2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.” The people you connect to on this walk matters. It is not that we are meant to place judgement on others but we are meant to judge righteously and set boundaries. To be in the in between is to stay stuck and stagnant. The enemy doesn’t care whether he has you fully in the world or distracted by connections in the middle of the walk— all he cares about is you staying disconnected from the Holy Spirit so that you won’t actively join the fight. He wants to prevent you from the anointing on your life. Being called is the first half of the walk, answering the call and establishing a connection with the Lord through Christ is the part that has the enemy nervous. Do you make hell nervous? Or are you finding comfort in worldly friends and family that the Lord has revealed to you are of the enemy? Are you a threat to the kingdom of darkness? Or are you at rest in the wilderness avoiding the uphill walk? When you make it to the Kingdom, people need Kingdom keys to access you, your gifts and your business and in this same way there are places and people your purpose is tied to that you won’t receive until you move farther in your progress and make it home to the Father. John 14:5-6 Thomas asked the Lord how they will know the way when they dont know where it is that He is going, “Jesus answered, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

In order to bare the fruit of the Holy Spirit you have to grow it from the seed. Long suffering comes from uphill walks. When it gets hard, lean into Christ and find refuge in His presence. To stop and be distracted by people that God has called you away from or seek comfort from people who are not actively operating according to the will of God will delay you. Our human hearts deceive us when we say, “Everyone is a child of God.” Our human hearts are misled when we say, “As long as I don’t go and sin with them I can still hang out with them when I need a friend.” If you have not yet established your connection with the Lord and you are someone who has been called or chosen— you must surrender to being set apart. You may be closing doors in your own life but staying connected to people that have an open door policy will do you no good. You may have walked out of the place that kept you sick and not of sober mind but the spirits you closed the door to can still oppress you through the people who have yet to set boundaries with the world. The same unclean spirits you shut out have no problem going to your friends and asking them to open the door. If the places you run to when you grow weary and weak have open doors, so do you. The enemy couldn’t care less if he has access to you directly or indirectly as long as you are distracted from building endurance. When it gets tough, find a way to seek refuge in the Lord. Do not band together with people who will feed your flesh and validate your emotions. Trust that you are seen and heard by God. Psalm 34:8-10 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you His holy people, for those who fear Him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry , but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”

For anyone who is reading this that is getting tired and lack comfort in a season of building endurance and long suffering, here is a prayer for you: Father God glory be to You. God thank you that you are a God of mercy and grace. Thank you that you are not a man that You should lie oh God and for seeing me in my weakness and making me strong. Fill me with Your strength and give me more of You that I would not get distracted or seek rest in places that keep me stuck. Light the steps that guide me to You and Your presence. Place in me an obedient and faithful heart. Apart from You I can not do this. Take the burden and give me more of You. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

I love you guys so much and I’m always praying for you to receive and apply the wisdom that you need for the season that you’re in. If you feel led, the LTASH training course is now live and open for enrollment. FIRST50 gets 99.99 off the total purchase for the first 50 students of the year. If the Lord allows and leads you to that space I would love to mentor you through 7 weeks of growing in maturity and developing a strong spiritual core by the leading of the Holy Spirit. For more information check out the LTASH Training Course tab here in the top corner of the site.

Forever sending love,

Ari