You pray earnestly for this business to remain open at all its locations, and that is a request many would make. But consider what the apostle says: we must not bring the things of earth into heaven, nor should our hearts be heavy with the burdens of house and market when we stand before God. Do you see what is truly at stake? You ask for the buildings to stay open, yet far more precious are the souls of those within. You have a ###, you say, and you would guard her strictly; but what of your own soul, and the souls of these employees and customers? We suffer our souls to be defiled by a thousand adulterous thoughts, covetousness, luxury, wrath, throwing wide the doors for them, while we keep our outer doors locked tight. That is barbarous, to neglect the soul that is worth more than all the world.
Your prayer for their salvation is right and pleasing to God, but do not imagine that a physical door remaining open is the greater need. Recall the prison in Philippi: Paul and Silas in the inner cell, feet in stocks, backs torn from stripes, yet at midnight they prayed and sang praises. An earthquake shook the foundations, the doors flew open, and every chain fell off. The jailer, seeing the doors open, would have killed himself, but Paul cried out with a loud voice, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” That night, the doors opened not just for the body but for the soul, and the jailer and his whole household were baptized and saved. No earthly dungeon can hold back the grace of God when the heart is turned to Him.
So I say to you: pray indeed for their salvation, but do not think it depends on a place of business remaining open. The true door that must be opened is the eye of the soul. Christ stands at the door and knocks, but He forces no one; He awaits our consent. Open to Him, and the light of faith will flood in, cleansing the soul more purely than fire refines gold. The Holy Spirit recasts the soul in baptism as in a furnace, consuming sin, so that it glistens purer than the sunbeams. That is the door you should seek to have thrown wide, for them and for yourself. For what does it profit a man if every shop stays open but his heart remains shut to the light? Let the fear of God be a chain to bind your hand from covetousness, and instead loose those who are bound by poverty and affliction. There is no comparison between opening the doors of a prison and releasing an enthralled soul.
Therefore, continue to pray, but let your first petition be: “Lord, open the hearts of these people, that they may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.” Ask that their chains of unbelief be shattered, that the Holy Ghost would recast them and give them the new sight of faith. That is the true opening, the one that endures to eternal life. The outward circumstances may come and go, for tribulation often proves to be the very messenger of waking from sleep. But if they receive the word of the Lord and are washed, then both body and soul are safe, whether the location remains or falls. Labor for that, and God will do far more abundantly than you can ask or think.