Tabernacle Gates
Approach to God
Positive State of Mind
Psalm 100:4 (NIV)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.
The first requirement for approaching God is that the believer enter God’s courts with praise and thanksgiving to God and to praise God’s Name. This places the worshipper in the proper state of mind to focus on the greatness of God and that fact that nothing is impossible for God. This drives away doubt and fear and fills the believer with the power of faith in God.
Luke 11:1-2 (NIV)
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name . . .
In the Lord’s prayer Jesus taught his disciples to begin praying by saying “Father, hallowed be your Name!” Again, this same principle is evident that those who approach God in prayer are to do so from an attitude of praise and thanksgiving as they praise God for all he has done in the past and thank God for all he will do for them in the future as well.
I AM-The Name of God
Exodus 3:13-14 (NIV)
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
When Moses inquired about the Name of God, he was told that God’s name was called “I AM” so this means that God is whatever people need him to be.
I AM Whatever You Need
A sick person needs a healer so God says to them “I AM your healer!”
A poor person needs provision so God says to them “I AM your Provider!”
A widow needs a husband so God says to them “I AM your husband!”
An orphan needs a father so God says the them “I AM your father!”
To a person lacking wisdom God says, “I AM your wisdom!”
The names of God are unlimited to meet every type of human need that a person could possibly have.
When approaching God, the believer should magnify the Names of God for all that they need and all that they have been blessed with through the Lord. The process of magnifying the Name of the Lord puts God foremost in their human mind and energizes them with thoughts of God’s greatness.
Negative Thoughts Focus on Defeat and Failure
Exodus 16:2-3 (NIV)
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
The Israelites who came out of Egypt under Moses leadership often spoke out satanic thoughts like saying they were going to starve to death! It was this type of negative thinking that resulted in them being rejected from entering the Promised Land. Out of over 600,000 men only two men (Joshua and Caleb) spoke positive and spoke in agreement with God’s word. Only these two positive-speaking men out of that entire generation entered the Promised Land.
Numbers 13:30-33 (NASB)
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.”
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.”
32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.
33 “There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
Only Joshua and Caleb were meditating on the greatness of God and upon the power of God and these two men were full of faith and said that God was well-able to give them the Promised Land. But the other ten-spies contradicted them and said that they were not able to possessed the land. Instead of focusing on the greatness of God these evil spies focused only on the size of the giants that lived in the land. They were so totally focused on the negative that they had no more faith left whatsoever in God or in God’s power to help them. These evil spies said that they could not enter the land because of giants and said that they were like grasshoppers compared to these large men! Only Joshua and Caleb spoke positive and said that God was able to defeat the giants and bring them into the Promised Land.
Numbers 14:6-10 (NASB)
6 Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;
7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
8 “If the LORD is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey.
9 “Only do not rebel against the LORD; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.”
10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel.
The Israelites meditated upon satanic thoughts of defeat continually and they spoke out these evil thoughts repeatedly until they cursed themselves with their own negative talk. They were so distraught in mind that they even wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb to death for speaking positive and for refusing to join them in agreement with their own negative talk!
Numbers 14:11 (NIV)
11 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?
God was angry with these unbelieving wicked people who constantly spoke out negative satanic thoughts without any self-control whatsoever! They forgot about all of the great things God had done for them in the past and only meditated upon negative imaginations of defeat. God cannot work with people who are negative in mind because God does not dwell in the negative.
Numbers 14:26-38 (NIV)
26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.
28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say:
29 In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
32 But you–your bodies will fall in this desert.
33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.
34 For forty years–one year for each of the forty days you explored the land–you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’
35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it–
37 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD.
38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
All of that evil and unbelieving generation were rejected by God for speaking out the negative satanic thoughts of their minds and ignoring God’s power which could easily have given them the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb entered the Promised Land but that entire generation of wicked people all died in the wilderness. Also, those evil spies that spoke out negative words of the devil were all struck down and died by a plague from the Lord!
It should be noted that the believer must control their thoughts because whatever they think they will surely speak out. They are to cast down every evil imagination of the devil for this reason and only meditate on God’s word.
