YOUR GATES
To “guard your gates” today might mean:
Choosing wholesome media over harmful or toxic content.
Avoiding gossip or slander in conversations.
Being selective about relationships or environments that shape your mindset.
Regularly examining your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors against God’s Word.
They say the heart is a fortress,
but every fortress has gates,
and not all who knock
come with peace in their hands.
Your eyes,
windows, they say,
but they’re more like front doors.
What you watch, what you welcome,
becomes what you worship.
You scroll past shadows and let them settle,
forgetting that darkness doesn’t knock,
it seeps in slowly
through cracks you don’t close.
Your ears,
twin gates to the soul.
What are you feeding on in silence?
Gossip with a grin?
Lies dressed in lyrics?
Fear disguised as facts?
Not all noise is harmless background,
some sounds are seeds.
And what you plant in stillness
will grow in your spirit.
Your mouth,
a gate that swings both ways.
Words enter, and words escape.
Life and death are in the power of the tongue,
but how often do we speak
without standing guard?
A loose gate lets thieves in.
A reckless tongue lets love out.
Guard it. Speak life.
Your heart,
the city center.
Every gate leads here.
That’s why Solomon said:
“Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Because when your gates are unguarded,
your heart becomes a battlefield
you didn’t prepare for.
So watch the watchman,
Is he alert?
Is he sleeping?
Is he posting guards or entertaining strangers?
Are you letting God patrol the gates
or leaving them to rust?
Because you can’t live Holy
if you let hell walk through your gates.
You can’t find peace
while renting space to chaos.
And you can’t expect freedom
when you keep unlocking the doors
you’ve prayed for God to close.
So today,
guard your gates.
Not out of fear, but out of faith.
Not to shut people out,
but to let God in.
Because the KING is coming.
And when HE knocks,
you’ll want your gates
wide open.
Gates symbolize the main entry points to your inner life.
Amen