The Five Gates of a Believer 2

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 NJKV

¹Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. ² For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. ³ But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. ⁴ He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. ⁵ I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

In the previous post we explained each of the five gates of every believer; now let’s see why the church is called to cultivate the gift of prophecy and how this is related to our gates. As the above passage explains, we are to give ourselves to edifying each other through prophecy. We do that by keeping our gates clear of debris that would clog us from our love walk and from defiling things  we don’t want and will cause us to give the wrong information to our fellow believers. We want to be inspired by the Holy Spirit and not by any demonic spirit, much less speak out of ill feelings like jealousy, unforgiveness, offense, anger, control and manipulation, etc.

In order to be developed in the fruits of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23), it is essential that we do everything that will help us grow in our love walk because the Bible says that a believer is known by his or her love (John 13:35). This includes prophets (1 Corinthians 13:2). There are many types of prophetic gifts in the body of Christ such as the office of a prophet, but we all are called to prophesy to our brothers and sisters.

A prophet can not only edify, but also warn if there is something in the horizon that needs to be adverted perhaps by our repentance and turning from sin like Jeremiah and Ezekiel did, and he or she can also speak opposition to any obstruction to the advancement of God’s Kingdom such as what Peter spoke to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), and as Paul spoke to Elymas the sorcerer by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:6-12).

But none of this can be done if we are not properly in tune with the Holy Spirit because we have allowed other influences to enter our gates, making us be defiled or contaminated. I know someone that as a young seer (a seer is a prophet that God speaks to primarily through visions and dreams beside the Word of God) was watching defiling programs on TV and listening to the wrong kind of songs. This person thought that it was not a big deal to watch or listen to those things because they were not “that bad,” but the visions he started receiving were of demonic things that scared him. He even started seeing what seemed like wondering souls walking the streets when it was dark outside.

This person related the situation to me and the Lord showed me it was because of what was going through some of his gates. At the same time, whenever he listened to worship or clean music, and watched cleaner TV shows, then his dreams were different too. Then he would know it was God who was speaking to him. But besides the wrong kind of TV programs or music, there are other things that we need to do to keep ourselves from walking after the desires of our flesh. First, keep the word of God as the main thing before your eyes, and your mind by meditating on it, memorizing scriptures, and our ears by listening to teachings and worship music because all of these increase our awareness of the influence of the Holy Spirit in what we see, hear or need to say when He inspires us. That way we can tell others things that edify their spirits and souls, so they don’t grow weary in the battles, or know which way to turn when they find themselves at a crossroads, etc.

Luke 10:27 tells us, “So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” NKJV

Our love for God and for our brethren should always be our highest objective in our walk as believers, and even though there will be occasions of resistance to our love walk, the passage above exhorts us to pursue it always. If we have gone astray from that path, let’s not resist the Lord when He grabs us to bring us back to doing things according to His will and in a way that shows the character of His Son more clearly to others through us.

For this reason, it is also very important to seek the Lord when our hearts are wounded, offended, or our spirits are crushed because of the behavior of other people. These people could be leaders or others around us that act out of the leaking of their souls and have not been made whole again. Our prayers of intercession are essential at this time because we want to see them set free from oppression of the enemy and not be used of the enemy to hurt others out of their own pain and disappointments of life. If the Lord allows it, we can go to them to edify them with our words of encouragement and if there is strife, attempt to mend the relationship if at all possible.

The mysteries God wants to reveal to us are more easily discerned if we allow Him to develop in us the fruits of His Spirit. This way our love for those around us, and our discernment whenever they may be behaving in less than lovable ways, may help us see what may be causing the behavior, or how to overcome it as well as let them know when their actions could cause them to hit a wall from which it would be hard to recuperate. Isaiah 58:6 says,

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?

