The Gates Of Hades

“…and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

Jesus said that He was going to build His church- a body of people- who would be so empowered that the gates of Hades wouldn’t prevail. This means the gates holding us back from living the abundant life full of peace, power and blessings, would be overcome by Jesus followers.

Think of the most beautiful life you could imagine for yourself. A place of tranquility, satisfying work, enough time away from work to enjoy your family and friends as well as power from above to surmount anything that comes against you. Now picture yourself outside this lifestyle by a menacing iron gate- 25 feet tall. You long to move your family into this life of blessings, but the gate seems to be impassable. You simply cannot figure out how to gain entrance.

The gates of Hades (Hell) are strongholds in our mind that keep us from receiving God’s best. These strongholds are actually popular opinion based on intellect. For instance, the popular opinion when you have a headache is to get a Tylenol, ibuprofen or aspirin. But God flips this thought process on it’s head and essentially says in His Word ” I died for every ache, pain or devastation, you can get to your healing through me, by abiding in me, and praying my Word back to me.” So instead of taking our medicine and being on our merry way, we need to also go to the Word of our Lord and find Bible verses on healing.

Our Prayers Are The Vehicle To Breakthrough

“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” (Prov 18:21)

God gave us His Word to read, meditate on, accept and then pray back to Him. We are to speak out loud what God says, rather than what the enemy says. Popular opinion is actually the enemy of God. Popular opinion is based on intellect- God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. (Is 55:8-9) Instead of saying “I’m probably going to die of this cancer” we need to say what the Word says, which is: “I will live and not die and declare the works of the Lord!”(Psalm 118:17) This Scripture is called a Bible promise, and there are thousands of them.

Jesus illustrated that He is building His church on wisdom taught by His Father. Lets look at this dialogue between Peter and Jesus:

“But what about you?” he [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

“Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”(Matt 16:15-19)

Jesus was not merely wondering who people say He is. He was getting Peter to verbalize or loose who God the Father revealed Jesus is “You are the Messiah the son of the living God.”

We get revelations from the Father too, when we read and study God’s Word. He will reveal the meaning of Scripture that is perfect for changing our current adverse situation. He tells us to loose out of our lips- meaning speak out loud what God says about our problems. He also states that we should bind- meaning, not agree with and not say aloud the fearful thoughts in our head. Satan invokes fear in our spirit and he hopes we think about the worst case scenario. God tells us to bind Satans thoughts in our head by not agreeing with them and not speaking them and then to think on things that are pure, lovely and right. Our words either agree with the power of God or disagree with it. If we choose to believe God’s Word, speak it out of our lips, we will find it is powerful.

I remember early on in my walk with the Lord, I had completed my bible study for the day and as I closed the Bible and set it down, these unpremeditated words came out of my mouth “Wow, there is power in that book!” I truly didn’t understand what I said or where that sentence came from, but later, after many years of Bible study, I have come to know the power of the written Word and the power of the Holy Spirit through our speech.

In fact, one of the most powerful Scriptures in the entire Bible is that we are saved from Hell to spend eternity with God by saying what this scripture delineates:

” if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”(Romans 10:9)

God gave us free will to believe in Him or not, and when we do believe and we do confess with our mouth this belief, we have agreed with heaven and not with hell.

Hell Is Broken Through With The Word Of God

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”(John 1:1)

When we read the Bible we gain head knowledge of God. Upon heeding the direction of God’s Word, we gain true understanding that sinks into our heart. This is akin to an apple seed. We see the seed, hold it, but until we plant it, it cannot grow. Planting is the action required for the potential power of that little seed to be manifested into a tree with eventual fruit.

It is the same with God’s Word, we must take God’s Word as not merely a suggestion but as powerful tool to fight evil. We must speak it out of our mouths and be obedient to the word so as to be covered with protection. This protected environment is where the fruit of our faith eventually manifests.

Think about it this way. If you planted a seed in the inner city in a crack in the pavement in the middle of the road, most likely the dust, dirt, car tires and shoes of pedestrians would stunt it’s growth or kill it. The environment is all wrong. In this case Hell would win, because Hell is all about death and destruction. The seed would not grow and no fruit would be produced. It is the same with us. We may believe in God, but until we move into God’s environment by obedience we will never break through the gates holding us back from our abundant life.

Can’t Break Through The Gates of Hell With Only A Helmet On!

Many Christians have heard about the armor of God and yet they are still running around naked with only a helmet on! What do I mean? The helmet of salvation depicts their belief in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and thus they are saved for an eternity with God. But the remaining Armor provided for us is missing in a large majority of the body of Christ.

Firstly, they do not have on the breastplate of righteousness- they are still interpreting God’s Word their own way and living in sin. In order to overcome this, we need to pray for God to keep us in His perfect will and to repent daily for any sin.

Secondly they have not put on the belt of Truth- which is the Word of God. “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.”(Deu 12:32) All religions and many churches have added their own doctrines to the Word of God. If you believe something in error you won’t be able to break through the gates of Hell to receive all of what Jesus won for you at the cross. Ask the Lord for wisdom to interpret the Bible correctly and He will indeed help you. “You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.“(Jer 29:13)

The third piece of the Armor is the Sword of the spirit which is the Word of God to be used in our battles. When we memorize Scripture we can combat the chatter in the world that tells us life is based on luck and we simply have to do the best we can. No!

For instance, when a doctor tells you that you have four months to live you can take the treatment if you feel the Lord is leading you to do that but also you must reject human prognosis and say, thank you for your work and your care of me but I will believe what my Lord and Savior says: ” I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”(Ps 118:17). Knowing the Word of God, memorizing verses that pertain to our life, being obedient to the Word are our ammunition when the enemy tries to take our hope away.

The fourth piece of armor is the shield of faith, and this is the toughest to hold on to. We may have prayed for years for healing and so far have not seen it. We have asked the Holy Spirit to keep us in His perfect will, we have cut out all known sin and repent daily in order to remain in right standing with the Lord, and yet, no healing. Why?

One reason may be that God’s main desire is that we loosen our grip on the world in order to have us entirely dependent on Him. Another reason may be in order to be a witness to others to never give up on God’s Word even though we aren’t happy with His timing.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”(Heb 11:1)

Waiting takes patience, but He will deliver us if we do not give up. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”(Gal 6:9) God will show up in the 11th hour just like He did for Paul and Silas in prison- take a look:

Paul and Silas were chained, as we are chained symbolically to our illness, addiction and any impasse, yet they still trusted God and sang praises to Him. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose… They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”(Acts 16:25-26,31)

Our walk with Christ is more about our witness to the non believers than it is for our comfort. God will step in and do all He planned to do for His followers, but by answering our prayers immediately, others would not witness our struggle and our steadfast faith even in the midst of suffering.

When we have done everything to stand on the Word of God and to align hearts with God’s will, we will have on the shoes of the Gospel of Peace. We can walk in peace knowing our breakthrough will happen.

Shoes depict action- we must walk with the Lord. Jesus did everything He could do for us at the cross- He can do no more than die for us. Now it is up to us to use His Words, follow His walk and pray to our heavenly Father in Jesus’ name, using Bible promises. And this is how we break through the gates of Hades.

Hallelujah!

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”(Eph 6:13)

Food For Thought,

Lisa