How to Handle Hallway Experiences

These dark moments shall pass. It won’t be like this always, stay in faith, stay encouraged, and know God will see you through. Brighter days are coming.

I said to him that God will never close the door without opening the window. His reply was, “I don’t mind God closing the door. I really don’t have a problem with Him opening the window. It’s the hallway journey where I have a problem.” From that statement, the Lord spoke to me about a message I have preached a few times that I would like to share with you.

How to handle hallway experiences. Hallway experiences are when you are in between life hard moments, when you can’t go forward, but it’s difficult to go backwards. Hallways experiences are where you feel hopeless about the past and not too optimistic about the future. It is when you are in a holding pattern waiting on God to change your situation. These times can be discouraging and a hard place to be. These are tough situations.

How do you handle these moments when they happen in your life? Not if they will happen, it is when they will happen. All of us encounter these moments. I want to share with you how to get through the hallways of life. What does the Word say about situations like these? I turned to Philippians 4:4 and it gives me the solution to handle life hallways. The Bible declares that we should “rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice.” With “rejoicing in the Lord,” I believe Paul is trying to get us to find joy in difficult situations. Look at the glass half-full instead of half-empty, and find ways to see the sun in the cloudy skies of life. I have a friend whose son was hooked on drugs, he was arrested, and spent a year in jail.  The family was so discouraged by what had happened. However, during the course of the year, the son became clean and sober.  There you have it, it was not good that the son was arrested and spent a year in jail, however the joy is that he is no longer on drugs. You must find the joy in difficult situations.

Verse 5 says, “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”  I believe Paul was sharing with us to try not to be overwhelmed by our circumstances. Just be cool and don’t let the enemy see you sweat. The reason we can do this is not based on our own strength. It is because the Lord is “at hand.” He is there to help us in the times of trouble. Our heavenly Father knows what we can bear, and He will be there to help you when you are experiences the hallways of life.

Paul continues in verses 6 & 7, “ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Don’t be worried or anxious about anything, but pray about everything. This is worth repeating. Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. We are to make our request known to God and allow the peace of God to rest in our mind and our heart.

Following these steps will help you get through dark moments of your life. Is it easy? Often times it is not, but with prayer and thanksgiving, you can see the bright side of difficult moments. Trusting that God is at hand, He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will always be there. If you can, think of moments of your life when He saved you from trouble, where you thought that you were not going to make it. Just remember that if He did it before, He can do it again. Same God right now is the same God back then. The same way you made it through those dark times you will make it through the dark times you are having today. You must trust God, believe God, and do what Philippians shares with us to do. “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice.” Find the joy in every situation you find yourself in. There is some good somewhere in that moment.

Verse 8 & 9 ends by saying, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” We must meditate on the positive things that can bring us to a positive outcome. Don’t dwell on the negative things that can happen. It will only pull your faith to a place of unbelief. We must stand strong, trusting and believing in God. We do this by meditating on what is good, what is honest, and what His Word says about our lives. We are the head, and not the tail above and not beneath. We are blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed when we come, and when we go. When we meditate on the favor of God which is over our lives, we will be able to reach the victory through our faith that God desires us to have in Him.

This is how you make it through the hallways of life. This is how you make it until you reach that door or window that God will open for you. These dark moments shall pass. It won’t be like this always, stay in faith, stay encouraged, and know God will see you through. Brighter days are coming.