His Prophecy

In church we started this series called “Pray America Great Again.” And on the first Sunday, my pastor used Matthew 16:18 as a reference;

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

Walking to class one day, this verse came to mind and the Holy Spirit showed me something:

“. . . and the gates of Hades will not ‘overcome’ it.” This is Jesus speaking. Now, for Jesus to say the gates of Hades [Hell] will not overcome His church, that means it’ll absolutely show great potential of overcoming it. It would look like it actually has a shot at conquering the church of God.

Think about it, if something had no chance at overcoming another thing/someone, will there be need to make a statement like that?

Now I’m going to over explain this just to make sure you’re on the same page as I am. Say for example, it’s You vs An Ant (a tiny measly ant at that) in a “battle.” I walk up to you and say “You will overcome this ant,” It’s like well duh, it’s just an ant. But if at your apartment, you have an infestation of ants and not the tiny harmless type. The big annoying kind that bite and itch, (ugh!) and it’s all over your apartment, your clothes, etc. If I told you “hey you’re gonna overcome this situation, we will get rid of these ants in the end.” That would make way more sense, ’cause if you’re like me, you don’t like insects and the thought of it on your stuff just makes you cringe and cry!

So in Matthew 16 :18, Jesus basically prophesied all that is going on in the world. Not just in America. I don’t think America is the only country that is falling apart. Different countries are deteriorating economy-wise, socially-wise, morally-wise, spiritually-wise, etc. My home country, Nigeria, included. Basically the gates of Hades are attacking, whether we decide to admit it or not. We hear things like “This country is under attack” “People are going crazy” “What is happening in the world.” I look at all these and think this is exactly what Jesus meant by saying “. . . the gates of Hades will not overcome it”

Certainly, it will show great potential of overcoming the church of God; Christians will be killed. God’s word will be modified, people will live in fear, worry, doubt, anger. . .

But take heart. Jesus has said that in the end the gates of Hades will not prevail against His church. Whether the gates of Hell like it or not, God’s kingdom will stand! It’s a war, and as soldiers we go battle ready by putting on the whole armor of God described by Paul in Ephesians 6:11-20.

Now another important thing to understand is that the status of our readiness as Christian soldiers does not and will not dictate whether the gates of Hades will prevail or not. Regardless of whether we are ready or not (whether we pray, have faith, forgive, praise God, preach and obey God’s word, etc.) God’s kingdom WILL SURELY PREVAIL, because the hard truth is God does not need us, but he chooses us. So if we decide to be lousy soldiers that are not ready for battle against the gates of Hell, He will raise His own army.

So each person has a choice, you either be a ready soldier on the winning side that overcomes or you get ridden on, along with the gates of Hades.

Remember that regardless of your choice, His prophecy will come to pass; The Church of God will stand.

I pray God’s love and grace guides us in all we do. In Jesus name. Amen!

Love you guys!

Dami.