Guard Your Gates!

Years ago, I heard a minister preach about “Guarding Our Gates.” It is so imperative that the people of God learn to carefully select what we see and hear. The human body has many parts and senses, but our sight and ability to hear are very important to the spirit. The eyes and ears are the only physical gates by which the spirit can be directly influenced. My God! That’s powerful. The fact is that everything we see and hear is automatically registered in our spirits. For this reason, we must demand authority over our surroundings. If something sneaks in that is not of God, we must deal with it immediately. Every sight and sound we are exposed to produces a thought, or a series of thoughts. This can be referred to as imagination, which is part of the soul. Man is a three-part being: Spirit, Soul and Body. When the Body is exposed to an outside influence, a message is sent to the soul, where it is exposed to emotions and thought. At that point, we must decide whether or not we will subject the our spirit to the same. 2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and ever high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…” Praise God. In this scripture, we are instructed to bring thoughts [imaginations and feelings] into the obedience of Christ, which also agrees with the Holy Spirit within us. We do this by “casting down” or rebuking those things that exalt themselves against the “knowledge of God” or the Word of God. This is certainly difficult to do. Nevertheless, every believer must learn to control his or her thoughts and seek God at a level where relationship with Him is able to purge those things that are not like Him. It is much easier, though, to simply avoid those things that are not like God – music, television, ungodly conversations, and anything else that do not agree with the Word of God. Not convinced? Take a look at Romans 10:17. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith is a spiritual concept. Yet, it is built by “hearing” the Word of God. Faith grows when we expose our ear, or gate, to the thoughts and works of our Father. Hallelujah! If positive information can enter our flesh and produce a positive spiritual change, how much more can negative information enter through the flesh to produce a negative spiritual impact!