On and off during the last few weeks and months I’ve had these revelatory thoughts about gates. Yes, gates?!

I never realized that a gate can be anything more than, well, a gate. It’s just a simple thing at the entrance of a garden, or farm, or some or other area or property, right? But then as time went on I realized more and more about the significance of what a gate is, not only the physical value, but also the symbolic value it held.

The first characteristic of a gate is that it indicates an acceptable entrance point into a specific area. It also facilitates an easy way of entry, as it is much easier to go through a gate than to climb over a wall.

The second characteristic of a gate is that it functions as a barrier between two adjacent areas. It is meant to prevent entry or exit.

In the Bible there are quite a few references to gates. Cities had walls with gates, Solomon’s temple had gates, heaven and hell has gates.

City gates were not only a place of entry, but also a place of public resort, public deliberation, administration of justice and audiences for kings or ambassadors. Public markets were held at the city gates. It was used as a place of sacrifice in heathen cities.

Gates were carefully guarded as a position of great importance.

But what does this all mean in our context for today? And especially in the spiritual realm?

Just as in the natural, gates are also part of the spiritual realm. These spiritual gates function in a similar way to the gates in the natural. It’s also places to facilitate or prohibit entry.

In the Old Testament the tabernacle, and later on the temple, functioned as a gate for heaven to meet earth.

In the New Testament Jesus called Himself the only way to the Father. This made Him the only way to enter God’s kingdom and the only way God’s kingdom could enter earth, like a gate.

Jesus was the first permanent, living temple of Holy Spirit. He came to show us what we would be able to do when we receive Holy Spirit, when we allow ourselves to become living temples, when we become gates.

It’s a weird idea to think of yourself as a gate, I know. But when you realize how important that function is, it becomes pretty amazing.

Think about it, the only way for the spiritual realm to influence the visible realm is through agreement with, and the spoken words of human beings. Jesus came and offered Himself in order to take back the authority, the keys, that gives us the power to decide what we will allow into the visible realm.

Only human beings are capable of fulfilling this roll as we are the only beings which can exist in the spiritual and earthly realms at the same time. We can “hear” or “see” with our spirit and then release what we have received with our voices, music, art or prophetic actions into the visible realm.

By releasing what we hear from God audibly, or visibly, into the visible realm, we create with God in the same way that He created everything in the beginning. This is what prayer is all about, and why it is so important to be aware of the power of spoken words.

When we tune ourselves into the frequency of heaven by practicing to hear God’s voice in the secret place, we can shift atmospheres and usher His glory realm into our everyday lives.

This is when Christianity stops being theory, and starts becoming practical. God becomes real to people, and you can be the gate through which He enters.