by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

Over the next series of postings, we will delve deeper into the matter of gates to the human mind and why the believer in particular needs to pay attention to the management of these gates. For starters, for a man there are five gates while for a woman there are 6 gates, but the gates common to the two are:

  1. Ear gate
  2. Eye gate
  3. Nose gate
  4. Mouth gate, and
  5. Touch gate.

Our text for the day—But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. Matthew 13:16-17

Genesis 3:1-7 is the most potent example of where all the five or six gates acted in tandem in the fall of man.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said (received through the ear gate) unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat (mouth gate) of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat (mouth gate) of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch (touch gate) it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw (eye gate) that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes (eye gate), and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took (touch gate) of the fruit thereof, and did eat (mouth gate), and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (mouth gate). And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Genesis 3:1-7 (words in parenthesis mine).

All the gates except the nose gate for the man and the woman were played upon by the Serpent (Satan) to strip man of the covering glory the eternal God gave him. If you’ve never consciously seen the danger the Lord warned His disciples about as recorded differently in Mark 4:24, and Luke 8:18, from now on you have no excuse.

If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath. Mark 4:23-25

Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Luke 8:18

What are these two scriptures speaking to? Let me paraphrase verse 24—“Be careful what you listen to, hearing is receiving, so the more that you listen to something, the more you will receive, there is an attenuation.” In other words:

  1. what you listen to goes inside of you, and
  2. who you listen to will influence you.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing the Word, in the same way deception comes by hearing and hearing and hearing error.

Beloved, please think about this and consider what fills your ears and consequently your heart, and triggers the action you take. Apostle John admonished us in 1 John 4:1-6 (TPT)—Delightfully loved friends, don’t trust every spirit, but carefully examine what they say to determine if they are of God, because many false prophets (fully defined in Deuteronomy 18:20-22; Deuteronomy 13:1-6) have mingled into the world. Here’s the test for those with the genuine Spirit of God: they will confess Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh. Everyone who does not acknowledge that Jesus is from God has the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was coming and is already active in the world. Little children, you can be certain that you belong to God and have conquered them, for the One who is living in you is far greater than the one who is in the world. They (false prophets) belong to this world and they articulate the spirit of this world, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and whoever truly knows God listens to us. Those who refuse to listen to us do not belong to God. That is how we can know the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit (words in parenthesis mine).

Who and what are you listening to dear brother, dear sister? Think deeply on these things and steer yourself clear of what could lead you away from Jesus Christ and make you lose your covering of His glory. Shalom.