03/08/2026
The Pain That Opened the Door
How many of us know Daniel Kolenda? Most people know Reinhard Bonnke, but Daniel Kolenda is the evangelist who succeeded him in ministry.
Daniel once shared a remarkable story from his early years in ministry.
At just 24 years old, he was pastoring a church. While leading the church, he began sensing a strong call toward missions. Every now and then, he would leave for a week or two to preach on the mission field.
On one occasion, he left for Africa and stayed for three months.
When he returned, the church elders called him into a meeting.
They said:
"Daniel, we know you started this church, and we know you were the one who hired the executive pastor. But because you have been away so often, the executive pastor has told us he wants to become the senior pastor. We've decided to remove you and install him instead."
Daniel was stunned.
"You're removing me from the church I planted?" he asked.
"Yes," they replied.
He walked away devastated. That church was like his first child.
On his way home, he wrestled with the situation. He thought to himself:
"On Sunday, I'll walk into the service during worship, take the microphone, and tell everyone what these elders have done. Many people will follow me."
But as he entertained those thoughts, the Holy Spirit reminded him of the story in 1 Kings 3, where two women claimed the same baby before Solomon.
One woman was willing to see the child divided.
The real mother would rather lose the child than watch it die.
The Holy Spirit asked him:
"If you walk into that service and fight for what you call your baby, what will happen to the church?"
He realized the answer.
"It will divide the church."
Then the Holy Spirit asked another question:
"Which woman do you want to be? The one willing to divide the baby, or the one willing to let the baby live?"
Daniel chose the heart of the true mother.
He walked away.
Broken.
Wounded.
Without retaliation.
He relocated to Florida.
It was there that he met Reinhard Bonnke.
Had he remained the pastor of that church, he may never have met the man who would eventually mentor him and entrust him with one of the world's largest evangelistic ministries.
The pain was not the end.
It was the doorway.
Sometimes, the very thing you're praying against is the path God has prepared for your future.
If Daniel had spent his time praying, "Lord, fight my enemies!" he might have been resisting the very door God had opened.
Sometimes, the greatest obstacle in the spirit is not the devil, it is our unwillingness to surrender to God's leading.
The better prayer is not always, "Fight for me."
Sometimes it is,
"Lord, what is Your will?"
And when He says, "Walk away," you obey.
Don't ask God to fight every battle.
Let Him tell you whether there is even a battle to fight.
If God is truly God, then He must also be Lord.
Prayer is not a tool for persuading God to adopt our plans.
Prayer is the means by which we discover and align ourselves with His.
That is why, when something you've prayed fervently for isn't happening, don't only ask, "Why hasn't God answered?"
Also ask,
"Lord, am I praying according to Your will?"
Christian prayer is not fundamentally a "give me" prayer.
It is an "open my eyes" prayer.
As the psalmist cried,
"Open my eyes... lest I sleep the sleep of death."
Consider this true story.
A woman in Nigeria desperately wanted to relocate to Canada to join her fiancé.
She applied for a visa three times.
Three times she was rejected.
Finally, on her fourth application, she was granted the visa.
Just two weeks after arriving, her fiancé murdered her.
Who would have imagined that the earlier rejections may have been acts of divine mercy?
Sometimes we mistake God's protection for delay.
We mistake closed doors for unanswered prayers.
We mistake mercy for rejection.
The lesson is simple:
Don't try to use God to accomplish your own agenda.
Respond to Him instead.
Some people experience heartbreak and immediately begin praying:
Lord, destroy them."
"Judge them."
"Ruin their wedding day."
But God is not a hired assassin who carries out our personal revenge.
He is Lord.
When you understand this, your walk with God becomes much simpler.
Your life begins to unfold according to His divine order, precept upon precept, line upon line.
This is the way to truly enjoy your relationship with God.
Any other approach eventually leads to frustration.
