In this piece we will be looking at Gates: The Passageway to Destiny. We want to understand what gates mean and what they signify, starting with the Scripture; Nehemiah chapter 1:3. It says; “And they said to me, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province, are there in great distress and reproach”.

They came to report to Nehemiah a situation, something that had happened, something that is a bad news. They said to him that the survivors that are left from the captivity in the province, are there in great distress and reproach; Not just that they are in great distress, they are also in reproach. So, there are two (2) things, and that's why the word ‘and’ was used. Number one, that the survivors of the captivity or the captives that are left, they are in great distress and reproach. I want us to take note of those two words, great distress and reproach. And they went further to report this, ‘this is like the why of the great distress and reproach’; he said, the wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.

The survivors of the captivity are in great distress and reproach, because two things that are fundamental has happened and the report came to Nehemiah, 1) the walls of Jerusalem is broken down. But our emphasis is not on walls but there is something also very vital that we want to pick from here and it is the significance of the gate; he said, the gates are burned with fire. So, this situation has led to a great distress and reproach.

When we look at gates: what is the significance of gate or what are Gates? Gates, number one; can be described as doorways that leads into a city or a place: so it can be a country. For example, Jericho had walls and gates; after Jericho was captured, Joshua placed a curse, he said, if anyone rebuilds the wall of Jericho, he will rebuild it at the expense of his first son. And if anyone will erect the gates of Jericho, it will be at the expense of his last son; meaning that, those things are significant. When a city or a country is to be conquered, they burn down the gate and bring down the walls. But our emphasis is on the gates. So, why should a wall of Jericho no longer be erected that Joshua had to place a curse that if anyone will raise these gates again, it will be at the expense of his last son? Because it is the entryway. God in victory gave the children of Israel victory to bring down the walls and burn down the gates. And he said, as long as God has done this, and he's not asking us to erect another, no one should, that was the warning. No one should rebuild these walls, no one should raise these gates any longer. So, gates is a doorway.

Now when we're talking about gates, I don't want us to go into so much of theoretical understanding of gates, what is the importance and relevance of gates to us? Gates is also the doorway or entry point into the life of a person, family, home, ministry, etc. And I want us to see Matthew chapter 16:18-19, and see what Jesus said, “And I also say to you, that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church; and the gates ‘Jesus was using the word gates, the gates of hades; another word for hades is death or hell’, the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. Verse 19, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. Jesus said I will build My church and the gates of hades, the gates of death, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

What is the Church of God? The root meaning of church is Ecclesia; Meaning; “the Called-Out Ones”. If we want to further understand the church, the church is the Legislative Assembly of Christ on the earth. So, we want to learn what Jesus was really saying to us in Matthew chapter 16. He said, I will build my church, I will build on the earth a legislative assembly, called the church, they will be drawn from across the world as My called-out ones; He said when I build My church, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. What does the gates of hell signify and what was Jesus communicating? He said the gates of hell shall not be able to overturn it; prevail over it, run it over because He will give us the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And the question is, do I have the keys of the kingdom of heaven?

What key have I received from Christ? What are keys for? When you lock a gate with a padlock, how do you get it open? With keys. If you are not a thief, you must have the keys. If you are not a robber, you must come with the keys. He said I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And if we're confused about what the keys are, Jesus said; whatever you bind on earth, how does He expect you to bind it? Does He want you to go and get rope and fetters and chains? No. He says whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth, is loosed in heaven. He doesn't want you to go around with handcuffs, He doesn't want you to go around with chains. But there is something vital that Jesus was communicating to us here.

 Number one, I want us to understand it; He said I will build My church, and the church is the Legislative Assembly of God. What do they do in the legislative arm of government? They speak. Jesus said I will build My church; when I build My church, I will give them the capacity to speak: calling the things that are not as though they were. Were the laws in existence before they spoke? No!! But once they speak it comes to pass. I will build My church and the gates of hell; the powers and authority of hell that are also speaking contrary will not be able to speak to over throne or over turn what they have said. It is important we have the understanding of the Scripture. When you speak, Jesus is saying I will build you into a formidable force; because I will hand you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

What is the keys of the kingdom of heaven? The word of God. I will arm you with the keys of the kingdom, He says when you have it, whatever you bind on earth ‘speaking’ will be bound in heaven, whatever you lose on earth ‘speaking’ will be loosed in Heaven. There was an example Jesus gave us, there was a child that was sick at the point of death. And the father came to Jesus, He says; don't even come to my house just speak a word. And He spoke, and the Bible says that very hour He spoke, the son was healed. Why? He was showing us an example of how to legislate on the earth, He will showing us an example of how to live on the earth; that we must understand that as a believer, there is a gate that God has made available; and the gate as keys.

