Watch Over The Gates!...

In your life and mine as we follow the Lord each day we are challenged to live a submitted life to the power of God or to instead live in the flesh. The power of God can not be measured. He is able to do and accomplish the seemingly impossible in our lives but many times we sabotage His work by not watching over the gates in our life.

What do I mean by this? I use the word gates to represent the access we give or do not give to God, the enemy, and the flesh. The gates of access lead to control over our lives and that control leads to our actions and those actions lead to our effectiveness or lack thereof for God.

Central to understanding the danger of not guarding the gates in our lives is the understanding that we have a determined enemy, satan, who the bible says "comes only to steal and kill and destroy." John 10:10 Outside of the sovereignty and providence of God all men would be easy prey for satan. For those who are in Christ, satan has lost the opportunity to keep you separated from God for eternity but not the ability to wage war against you. All hell is arrayed against the Christian to stop at nothing, using all manner of evil to derail your faith, ensnare you to sin, and kill you to eliminate any chance that you will live in a covenant relationship with the almighty God. This is not to say God is not watching over us to protect us but to underscore our need of His protection due to the threat of a determined enemy.

What do I believe the darkness fears most? God's power. God's power is greatest in those who are committed to God, determined by the Holy Spirit to obey God at all costs, in the good and the bad, when it's easy or hard when it costs them much or little,...those who are all in for God, fully surrendered to God are the greatest threats to the kingdom of darkness because among them is a power so great no weapon formed against them shall prosper. (Isaiah 54:17) It's this power that crushes the powers of darkness, breaks down their strongholds on people and nations, and delivers the souls of men to a Faithful & True God.

This power can change the most wicked among us. It can take a Saul & make him into Paul. It can rescue whole nations and peoples lost in darkness surrounded by no mercy, no hope, no love, no justice, and no peace. This is what satan fears, the power of God unleashed in a person's life, in a town, in a city, in a school, in a company, in a government, in a country, in a church....for he and his demons are no match against the power of God.

To keep this from happening, like a thief looking to break into a home, the enemy looks for the weakest points of entry. Gates if you will to exploit to gain entry or a foothold to pry his way to destroy us, defile our relationship with God, so that he can short circuit God's power in our lives.

The mind has many gates. The gate of imagination can be accessed & controlled by fear, worry, doubt, and confusion. The gates of emotion can be manipulated by lies, false feelings, bitterness, hate, unforgiveness, and selfishness. The gates of behavior can be slowly taken over by compromise & laziness or quickly by greed, jealousy, & pride. The gates of the eyes can be accessed through lust, envy, comparison, and coveting. The gates of pleasure can be accessed through carelessness, lack of self-control, corruption, lying, and deception. I hope this is making sense.

Christian, we must watch the gates in our lives! We must stand guard in the power God provides to take captive every thought that raises itself up against the truth. No more self-sabotage. No more leaving the gates of our lives unattended or unlocked to sin. Shut the gates to all that oppose God and by His strength, we must confess our sin, get right with God, and rebuild the gates in our lives that have been torn down by our failures.

This is my belief, that the fully committed Christian who watches over the gates in their life is a tool in the hand of God that will shake hell and bring God glory. He or she knows that their steadfast commitment to obedience, studying His word, & communion through prayer to the God of the Universe will enable them to fight and win, to stand when all else has fallen, to rise when others shrink back, to know the voice of God & see his direction clearly, to have unshakeable peace even when surrounded by chaos, to have the courage of a thousand lions when others collapse in fear, to be used of God in such incredible ways their imagination cannot possibly comprehend.

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14