Shut the Door
Wanda Bigelow

Matt 6:6 “But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when has shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”

Shut the door!” Many times have we mothers called out to our children, “Shut the door!” Why do we want the door shut? Is it not to shut out the cold, the wind, or the heat? It signifies closing out the elements, closing out the world, or permitting privacy.

Sis. Jessie Norris wrote a book entitled, Shut the Door. This book was about prayer and getting away from everyone to spend quality time with our Lord and Savior. When my husband was first saved, he took that verse literally. He put a chair in his closet and closed the door while he prayed. While the verse does not have a literal meaning of shutting the door, it does indicate that we need to have a place to pray where we can shut out all the elements around us. It is a place where we can become intimate with our God.

When Elisha came to pray for the young son who had died, Elisha “shut the door”. He was shutting out doubt and curious gazes. After he “shut the door” he prayed, and life came into the boy. God heard him behind the closed door. He had an intimate conversation with God, and then the child was restored to his mother. God rewarded him openly after his secret communion with God.

When the widow woman cried to Elisha that the creditor wanted to take her two sons to become bondmen to pay for the debts she owed, Elisha asked her what she had in her house. She had nothing except a container of cooking oil. He told her to borrow vessels from her neighbors and then “shut the door” upon herself and her sons. She shut out the eyes of prying passers-by and neighbors. A miracle was about to happen, but it was to happen in the privacy of her home behind a closed door. After the vessels were all full, she opened the door to tell the man of God what had happened. God provided the oil so that she could sell it to pay her debts.

It is when we are full of the oil of the Holy Ghost after we have spent time in private with God that the world will be able to tell that something has happened to us. We need to “shut the door” to fill our vessels with the oil of the Holy Ghost on a daily basis. We need to “shut the door” on all the cares and strife of this world and the things that would hinder us in our walk with God. We need to “shut the door” to have power with God. God sees in secret, but he will reward us openly. Prayers will be answered, and people will be able to tell that we have been with Jesus when we “shut the door.”

Wanda Bigelow-Section 3 Ladies Ministries Director

This article “Shut the Door” by Wanda Bigelow was excerpted from Apostolic Accent magazine. January 2011. It may be used for study & research purposes only.