Defeating the Enemies at the Gate- Apostle Peterson O. Abu

The speaker is praying for the Holy Spirit to give understanding and help in defeating the works of darkness. They discuss the concept of enemies at the gate, which refers to obstacles that prevent people from accessing the blessings and opportunities that God has for them. They give examples of how these enemies can manifest in various areas of life, such as business, career, and relationships. The speaker emphasizes the need for spiritual warfare and encourages listeners to pray against these enemies. They also mention the story of Daniel, where an angel was delayed by a spiritual prince before delivering an answer to Daniel's prayer. The speaker warns about the existence of human agents of darkness who can hinder progress and encourages prayer and action against these enemies at the gate. Holy Spirit, we ask that you open our eyes of understanding, give us insight into your word and help us to be able to understand whatsoever you be communicating to us and give us the grace, the anointing to be able to destroy the works of darkness that the enemy has fashioned against our lives, against our family members and against every member of this church in the name of Jesus. We thank you Father because we know you are always faithful for in Jesus mighty name we pray. Quickly let us open our Bible to the book of 1 Corinthians. Open your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9. I'll be discussing with you on defeating the enemies at the gate. Defeating the enemies at the gate. To, for reminder, I just want us to understand that we are taking this period to be a season for spiritual warfare and a season of breaking and destroying the works of the enemies fashioned against us as a church, as a people, as members of families because every one of us here we are representing our families. Your parents may not be here, your children may not be here or your spouse or spouses may not be here. For the fact that you are here, you are standing as a representative figure for that family. So I want to really listen carefully so that when we start praying you'll be able to pray with understanding. When we start praying there will be understanding in your heart. So let us go to the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9. Defeating the enemies at the gate. 1 Corinthians chapter 16 verse 9. Paul the Apostle was speaking here, he said, speaking to the church. In Corinthians verse 9 said, For a great door and a fresh water is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries. They are great doors opened unto me, but they are adversaries. They are adversaries and what is the function of these adversaries? Their function is to make sure that Paul never ascends through that door. Paul never goes through that door. So these adversaries are there to stand against Paul, to withstood Paul, to oppose Paul the Apostle from coming in. And what Paul the Apostle is saying here is actually happening in many lives. They are great and fresh water doors that have been opened in your business place. Doors that have been opened in your career. Doors that have been opened in the spirit. But they are gatekeepers. They are enemies at the gate that stand at the gate to make sure that you never enter the reality of it. So you dream about it, but you never see the reality. You discuss about it. Even somebody tell you that this is the thought I have for you. But you will never see the reality of that. You see yourself in your dreams, in your vision, in your revelation, that you are doing some great, that you are becoming great. And these things only end. These dreams are only just dreams. Because the reality is not bettered because of the enemies at the gate. And that is why we are talking about enemies at the gate. To make sure that we come to destroy. We come to defeat every enemy at the gate. Every enemy that is stopping us from entering into that which God has designed for us. Enemies that have been stopping the church from entering into the full benefit that God has prepared for us. Enemies that have been stopping your family. Enemies that have been stopping your marriage. Enemies that have been stopping your children. Enemies that have been stopping you individually from possessing your possessions. I pray right now by the power in the name of Jesus, we defeat those enemies right now in Jesus name. We defeat those enemies right now in Jesus name. We are talking about enemies at the gate. Enemies at the gate. One of their functions, they are there to monitor those that go through the gate and those that go through, that pass or goes out from that gate. And they are there to lock gates against those whom God has designed that such gates should be opened unto. And let me use this, you can be in a place, in a territory, and when the gate of that territory never open to you, you will be suffering in that territory. It happened to so many churches. They are in territories where the enemies at the gate are the ones holding the keys. And then you have prayed, you have fasted, you have organized programs and crusades, yet you are not able to dominate that territory because the enemies are standing at the gate with the keys. They are refusing to open the door, the gate of that city to you. They are refusing to open the gate of that business to you. They are refusing to open the gate of that career for you to possess your possession. Enemies at the gate. So Paul the Apostle says, For a great door and a fresh one is opened unto me. And there are many adversaries. There are many adversaries there to oppose. There are many adversaries there to withstood. There are many adversaries there to make sure that I never pass through that door. And this is reality. Let us go to the book of Daniel chapter 10. Daniel chapter 10. I read from verse 12 to verse 13. Don't worry we are going to pray. Daniel chapter 10 from verse 12 to verse 13. Daniel 10 verse 12 to verse 13. