“In that day the Lord of hosts will be for a crown and a glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people, for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate” (Isaiah 28:5-6).
God speaks through the prophet Isaiah. He Himself will become a crown, a diadem for the remnant of the people, also a spirit of justice – for those who sit in judgment as one judges, and He will Himself be strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
I will speak about the Gates. There are different levels of the Gates – from your home, city, nation, continent, heaven, earth – everything works through the Gates. The whole world is made of the gates. We need to understand the very nature, essence and purpose of the Gates; and above all, how to take them. Because I believe that the Apostolic Churches today can take the Gates.
It is said that “the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church of God” – that is, the devil is at war with the Gates too, and he will not prevail against them.
It is very important for us to “burn out” in a living church. I have already spoken about the contradiction of the axles in the wheels – when evangelists seek revival, and apostolic shepherds – a living church. If I were an evangelist, I would choose revival, but if I were an Apostle, I would choose a living church. Because it has the stability and protection of awakening. An awakened church then gives birth to a revival; without a living church, the revival will die out. It will certainly have an impact, but if it is not kept in the barns, then the harvest will be wasted. That is why the Lord says, “Gather into baskets so that nothing is wasted.” Baskets are living churches. The barns are living Apostolic nets. Because it is very important to gather – “much food is in the fallow ground of the poor” – yes, a revival broke out – but “for lack of justice there is waste” – when there are no Apostolic churches and nets, then the harvest is lost. The Lord is not pleased. His desire is to keep, He is the Keeper.
Don’t burn out in a living church. Some work in the fire, but don’t understand that it is possible to burn out. Flint strikes fire. But it can come to a state of dilapidation. That is, the firewood flares around, but the flint crushes. This can’t be allowed. Therefore, we need to serve those who serve, and we also need to learn to self-restore.
Imagine that they deserved a great reward – surely they will receive it if they remain faithful. But if they abandoned it, they don’t want it, then they simply burn out. This applies only to those who serve fully, non-stop. This is not about those who sleep and rest as much as they want. Sometimes I am still awake at two in the morning after our prayer meeting, because you had given all of yourself, died a thousand deaths, and you can’t sleep until morning, because your heart is beating. I am not afraid of these conditions, even if the Lord decides to take you away, this is a good time.
Don’t burn out in a living church. For example, Judas burned out. He believed in Jesus no more. He saw miracles, saw Jesus, he woke up every time and repented of his thoughts. But then – “Here is Jesus Himself!” So he thought, but then he let his thoughts go down again, he let himself go down – he burned out of thoughts, he doubted Jesus. He didn’t fall because he was a thief, but first of all, he sinned against the Lord that he stopped believing because he doubted Jesus. He stopped believing that the Lord would judge him.
God judges, but they don’t understand that it is He who does it. If grace is taken away, it is very dangerous. God still holds grace over some people. If God takes some of it away, then it’s scary.
So Judas burned out. It is very serious. Be awake what thoughts you receive. If you have thoughts against your brothers and sisters, you will not understand why this happened to you, which means you won’t be able to repent. If you hate your brother or sister, you are a murderer.
Do not expect from man, you need to trust the Lord. Why do people burn out? Because they expect from man. For example, a man serves, but receives some reproaches or reproofs, and he ceases to realize that he served God. Then the an starts to fall and get frustrated. Serving the Lord is a privilege. No one owes you anything except mutual love. Serve the Lord!
It is written that the servant of the Lord “hates self-interest.” If a person thinks about profit – this is some kind of abomination. It’s disgusting to believe like that. This is a bad-smelling faith. Never walk before man, serve the Lord and you will never burn out. Expect reward from Him, don’t expect approval. I see often that people need approval, and it is right to give it. But you don’t depend on it. This is not the basis of our faith – to be praised, encouraged, and so on. It should be in life, but our faith doesn’t depend on people. We must walk before God and serve Him and expect reward from Him. Even if you were reproached, rebuked unfairly – rejoice if you are strong. Walk before God, serve Him, seek His approval.
