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.▪