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me, withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, mine came, one of the sheep priests, princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now this is a revelation that the angel brought to Daniel about what was happening in the spirit. Daniel offered his prayer unto God, and from the very day that Daniel made the prayer unto God, his prayer was answered by God. But there was a delay, because the king, because there is a prince of the kingdom of Persia that withstood the angel from delivering the package that God had for Daniel. And it took about 21 days for him to be able to be free from the captivity of the prince of the kingdom of Persia. There are spiritual forces that have been stopping your prayer from manifesting. From the very first day you made a prayer to God, God answered that prayer. From the very first day that you opened your heart and declared your heart's desire to God, we called for fasting, you were in the fasting. We called for prayer, you were in the prayers. And for the brethren following us online, we called for midnight prayer, you were praying at night. I come that after all these sacrifices of prayer, fasting, and everything we ask you to do, yet there is no answer for us. There is enemies at the gate. There is enemies at the gate that stop men from coming to help you. There are enemies at the gate stopping people from assisting to help you. You are in need. And the Lord has sent helpers to help you. But the moment the helpers have started coming, maybe they started coming to locate you, or they are about to shut you up, or they even called you and told you that, well this is what we have for you. Suddenly there is a sudden disappointment, because there is enemies at the gate. Enemies at the gate stopping your children from becoming better in life. You know, when we talk about enemies at the gate, these are demonic entities supervising your life to make sure that you remain in hardship. They supervise your hardship. They supervise your poverty. They supervise your life of shame and rippage. And they do not want anybody to come and rescue you. If anybody tries to come and help you, suddenly they will make life difficult for that person. When anybody comes to try to come and give you help, suddenly the person that is about to help you will just lose his business. Will just lose money. Will just lose things that will make him not to be able to have you in mind. We call them enemies at the gate. And as a believer, you must understand that in this world, Spiritual warfare is consistent. You must keep fighting Spiritual warfare. You must keep contending against the enemies at the gate. The ones that want to lay claim over the gates of your life. The ones that want to manipulate over your life through the gates. They are enemies at the gates of your life. They can be a human. They can be human form. And there are others that are in spirit form. The human form, these are those that go behind you to speak evil of you to your suitors. Somebody comes to ask your aunt for marriage. Another person comes to your family saying that he wants to get married to you. There is somebody, your auntie, there is a relative of yours that goes behind you to discourage that person from coming to marry you. And that particular person is saying that as long as it concerns this person, I am the gatekeeper of his life. I command you to do so ever that the enemy has position in your life as demonic gatekeeper, as wicked gatekeeper over your life. I command fire to locate them in Jesus name. I destroy them by fire. I destroy them by fire. I destroy them by fire. In the name of Jesus. Enemies at the gates. Enemies at the gates. We call them enemies at the gates. They can be a wicked uncle. They can be a wicked auntie. They can even be a wicked parent who never want you to go forward in life. They can be a wicked friend who go behind you to make sure that where you applied for job and where they were about considering you to give you that opportunity, it goes behind to speak evil about you. It goes behind to release information that will defame you. Enemies at the gates. The reason we use the word gate is that it is a closed mark to sources. The word gate is talking about a stepping stone to breakthrough. When we talk about the word gate, we are talking about an access point to prosperity. An access point to a new level. And then there is somebody there that is stopping you from going forward in life. Enemies at the gates. Enemies at the gates refers to demonic entities or human agents of darkness that are positioned to stop you from possessing your possessions. They are positioned at different gates to stop you from possessing your possessions. Enemies at the gates. They are positioned at the gates of sources to stop you from possessing your possessions. They are positioned at the gates of marriage to stop you from getting married. They are positioned at the gates of job, job opportunities to stop you from getting that job. Enemies at the gates. They are there. They can be in spirit form. They can be in human form. Demonic spirit. And they move around stopping people from going forward in life. Enemies at the gates. They are responsible for these four things. I am going to tell you the responsibility of the enemies at the gates. The four things that they are responsible for. Because you see you are going to take time to pray. And even if there is not much time for us to pray yet, you are going to find your own time. The message is on that record. Go and get the recorded message. Listen to the message again and then go into a series of prayer to destroy the enemies at the gates. The ones that are camouflaging. They are the ones tormenting you yet they are camouflaging. You will go into prayer to make sure you destroy the weapon that they have fashioned against you to limit you in life. The enemies at the gates. What are the four responsibilities of these enemies at the gates? Number one. They are responsible for disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. The enemies at the gates. They are