Having a Right Confession
Ephesians 4:29 (NASB)
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
The believer must keep their words in line with God’s word and not speak out any doubt. The devil knows that he has no power over the believer except if he can get them to confess negative then he can use the power of their own words against them.
Proverbs 18:21 (CJB)
21 The tongue has power over life and death; those who indulge it must eat its fruit.
The tongue has power over life and death and those who indulge it must eat the fruit of their own words. This means that the tongue can be a force of evil or good depending upon the words that they speak.
Oftentimes the devil will try to squeeze the believer with circumstances then place negative thoughts into their minds hoping they will speak out these satanic thoughts. If the believer speaks the negative words of the devil, they can destroy themselves with their own words. The believer must only speak positive words for this reason that are in line with the word of God. They should say, “It is written” and speak God’s word whenever the devil is prompting them to speak negative satanic thoughts.
Casting Down Evil Imaginations
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)
5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
The believer is to train themselves to cast down every satanic argument and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. They are to keep their thoughts pure by only meditating on things that are in agreement with the word of God. The believer is to take captive every satanic thought inserted into their minds and force those evil thoughts into the obedience of Christ.
If they do not do this, they will end up like the Israelites who spoke negative and were destroyed by the power of their own words. They were rejected by God and were destroyed because they refused to cast down evil satanic imaginations of defeat and instead spoke out all of these negative words with abandon.
Only Joshua and Caleb spoke in agreement with God’s word and only these two men of all that evil generation entered the Promised Land. All of the rest died in the wilderness without ever seeing any of the good things God had in store for them!
Believers must speak in agreement with the word of God and never speak anything negative within their prayer requests or else they can cancel their own prayers by speaking out negative thoughts of the devil inserted into their minds. They must cast down every evil imagination and speak the word of God instead because the power of life and death is in the words that they speak.
Thanksgiving Instills Faith in God
Again, it must be clarified that to approach God in prayer, the believer must cultivate the right mindset. This is accomplished by glorifying God for what he has done and being thankful and praising God for his unlimited power. This instills faith in the hearts of believers when they give their attention to how big God is and this causes them to focus on the fact that there is nothing impossible with God.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Without faith it is impossible to please God so this is why this tabernacle prayer guide and also the Lord’s prayer both start off with magnifying the Lord with thanksgiving and praise. This is essential in building up the faith of the believer so they can come before God in prayer from a proper mindset of faith and thanksgiving and praise.
Philippians 4:6 (NASB)
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Prayer and supplication to God must be united with thanksgiving to thank God for his answers before these answers are manifest. It is thanking God for his unlimited power by focusing on how big God is. This is why thanksgiving must be incorporated into every prayer made by the believer and their approach toward God must begin with thanksgiving in order to create the proper mindset of faith before their prayer petitions are ever made.
Negative Negates Faith
1 Kings 18:36-40 (NIV)
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD–he is God! The LORD–he is God!”
40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
Elijah defeated the false religion of Baal worship and had the false prophets of Baal seized and slaughtered on Mount Carmel.
1 Kings 18:45-46 (NIV)
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.
46 The power of the LORD came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
Then Elijah ran under the power of God and was able to run faster than a chariot and horses for a distance of over 25-miles! The purpose for this divine power was that Elijah was commissioned by God to run ahead of Ahab and arrive in Jezreel first and then put the wicked woman Jezebel to death before her husband arrived. Jezebel was the head of the snake who started the false religion of Baal worship in Israel. Elijah had just executed all of her prophets, possibly up to 850-men with both the prophets and Baal (450-men) and the prophets of Asherah (400-men). This was done to destroy Baal worship from Israel but if Jezebel was left alive, she would only hire some more false prophets to replace those that were killed under the command of Elijah. Therefore, God empowered Elijah to run ahead of Ahab’s chariot and horses to Jezreel where Jezebel was staying for the purpose that Elijah should destroy this “snake-head” woman Jezebel and prevent her from reviving this false religion again.
But somehow Elijah hesitated when he arrived in Jezreel and he failed to put Jezebel to death and then Ahab arrived and told her everything that Elijah had done.
1 Kings 19:1 (NIV)
1 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
Jezebel perceived that Elijah had hesitated when he arrived in Jezreel so she guessed that she could probably intimidate Elijah.
1 Kings 19:2-3 (NIV)
2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life . . .
