FATHERS RULE IN THE GATES. Ian Johnson – ianjohn@xtra.co.nz

When I was in Turkey in 2009 I went to Ephesus the once great city where the gospel went out to the known world. Nearby is the ruins of a first century Church where it is believed that John the Apostle was buried. Tradition has it that John on his return from exile on the Island of Patmos was taken back to his beloved Ephesus where he lived as a very old man. No one knows how old John was but we do know that Jesus told John he would be the only one of the twelve to die of old age. Tradition says that John was so full of love that even though speech had abandoned him in

his last days they would carry him into the Church altar and soak up the power of Jesus love in Johns frail frame. John wrote: See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.2 Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is 1 John 3:1-2 (NLT) John was when he wrote that a true Father of thousands. He had lived a life of abandonment that led him into the courts of the true Father. In his own life he reflected the Fathers heart. In Hebrew culture the elders ruled from the gates of a city. Jesus became a gate for us into another realm and in his possession of us we become a gate for him into this realm. John was a gate of love a gate where the perfect love of God expels all fear. In the word it talks about Samuel sitting in the gate, all the judges of Israel are recorded as judging in the gate. David & Solomon sat in the gate to make decisions. Fathers sit in the gates and guard the way for others to come and go freely into the presence of God. Currently there aren’t enough Fathers sitting in the gates of the Church. Fathers who have walked in the suffering and the victories of Christ. Fathers who have laid down their lives for the King. So as a result the gates are polluted and the judgement that flows from the gates is the wisdom of men and not that of the King. Fathers its time to arise and possess the gates - Sons can’t learn obedience while fathers neglect the gates. You can’t open a gate you don’t possess. There is no issue over ownership, the King owns the gates and Fathers possess them on his behalf or allow them to be possessed by invaders through neglect. For Sons to be released and feel fulfilled they need Fathers to open the gates.. So arise Fathers and fulfil your destiny. Fathers who sit in the gate have the authority to make decisions that affect Sons. But Fathers carry the weight of responsibility to exercise the Kings wishes towards the Sons. De-facto Fathers often don’t hold the same level of commitment to the Sons and often pay no head to the Kings wishes and the Sons suffer. Being a Father is not a career but a calling. Those who see being a Father as a Career don’t exercise the correct heart towards the Sons and therefore don’t hold their highest good as a priority. Father’s don’t shut the gates and leave the Sons outside to defend themselves. But maintain a watchman always in the Gate. We are entering an Apostolic age which is not made up of Men & Woman who claim to be Apostles and demand Gold & glory. Rather the gates are about to be possessed by Men & Woman, fathers & mothers who love like Jesus loved. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 1 John 4:20- 5:1 (NLT) So here in this scripture is the test for true Apostolic vision its love. The love of a Father. God is not restricted by His word; but He is restricted by His own Character and nature He will not deviate from this character. So to interoperate His word correctly we need to know His Character. Intimacy and abandonment through Jesus by the Holy Spirit and towards the father is the only way we will ever know Him. If we know Him only through His word He will only ever be seen by us as distant, unseen and not as Daddy. To become Sons we yield to the Spirit

of truth; for those who are led by the spirit of God are Sons and not slaves. Slaves have no options and can ask no questions; but Sons can reason and ask questions in order to know the Fathers heart on a matter. Apostolic Christianity is driven by encounters and revelations from the Spirit of truth; Fathers are not called to be gatekeepers but gate openers. Apostolic draws us into Sonship; trains us to draw others and releases the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, so that all His Sons & Daughters exercise the character & nature of God through intimacy with Him.. Apostolic releases the government of God which is not to keep Sons & daughters in bondage but to see individuals exercise governmental authority to the world which releases the will and good pleasure of the Father on Earth. To share the way into the kings courts and to keep the enemy out of the gates. When Gates are opened by the Fathers the wisdom of the King flows out and Sons come to enquire at the Gate and show honour. But when the Fathers neglect the gates and hold the Kings wisdom for themselves the Sons follow their own wisdom and stumble. The Apostolic reformation of the body of Christ is based on encounters with the Character of God by virtue of Sonship and inheritance of our Fathers nature through covenant. This and not the council of men usher in the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. The Christian faith is about relationship it’s not about religion or outward displays of Church life that are just mere forms of religious expression. Jesus spoke very firmly to the religious of the day, who felt they were doing the right thing in preserving religious tradition but ignoring its core values. They didn’t have the heart of a Father. Rather they saw themselves as rulers. The soul food that is filling the Church is just junk food in expensive wrappers. Its food not delivered by Fathers but by marketers who care little for the gates and the sheep. Men & woman who would close a church down because its in a poor area are not guarding the gate on behalf of the King but are acting as self important gate keepers. If we are to return to true Apostolic government we must return to seeing true Fathers who open wide the gate that the King of Glory may come in to fellowship with Sons & Daughters and to rule over the affairs of men..

Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors: And the King of glory will come in. 8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; Yes, lift them up, you everlasting doors: And the King of glory will come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah - Psalms 24:7-10 (ASV) IAN JOHNSON www.hisamazinggloryministries.org