As Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Colossians, in the last chapter, he asks the Corinthians:
And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
Colossians 4:3
Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles, the one who is leading the way for the Gospel to enter into Galatia, Macedonia, Greece and Achaia, and in the province of Asia. He is a great evangelist, makes disciples wherever he goes, and has leaders that are being sent here and there, proclaiming the Gospel everywhere that he goes.
But here, he asks that the Colossians would pray for an open door for his message. Paul, even after all that he had accomplished in his Gospel work, needed God to open the door for him. Paul was not doing his work under his own power. He was, instead, moving and working under God’s authority and power. And only in this way could his message of the Gospel of Jesus go forth. Only if God sovereignly moved upon people, opening a door and making a way for his message to go forward could he share in an effective way.
This is a reminder for each of us as well. As we are sharing the Gospel and looking for inroads into communities, God himself must open the door. He is the one who must make the way. As Christ’s ambassadors, we are the ones to deliver the message, but God must take the first step to open the door and make the way.