Gatekeepers - Part 2

I am continuing from 2 days ago - a study on being gatekeepers. All worship ministers need to walk in the ministry of a gatekeeper. We are intercessors on behalf of the people of God, and we are gatekeepers of God's presence.

There Are Three Gates In Scripture

These gates are not necessarily physical gates or a particular place of entry. They represent the spiritual entrance to our cities, churches and the presence of our King.

1. City Gates: Gen. 19:1; Ruth 4:1; Ps. 87:2; Ps. 122:2

2. Temple/Church Gates: 2 Chr. 31:2; Ps. 100:4; Jer. 7:2

3. King’s Gates: Esth. 2:19; Ps. 24:7; Dan. 2:49

Gatekeepers were also watchmen upon the walls. (They were intercessors)

1. The city gatekeepers were to be loyal and trustworthy. They were responsible for:

            • The safety of the city.

            • To admit or refuse entrance. (2 Ki. 7:10)

            When Jerusalem fell to Babylon, three gatekeepers were symbolically slain.

Jer. 29:7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

Jer. 29:7 And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.  (AMP)

Jer. 29:7  “Make yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare. “Pray for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things will go well for you.”  (Message)

2. The Temple Gatekeepers:

            • Were to be from the Tribe of Levi. (1 Chron. 9:26; 15:23; 23:5)

            • Cared for the temple. (2 Ki. 23:4)

            • Watched temple entrances. (1 Chron. 9:23-27; 2 Chron 23:19)

2Chr. 23:19   And he set the porters at the gates of the house of the LORD, that none which was unclean in any thing should enter in. 

               Helped perform service of purification. (Neh. 12:25)

3. The King's Gatekeepers (Es. 2:21; 6:2)

            Prov. 8:34   Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my

            gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

"hears"  shâma  (Strongs # 8085)  To hear intelligently, give attention, attentively call or gather together, consider, be content, declare, diligently discern, give ear, make a noise, proclaim, publish, report, show forth, tell, understand.

"watching"  shâqad  (Strongs # 8245)  To be alert, fix attention to, sleepless, to be on the look out (whether for good or ill), hasten, remain awake, watch for, to guard the threshold.

"waiting"  shâmar  (Strongs # 8104)  To hedge about, to guard, protect, attend to, to take heed of, to keep, save, lay wait for, watch for.

Worshipers - We are gatekeepers over our cities, churches and before the courts of the King. Just as the Queen has soldiers who guard her presence - so we stand in the gate of our King and watch. We have the privilege of listening to the sounds of heaven ad declaring what He is saying in all the earth. We also get to watch intently as He prepares layers of glory for His people and we are guardians of His presence day and night. This doesn't mean that the Lord is unable to defend Himself - it just means that we are those who watch over His presence as sons, His Bride, His friends and His servants.       



Part One: HERE

Linger in the Presence of God

In 2014 we need to practice lingering or waiting in the presence of God. It seems to me that a great hunger for God's presence needs to arise in the Church. We need God's presence more than ever before - Let's make this a season of waiting on Him and calling for more! May a passion for His presence arise in our hearts, churches and nations!

When Moses went into the place of meeting with the Lord, all the people stayed in the safety of their tent doors. We only hear of one – Joshua, (who had the heart of a servant and the life of a worshiper) who lingered in the presence of the Lord. Even after Moses left, Joshua stayed in God’s presence:

Ex. 33:9-11 And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.

10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door.

11 So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

It is in the process of being worshiped

that God communicates His presence to men.

C.S. Lewis

The Miriam-Webster dictionary defines linger: “to remain or stay in a place longer than is usual or expected; to continue to exist as time passes; to be slow in parting or quitting something; to be slow to act; to pass a period of time slowly; to remain alive though gradually dying…”

In most of our churches, there are set times for the worship. Worship leaders tend to fill the entire time with songs and give no time to waiting in the presence of the Lord and listening for His voice. We rarely experience time passing while we remain still – being slow to act or speak.

I encourage you to wait in the presence of God this Sunday – Stay longer than is “usual or expected.” Just as we long to linger in His presence like Joshua, the Lord also loves to linger with us. Throughout their Wilderness journey, they were never without the presence of the Lord, as He lingered with them in a cloud by day and a fire by night:

Ex. 40:36 Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up.

David tells us…

Ps. 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
 Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.

The NLT translates this: be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for Him to act…

I love that – think about being still in His presence. Quiet your mind and make your heart still.

David calls on us to do three things that will help us to linger in God’s presence:

-Rest in the Lord

-Wait patiently for Him

-Do not fret

Being released from fretting can only come as we rest in Him and wait patiently for His will.

Look for His glory in this place of waiting
Smell His beauty in this season of expectancy
Listen for His presence in this time of stillness
Taste His goodness in this moment of fruitfulness
Touch His garments in this sanctuary of His presence

The word “rest” in Hebrew is: damam.  It means to be silent, to be quiet, to wait, to grow dumb (no speak), to be still, to die.

Interestingly, the Hebrew for "waiting patiently" is the word chuwl which means to twist, whirl, dance, writhe, tremble, fear, travail, to be born, to wait…

So, it seems that our waiting can bring on a dance, and a “birthing” of the things God has purposed for us. Wait on Him – linger for a while and listen to His voice – turn your prayers into a dance if that is a way you can communicate with Him.

Just remaining quietly in the presence of God,

listening to Him, being attentive to Him

requires a lot of courage and know-how

Thomas Merton

More on lingering: HERE and HERE

Worshipers Guard The Gate Of God’s Presence Proverbs 8:34

Proverbs 8:34

Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates, Waiting at the posts of my doors. (NKJV)

Happy is the man who gives ear to me, watching at my doors day by day, keeping his place by the pillars of my house. (Bible in Basic English)

We have a responsibility to do three things in the gates of the Lord:

1.   Listen – We are those who listen with a prophetic attention to the voice of the Lord and to all His commands. Take note that this is not an ordinary listening. The Hebrew word, here means we are to listen intently so that we are able to proclaim what we have heard and gather others to his voice.

2.   Watch – This word means, “to be sleepless.” The Lord calls His worshipers to remain “sleepless” in their spirits so that they might always be on the lookout concerning His presence. We are watching with an expectation of Him showing up.

     3.   Wait – The concept of waiting in this verse is not passive in any way. It is talking about us guarding God’s presence in the same way that The Queen’s guard watch over her day and night. We are guarding His presence from all who would interrupt Him, or stop the flow of the Holy Spirit.

Worshipers – listen, watch and wait for the presence of God. We need Him in our churches.