If only you will use the keys of the gate and you activate it; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, not in your own authority, not in your name; using the keys of Heaven- the keys of the kingdom: whatever you loose on earth is loosed in heaven. 

Destiny is the place of your destination. For any destination, the passageway to that destination is that you must go through the gates. The destiny of your marriage has a gate, the destiny of your children has a gate. What are you doing at the gates? Do we remember the story of Lot? The Bible says and Lot would sit at the gate of Sodom, what was Lot doing when he sits at the gates, nothing, he was just looking. That's why nothing changed in Sodom and Gomorrah, even though Lot was there: Lot will sit daily at the gate, it was his habit. What should be happening at the gate is that prophets should prophesy. Kings should judge at the gate, it is not a place to stay and be looking, it is a place of authority.

The gate is a place of authority, it is a place of decision, it is a place of judgment. So, when you are at the gate, you are not just looking like Lot who was wishing for change and lamenting at the gate. You don’t lament at the gate; you don't complain at the gate. What do you do at the gate? You cry out, you judge, you cause people to meet at the gate because the gate is also a place where people constantly flow (people going in and going out) and negotiations are made. At the gates of your life, what negotiations are going on? Are you making negotiations?

Let’s see a Scripture in Isaiah chapter 60:11, how gates have serious spiritual connotations and we can’t take them for granted. Isaiah chapter 60:11, “Therefore, your gates.” So, you have gates, the gates of your finances, the gates of your marriage, the gate of your ministry; these are your gates: and God has raised you as a gatekeeper. If anything is happening at those gates, and you are ignorant of it, that means you have been unfaithful. Some of us God has raised us as gatekeepers for our countries, for our cities, if something is happening, i.e., Spiritual forces are going in and coming out and you don't know; they're just migrating in and out unchecked; then you have failed.

 When God was blessing Zion, He said, “therefore your gate shall be opened continually, they shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles and their Kings in procession.” They're coming in with their wealth, they're coming in; in their possession to bless you, your blessing will come in through your gates. The blessing of your life, the blessing of your destiny will come in through your gates. So, you cannot afford to take your gates for granted, the gates of your life must not be unmanned; the gate is too vital to be left unmanned. If you check good cities and good countries, they don't leave their borders open, because gate is a place where boundaries are set, it is a place where jurisdictions are set, boundaries are set, it is a place of border; you can’t go beyond here.

In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was speaking to the devil, the devil wanted to trespass into the border of Jesus. How did the devil come? Did the devil come with AK 47? Did he come with handcuff that Jesus I'm arresting? No!!!, he came speaking. If you are the Son of God, turn this stone to bread, the devil didn’t come with charm but he came speaking. But what was he doing? He was trying to trespass into the jurisdiction, into the boundary, into the borders of the life of Jesus. But how did Jesus repel the devil? Did He bring out knife or what? What did He do? He also came speaking, it is written; man must not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That is, the gate of Jesus life was not unmanned, He was fully in charge.

So, the gate is the place of your blessing, negotiations are made there. Luke chapter 7:12, “And when He came near the gates of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out.” Now when he came, what happened at the gate? Jesus was coming to the gates of the city and a dead man because in the custom and the culture of Israel, when someone is dead, you carry the person outside the gates. Burials are done outside the gate, meaning that the person is already negotiated for been dead, once the person crosses the gate he can't come back. And behold, a man was dead and being carried out. For some people, things are being carried out of their gates and they are not aware; they are not in charge of it. The only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a large crowd from the city was with her and Verse 13 says and when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said do not weep and at the gate, Jesus negotiated the destiny of that young man; the gate is the place of negotiation.

Revelation chapter 21:25-27, “Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there) and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter into it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life”. The gate is a fortified gate and it must not be left unmanned, and by no means, we should allow to enter within our gates, anything that defiles or cause an abomination or a lie. So, we must not entertain the lies of the devil, by no means must it come in; not by the things we see, not by the things we hear, not by the things we say; by no means. Our gates should be so manned that by no means anything that is an abomination or a lie; or that defiles come in through those gates.

