The Narrow Gate - Martin Scott - http://www.3generations.eu/blog/

A good friend, Andy Knox, sent me this yesterday. He is someone who hears the Lord accurately, and when I wrote about ‘the gate’ he was encouraged to send me what he had been hearing. I commend it to you for prayer… again it is possible what is released in 08 is released then but the manifestation takes place after the year.

I heard the Lord say 2008 is the year of the narrow gate. I saw the gate in a hedgerow, and the other side of it a wide open field. It fells like a squeeze to get through the gate, but the wide open spaces in God the other side of it are really beautiful, where He sets our boundaries in place.

For some, the squeeze is like that of Joseph in going from Potiphar’s house through Prison into his place of destiny and purpose in God. He’d done well in the service of Potiphar, but in order to get to where He could fully inherit all that God had for him, and see the fulfillment of things dreamt about, he had to go through the squeeze of the narrow prison gate. In that place he probably felt pretty vulnerable, a bit like he’d lost it, disillusioned and then, through faithfulness, interpreting and understanding the nature of dreams and some key appointments, he’s through the gate and into the wide open space of seeing the provision of the provider in a ‘foreign land’ to be a blessing to the nations. So, a repositioning is taking place, but the way to that place feels very uncomfortable.

For others the squeeze is one like the camel going through the eye of the needle. Literally, baggage has to be put down, that cannot be hauled through afterwards. Things from the last season cannot be carried into the next. For some that includes radical decisions about finances, for some it means dealing with unnecessary burdens of false guilt, but the provision on the other side of the gate is so vast, that there needs to be no fear of letting go.

I also believe that for many, Numbers13/Deuteronomy 1 is a key narrative in 2008. 2000 was a year that the Lord clearly spoke to forerunners that it was time to ‘go in and possess the land’. The spies have now returned and there are 2 reports being released to the body of Christ. 1 report says, that we should stay at the mountain, that the giants in the land are too big, and we would be stupid to try anything different to what we know. The 2nd is one that says, the fruit is good, the land is fertile, our God is bigger and He is the provider and protector. Yes there are giants, but it is a time for courage and hope in the knowledge of who God is. If we don’t cross the river and fully circumcise our hearts we cannot see and be the fullness of all that God intends. This year is a big year of chioce for the people of God to listen to the report of hope. We have to learn to stand together in a new way.