If we have opened the doors of our hearts to people or things that claim too much of our lives, then we will find it very difficult to open our hearts to the love and grace that God wishes to pour into our hearts. It can happen all too easily that we become overly dependent upon people or things. We find that our world begins to revolve around certain people. If we don't have their approval, we are miserable, so we will do anything to please them.

This is not genuine human love. It is a form of slavery. And we cannot be the slave of two masters, as the Scriptures tell us. If a person truly loves you, they don't want to possess you like a master possesses a slave. Love needs freedom in order to survive and grow. This kind of dependence can be very hard to break, but if it is not broken, nothing good will come out of it.

We need to look to the Lord with hope, and call upon him with expectation. In other words, God is always ready to enter our lives more deeply, but God will not
do so against our will. We need to look and to call. We need to come before the Lord with open hearts and open hands.

Let me remind you of a verse from the last book of the Bible: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me."
(Revelations 3:20). You will surely notice that we are the ones who need to open the door.

But if we are too open in some areas of our lives, we will not be able to open the door of our hearts to allow God to enter more fully. At times we need to close doors that have been opened, so that we can open doors that have been closed.