Gates in the ancient times had many functions. Everything that was important was held at the gates. Kings held audiences there, elders sat there, cases were heard, judgements were passed and laws were also read at the gate. A city’s security depended on the strength of the gate. Attackers who made a breach in the gates of a city or a nation were assured of victory. Gates are also known as portals, gateways and ports.
The assignment to guard gates is usually given by the heads of governments. Custom and immigration officers guard the gates as representatives of the government and have the power to arrest and detain. It is the same in the spiritual. We must have power and authority to guard our gates which are entryways to cities, nations, homes, businesses and people. When altars are raised to God or idols, it gives the one controlling the gate more power and authority. The greater the sacrifice is on the altar, the greater the power that is given.
If a church functions in disobedience to God, it gives the enemy an entryway. Satanic gates that are opened to the enemy causes our lives to be hindered in every way including marriage, pregnancy, successes, financial and personal growth, sicknesses, disorder, confusion, division and strife in families and other relationships.
Words can also work for or against us. When we speak negatively, it opens a spiritual gate to the enemy. Speak life into your home, business, family, children and situations and shut the door to the enemy. Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Demons cannot enter without gates and only the Church has the power to destroy the works of the devil. We are to possess the gates of the enemy.
God comes in though gates and altars (Genesis 28:16-19). The house of God is the gate of Heaven and as God’s dwelling place, we are the gate of Heaven. We can change atmospheres, environments and people and we can reorder things in the earth.
In the New Testament, gates were referred to as doors. In John 10:9, Jesus said “I am the door and if anyone enters in, he will be saved and will go out and find pasture.” Both sin and righteousness can open doors. Doors that are opened legally to the Obeah and to Voodoo can create poverty, disease and all types of bondages. Doors can be opened to the enemy through unforgiveness (2 Corinthians 2:10-11), witchcraft, bitterness, pride, fear, sexual sin, rebellion, unbelief, offence, gossip, lies, slavery, word curses, the occult and generational curses.
Beware of what you allow through the internet, games, television, books or movies. We must guard our eye, ear and mouth gates. Also be careful what you bring into your homes as souvenirs and gifts by asking God for a spirit of discernment. Bless your land and redeem it because ancient curses and innocent blood may have been shed on it.
Obedience, sacrifices, worship, intercession and giving can open the gates of Heaven. We have the power to bind, loose, open and close things in Heaven and on earth. We have the keys to uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow and build and plant (Matthew 16:18-19, Jeremiah 1:10). Worship releases weapons, vengeance, judgements and punishment and binds kings and princes with chains and fetters (Psalms 149:6-9).
Joshua cursed Jericho in Joshua 6:26 and the curse was fulfilled in 1 Kings 16:34 when Hiel rebuilt the foundation and gate at the cost of the lives of his first and youngest sons. When we decree a thing, it stands in Heaven and becomes the word of God. Elisha broke the curse off Jericho with salt when he spoke for God just as Joshua did (2 Kings 2:15, 18-22). We too can speak and cancel curses because we are the salt of the earth and the gate of Heaven.
Jesus also pronounced woes and curses on cities and towns (Matthew 11:20-24). Jesus took the blind man out of the city from Matthew 11 so the healing could be completed as a curse was spoken over the city by Him seen in Mark 8: 22-26. When a curse is spoken, it can hinder the move of God.
Let the gates of Heaven be open unto us!