There is such a thing – a jump from a place. When you have no acceleration, no capital, no rich friends, will you jump? We need to learn to jump. That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the gift of faith. You are jumping forward.
A jump from a place is an instant martial art of the spirit, when in your life you break this circle and your “spiritual caste”. You make such a rush forth that as if a new person has appeared so that your dear ones can’t recognize you.
With this approach, you take the Gates.
Revelations
“A huge rock, on which there were thunders, strong flames and a trumpet sound. The man of God was on this rock with some brothers and sisters. Those who were at the bottom of the cliff moved away from it, as it was very frightening. And some, on the contrary, came from afar to climb the rock and see what was happening on the top. But not everyone was able to climb, because there were many other obstacles. From the outside, everything was very simple and easy. But it wasn’t. After a while, a cloud came down and covered the top of the rock and everyone who was there.
What was happening inside the cloud was not visible.”
——
“It was shown how the Earth gave birth to her creation out of her womb. The Earth itself, as it were, was in the womb of God, who enveloped it, and received from Him the power of birth.
Then two women were shown having appearance of being pregnant. On the left side was an older woman, she was sitting on the peoples. She kept her hand on her belly and only pretended to be pregnant, but there was nothing in her womb. All the nations on which she sat were like a huge market. Everyone was selling or buying something. They looked at this woman who was sitting on them, and evaluated her, each to their own view.
On the right side sat another young woman who was in the desert and was dressed in a simple long light dress. She had a child in her womb and cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
This young woman was as in the womb of Christ and received from Him the power to give birth. It was also shown how something like a bright light was being created in the womb of this young woman, ready to burst out of her to fill and envelop the whole earth.
Then it was shown that the man of God revealed to God’s people so that everyone could hear the pain and labor of the one who had a child in the womb.
This is true. Take a simple seed and plant it in a glass with soil. A bush will grow. How? This is a cam of substance – sand and dirt. How can it give strength, how can a tree grow from there? The soil doesn’t decrease, but the tree grows. Where does all this come from? – Because the earth is in the womb of God. She gives life. This is the voice of the Bride today, or the voice of the Woman, we need to hear today. A prophetic spirit that comes from our womb.
You need to make a leap of faith, a leap from the spot. Many of us need to “make a dash”. You are tired of your work, relationships degrade, dead loops of the vicious circle of life, habits – everything is like barbed wire. Sometimes our life can hardly be called the delight of God, the enjoyment of God’s life. Perhaps you need to “make a dash” and leap.
“When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.”(Judges 16: 2 -3).
The gates of every city are guarded. These are spiritual gates. This is neither an airport, nor a seaport, nor an entrance to the city. These are portals. And not just portals – because there are “openings of heaven” – but there is a Gate – this is where the movement of the authority legitimately resides. They are heavily guarded. And the Angelic world fights for the possession of the Gates.
Imagine that the security detachment was hiding and waiting for Samson – they knew that he had come to the city. They knew that if he went somewhere at night, it would be through the Gates.
Samson slept until midnight. Sleep is a wonderful thing. I like to sleep on breaking points where you need to break something: you turn around, set the spirit, and your hyperboloid hits the heaven, and you sleep. And the Angelic world must take this into account. They ask: “For how long?” And you answer: “I’ll stay until the time!” The demons, of course, rebel until the time: electricity goes out, the sewer breaks, etc. In short, a shift happens. And they have to reckon: that’s it, a neighbor has come, and now he resides here.
This is what happens when you invade new territories and start living there. The Ark came – their Dagon fell, some kind of movement began. And the ark only stands and shines, it does nothing. If you are an ark, and the Lord says that “I will dwell in them and walk in them,” then the ark walks with your feet and teaches you inside, because it is no longer necessary for someone else to teach you. That’s when the shift occurs in the outer world, in the Angelic. But not all of us know about it.
And Samson rose up at midnight! He grabbed the doors of the city gate with both gateposts, lifted them together with the bar, put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the mountain, which is on the way to Hebron.
I want to inspire today those, who are in the cities – God’s people – to do this. It is very important to have the ability to fight at night. He produced a night battle. During the day it would hurt the children. There would be many onlookers who would misinterpret the action of the Spirit. He needed to fight night battles. And he called for a great breakthrough at night. A night fight.
