I went to a conference earlier this year, the “Come Away” conference for women, put on by the HUB Chicago.(His United Body). It was an amazing time of fellowship and communing with the LORD. I was refreshed and re-invigorated. I met wonderful people, and heard some absolutely amazing teaching.

One of the speakers was Bonnie Chavda. She and her husband Mahesh pastor All Nations Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina. They created a beautiful metal card (credit card sized) as a reminder of the prophetic word that this is the year of the Open Door. The Hebrew symbols for the current year, AM 5774, are the same symbols for the words, “Open Door.” (AM stands for Anno Mundi – year of the world). On the card, the Chavda Ministry uses only Isaiah 45:2-3, but I prefer to add verse 1 as well. In the English Standard Version (ESV) it says, “Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to  subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.” “(Italic emphasis added by me!)

“Wow,” you say, “What does THAT mean?”

Well, one of the things I learned in Old Testament Survey (Yes, I know I’ve moved on to the next class, but I need to write about this.) is that many prophecies in the Bible are “now but not yet.” They were fulfilled, in part, at the time they were written or shortly thereafter, but there is a future aspect to them as well. In this case, there is a fulfilling of the prophecy that Cyrus would open the door to the people of Israel to come back from exile in Babylon and rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. But there is a future promise of the return of Messiah at the end of the age. And that makes me feel like a little kid in the back seat of the car on a long road trip. “Are we there yet, Daddy?” I ask over and over, “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Are we there yet?” “Not yet, but soon.” (Or, according to Bishop Joseph Garlington at the Mighty Sound, Eagles’ Wings Conference in November of 2013, “There is no there.” Now that’s a good word right there!)

But there can be other aspects of this “now but not yet.” Hence, this year of open doors. Open doors of opportunity, open doors for ministry, open doors for advancement, open doors for ….  What are you waiting for an open door for? Is this your year?