HOW TO BE YOUR OWN GATEKEEPER

Last week, I had the privilege of speaking on theme tagged GATE-KEEPERS organised by DWF. After considering how I would approach the theme, I decided to speak on HOW TO BECOME YOUR OWN GATE-KEEPER. But Before I go further, Let's see what Gate-keeping means or who a gatekeeper is.

A gate-keeper is one who secures a place or persons from intruders. Security personnel like soldiers, police, night guards etc are people who protect our land, lives and properties from intruders. 

In this context, I would like to define a gate-keeper as  one who who opens the door for what or who is entitled or deserving to gain access into our lives and one who also shuts the door against unwanted persons, things and thoughts.

When we speak about gate-keeping, in most cases it's often referred to a wife or mother saddled with or perceived to having the sole responsibility of gate-keeping her home, marriage, children or other things.

But while we gate keep the persons or things under our care as women, who gate-keeps our personal lives? Who is responsible in gate-keeping who and what comes in and out of our lives? 

The simple answer is no one but us. We have the sole responsibility in gate-keeping our lives. We are responsible for what and who comes in and out of lives? 

In essence, we have to be very sensitive and discerning of our relationships, what we watch, what we listen to, our conversations with others, who we hang out with and so on. 

As Christian sisters - single or married - there are lots of distractions, pressures and responsibilities that tend to keep us away from gate-keeping our own lives. We take care of everyone else but us.

The married woman is most of the time concerned about her home, marriage and children plus working to contribute to the home financially. 

This single sister is pressured by the society on getting married to the right person, who to date, having a successful career, facing temptations from brothers and keeping up appearances on all fronts.

Most of the time, single ladies are usually overwhelmed with emotions that they throw their 6th sense (intuition) to the trash because they want to date or get married and by the time we marry or get into a relationship with the wrong person, we begin to look for who to blame and even blame it on God.

But how do we ensure we don't miss out on God's plans for our lives in trying to gate-keep other persons other than us? 

The sure way to do this is to ensure our fellowship with God remains intact. Never losing sight of your fellowship with God individually or with fellow brethren just as we are admonished in Hebrews 10:25 "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

When we allow distractions, responsibilities and pressures overwhelm us or become our major focus everyday of our lives, we lose sight of our fellowship with God. Let me give us an example. 

When we try to ensure our fellowship with God is intact, we also learn to set boundaries of who and what we want into our lives - we learn to say no to persons and other commitments when they do not go down well with us and according to Author Henri Nouwen "it's only when we set boundaries we learn to respect, acknowledge and be grateful for the boundaries of others." 

So then, how do we ensure a balanced gate keeping of our lives?

To answer this question, I would like to make reference or use the scripture 1 Corinthians 6:19 that says "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

We are God's temple spirit, soul and body and to remain so, we must effectively and efficiently gate keep our lives with all consciousness and wisely so.

Bodily, we are to ensure we take care of the body God has given to us  that also houses our spirits and souls through exercises, watching what we eat and how we eat to stay fit in active service of what God has purposed for us to do here on earth. It is commonly said we are what we eat and rightly so. 

We see great men of God like Kenneth Copeland, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Bishop Oyedepo and to narrow it down to sisterhood, Joyce Meyer who are all quite aged and mostly in their 80s yet so physically fit carrying out God's work still. Joyce Meyer never jokes with her bodily exercises and what she eats. I will encourage us to take a clue from her and begin to gate-keep our bodies effectively.

Spiritually,  we are not to lose sight of our fellowship with God as earlier stated. This must be in constant check and consistently carried out. We must ensure that we study God's word regularly that it dwells richly in our hearts, listen to sound messages and music as well as spending much time with God in prayer regularly. When we do this, we fortify our spiritual lives thereby growing stronger spiritually.

Soul-wise, we need to be careful about what we watch, who and what we listen to and what we allow dwell deeply into our hearts and minds because whatever affects the soul, affects the body and spirit. 

When the soul is down either through pains of any kind - physical trauma, emotional stress, mental drainage or anxiety, it can lead to depression which will in effect affect or bodies and spirits. Whatever signal we give to the mind, it sends to the body which also affects our spirits negatively.

Challenges will always come, difficulties will always set in but what matters most in all these is how we react to these challenges or difficulties. It is not what happens to us but what happens within us. 

So we need to be careful and very sensitive to the kind of messages we send to our minds when faced with challenges because whatever signal we feed the mind with will eat deep into our souls. 

Personally I don't listen or watch the news because it's filled with so many negative reports that can even prevent you from living your dreams. 

If the soul is happy and sound based on what you feed it with, the body and the spirit will also be sound and happy. Whatever you feed your soul with affects the body and spirit negatively or positively which will either strengthen or weaken the body and the spirit. If the soul is well fed, it becomes sound and happy and so is the body and the spirit.

Before I take a bow, I would like to leave us with this. Personally, I believe the major way if not the best to gate-keep our lives, physically, spiritually and soul-wise are the early hours of the day. Mine starts from 4 am to 6 am which comprises of my devotion, prayer time, meditation and physical exercise. This sets the tone of the day for me on a good note. This hours of the day is as important to me as the air I breathe in and the food I eat.

That being said, these can still be carried out in the course of the day but these early hours give you full concentration and focus without any form of distraction. Whether you are single or married, you can choose the early hours of the day to gate-keep your life before carrying out other assignments of gate-keeping.

Quote for the day - "You are the gate-keeper of your life. You decide who and what comes in and out of your life." - Rhoda I. Amapakabo

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