We are to be watching for each other and encourage one another to follow the paths God has laid for us, not detour others from their destinies because we are seeing the wrong things due to our defilement. Thus, we help one another remain standing and not fall prey to the enemy of our callings. That is why it is important to keep ourselves clean from defilements. To Him alone be all the glory.▪

The Five Gates of a Believer 1

Revelation 21: 2, 6-8, 22-27

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

⁶ And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. ⁷ He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. ⁸ But the cowardly, unbelieving^, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
  
²² But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. ²⁴ And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 

²⁵ Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). ²⁶ And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. ²⁷ But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. NKJV

As believers we are called to be holy for our God is Holy (1 Peter 1:16). This means that we are called to be set apart and sanctified to live our lives as pleasers of the Most High God that lay down our lives to do His will in His way as citizens of heaven on earth (Philippians 1:27). For this reason, it is important for us to guard our five gates—our eyes, ears, mouths (tongues), noses, and sexual organs. In order for us to be prepared to become His bride that is spotless and without wrinkle which means mature Christians that demonstrate the character of Christ everywhere we go and influence others for His Kingdom, we must guard what enters our gates.

These five gates are entry ways that God, as well as the enemy use to guide us each one in his way towards his planned destiny for us. As for the eye, whatever enters our eyes either cleanses like the Word of God or godly books and TV shows or movies that do not defile our consciences, or else through ungodly means will defile us towards the desires of our flesh explained in verse 8 of the above passage. Matthew 6:22-23 says, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” NLT.  

Spiritually speaking, the first death also mentioned in verse 8 refers to  death of sensitiveness and understanding of the Lord and of His ways, and the second death could mean disqualification from promotions, or from our callings altogether because of outright rebellion and defiance of His grace through disobedience which has turned into sin. In the natural, the first death is when the spirit leaves the body and the second death when the soul goes to hell and not to be with the Lord in heaven because as verse 27 of Revelation 21 states, their names get removed from the Lamb's book of life.

Revelation 2:29 also adds, ““Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches” NLT. We are those churches—the temples of the Lord, and our ears should be used to increase our faith levels by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), and hearing edifying words and songs of praise as well as all other un-defiling things that help us hear God's voice clearly. The enemy on the other hand attempts to have us hear words of death through gossip, and defiling things like songs with evil messages, etc.

Job 40:24 adds, “Though he takes it in his eyes, Or one pierces his nose with a snare” NKJV. The nose is for smelling the awesome aromas of the beautiful things God has created like flowers or perfume and good cooking as we share together moments of celebration and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and to be developed in the things the Spirit of the Lord wants us to learn through the sense of smell, not for snoring drugs, or any other defiling substance that are snares designed to lead us away from God and the ways of His Kingdom as with a hook.

Moreover, Mark 7:18-20 says about the mouth, “¹⁸ So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” ²⁰ And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man.” NKJV

That is because we were made to speak words of life and edifying words to one another, sing praises to our God,  and use our mouths as a sword against the enemy's tactics as Isaiah 59:21 explains, “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore” NKJV.

Furthermore, James 3:6 says, "And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself" NLT. And verses 9-11 continue to say that out of the same tongue comes praises for our Father and curses for those that were created in His image. This the Father does not approve of and it is evidence that there is a religious influence present where gossiping and speaking evil of others gives entrance to this spirit because of pride and unforgiveness which are rooted in fear.

About our bodies 1 Corinthians 6:13b admonishes us by explaining that, “… Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” NKJV. To explain further, as mentioned in other posts, having sex outside of marriage can bring a variety of spiritual, physical, relational and financial problems to us because our sexual union with a person we are not married to,  called fornication, opens the door to demonic influences like control and manipulation from the mammon, religious, and Jezebel spirits.

These  three are the main spirits that form the Antichrist spirit. The Antichrist spirit is fed by sexual immorality, greed, and hunger for power outside of God's ways. The more frequent the sexual immorality and ways to gain power and riches without God's guidance and ways, the stronger the influence of this  spirit in a person. This causes their souls to be seared to all sensitiveness of the things of God as mentioned before which can lead them to experience the spiritual and natural first and second deaths.