The devil is everywhere, in full rage, but, you can stop him from perching on your life, you can stop him from entering your gate because you have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, you are armed with the sword of the Spirit. And that's what the Bible makes us understand that the sword of the Spirit is the word of God. He said it is like a double-edged sword; ask yourself, why is it double-edged? That there is no part of the sword that you will meet that it does not slice; whichever way it is been used. It is not one-edged, it is double-edged. Left or right, it is effective and active.

Another thing about the gate is that it is a place of defense and a place of refuge. We're not talking about physical gates or theoretical gates; we're talking about the gates of our life, the entry points into our lives: those are gates, your mouth, your eyes, your ears; these are gates, and they must be manned. Jesus said if your eyes will lead you to sin, He says it is better you pluck it off. Don't have a gate that leads you to hell, don't have a gate that leads you away from the presence of God; such a gate is not a useful gate; that's what Jesus is communicating. So, gate is a place of defense or refuge, Psalm 107:16, “For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron into two”. When God defeats His enemies, God breaks down their gates because they have hitherto been secured within their gates, they have hitherto been defended within their gates, so for them to be defeated, their gates must be brought down. Now, referring to Nehemiah chapter 1:3, the people that were survivors of the captivity, they were in great distress and reproach, because the gates were burned down; there was no defense, there was no refuge.

Second Chronicles chapter 14:7, “Therefore, he said to Judah, let us build these cities and make walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars, while the land is yet before us, because we have sought the Lord our God, we have sought Him and He has given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered”. When gates are erected, security is guaranteed, and rest is guaranteed; it is a place of defense and refuge. So they built and prospered; as you build your gates in the Spirit, as you allow the Holy Spirit to build the gates of your life; you will prosper: that's what the Lord is saying to us. Psalm 147:13 says; “For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you”. The first and second statements are linked, He said, He has strengthened the bars of your gates; so because the Lord has strengthened the bars of your gates, He has blessed your children within you; they prosper. You are defended; you have a place of refuge within your gates.

Gate, is also a place of decision making. Acts chapter 3:2-10, about the man that sat at the beautiful gate, the gate called Beautiful the entrance of the temple. And he has been there, but it came a day at that gate, that a decision was made on his destiny. And God sent his servants there, they didn't go there like Lot who went to look, they did not go there to just walk pass, they went there and they spoke; they said, look at us, silver and gold we do not have but such as we have, we give to you; in the name of Jesus: rise up and walk. And the decision of his healing was made at the gate Beautiful; that place.

Proverbs chapter 18:21, the Bible makes us to understand that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit”. So, death and life are in the power of your gate, and your tongue is your gate. It is very important to know that your gate is a place of your boundary; it is your border, it is where you determine what comes in and what goes out. Your gate is a place where you determine your jurisdiction, it is where you determine your boundary. So, when you speak ‘what are you doing?’, you are defining your boundary, you are defending your borders. So, when we talk about speaking, it is not just something that you do haphazardly, or you do anyhow; remember that what you are doing is that you are actively engaging at your gates. So, what you do at your gate determines what happens in your city. If your city will prosper, it depends on what you do at your gate, the negotiations you make at your gates. If your city will become a dumping ground, it depends on what you do at your gates.

Matthew chapter 12:36-37, see what Jesus said, “but I say to you, that for every idle word men speak” This is fearful! I say to you, that for every idle word men may speak, we have the liberty of speaking. But Jesus said for every idle word men may speak, they will give accounts of it in the Day of Judgment. So, you are not just giving account of your works, you are giving account of your words. For every idle word men may speak, they will give account. Verse 37, For by your words that comes out of your mouth, using your tongue, you will be justified and by your words, that comes out of your gate, the negotiations you make at your gate, you will also be condemned. So, what you do at your gate is not your business, it is the business of God.

Because you will give account. So, when we say afterall it's my mouth, I can use it anyhow I like; afterall it is my life, I can live it anyhow I like; Jesus said you may speak it. It looks as if nobody is holding you accountable but He said on the Day of Judgment you will give accounts. You look at another creator that God made in His image and likeness and you say you fool, Jesus said, you may speak it; it looks as if you have gotten away with it. But Jesus said you will give accounts. The negotiations you made, the crimes you made, the judgments you made, the prophecies you gave, you will give account. And that's why especially as ministers of God, you must be careful of the things you say.