responsible for disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. When you are close to your breakthrough, they are the ones that bring sudden disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. They are the ones bringing sudden, mysterious disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. Mysterious. Sudden disappointment. They are the ones bringing it to make sure that you never go beyond that which God has destined for you. Going beyond your limitation to that which God has destined for you. So suddenly you discover that at the edge of breakthrough, at the edge of promotion, there will be sudden disappointment. When you are about to be considered for the job, suddenly you will be disappointed. When you are about to move forward in life, suddenly you will be disappointed. When your visa is about to be granted and you are about to travel abroad, suddenly you will be disappointed. Disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. This disappointment sometimes can even come with a heavy sickness. A heavy sickness. When you are close to that breakthrough, suddenly you will fall sick. And the appointment you have to go so that you will be promoted, suddenly because of the sickness you will not be able to be present there. Enemies at the gates. It can be a sudden sickness. It can even become mental disorder. Mental disorder. There was a young lady who came from a very poor family, rich family. And then she was trusting the Lord to lift her up so that she could become blessing to her own family. And after all that her parents have put in place, they had to sell their land. They sold everything that belongs to them as properties. Raising up the money to send their daughter to overseas so that their daughter can become a bright and shiny light that would become a rescuer and a savior to the family. The moment the parents sold the land, sold every property, and it was time for the girl, for the lady to travel to overseas, to travel to America. By the time she finished processing every document and she was given a visa to go, she was at the airport, about to board a flight that would take her to America. Suddenly the spirit of insanity came upon her. She became suddenly mad. She became mentally disordered at that spot. Enemies at the gates. They waited for her. They waited for the family to sell everything that they had in order for her to be pushed forward to the United States of America. Now the girl was mentally disordered, and yet the parents had no property. They sold their land. They sold everything belonging to them just for them to raise the money needed for them to sponsor this child, their daughter, to the United States. Fortunately, here is the daughter. She had run mad, mentally disordered. She was not able to go. The parents had already sold property. They became so stranded. No land again, yet a child was mentally disordered. The enemies at the gates. They waited till when they have finished, you know, they have prepared everything for her to travel to overseas. Suddenly she became mentally disordered, mentally disordered at the airport. And then she was not able to go again. Enemies at the gates. Enemies at the gates. A man was looking for a job, and the very day was given the job. He came to thank God, Lord I have gotten the job. He was asked to resume that job the next week of it. And one day, till the next day was to resume the work, suddenly he slept off and never woke up again. Enemies at the gates. They are responsible for disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. What about a child that was trained to school and going for his youth service? After going to serve the nation, he was to return back home from youth service as a graduate. On his way back home, he got an accident and died. Enemies at the gates. And this is why you must not take it for granted. The enemies at the gates of your life, you must pray against them. You think they are not aware of what you are pursuing. They are only waiting for the time when you are close to the breakthrough before they terminate your life. So one of the responsibilities of the enemies at the gate is that they bring disappointment at the edge of breakthrough. Number two is near-success syndrome. Near-success. You are closer to success, but you cannot become successful. You are in the midst of people that are making it in life, but you are not successful even in the midst of successful people. You discover that you are in the offices of people who are martyred, people that are martyred in the society, and yet none of them will consider you. And there are people like that. They once had a boss. Your boss is a billionaire. You have a billionaire boss. But you are dying recently. You see, people have worked with great people. And at the end of their time, when they retire, they retire as poor people. Enemies at the gates. They can permit you to smell the success. You are going to perceive success, but you will never take the success. You will never become a successful person. Number three, their responsibility is sudden defeat after success. Sudden defeat after success. Yes, that sect of these enemies at the gates, some of them can allow you to become successful, but your success will not pass. It can even last for just a month. You got the job. Everybody celebrates. The next day you die. The next day you run mentally. You become so sick. They allow you to get the job. They allow you to get married. But then after marriage, there will be sudden defeat. Sudden defeat. After marriage, there is no child. After marriage, your husband suddenly loses his job. Your wife suddenly loses her job. After marriage, you become more poor. Things become more harder. But after marriage, you are becoming a beggar. You were never a beggar before marriage. They allowed you to get married, but they take away your financial life. They allowed you to get married, but they take away your success. They allowed you to get married, but they take away your favor, your love, the peace and fruitfulness in marriage. Enemies