Jezebel tested the response of Elijah by sending a messenger to him with a death threat to see how he would respond. It was at this time that Elijah was intimidated by Jezebel and ran for his life. This occurred because Elijah had dropped his spiritual authority when he hesitated to destroy Jezebel himself so therefore Jezebel was able to take his God-given authority and use it against him. Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah and threatened to kill him and this made Elijah run for his life! He was intimidated by the woman that he was supposed to kill himself and so he ran away in fear!
1 Kings 19:9 (NIV)
9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The word of the Lord came to Elijah and asked him what he was doing there? Elijah dropped his authority and failed to destroy Jezebel so God was asking Elijah what in the world he was doing running away and hiding when he possessed both the divine authority and the divine energy to destroy that wicked woman Jezebel.
1 Kings 19:10 (NIV)
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
Elijah however was so focused on the negative that he became distraught in his own mind. All he could think of was the negative and out of his mouth he only spoke negative words to God saying that it was a hopeless cause and the Israelites rejected God’s covenant and broke down God’s altars and put God’s prophets to the sword and Elijah imagined that he was the last survivor and that they wanted to kill him also!
God paid no attention to this negative talk because God does not dwell in the negative. Elijah had lost sight of the power of God and how great God is and how God could destroy the false religion of Baal from Israel. Elijah was focused only on what the devil was doing and so he negated his own faith by his wrong confession.
1 Kings 19:13 (NASB)
13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
For a second-time God asked Elijah what in the world he was doing running away and hiding when he possessed both the authority and power of God to defeat Jezebel and destroy her false religion of Baal-worship.
1 Kings 19:14 (NASB)
14 Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”
Again, Elijah repeated the same old negative talk about how it was a hopeless cause and all was lost and he was the only one left! Elijah was focused only on what the devil was doing and forgot all about the power of God.
But God does not dwell with the negative and paid no attention to these negative words of Elijah.
1 Kings 19:15-17 (NASB)
15 The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram;
16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
17 “It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death.
Then God was forced to tell Elijah to anoint Hazel and Jehu and Elisha who would be the ones to finish the job and bring final and complete destruction upon the dynasty of Ahab and destroy the false religion of his wife Jezebel. God told Elijah to train his replacement and anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat as a prophet in his place. If anyone escaped Hazel and Jehu then it would be Elisha who would put them to death.
2 Kings 9:33-37 (NIV)
33 “Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot.
34 Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”
35 But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands.
36 They went back and told Jehu, who said, “This is the word of the LORD that he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs will devour Jezebel’s flesh.
37 Jezebel’s body will be like refuse on the ground in the plot at Jezreel, so that no one will be able to say, ‘This is Jezebel.'”
Jezebel lived a long time after Elijah failed to execute her and so it was much later that she perished when Jehu had her thrown from an upper-story window, trampled by horses and fed to the dogs!
The failure of Elijah to execute Jezebel resulted in her reestablishing false Baal-worship in Israel again. God’s plan was delayed and Elijah was ordered to train his own replacement “Elisha” to take over his role as prophet.
Numbers 14:26-35 (NIV)
26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites.
28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say:
29 In this desert your bodies will fall–every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.
30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
32 But you–your bodies will fall in this desert.
33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert.
34 For forty years–one year for each of the forty days you explored the land–you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’
35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”
Elijah was replaced as prophet because he was focusing only on the negative and he forgot all about how powerful God is. This is very similar to how the children of Israel were rejected by God at the border of the Promised Land because they were focusing only upon satanic thoughts of failure and defeat and totally forgot about God’s great power. God had to destroy them all and replace them with the young generation (under age 20) and this young generation entered the Promised Land instead of their negative parents.
Positive State of Mind Required
It is for this reason that the believer must prepare their minds before approaching God in prayer because they cannot focus on the negative and still converse with God at the same time. God does not dwell with the negative and does not hear negative prayers.
It is for this reason that the believer is instructed to enter God’s courts with praise and thanksgiving which will place them into the proper mental state. This will cause them to focus on God’s greatness and God’s power and it will cause faith to rise in their hearts.
All prayer to God must start off with the positive of praise and thanksgiving which is the first step in approaching God!