It is written that he “took hold” of the gates. We must have a hold in our spirit. He didn’t touch it, but he grabbed it.
One night I had a fight with the devil. In a dream I saw a small ring. And a black, hairy, huge devil stood on it – about two meters and a half tall. And he had only one thing for you – to kill. He walked up to me and stood over me. It’s very scary. But suddenly the Lord took away the fear and gave me wrath, rage. Suddenly the Lord put me in fury. And I rushed at him – to tear and kill. I woke up at this point. I thought, “Good!” It’s good that I didn’t run from him in fear.
The first principle is that Samson did it by faith. The Spirit of the Lord worked in him: with a jump of the spirit right from bed, he jumped straight to the gates. And where is the distance, how did he get to them? Where are the bushes where the guards were hiding? – Jump! That is, you need to get to the gate. We had a revelation that it was possible to live in Luz and not in Bethel. Many shepherds “burn fires” at the city walls, but they never enter the city. And those were poor people, peasants who lived by the city walls. And so they “burn bonfires”, hold Divine services – by the walls of the city. And the city keeps living its own life. Many years pass, but the shepherd has not taken the authority, they live like guests there. Where are the windows of heaven? Where is the Gate? – When you walk freely and laugh.
It doesn’t matter what the city is called. It can have only two names – either Luz or Bethel. Bethel is the house of God, where the windows of heaven are open over the city. It doesn’t matter that you know how to drive in the city, but it is important if you can move in its rivers of the Spirit. I immediately feel whether the city has been “taken” in the Spirit or not. I come to your city and immediately feel whether the church has taken power here or not, whether you are a guest here or a host.
Samson went straight through the window and took hold of the gates!
Second – he tore off the gate with both gateposts. That he could do it! Those weren’t any small supporters, the gates were dug in. And he took hold of them and tore them off: he spoiled the whole “history”, he didn’t honor the history of the ancestors, the history of the state. It was a leap of faith to destroy the wrong order. Samson did it. Their craftsmen dug in those gates there, handmade, carved edging. And he took it – and tore it off: “… having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them with Himself” (to Colossians 2: 15). That’s what Jesus did – He tore the gates of hell off! He tears these gates of your cities and lifts them up.
Lifting the gates is power in the Spirit, when you can carry the city gates on your shoulders in church, in your prayer services. You can carry, have fun in flight – this is the power of prayer, the power of prophecy, the power of prophetic proclamation, the power of the Spirit, the pressure in the church when you can lift the gates.
I imagine what it was – this is the spirit of faith, this is the Spirit of God in Samson. It’s not that about his body strength: it’s impossible for anyone, no matter how big your mussels are, to lift the gates of the city. If they are dug a meter into the ground – how can you pull out two gateposts at once? And he immediately tore them off and carried them, lifted them on his shoulders along with the bar, because the bar is like a balk on his shoulders – and what does he do – drops them off? – No! Can you imagine the man’s condition? You ask if he had love? – Only love!
And now he lifts the gates with the power of the Spirit, which is the pressure of the praying church, the powerful pressure of the Spirit! Do you lift your cities in prayers? Can you soar with your cities on your shoulders? Or are you still visiting there?
Fourth, he takes them from the enemy. Imagine how well they were protected – bows, crossbows, traps, ropes. It’s not just security, they all sat around the gates. And where do they all go? Samson did everything quickly, he tore them off, lifted them onto his shoulders, and not a single shot was fired at the back. Why didn’t anyone “shoot” him between the shoulder blades with a bow? Why didn’t anyone throw knife at least at his leg? “Because the spirit of torpor attacked them. They had never seen such power. This is a gift of faith, this is a leap from the spot. And don’t run away! There is no way back. Behind are heaven and hell.