In addition, we are called to have intimacy with the Lord through His Word, prayer, and praise, but the strength of the Antichrist spirit comes when we pervert that intimacy through fornication and greed. The Lord calls us to prosper in all things and be in health, just as our souls prosper (1 John 3:2). This can only happen when we make the Word of God, intimacy with Him, and our obedience to His commands for us our first priority. To Him alone be all the glory.■

When God Exposes our Faults in Public

Galatians 2:11-17

¹¹ But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. ¹² When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. ¹³ As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?

¹⁵ “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. ¹⁶ Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”

¹⁷ But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? Absolutely not!

There is a flaw in the image many Christians have about God. Yes, He is a loving, merciful, and gracious God that is slow to anger and abounding in love. But His grace has a time limit because He has a plan and purpose for humanity that in His wisdom He formulated from the beginning of time, and He desires that we become partners with Him in carrying out this plan. So when He gives us instructions that we choose to dismiss, and He repeats them to us for a period of time, yet has not obtained our obedience, in His loving kindness, He still desires that we choose to partake of His plan and purpose by doing our part that He is asking us to do.

For that, He will speak to us in our prayer closets, and if there is no obedience at that time, He will send people or other ways to tell us what He desires from us. He can even send angels to alert us of His necessity for us to obey because He knows how what He’s asking us to do fits in His plan even if it seems something that our flesh wants nothing to do with. As believers, we are called to lay down our lives and choose His will and His ways over our own so we can seek the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness in order to become mature with Christ character; then we can receive the things He has promised us and at this point they can be added onto us.

Numbers 14:18 tells us, “‘The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love, forgiving every kind of sin and rebellion. But he does not excuse the guilty. He lays the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.’” NLT

You see, our disobedience can also cause us to go past the time of grace God allots for us to obey, and then the disobedience becomes sin which can also cause others to disobey until it becomes like a domino effect that God surely wants to avoid because He does not want the sin to transgress the next generations. When we are disobedient to God we will also see how our children and others around us would start acting out the disobedience as well. In the post titled "Understanding Your Kiros Time," we saw in Esther chapter 1 that there could have been through Queen Vashti an avalanche of disobedience and rebellion that had to be stopped. She was not expelled from her position as queen just because of a one-time disobedience, if it got to that point is always because there had been many other times in which the person had disobeyed until he or she had to be removed because of rebellion and lack of repentance.

I had to learn that lesson many years ago with my ex-husband. Our relationship was rocky, and prophetically I had seen in the spirit that there was going to be a separation between us. The Lord had told me to allow the separation, but I got filled with fear because we had not gone through anything like that before. It seemed to me that my marriage was going to end at that time and I wanted to fight to stay married until I had exhausted all resources to save it. But God had another idea. He kept telling me to allow the separation, but I would not hear of it, and He even sent people and other means to drop the hints about it. He did that for some time without success of my obedience. 

I also started seeing our son that was 2 years old at the time being disobedient to me and not listening to what I would say to him. It was as if he could not hear me. One evening I was standing very close to him while he was playing with some toys on the floor and I started to call out his name. I did that four or five times and he never even acknowledged me. I started feeling frustrated and at that time the Lord spoke to me audibly and said rigidly, “Now you know how I feel!”

Following that I went to a women’s conference at my church where there were thousands of people. At some point during that evening the key note speaker said that she had spent the afternoon feeling heaviness and God had told her she was feeling the heaviness of the people she was about to minister to. He also gave her instructions to lay hands on them, so when the evening came and she mentioned that, and called the women forth to be prayed for, I knew I had to come forth. To my surprise, when my turn came for her to lay hands on me, with microphone on hand, she said to me somewhat sternly, “Your man is not your god!” 

That startled and made me feel embarrassed because everybody got to hear it, and I thought to myself, “great, now everyone here knows I’m having spousal issues.” I like to be a private person and only share my private things with those I trust to share them with. But I had also realized I had raised three idols called my husband, our marriage, and God's promises for us. He had promised great things for us and I thought “How does a separation fit into this promise?”, but I wanted the promise to be manifested in my own way and in my own time frame. That had turned me into an idolater.