Why is the devil called the accuser of the brethren? Because he bring your words to God. Sometimes, it looks as if God is powerless, but No He is not, God is a God of justice, He is a God of order; He is the same one that set these principles in place. When you say something contrary to the Word of God, even though the Word of God is saying something that will benefit you; what you have said has overridden the Word of God in your life, not on the earth but in your life. Because you have the jurisdiction, you are saying, God this Your word, take it aside; this is what I want. That's why when we accept Jesus at salvation, it is not just believing in your heart, it is confessing with your mouth because it is a principle. You sow your words and you reap it: life and death are in the power of your tongue.

Don’t you wonder why God was saying to the children of Isreal, He said, today I present to you life and death; choose life. He could have imposed it on them, but what did He say? Choose life meaning that, He always gives us the power of choice. So, when you are speaking daily, He has given you the opportunity to choose and He would admonish you to choose wisely, He won’t impose His will on you. The Word of God is not imposed on any man, saying by force and by all means this word must come to pass. Jesus, though a son, He learnt obedience; obedience is aligning with the Word of God through the things He suffered. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, He had a choice. Do we think Jesus didn't have a choice? Jesus did have a choice.

Peter said to Him, You can’t die, we love You, don’t leave us, but Jesus had a choice to either listen to Peter whom the devil was speaking through or to cast out the devil. He said get behind Me, satan, you are an offense to Me. So don't think your family members will not speak words that will make you stand in opposition against the will of God. You have a choice. Most times we say after all, they love me, the voice of people is the voice of God; is it in the Bible? No, it is not true, it doesn't have any scriptural reference anyway. The voice of the people is not the voice of God. The voice of God is the voice of God, the voice of the people is the voice of the people. If the voice of the people was the voice of God, Jesus could have died based on election, but that was not the case; Jesus obeyed God and aligned Himself with His will: He went to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Bible says the sweat on His face was like a drip of blood.

He Himself said, I wish this cup can pass over Me; but He said nevertheless, not My will but Your will be done; that was where He accepted to drink the cup. That's why the Bible says, though a son, He learnt obedience through the things He suffered; He suffered to obey God. He did all of these to preserve His gates. So Jesus is saying here that for every idle word you may say, you will give accounts; even words uttered when angry, you will give accounts of all; you will give account of your anger. That's why the Bible says, be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; because you will give accounts.

Ephesians chapter 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers”. No corrupt word, not some; remember Revelations 21, we read, which says, by no means should any abomination or lie or anything that defiles come in through your gate. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth by jesting or by seriousness. But what is good for necessary edification, that it may impact grace to the hearers; this is how you should man your gates: let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. Proverbs chapter 13:3, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, ‘is it not a gate that you guard? That means your mouth is a gate; it means your city is preserved’. He who opens wide is lips, ‘no restriction, no border, no jurisdiction, no boundary’ shall have destruction.”

Proverbs 21:23, “Whoever guards his mouth, and tongue keeps his soul from troubles”. This is the word of God; whoever the person is, whether it's a child or an adult, old or young, male or female, whoever guards is mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. In James chapter 3, James was admonishing us, he said; “The tongue, the smallest member of the body, but it has great power, it can destroy the entire body; because it is a gate.” If a country is to be conquered, what do they do? They go and burn the gates, destroy the wall and plunder it. The reasons many lives are plundered is because their gates are unmanned, their gates had being overturned, overrun, and taken over completely. The devil cannot do you anything until you say it, with this, you give him access; that's why it comes with thoughts. And suddenly a person feels like dying, having suicidal tendencies, these are thoughts.

And that's why Apostle Paul was saying that we should bring every thought into captivity. Because if you can bring that thought into captivity, that thoughts will not lead to words. Because when the thoughts lead to words, the words will have already destroyed your defense; and there is access. People that say the devil is manipulating their life, manipulating their destiny starts with thoughts; but if that thoughts did not survive, if it had been brought into captivity, such a man would not have troubles. Your mouth and your tongue are gates; they are very important. So, what should be our disposition?

What should be our prayer as we are sojourning the earth? Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips”. This should be our prayer, keep me from speaking thoughtlessly, help me to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. James said, briddle my tongue; if a man’s tongue can be briddled, then that man is perfect; his life will be perfect. Briddle my tongue O God, this should be our disposition. Another disposition is in Psalm 119:14, David said; “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Your sight of God.”

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Lara Gboyega Adedeji!

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