Lift Up Your Heads, Oh Ye Gates!

On January 28th I attended a Men's Dinner at our church. You had to be a man to attend this function. Not because of the rules, but because it was -40 F outside with no wind. About 25 people showed up and we had a great time. I wanted to take the time to share with anyone reading what Pastor Al (yeah you can call him Al) had to say. He spoke out of Psalm 24.

For several months now I have really enjoyed Jason Upton's song Psalm 23. On this particular Friday night I got "the rest of the story". I suggest you go here and read Psalm 24 for yourself before proceeding. Leave the window open to refer back to it as I continue.

Pastor Al titled the brief message Lifting up the Gates of Our Life

Verses 7-10 in Psalm 24 is a picture of an approach of royalty. Imagine the ancient castles and the massive iron gates, it is interesting to note that one man, using a system of ropes and pulleys could lift the gates...or not. If the gatekeeper chose to lift the gate for the herald, then the king would soon follow along with his army.

The lifting up of the gates of our life allows for an entrance for the King of Glory. We discussed 6 different gates.

1 - The Head The place of annointing of oil and encouragement. The head bears the resposibility of leadership. By lifting up the head we are encouraging ourselves and our Maker to come in. What is the first sign of discouragement? The head drops and the chin touches the chest.

2- The Heart This is the gate of emotions and resolve. There are many times that we need to feel the emotions of God's presence. Women aren't overly emotional, men are under emotional.

3- The Voice We need to use our voice in expression to God. God can hear silent prayers, but a voice was given to us for a reason. Use it to pray and sing to God, edify one another.

4- The Hands Clean hands need to be lifted up to God. A posture of prayer is taken by lifting up the hands. This is an expression of blessing to God. Clean hands speak of integrity and character formed by Godly discipline.

5- The Eyes We gather the beauty of God with our sight. There is plenty to behold that God has created that is beautiful. Be careful to guard what we take in this gate so as to not poison the soul.

6- The Soul This is the gate of strength, life and willful choice. By lifting up this gate for the King of Glory, we are inviting the Holy Spirit to come and help guide us along the path of life.

This message was delivered in about 20 minutes and I believe that Pastor Al could have sepnt an entire sermon on each point. We were also challenged to search the scriptures for each one of these gates and to do a study of the gates surrounding Jerusalem during the times of Jesus. I have not found the time to follow up with those challenges yet, but I am excited to start. I pray that these thoughts help you too.