Doors and Gates

Points of entry into your life are important.  Guard them well.

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Acts 15:4-5 – And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.  But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

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A great man of God and Christian author, Leonard Ravenhill said, “When God opens heaven’s windows to bless you, Satan opens hell’s gates to blast you.”  I believe he was really onto something there.  But don’t make the mistake I’ve heard spoken by so many believers, even ministers.  I often hear someone say something like, “I must be doing something right because the devil has really been attacking me.”  There is grave danger in that kind of assumption.  We must never use an action of the devil as a gauge to measure how well we are serving the Lord.  There is absolutely NO faith in such thinking, or in the action that would follow that thinking; only fear and conjecture.  And dear one, that is NOT of God.

The child of God must understand that Satan is an outlaw.   He does not require God’s permission to attack the child of God.  Once again, he is an outlaw.  He will attack any Christian who is diligently serving the Lord and His kingdom.  And he will likewise attack Christians who are not serving the Lord and His kingdom in an attempt to create deception and subterfuge, making a disobedient, or lukewarm Christian believe they are really doing the ill of God.  This trick has worked for decades against the church wherever Satan can find Christians who don’t know how to truly live by faith.

Allow me to offer you some food for thought.  When God wants to pour out blessings, He uses WINDOWS.  Keep in mind that Jesus is the DOOR to the sheep.  You and I, believers, are the WINDOWS through which the world is to see Jesus, and through which He pours blessing into the earth.  Jesus said “the gates of hell” shall not prevail against His church.  A house does not have gates; it has doors.  Gates allow entry to the property, but to get into the house, one must come through the doors or windows.  Keep in mind that windows, doors, and gates generally offer two-way traffic.  You can go out through them, or you can let something in by them.  Jesus is the DOOR.  That is the only way to legitimately come into the sheepfold.  You are a window.  Stay clean and clear so deception cannot sneak near to climb through them, and so you can keep an eye on the gates.  The Lord’s command to “watch and pray” is not a frivolous one.  Just a thought.

Manna for Today – Acts 15:1-21; John 10:10; Romans 8:14