Possessing the gate of your enemies
Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Jericho was in the way of Israel reaching The Promised Land, a feared city that was not easy to be conquered. What needed to be done was not possible by Israel but God true to His promise to Abraham about possessing the gate of Israel’s enemies, gave them the strategy. They were to follow God’s instructions to the letter which would give them the victory.
It is noteworthy to understand that the same blessings of Abraham are upon the Church through Jesus our Lord because we are of the seed of Abraham. We too (The Church) will be multiplied like the sand of the sea and possess the gate of our enemies as promised to Abraham. However, what we need more than anything today is the knowledge of God’s warfare plans and the ability to submit to it. I want to tell you that possessing the gate of your enemies needs implicit obedience to God’s instructions even if it does not make sense. The Jericho instruction by God was to walk around the city six days once a day with the ark of the covenant whilst blowing the ram’s horns seven times. Then on the seventh day, they were to go around the city seven times with the ark blowing the trumpets and on the final blast of the trumpet all the people should give a loud shout which would cause the walls to fall down. Hmmmmm! Strange warfare instructions to take a might city that was basically impregnable.
If there are lessons, I have learned about warfare, it is, never question the instructions of the Lord. The second thing is, always obey to the letter. If you fail to do it, you will suffer the consequences of failure and defeat. Joshua won against Jericho because he obeyed to the letter but failed to impress upon the people the same discipline. Therefore, one of them did what God said not to do and that was not to take anything from Jericho. As a result of this disobedience by one man, Israel was cursed. Soon after they lost a war with Ai which they should have won easily. This was God’s judgement on them.
Warfare is not a joke as some people take it. It is serious business and will cost lives if not fought properly. Now, Jericho was in the way of the Promised Land and in order to crossover and not have enemies coming after them whilst they prepared to crossover, they had to destroy their enemies. In other words, the needed to possess the gates of their enemies.
Gates speak of an entry and an exit. All our senses are gates. Without protected gates, one is open to the enemies of the land. Gates also speak of borders. A country defends its borders because they too are gates. Likewise, if one is to possess the gate of their enemies, they must possess the borders as well and not just one single entry point. (That to us is the possessing of all our faculties associated with the body, mind and spirit.) Once a nation is conquered it is incumbent on the conquering nation to then possess the land they have just conquered. (We must bring in self control to possess our body, soul and spirit.) This required them to kill all their enemies in the conquered land. Likewise, if you don’t, you cannot possess yourself effectively. Many have made this mistake and failed in warfare.
It is the possessing of one’s self (self control) through the word of God and His Spirit that brings possession of the land that you are in. Your space is then governed by you and you must possess the gate of your enemies.
Speaking of modern-day warfare, the battle rages on several fronts. One front is keeping what God has given to us as the church. Many Christians have lost ground even though they are the children of God. They have been defeated often by the devil and are unable to appropriate nor keep what God has given them. This is unfortunately the sad state of many Christians. When we as Ministers of God keep casting out demons from Christians, we know that this is the case. The plateau for victory is having the overcoming kind of faith. Winning one war and losing another is not living a victorious life. All you are doing is going from one victory to another or one loss to another. Becoming more than a conqueror helps but it still does not deny access by the devil. It is an overcoming spirit that is the key to staying in that vein all the time. Wars will come and go but you will not be affected by them because you are an overcomer. This is what Jesus was telling the churches in the book of Revelation, to become overcomers or lose out on what Jesus had for them.
In these last days, we must awaken to righteousness and holiness. These are key overcoming aspects of warfare. The rigours of warfare are overcome based on having righteousness working in a person who is holy. Jesus was the King of righteousness therefore, He carried with Him a sceptre that could not be removed. That sceptre anointed Him above everyone else and He was always welcome in the presence of the Father. That is why He never failed on earth. The other part of warfare is Peace. One must always be at peace about life and the future. Peace is at a premium on earth today. The God of peace is actually the God of war. Rom 16:20 And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. We glean from this verse that God is a God of peace and so He brings war to bear upon His enemies in order to bring peace. It was God that initiated the battle between Pharaoh and Moses. This is noteworthy. When you are in battle, you must call upon the name of the Lord who will deliver you from all your enemies. It is through Him that we possess the gates of our enemies.
I can tell you personal stories of battles with evil spirits and the like that will make you hair stand up on its end. The battles were of the kind that threatened everything in my life including job, marriage, church, ministry, finances, health and relationships. They never ceased to give me rest even one day in my life till I discovered Peace. Once that came into my life, I was able to battle like never before. Added to this, I wore the whole armour of God, took my eyes of myself and people and began to focus on the spirit realm of darkness. I studied the word and practised it as much as possible till I became good at warfare. In all of this, I knew not to depend on myself or love something or someone so much that I could not give it up. Abraham received these blessings only when he was ready to sacrifice Isaac his only begotten son. Likewise, God won the battle for us by sacrificing His only begotten Son. He was showing us the true nature of warfare. Too many of us have developed a love for someone on earth or something which has taken away our ability to sacrifice. The true essence and power of warfare is sacrifice. Be prepared to do what God tells you no matter the cost. The statement, OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE means that obedience is the true sacrifice not what you or I want to offer God in our wisdom. Jesus won because of obedience. Many go about trying to win battles in their own wisdom when they should be leaning on God’s understanding of how to win the battle.
The battle instructions may seem crazy but that is why obedience is required. Joshua found that out the hard way. So did many others in the Bible. The devil knows we are a rebellious people with hard hearts and that is why he can easily defeat us by our disobedience. The devil captured all of mankind (think about it) through disobedience when he tempted Eve. It took the humility and obedience of Jesus to save us. The battle still rages after the cross. We must learn to do warfare God’s way. Open your eyes.
Love , Pastor Noble - 26/04/20