(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)
I was so excited to read this! (I love when leaders in the prayer movement outside of Kansas City write books.) Gary DePasquale is the director of IHOP Eastern Gate, where they are currently running 15 hours 5 days a week of live prayer and worship, plus 8 hours on the weekend, totaling 83 hours a week! They’ve prayed for 40,000+ hours since their birth in 2010, and they are building toward 24/7. On top of that, they carry a strong vision to prepare the church for the end times.
Beyond the Open Door is Gary’s second book, after Reaching in Weakness in 2021. The first thing that struck me when I received my copy from Amazon was the abundant endorsements from people I know and trust. Joel Richardson wrote the foreword (and what a foreword!), and the first few pages are stuffed with recommendations from David Sliker, Will and Dehavilland Ford, Daniel Lim, Daniel Juster, Bob Sorge, and Grant Berry.
These endorsements are well-deserved, because even though the book was self-published and in my opinion could have used a few more passes with a fine-toothed editorial comb, the theological content is rich, biblical, and crucial for the church of this hour.
I admit, by the title I wasn’t quite sure what I was getting into. The subtitle is “The Un-Shuttable Doors at the End of the Age,” and by the front and back covers I surmised that it was about endurance and overcoming, but I wasn’t quite sure where the door came in.
Apparently, I’m in good company, because in the introduction Gary tells how he heard in a dream the phrase, “Behold, I have set before you an open door.” He didn’t recognize it at first, but a bit of searching led him to Revelation 3:7-8, which is a direct reference to Isaiah 22:22.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.'”
(Revelation 3:7-8)“And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”
(Isaiah 22:22)
I had never understood this description in Revelation, and I had never given any thought at all to Isaiah 22. As Gary shares,
“Isaiah 22:22 mirrors Revelation 3:8, and they have the same context: the time of trouble. The theme of the message throughout this documentary is the final generation of the church facing the Great Tribulation at the hands of Satan and his Antichrist; but, the Lord Jesus Himself will hold open doors of ministry and anointing for he church that no one can shut–especially not the devil or his emissaries.”
(Beyond the Open Door, page 17, emphasis added)
Although this door metaphor was new to me, the idea of increased anointing on the church at the end of the age is one I’m well familiar with! (See my Intro to the End Times posts Where is the Story Going? and Will We See Revival?) This is something we say often: as the darkness gets darker, light also gets lighter. The end time church will be victorious and full of the Holy Spirit even through great persecution.
Gary highlights three key “open doors” he sees promised in Scripture for the end times:
- The open door of night and day prayer
- The open door of easy evangelism
- The open door of prophetic revelation
As Gary shows, these three – prayer, evangelism, and prophetic revelation – were central to the activity of the Holy Spirit in the early church. In that context, the church was empowered to not only persevere through trials but to be bold, faithful witnesses to the Word of God. In the last days, God is going to purify the church so that we can stand firm, with power, through the trouble coming!
Speaking of which, I really enjoyed Gary blasting into comfortable escapist Christianity that isn’t prepared for endurance and doesn’t really want to be. Our director at The Prayer Room, Brad Stroup, is good friends with Gary and often says fondly, “He’s sooo Jersey!” and he’s not wrong! True to his New Jersey roots, Gary’s message is bold, direct, and not the slightest bit watered down!
“The American church is too preoccupied with striving to answer the personal and political problems of the present… The church is to be an eschatological people… Patience is… the training ground for trials–specifically eschatological trials. This is one of the reasons the American church is anemic and susceptible to the same failures the world falls prey to. We are living for the wrong age!”
(Beyond the Open Door, page 50-51, emphasis added)
I believe the message of this book is crucial for us to understand. We have a lot of books on the timeline of events in the end times (and we need more!) and a lot of books on the power of the Spirit (and we need more!) but it’s so important that the church of this hour be prepared to endure and overcome in power through the coming trouble. We need to get a vision for faithful endurance through much hardship AND dramatic outpouring of the Spirit. I’m so grateful that Gary carries this message with such clarity!
If you’re interested in picking up at copy of Beyond the Open Door, you can find it on Amazon.