II Corinthians 2:12 “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,”
In this context, an “opened” “door” means that “the Lord” has made an opportunity “to preach Christ’s gospel” and has prepared people to hear and rejoice in it. The “Lord” retains exclusive and full control of this “door”; the “Lord” declared, it is “he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth” (Revelation 3:7) and “I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it” (Revelation 3:8). Very early, as the Church was spreading out from Jerusalem, we are told that “God … had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27); that is, Churches were being established among the “Gentiles”; thus, the Christian Church was not just for the Jewish people. Paul had previously written that “a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (I Corinthians 16:9). In our day, there are still “many adversaries”; but, the “great door” that the Lord opens is also still “effectual”. An “effectual” “door” means that God is still calling Preachers to preach, calling His Children to hear the preached Word, and moving in the hearts of His people to join His Church and even to form new Churches. Paul requested prayer “that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds” (Colossians 4:3). Paul was in prison, yet he asked for prayer that “God would open unto us a door of utterance”, even while he was imprisoned! We ought to likewise pray for open doors in our day, that the Lord would give us the opportunity to preach to more and more people and that they would hear the preaching and rejoice in it and join themselves to His Church and even raise up more Churches. Let us pray that our Lord will graciously “open” many “great” and “effectual” doors in our day – all to His glory!