at the gates. They allow you to get married, and then they turn all your children to become vagabond. Your children become thieves, drug dealers. Enemies at the gates. They are the one manipulating over your children. You cannot give a reason. You cannot tell what is the reason my child is misbehaving. Why is my child a drug dealer? Why is my child a thief? Why is my daughter a prostitute? And you think they are the one just doing it. There is enemies at the gates that are manipulating over their lives. And you see yourself about dying. Your blood level, your BP, your blood pressure becomes so high. You have high blood pressure because of those children. They allowed you to have a child, but they say you will never enjoy that child. And that is why you are about to die, not even reaping the fruit of your labor. Enemies at the gates. Enemies at the gates. Number four, delayed answered prayers. Like it happened to Daniel, they can delay your prayers from being answered. Yes, your prayers have been answered, but they delay the manifestation. They delay the manifestation. Enemies at the gates, they know that when God has decided to visit you, they will make sure you don't go to church that day. They will bring up things that will make you to miss a encounter with God. The day God has decided to visit you, they make sure that you are not able to be available for that visit. The day they have decided to help you, the person that is coming to help you, he will come to your working place that day, he will not see you. Why? When he asks about you, they will say they don't know anything about you. And that is how he will carry your blessing to another person. They will make you to miss divine appointments. Enemies at the gates. Because they are the one holding the key of the gates. So they can manipulate over your life. Whenever the door is about to open, they close the door again. Enemies at the gates. And many of our prayers have been answered, but there are many spiritual territorial enemies stopping our prayer from manifesting. There are many enemies stopping our prayers from manifesting. Enemies at the gates. You must charge up this nine, this money. You must be charged up and you must pray very well and say, Lord, it has been long I have been under the captivity of these enemies at the gates. I must command my freedom now. And if there is not much time for you to pray, because when we start praying, you see, some of you, the Lord may want you to pray for more than an hour before you obtain your breakthrough. I told you that this message is under record now. Go back and listen to the message and make sure you pray and destroy the enemies at the gates, stopping you from succeeding in life. Enemies at the gates. And that is why you must be very, very, very watchful and prayerful. These enemies at the gates, they can also make you to give up when you are close to achievement. You give up when you are close to achievement. Enemies at the gates, they can make you to give up. They operate as a spirit of giving up, spirit of giving up when you are close to achievement. You have been laboring for long. Now you are close to achievement. Suddenly they make you to give up. Suddenly they make you to give up. I was on the social media, the internet, where I saw a man, a Nigerian man that was in Europe. After many years of trying to get to Europe, he eventually got to Europe. And he said of him to use the opportunity to labor and to take care of his family over here in Nigeria. When he arrived in Europe, it was just in six weeks. It was just six weeks in Europe. And suddenly he saw a lady that was drunk. And then he decided to get with that lady that was drunk. Probably I don't know what happened. And then he had sexual intercourse with that lady. The drunk lady. And that was how eventually, when the lady came back to consciousness, the lady reported her to the police. Probably he thought that the lady was the one, maybe the lady was the one that asked him that they should make love together. But it was discovered that the lady was underage. And then that was how the government of that land, of Europe, of that particular country, they arrested him and they said he's going to be in the prison for 20 years. That at the end of 20 years, he will be deported back to Nigeria. There was a man that planned to move there to help the family home. Eventually, he's going from here to prison in this strange land. They make sure that things come up that will distract you from the original goal, why you are in that place. Things will just suddenly take your focus away from the purpose you went to that place. And then they will implicate you to make sure that your destiny is captured in the place. Because you are the one to deliver your family. So when you are captured, your family will suffer forever. Enemies at the gate. A young lady, when they know that you are the one to lift up your family, suddenly they begin to program wrong people for you to get married to. The moment you get married to wrong people, your life has been sabotaged. Your life has been captured. Your life is under danger now. And the greatness that you should have become in order for you to extend it to your family, will not be there. So they make you to give up when you are close to achievement number two. They make you to compete with your destiny helpers. Enemies at the gate. The people that are supposed to help you, you begin to compete with them. You begin to be in competition with them. You came to them for help. And these people, they have the possibility to help you. But they begin to see that you are even in competition with them. You are becoming as though you are more better than them. You are more gifted than them. You are more talented than them. So you begin to compete with them. You begin to feel that you are more better than them. You begin to feel that you can do what they are doing. Why did you come to them the first time? Is it not because you are not where they are? Enemies at the gate will make you to start competing with