Then after the evening at church was over, I rushed home to talk with the Lord. He had also shared with me at that time that He was frustrated with me playing a deaf ear to what He was saying, but that it was ok to allow the separation because He was with me, and would never leave me not forsake me. Shortly after that the separation did happen and it was hostile. My ex-husband had even filed for divorce, but God had told me the divorce would not take place. After several months of attorney visits and much praying and seeking the Lord, my ex-husband called me one morning and told me he wanted to come back home and asked me if I would agree to that. I said, “yes, come home.” What followed after that is that he stopped all divorce proceedings, and just as the Lord had said, the divorce did not take place. 

Well, because I am saying here “my ex-husband” I need to explain that many years after that our relationship did end and God gave me permission to end it because He saw my faithfulness in fighting for my marriage, but my ex-husband chose to reject and oppose the calling of God for our lives and marriage, as well as our son’s life. To God that became a deal breaker and He chose to disqualify him from the promises He made to us.

What I would like you to learn from this is that we have a necessity to trust the Lord when He asks us to do things that may seem unfathomable and inconceivable to us. These things go many times against the word and promise He gave us, but only He knows in His wisdom what would take for us to get to our destination in Him and see His promises manifested. 

Let’s not wait until He has to take drastic measures for us to hear and finally obey, so we don’t get disqualified like Vashti. At the time Paul exposed Peter in such a public manner, chances are God could have already been telling him to stop such behavior during more private times of intimacy with Him, but Peter was not obeying quickly enough until things had to get that drastic from God through a fellow apostle.To Him alone be all the glory. ▪

When the Word of Promise is Tested by Fire

Exodus 12:9

Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. NLT

When God gives us a word of promise, this word gets tested by fire. When meat is roasted, the fat, which is the contaminated debris and toxins found in an animal, is burned in the fire that purifies and decontaminates. In the same way, when a promise is given to us from the Lord, it is tested to ensure that when God is finished taking us to the process he has assigned for us, we can stand in the fire and not be burned because we have been made pure like gold.

 This happens as the fire continues to remove the mundane ways of the world and its system that cannot stand against God’s holiness and righteousness which He wants to develop in us to turn us into pure vessels that He will use without spot or wrinkle which means spiritual maturity. Thus, we can reach and be sustained in our places of assignment and destiny. For this reason fasting and praying and seeking the Lord through His Word and what comes from His mouth in our times of communion with Him and always listening for it is of great necessity for us because the water of the Word washes away what the fire has burned. 

At the time the words in the above verse were given to the children of Israel, they were preparing for their flight out of Egypt. Egypt represents the mindset and conditions God wants to remove from us that we learned to emulate from the world and those who influenced us. This is so we don’t bring that contamination to our places of assignment because in that place we are instructed to lead others to Him. Contamination won’t allow that because those we are called to influence for God would not be able to tell the difference between them and us. The fire God exposes us to judges, corrects, and disciplines us as it shows the conditions of our hearts, and the way we think of and reason the ways of God. It also shows us our motives, the wrong traditions we followed, generational sins we inherited, and so on. 

Revelation 3:17-19 says, ¹⁷“You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. ¹⁸ So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. ¹⁹ I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Fasting is a way that God uses to take us through the fire that purifies us like gold. This is one of the ways in which we pay the price for the high calling that has been set before us and that helps us see the way God sees us and get His perspective about the circumstances we go through. It can also bring us understanding of the process He has chosen for us to pay the price for this high calling. In addition, fasting helps turn us into eagles that soar into new heights and above the wiles of the enemy and also turns us as lions that roar against the enemy to put him to flight away from us, our families, businesses, ministries, and all else that pertains and is entrusted to us.

This is the life of a true worshiper—one that worships the Father in Spirit and in Truth because there are many who worship, but not all worship the Father this way—that is seeking to follow and live a lifestyle led by His spirit and the truth of His Word without pollution and contamination. John 4:23-24 states, “²³ But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. ²⁴ For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth NLT.”

