How often do you step back, look around, listen and not talk in order to assess what is happening in the field in which God has called you and gifted you to operate in? Sometimes, we can be so close to something that we cannot see it any longer for what it really is. Evaluation of situations is always a good thing, stepping back for a season or a moment is healthy.

I have watched the church from a far for a long time now. I have not been in any leadership role of a local church since 2013 and in this past 12 years of watching from the outside, I have learned somethings that have given pause and caused me to pray.

Jesus said the church is to be the place where the gates of hell cannot prevail (Matthew 16:18); but what are the gates of hell? If we do not know what they are it will hinder our ability to not let them prevail over us.

The gates of hell are many things but one of their major roles is to release a narrative in a nation. Even if you are locked behind gates, you can still have a voice that affects a nation through the narrative you speak. The narrative of hell is never life giving, hope filled or transformative in nature. The narrative of the gates of hell is death, destruction and disease.

Church, what narrative are we echoing in our heads, in our families, in our friendships, in our communities, in our cities, in our churches, in our nations? When we echo a narrative of death, violence and destruction we will be suspicious of peace, life, reconciliation and prosperity.

The gospel is good news, it is healing, it is joy, it is peace. Why are we afraid of what we are seeing with peace talks between nations? Why do we assume it means it is the rise of the anti-Christ and not the advancing of the kingdom of God on earth?

We as the church have been hearing the narrative of the gates of hell, so we have missed the narrative of the gates of glory (Psalm 24). Both narratives sound similar, because both gates promise peace and prosperity, but if you are suspicious and are expecting an Ezekiel 38 war you will miss the kingdom of God on earth Matthew 6 prayer being answered. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org