your helpers. How many people have called their destiny helpers to be their friend? When you were nobody, you sought for his assistance. When he brought you close to himself, he began to see that you were almost seeing yourself equal with him. And that was how he decided that he would not help you again. Look at you. It is more than 10 years you are still suffering. You would have escaped this suffering 10 years ago if you were humble. But the devil, the enemies at the gate were able to manipulate on you to compete with your helper. The enemies at the gate. And these things happen commonly with pastors. There are people that we know that we can help. But the moment they came, they want to become boss to us. And that is how we pocket the key. The key we are supposed to give them to help themselves hard from that bondage. But because they came and they are the ones that want to help us, we decide to keep quiet and keep watching them how far they will go with it. Your boss wants to help you because your boss brought you closer to himself. You became too familiar with him and now you have lost that key. On enemies at the gate, they will make you to compete with your destiny helpers. Number three, they will make you to miss divine appointment. I have said this before. They will make you to miss divine appointment. Appointment that would have helped you in life. You suddenly miss that appointment. They will make you to miss divine appointment. You will be at the wrong place. You will be at the wrong place at the right time. You are going to be at the right place at the wrong time. Enemies at the gate. Number four, they will make you to experience happiness or breakthrough for a short time. I have explained all this in their responsibility. I am just making emphasis on it again. So your happiness, your breakthrough will just last for, it will just be for a short time. Also, enemies at the gate can cause misunderstanding or fighting among couples when they are close to answer prayers. Couples who have been talking to the Lord, they have been trusting God for a miracle. They have been trusting God for blessing in their home. When they are close to their breakthrough, you will see this couple will begin to fight. These enemies at the gate, because they see that the door is about to open, they will spark misunderstanding. Instead of both of you to join hands together to fight against this enemy, you begin to fight against one another as an enemy. Enemies at the gate. Enemies at the gate. They turn the faces of families. Instead of families to come together to deal with foundational problems, instead of families to come together to break the evil covenant that is existing in that family, you will see that the families will begin to fight against one another. And by fighting against one another, everyone will just scatter. You will see that this one is leaving this place, this other one is leaving. The simplest will not be able to unite again. And the enemy will keep dominating. Because when you support to join hands together to uproot the evil foundation and you begin to fight against one another, that foundation will be growing. That foundation will be dominating that one. Because both of you, or you as families, you have broken your focus. The devil is the focus. To fight against not one another. Enemies at the gate. I said they can manifest as a spirit, as a human. They are the ones responsible for delayed promotion. And they can even cause demotion. I said we are going to pray. Enemies at the gate. I don't know how long you are going to remain in this condition. But I think you should stand up and pray. You should rise up from your feet and pray. You must say, Lord, I am tired. How long will you keep suffering? How long will you keep suffering? How long will you keep suffering? You need the power of God to set you free. Enemies at the gate. In your neighborhood. Enemies at the gate. As an individual in your neighborhood. There is a compound, some apartment you park into and the landlord or the landlady, the owner of that apartment has sacrificed that apartment to the devil. And whosoever park into that apartment will never succeed in life. And they are the ones in charge of your gates. You must set them on fire and destroy them. Enemies guiding your gates of promotion. Enemies guiding your gates of breakthrough. Enemies guiding your gates of favor. Enemies guiding your gates of fruitfulness, of sources, of marriage, of blessings. Enemies guiding that gates. You must send them out from that gate. You must send them away. You must ask the Lord to send angels to fight for you, to defeat the demonic spirit that are hovering round about your gates of life. Hovering round about your gates of success and promotion. You must lift up your voice now. Shall we stand up on our feet and go to the Lord in prayer? Let us stand up on our feet and begin to pray. Enemies at my gate. Heavy enemies stopping me from making progress in life. I destroy you by fire. I destroy you by fire. I destroy you by fire. I command fire to locate you now. Enemies at the gate. I say die. I say die. I say die. I say die. I say die. I say die. I say die. Enemies at the gate of my success. Enemies at the gate of the church. Enemies at the gate of my promotion. I will lift the fire of the Holy Ghost. I bind you by fire. I bind you by fire. I bind you by fire. I bind you by fire. I command you to die. Open your mouth and begin to pray. Open your mouth and begin to pray. Begin to come against the enemies at the gate. Begin to come against them by fire. Begin to come against them by fire. Begin to come against them by fire. Enemies at the gate. Against my home. Against the church of God. Against our brethren. Against our members. Against our pastors. Against our children. We command those enemies to die. We command them to die by fire. We command them to die by fire. We command them to die by fire. We command them to die by fire. We command them to die by fire. Open your mouth and begin to pray. Open your mouth and begin to pray.