Luke 15:20 Amplified Bible 20 So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.
By Jewish custom the father went to the family gate daily looking for his son, otherwise the gate would have been blocking his view.
Recently I was working in a septic field with a man and we got to talking about the Goodness of God and how the Lord pursues us. We then started talking about how to get better results on how to wait on relatives and friends to follow the Lord and get better results, especially in their rebellious years. Likewise in the cycles of life and repentance, people have to come to themselves and bottom out. The responsible Gate Keeper or interceding Christian can pray for someone they know who is lost or off the path with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit and get quicker, better and more powerful results. From the outside in, prayers are raining down on your target! What an edge. What a perspective or vantage point the prayer warrior has, by just denying their flesh, being unselfish and spending some time before the Throne of God on behalf of someone else’s needs. Look at the results you can have interceding for someone.
In another blog, called ” Promise Keeper”, I used the scripture
James 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”
“This shows that even when we don’t realize it, God is working for us…in advance of what we see, feel, realize, or experience manifested on earth. In our world, the Holy Spirit looks towards us, for us, broods, yearns and fights the devil on our behalf. Therefore, if the Trinity is working for us, on our behalf and behind the scenes, we should be birthing effectual outcomes and results that last and brings prosperity, freedom, peace and joy to and for others.
So, how does someone become consumed with Love that yields to watching gates for others. How do we get to a place of maturity where we seek out and pursue lost people and take them to Church, seek them out by going to their homes or lunchtime at work, or pray with them on the streets?
Check out this song that captures God’s love and pursuit of us; “Reckless Love”
“There’s no shadow you won’t light up
Mountain you won’t climb up Coming after me
There’s no wall you won’t kick down
No lie you won’t tear down Coming after me
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the 99
I couldn’t earn it
I don’t deserve it
Still you give yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God”
Two of the gates that Nehemiah restored was the Fish Gate and the Sheep Gates when he remodeled or rebuilt Jerusalem.
The Sheep Gate represents our deliverance through the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world while the Fish Gate speaks of our ability to evangelize others and deliver them from the great tribulation and the false Christ’s and false prophets who will arise.
As the Sheep Gate (is a typology of entering salvation through Jesus) delivers us from the wrath to come, the Fish Gate, is about saving others, snatching them out of the fire.
This is what the Bible says about the Sheep Gate. ( From Forerunner Commentary ) John 5:1-2. John writes, ” [T]here is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.” Bethesda means “house of pity or mercy.” Locals believed that the pool could restore health to the sick and infirm.
Gate keepers are a rare breed. They have a burden for the lost or hurting. They understand that they stand at the crossroads or gate in people’s lives. By their words people can enter or be denied. It’s no wonder that years later , the Pool of Bethesda or place of Mercy was established. It takes courage, discernment, balanced by Mercy to be a mature Gate Keeper, however don’t be intimidated, jump up on the rampart or your assignment and take your place in battle. There’s a war to be won!
Here’s another song that will help provoke you to another level, of being able to be used in evangelism on a higher level:
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Gates
Rick Pino – version of “Nothing Else” The Altar Sessions (Volume 1) [Live Full Album]
There is a genetic code with or in each seed. We place an explanation on our giving. When we mix faith and expectation in any kind of giving, it is given a heavenly code. Gate Keepers in Faith have expectations. We believe that if we warn people, they will respond. We also take great peace in knowing that once we have warned authority or folks of impending danger, we have done our duty. Gate Keepers can reclaim land that was stolen from sleeping or irresponsible Gate Keepers.
Traditionally in Israel, at the gates of cities:
1) courts of justice were frequently held, and hence “judges of the gate” are spoken of ( Deuteronomy, 6:18 ; 17:8 ; 21:19 ; Deuteronomy 25:6 Deuteronomy 25:7 , etc.).
2) At the gates prophets also frequently delivered their messages ( Proverbs 1:21 ; 8:3 ; Isaiah 29:21 ; Jeremiah 17:19 Jeremiah 17:20 ; 26:10 ).
3) Criminals were punished without (or outside) the gates ( 1 Kings 21:13 ; Acts 7:59 ).
4) By the “gates of righteousness” we are probably to understand those of the temple
( Psalms 118:19 ).
5)”The gates of hell” (RSV, “gates of Hades”) Matthew 16:18 , are generally interpreted as meaning the power of Satan, but probably they may mean the power of death, denoting that the Church of Christ shall never die.
In the New Testament Jesus gave us several parables or stories about having compassion, fortitude, courage to go after someone who is missing.
The Lost Sheep
Luke 15 1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were coming near Jesus to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began muttering and complaining, saying, “This man accepts and welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost, [searching] until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he gets home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
The Lost Coin
Luke 15:8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins [each one equal to a day’s wages] and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her [women] friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I found the lost coin!’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents [that is, changes his inner self—his old way of thinking, regrets past sins, lives his life in a way that proves repentance; and seeks God’s purpose for his life].”
John 10:1-3 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Gates
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Gates
Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.
Finally, if you have any doubt as to the authority that Born Again humans have been giving on the earth, read:
Psalm 115: 16 The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,
But the earth He has given to the children of men.
17 The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence;