Jesus while emphasizing the importance of being persistent in prayer to His disciples advised them to:
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad and easy to travel is the path that leads the way to destruction and eternal loss, and there are many who enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow and difficult to travel is the path that leads the way to [everlasting] life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 AMP
These two verses suggest to us that prayer and intercession is like a spiritual pilgrimage to the Throne of God in Heaven. It’s a spiritual journey that takes us into His presence.
Some people are trying to take the shorter path into His presence (which is the wide gate); while others are taking the narrow gate (which is difficult and longer). How are you going to the Father in prayer?
Unfortunately for those who are taking the wide gate, there is destruction waiting for them at the end of it. Both pathways are spiritual, but it’s only the narrow gate that leads us into God’s presence, while the wide gate leads to eternal destruction.
This suggests that we cannot shortcut our pathway into God’s presence, without facing the consequences that goes with it.
Are you the type of Christian who is going through the narrow gate? Or are you one of those who are attracted to the easiest way with its wide gate, which the world is offering to those who are being destroyed by the devil?
Jesus is pleading with you right now to go through the narrow gate into the presence of the Father in Heaven:
“Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV
There is a clear difference between “arrogance” and “boldness”. Some people are mistaking arrogance for boldness. And they are lost in their pathway through prayer as a result of this. Our Father in Heaven knows an arrogant heart from afar. No one can get into His presence with an arrogant heart. He can only receive those who are walking by faith into His presence, because that’s how spiritual boldness comes for the access into the Throne of mercy and grace.
You can’t shortcut your pathway into His presence by asking others to be praying for you. You will have to find your pathway into His presence by yourself.
And many of those who are going through the wide gate are doing so with an arrogant attitude, instead of boldness. That’s why they can’t get through into His presence with their prayer life. But for those who are going through the narrow gate, there is mercy and the grace of God waiting for them in abundance at the end of the journey.
No matter how hard anyone may try to get into the Father’s presence with an arrogant attitude, he will always be disappointed with it. And that is why many are being frustrated with Christianity generally, because their attitude is not right before God in prayer.
Majority of Christians worldwide are trying to get through the wide gate, because it seems so easy and convenient for them to do so. Very few are however going through the narrow gate.
Every Minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ can attest to this truth, that if a prayer meeting is announced from the pulpit in any congregation, it is only those who are entering into the presence of God through the narrow gate that will show up.
Those who prefer the easier and wider gate will only show up on Sunday morning. And as Jesus mentioned in the above scripture text many are going through it, because they are seeking comfort in the way that they are practicing their Christianity.
However, Jesus never said that it is going to be easy to be a Christian in this world. He never promised us rest in the world. But He warned us that we will be persecuted. He forewarned us that we will have to face trials and tribulations.
The narrow gate is therefore for those who are persistent in making the daily sacrifices, through prayer and intercession into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus was teaching here about how our persistency in prayer can lead us into the presence of our Father in Heaven:
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:24 NKJV
For us to get into the presence of the Father in Heaven Who is Spirit, we must be prepared to do so in the spirit. But the pathway into His presence is not through the wide gate. It’s never through the easy pathway of many Christians today. It is only through the narrow gate, as Jesus pointed out to us in the scripture texts above.
And as mentioned last week the world of the spirit is very fluid. Things are constantly changing in that realm as a result of the prayers of the saints on the earth worldwide, who are influencing and impacting the quickening of the return of the Lord.
It’s going to be a glorious wedding!
The angels in Heaven are busy and constantly in preparation for the biggest event, that will ever happen in Heaven. They are preparing for the Wedding of our Lord and Savior (Jesus Christ) with His Bride (the Church), who is also getting Herself ready for Him by focusing and pressing onward through the narrow gate.
The Bride of Jesus Christ knows that She must be in the right shape, ready and prepared for Him. She doesn’t even know the exact time when Her Groom will show up for Her. She is however not ready to compromise Her faith in the promise that the Bridegroom had given to Her.
He had promised that:
“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
John 14:2-4 NKJV
The Father’s House has a lot of mansions that are being built right now by the angels in Heaven; for those who are going through the narrow gate of prayer and intercession. They are preparing for the biggest event that our Heavenly Father will be officiating in, when His Son will become united as One with His Bride.
Every Christian who is devoted to prayer and intercession is entering through the narrow gate, so as to be able to make it for this Special Event. It is not everyone who has been invited that will eventually make it for the event. Those who have been compromising their faith by going through the wide gate will find themselves being rejected.
Jesus will say to them:
“ .. Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.”
Matthew 25:12b NKJV
And they will say to Him on that day:
“ .. We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.”
Luke 13:26-27 NKJV
It’s important to note here that just because you have had an encounter with the presence of the Lord, does not guarantee you a place in God’s Kingdom. You must be persistent in going through the narrow gate.
Partaking of His Body and His Flesh in Holy Communion does not necessarily guarantee you a place either. Neither is your Church attendance record the criteria for getting into God’s Kingdom.
The Groom is coming back for His Bride, who has been making Herself persistently ready for Him. She will be without wrinkles or spots on Her Body. She is not prepared to tolerate such things that will make Her compromise Her faith in the promise of Her Groom. She wants to look gorgeous and beautiful for Her Bridegroom.
As the scriptures says:
“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
Revelation 19:7-8 NKJV
The Bride of Jesus Christ will be in fine linen on the day of Her Wedding. She is going to look clean and bright. In other words, She will eventually be made Holy before the Father in Heaven. God, the Father will do a perfect work in getting Her ready and prepared for the Groom. It is what all the angels in Heaven are working on right now in getting Her ready. Her righteous works on the earth for the Lord will make Her Holy.
Can you imagine how excited and eagerly Jesus is looking forward to being joined with His Bride? It’s just like a young man is excited and eagerly looking forward to his wedding day.
In the same way any young lady who is preparing for her wedding, wants to look her best for her groom also. It has to be a perfect wedding. And that’s exactly what the angels are preparing for in Heaven. Both the Groom and the Bride are excited and getting themselves ready, for the most glorious and beautiful Wedding ever to take place.
Can you imagine the multitude of Christians from all over the world who will be there? We shall all be joined together as One with Jesus.
That’s why it seems as if it’s taking so long. There has to be a perfect mansion for each one of us in Heaven, because it is the mansion that you’re going to be staying in with the Groom for all eternity. A mansion that will never need repairs or upgrades, because it’s going the perfection of everything that God has ever made. A perfect, huge and amazing mansion that’s specially being built in Heaven for you.
And just as every bride in the world will do everything possible to have a perfect wedding, the Bride of Jesus Christ is doing everything possible on the earth for a perfect Wedding with Her Groom.
But there are some who are not getting ready for the return of the Lord. They are not living holy before Him. They are not getting ready to be joined with the Lord. They have gone in the way of the world, with the deception and evil within it.
As the Prophet Jeremiah once said about them:
“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.”
Jeremiah 2:32 NKJV
There are the Christians who are not adorning themselves spiritually in preparation to meet with Jesus. They are not getting their “linen and bright” attire ready for the Wedding Day. Many of them have lost the sense of who they really are in Christ Jesus. They are living more like the people of this world.
Jesus however is more and more concerned about His Bride, even though He is excited about being united with Her.
His concern has to do with the state of His Bride at this moment; but He trusts and knows that the angels will work with the Father, in doing a quick and perfect job to get Her ready for the Wedding. He is however longing for Her more than ever before.
The devil’s plot is getting thicker.
And if you are not prepared as a Christian to be persistent in your opposition and resistance to the devil, you will find yourself being deceived to be going through the wider gate, that is destroying the relationship of many Christians today with God.
Satan is the deceiver, the thief and the liar. He operates from the realm of the spirit through his deceptions and lies, for the main purpose of preventing our confession of faith, from getting before the Father in Heaven.
That’s his goal – to prevent your confession of faith from getting to the Father in Heaven. If he can’t do it successfully, he will do everything possible to steal the word of God away from your heart and eventually from your mouth.
He will try to corrupt and manipulate your confession of faith; thereby rendering it ineffective to give you the desired result.
He knows that if he can steal the Word of God from your heart, you will be unable to declare what it says with your mouth, because he knows that you won’t basically have anything good to confess before the Father, apart from what he is trying to put in your mouth.
That’s the moment when he will start replacing the words of your heart, with the negative words that he is using to deceive others in the world around you. He wants you to be paying attention to what he is doing in the world, so that you will start thinking and talking about it like the unsaved people of the world.
And those who are accepting his deceptions and lies as the truth which they are confessing, are being destroyed every day. They are the ones who are trying to find the easier way to know the will of the Father in Heaven, by shortcutting their pathway into His presence, through the wide gate of the world of the occult.
Unfortunately for them that sort of pathway is destructive and sending them to the devil’s hell really fast. They are going through the psychic world, wiggy boards and all kinds of spiritist activities and false religions; by combining these evil practices with the way that they are practicing their Christianity.
Yes, indeed there are Christians who are engaged in such activities, while still joining the crowd of faithful believers in the deception of their hearts. It was the same thing that the Israelites did in the deception of their hearts, while claiming to be following the Lord.
As the scriptures says by the Prophet Isaiah:
“And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
Isaiah 8:19-20 NKJV
There is no light or brightness in them, to get them ready for the glorious Wedding in Heaven. They are consulting dead gods on behalf of the living. They do not have the living testimony of Jesus in them, as a result of their deceptive practices. The only thing that is waiting for them is the destruction of hell.
These falsehoods are destroying them and taking them down into the devil’s hell, not necessarily because of their ignorance concerning what they are doing; but because of their hardened hearts and lack of faith, in what their Heavenly Father has offered them through His Covenant promises with them in His written Word (the Bible).
And because the devil knows that his end is nearer than ever before, he is aggressively enticing those who are living in accordance with this world’s systems into such activities.
The Bible says:
“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.”
Jeremiah 48:10 NKJV
God’s word is His sword that comes out of our mouth as Covenant believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can’t declare it if you have not been taking time out to sow it into your heart. The blood of that Covenant cleanses you and makes you righteous, to do the work of the Lord in the right way.
Jesus said:
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
Luke 6:45 NKJV
You can’t give what you don’t have. If God’s word is not in your heart, it can’t become a powerful spiritual weapon in your mouth against the devil.
It’s only a foolish Christian who will ignore God’s word as written in the holy scriptures and refuse to put it in his heart; so that it can eventually come out of his mouth with power in resistance to the devil.
Some do know what God’s word says, but they don’t want to know more about it. They are not paying special attention to it. It is easier for them to seek the will of God, by trying to enter through the wide gate that is leading them into eternal destruction.
God’s will is not far from every human being who is living on this earth. Even the unsaved people of this world can discover His will in the Holy Scriptures by reading it. But these people are just fools, who are full of every form of evil and deception.
The scriptures say:
“But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (That is, to bring Christ down from above) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (That is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):”
Romans 10:6-8 NKJV
When a Christian is questioning within himself, about who will ascend into Heaven or descend into the abyss for him, so that he will be able to believe in God’s word; then that is actually insanity to its very core being displayed openly.
It’s the destructive and fastest killer of faith among many believers in Christ today. They can see what God’s word says, but they have to choose to question it. Some others do know what it says, but they are seeking some spiritual attestation about it, before they can be able to release their faith in declaring it.
And as Jesus had warned us, many are going through the wide-open gate because of this. They want an easy access into God’s blessing; but the easiest way is always destructive to them. It is always problematic for them in their ability to release their faith before God.
If Jesus did it, you can do it too!
Jesus began His Ministry on the earth by going through the narrow gate. The scripture says:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”
Matthew 4:1 NKJV
This was the path that His Father in Heaven had chosen for Him to go through, because He had to be prepared to eventually take on the devil through His life, death and resurrection.
Jesus was tempted by the devil in every way that we are being tempted today, but He never succumbed to any of the temptation. He overcame the evil one by not falling into temptation, and He came out of the wilderness stronger than when He was led into it.
And at the end of His Ministry on the earth He had to take the narrow gate again, as He went before the Father in prayer just before His crucifixion. He exhibited the same frailty as we normally do in our own weaknesses, when confronted with trials and tribulations.
The Bible says:
“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
Matthew 26:39 NKJV
We can see that He was not trying to escape the will of His Father, but He was rather putting Himself in line with the perfect will of God, while submitting to it in total surrender.
Praying in the spirit takes us through the narrow gate, so that we can be submissive to the perfect will of God. A Christian who is not praying in the Holy Ghost, will struggle in the flesh to position himself in the perfect will of God.
And there are not a lot of Christians who are going through the narrow gate by being persistent in prayer. Many have chosen to go through the wide gate that all the other Christians are taking. But unfortunately for them it’s the gate that leads to destruction.
We don’t seek as obedient and faithful children of God, to evade the will of God for our lives. Christians don’t seek to be out of the will of God. It’s only those who do belong to the devil, who will do such a thing. We are to be rather submissive to God’s word and being in His will, by taking the narrow gate to the Father in Heaven.
And as Jesus mentioned above, the wide gate has been designed by the devil, for the entrapment and ensnaring of many Christians until they are destroyed.
If the devil can use his tactic to steal the word of God from your heart and from your mouth, he will ultimately defeat you. And this is what he will do to destroy any Christian. He knows that if your confession of faith is not able to get into the presence of the Father, you will be entrapped with what he is offering through the wide gate.
There are many who have failed, as they have stopped holding on to their confession of faith to the very end. They had been very close to the breakthrough in their confession of faith, but they had gotten wary and tired in the narrow gate. They had given up their confession of faith for the wider gate.
The result is that they have missed out of the blessing of the Lord, by choosing the pathway that has delivered the curse of the law of sin and death over their lives.
Never give up! Hold on to your good confession of faith. And after you have received your breakthrough, you’ll still have to keep confessing the same thing, so that you’ll be able to permanently keep what you’ve received.
Jesus never promised that the Christian life and walk is going to be easy. But He promised us that as long as we are keeping our eyes on Him, it’s going to be easier for us.
Therefore:
“We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!”
Hebrews 12:2 TPT
Jesus went through the agony of the cross for the purpose of getting you as His Bride, ready for His return. You can’t keep your eyes on Jesus when all that your attention is focused on, are the evil works of the devil and the other distractions of this world, which are being spiritually engineered by the devil to ensnare you.
And many are falling for his lies by choosing to get their way out of this world into Heaven through the wider gate.
That’s why we do have an obligation as the children of God to keep on holding on to our confession of faith, while also praying in the spirit until every miracle manifests.
As a result of this:
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16 NKJV
Jesus as the High Priest of our confession of faith can sympathize with our weaknesses, as we are going through the narrow gate. He had been through the same thing that we are going through, by choosing to go through the narrow gate also. You have chosen the narrow gate to the Father, instead of succumbing to the lies and deceptions of the devil.
Jesus never called you to be “a popular jingo” in the way that, you are practicing your Christianity on the earth. Christian life is not meant to make us popular; but rather it is meant to make Him (Jesus) popular. Those who are following “the popular jingo form of Christianity” on the earth, are getting themselves entrapped and ensnared by the devil until they are eventually destroyed.
It’s better to please the Father in Heaven and become an enemy of the world, rather than to please the world and be lost in the darkness of this world before the Father. There are many who have backslidden away from the Lord, because they wanted to please the world.
The Bible says:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”
I John 2:15-17 NKJV
Jesus also said:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
John 15:18-19 NKJV
The world will never go through the narrow gate with the confession of faith. They want a microwaved end result in the way that, they are practicing their Christianity.
They are joining the backslidden Christians in going through the wide gate. The Father hears them also, but most of their prayers are not getting answered, because they are not in the will of the Father.
And that’s why many of them are consulting with the dark world of the occult, so as to get their prayers answered by the devil. Unfortunately, the devil has nothing good to give them so, they are continuing in their evil ways. They have become like the dog that does not listen to hear the voice of its owner. They are lost in the destruction of the devil.
When Jesus offered us the choice to go through the narrow gate, He was offering us “a slow and low cooked meal” that is being well prepared before the Father. He is cooking something special for those who are going through the narrow gate.
It may therefore seem like it’s taking so long, but it is the best cooked meal that is being prepared for you in this process.
And if you are never prepared to go through the fire of the persecution, you will never be able to go through the narrow gate. As the Bible says: “… We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
Acts 14:22b NKJV
Pray in the Spirit through the narrow gate!
Praying in the Holy Ghost gives us access into the narrow gate of the realm of the spirit, and the name of Jesus gives us the victory through the gate. We must therefore be vigilant and alert to go through the narrow gate. There are many vicious activities of the devil in that realm.
That’s why Jesus told us to:
“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:36 NKJV
The best way to escape the dilemma of those who are going through the wide gate, is to be watchful and prayerful. Those who have taken the wide gate are not paying attention to a lot of the spiritual details, that those who are going through the narrow gate are observing in the realm of the spirit. Their faith is dead and can’t see those things.
Praying through the narrow gate will validate your victory in Christ Jesus. The devil will become fearful of who you are, and you will be well equipped to beat him at all times.
The main reason why we pray more and more in the Holy Ghost is to protect the word of the living God in our hearts, so as to be able to stand upon it through the confession of our faith in that realm.
It is part of what the Lord does in disciplining us in the way of doing the works of His Kingdom. It will produce the best in us and give Him all the glory.
That’s why Peter said from his own personal experience while with Jesus in going through the narrow gate, that this spiritual exercise of prayer and intercession adds the following qualities to our Christian character:
“To knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.”
II Peter 1:6-9 NKJV
Are you passing through the narrow gate in your prayer life? Or are you with those who are taking the wide gate?
Taking the narrow gate will make you better, more matured and stronger in your faith, and in your confrontation against the enemy.
It was what Jesus did to defeat devil, even up to the cross. It was what the early disciples practiced in overcoming with their faith. And it is what will give you a long-lasting victory against the enemy.
You can be sure to keep him on the run and away from you. Stay vigilant and keep on watching as you are praying through the narrow gate.
You will be far better than when you first started this Christian race! You will be victorious and shining brighter in your linen attire on that Wedding Day in Heaven!