Going through the fire of affliction that helps us mature as it removes the spots or wrinkles from the world and its system will also remove the wrong doctrines, cultural and traditional idealisms and beliefs that keep us from growing in our true knowledge of God (Ephesians 1:17), and brings the ground of our hearts from being just good to being a pure ground. Furthermore, it also helps us draw near to Him so we can seek His kingdom and righteousness, and receive with wisdom and understanding the things He has promised us for only then can they be added unto us because we can sustain them and not just receive them to lose them shortly after. For this reason, it is essential for us to live by the word of God and by the yielding of His process for us. So as we choose to yield and obey His commands for us which can include fasting, we can develop the anointing and the mantle that will give us the uniqueness of our callings and the ability to function and be sustained in our new places of assignment.

It is detrimental to ignore or run away from this purifying process. The sons of Eli had a system that God considered to be a great sin because as priests of God in His temple, they caused His people to dread bringing offerings to His House because these two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, did not allow the offerings to be burned as they were supposed to be, but instead they boiled the meat. 

1 Samuel 2:12-17 relates these practices, “¹²Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord ¹³ or for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of the sacrificed animal was still boiling, ¹⁴ the servant would stick the fork into the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons. All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way. ¹⁵ Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled so that it could be used for roasting.¹⁶ The man offering the sacrifice might reply, ‘Take as much as you want, but the fat must be burned first.’Then the servant would demand, ‘No, give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.’¹⁷ So the sin of these young men was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings with contempt” NLT.

Boiling the meat represents allowing the things that cannot be used by God in us and through us to remain which can keep us from advancing steadily and strong to our places of assignment. Instead, in the long run, if we continue to go without repentance, rejecting God’s grace to change, it can cost us our callings and can make us the objects of judgment instead of vessels that can bring justice and fulfillment of the promises to our situations and draw many out of the world’s system and into the arms of our Lord. The main character God wants to reflect in us as we are taken in our process is the character of Christ that extends mercy and grace to the lost and those that have fallen and backslidden, and brings judgment against the enemy to stop his floods of evil against us and others around us with precision and might. To Him alone be all the glory∎.

The Seed of Wealth

In everything we do, including in the handling of our finances, we are planting seeds that will be harvested at some point in our lives or after, by the next generations. However, many people have immature views about money or finances, and this immaturity causes them to hoard things for their own agendas. The same immaturity also has them walking proud about their accomplishments because they don’t understanding the why God gives us wealth and resources on the earth.

It is our relationship with God that helps us see His plan for us and how He wants us to view and use the things He brings to us. That is why we need to be careful to not step into spiritual death. A spiritually death person is blind to God’s direction and deaf to His voice. This person is also desensitized to His life giving presence which are signs that this person is highly contaminated with the influence of the spirit of this world. 

But the Lord has given the Church a commission to be multiplied in other souls. These are people that we influence directly or indirectly, and could become our spiritual children/disciples. Through our influence and input, they will learn to imitate us in our spiritual walk with the Lord and learn to be mindful to accomplish His purpose for them. For this, they will learn to hear His voice and follow His lead and guidance away from the ways of the world.

They will also learn to mature in the things of the spirit as they walk the pathway of the Cross that God has prescribed for them to lay down their lives. This pathway will lead them to share in His glory and to multiply themselves in others as Christ did when He died on the Cross for us. 

Genesis 17:2 says, “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly. “ NKJV

This multiplication happened in the life of our forefather Abraham through his children, the people of Israel who became numerous and are God’s first born of many nations of chosen people. It also happened later through his Seed Jesus Christ.

Genesis 22:17-18 states,

“17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice” NKJV.  

This promise was made to Abraham when he passed God’s test when He asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac, his precious promise from God. Because of his obedience, God guaranteed that He would see to it that He’d be the God of Abraham’s provision and would give him access to everything needed to obtain the multiplication of descendants. 

I also had to sacrifice God’s promises to me and the result has been that I’m able to be used of God to impart through this blog posts and my books, the blessings and benefits He has given me. 

To Him alone be all the glory.▪