Gates

Proverbs 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.

A gate is simply that which gives access. Our body has gates into which the heart receives information. 

The heart of a human being is the composed of the soul and the spirit. It's a place where one's true being lies. The body is simply a shell or container of the heart. The seat of God or the enemy is the heart. 

Whoever then has the greatest influence over the heart of man, controls the actions of the man. Any activity we see is influenced by God, the devil or man, to touch a heart of somebody for good or for bad. 

Everything man does begins from the heart. Love, faith, trust, modesty, chastity, cruelty, hatred, pride, arrogance, sin, strife, envy, jealousy, etc start from the heart. No wonder, the Bible says, blessed is he with a pure heart, he shall see God. This means, only those with a pure heart can see God, (Matthew 5:8). Also, “Who shall ascend the Holy Mountain of God?” (Psalm 24:3-4). The devil is not out to steal your money, but to influence you to think like him and then act like him. The Holy Spirit too through the numerous Sunday meetings, midweek meetings has one agenda, to influence you by the Word so that you think and act pure. 

What makes a man’s heart have impurities are the gates. These impurities may be, hatred, strife, envy, backbiting, competition, bad thoughts, ill intents, rumour mongering etc. On your body, there are your eyes and your ears. The inner gate which is the inlet into your soul and the outlet from your spirit is the mind. 

The eyes let in images, the ears let in information while the mind perceives what enters in. The perception about the things you watch or listen depends on who you have allowed to give you interpretation of what you see or hear. This is called your world view. God, man or the devil is behind your world view. Two people can watch the same thing or listen to the same thing and they perceive it differently.

Take a child and an adult for example. A child has nothing like deep thought. To them everything is good to them. They cannot go beyond what is being  done to them to reason. Their reasoning sense has not been shaped well enough at a tender age. An adult on the other because of various life experiences, interactions with fellow man and some awareness of the Word of God can see and action and goes ahead to deeply think about the why, how, the patterns, etc. An adult may ask, why did so and so talk to me, how can they call me at this time, is there a problem? To a child, everything is all about play, eating and drinking, mummy and daddy, period. If all those are available, they are good. Overtime they are taught to process matters for example not to talk to strangers, not to eat from anywhere and everywhere. The why is introduced but they are not able to comprehend it unless punishment is attached to it. 

We thank God for Bible teachers who help us explain the Bible in-depth so that we deeply think about it. We thank God for the media outlets which are sharing God's Word. It was said by Oral Roberts that whoever controls the air wives and the prosperity of the city controls the spirituality of the city. But some Christians don't even go out to share the gospel to others. So long as they have what to eat or drink, pastors should worry about preaching the gospel. No way! We need to affect how people think by bombarding the gospel into their eyes, ears and minds. Everyone should be doing something, everyone should be knowing the agenda we are on, we have an enemy, the devil or man trying to act independent of God.

That's why parents need to promote a God atmosphere around them, pastors need to fight funny posts on church WhatsApp pages, etc. We should simply have deep thought. Whatever you do, process it deeper beyond the surface. Think spiritually in other words. 

Sometimes Christians behave like little babies, everything they lay hands on goes to the mouth, to them everything they listen to or see appears harmless so long as it doesn't physically harm them. But wisdom will teach you to guard your heart  with all diligence because our of it are the issues of life. 

EK