Passing through obstacles. That is, he takes them from the enemies and passes through them. There is movement of the guards, but he – I think – he even ran through them. The ability of the church to break through obstacles, persecution, attacks. There were enemies everywhere. It is written that the enemies were at the gates – it was there that the concentration of the entire enemy army was. But he had the ability to break through. And the church today must have this ability – the ability to suffer, the ability to endure, the ability to carry the dimension of happiness and joy in times of the most severe depression. The mantle of Jeremiah will allow us to do this. And he was under this Jeremiah Mantle with the ruby of Benjamin. And Samson passes through the camp of the enemy and carries the gates on his shoulders – remember – the gates of the city. That’s what the church is doing today. I’m releasing these martial arts of the spirit to you. Take your cities like this. This is not a sermon, a dimension is opening.
Fifth, he takes them up the mountain. He didn’t just tear it off, trample it, throw it away and leave. He took it to the mountain! To make it all public. Prophetic prayer of the authority! Raise and lift up cities in prayer. He didn’t glorify those gates. He took them to God – to the mountain, so that God would take the authority. He gave them to God as a gift. Like David did with Goliath’s head – he took it with him, and his sword. He takes them up the mountain. And the Lord said, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself” (John 12:32). This is the strength of the church – in the prayer of authority.
And further – he sets them up on the mountain. Raise the redemptive gift of the cities. As Peter Wagner said, the redemptive gift is the best thing in cities, nations or countries – the best purpose of God for them. For example, the Russian people are hospitable and simple. If he doesn’t smile at everyone, it’s because he’s “deep”. Indigenous peoples with their dances of “seagulls”, impetuous Indians. This is a redemptive gift.
Listen to the earth! Every nation has its own beauty. To set it on the mountain means to bring the redemptive gift of cities to the mountain of the Lord. Not everything is negative here, he pulls out the positive and puts it on the mountain in order to surrender this city to God. So that God would enter this city from the mountain! On the mountain is God’s gateway into this city! God doesn’t rise from the basement, but descends from the mountain. He is coming from Mount Teman! To prepare this city for God – so that God descends from the mountain into this city. To prepare the good, which is the redemptive gift of our cities. They ask: “What is good about it?” They reply: “Good location, but the water is bad.” The water was healed – and everything is fine now.
He keeps the Gates on the mountain. The ability to keep. The anointing of preserving. Keep the boundaries of your conquests in the Spirit – do not lose what has been gained. Keep! It is written that “Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father and preserved by Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1).
He owns this mountain. The mountain becomes the Lord’s. There sits Samson at the gate – and no enemies. He establishes the gates on the mountain – on the way to God’s Hebron. He sets the gates on the way to Hebron, the city of God.
The attraction of heavenly forces – when our city gates already attract the gates of heaven. And what is the Eastern Gates – it is a connected gate – earthly and heavenly – into one. The attraction of the heavenly gates to your cities will attract, and there will be a connection between the heavenly gates and yours. And the open openings of heaven from which supernatural grace pours out – containing, protecting, providing for your churches. We will not beg from the world in time of famine, we will not humiliate ourselves. What the Lord will keep us from is losing our honor, losing the courage. He will keep us from humiliation.
He made this gate the gate of the nobles. “Lift up a banner on the high mountain, raise your voice to them; wave your hand that they may enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have also called My mighty ones for My anger – those who rejoice in my exaltation. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like that of many people! A tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together! The Lord of hosts musters the army for battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven – the Lord and his weapons of indignation, to destroy the whole land”(Isaiah 13: 2-5).
He takes these dirty gates full of demons, takes them out with the gateposts, puts them on the mountain and attracts heaven. Here’s what you need to do in your cities!
“And it shall be, if you heed Me carefully,” says the Lord, “to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes, accompanied by the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city shall remain forever.” (Jeremiah 17: 24 – 25).
That is, you can’t promote your own thing in these gates, your selfishness to promote cheap “kitchen” prosperity. Then by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David shall enter. Your cities are glorified by the fact that there will be praise for the Lord.
“The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:21-22).
It doesn’t matter if your city is poor or evil, you can make it heavenly by taking the gates to the mountain of the Lord, so that the rulers and powers of heaven move in them, and the Lord enters through the gates on the mountain.
Possess the gates of your cities!