Our GATES
Cities erected walls to protect themselves from invaders, and, they inserted gates to allow traffic in and out. In troubled times, they'd close the gates, but usually these gates were thoroughfares through which communication and commerce passed. Not only that, but decision-makers gathered there to hear news and to deliberate.
Scripture speaks of the gates as places the elders would gather to decide who could and who could not enter (cf Gen 19:1; Acts 12:14). The husband of the
virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 is “known in the gates, when he sits among the
elders of the land” (31:23). Boaz, the intended husband of Ruth, went to the gate to buy a marriage license (Ruth 4:1–12; cf Deuteronomy 25:7). War plans were devised and military treaties signed in the gates (Judges 5:8, 11). Kings sat in the gates to address their people (2 Sam 19:8). Even conspirators against kings hatched their plots and were exposed in the gates (Esther 2:19–23). Samson attacked the gates of the Philistines (Judges 16:3).
If THOSE gates were important enough to be watched because they were entry points for good OR bad (think of the Trojan Horse), then WE must certainly WATCH THE GATES OF OUR MINDS - ear gate, eye gate, and mouth gate - noting what goes in, what comes out.
Just as Jesus knew that the place to attack Hell would be at its Gates (Matt 16:18), so our enemy knows to come after our eyes and ears - our GATES. Think of it like this: these three 'spots' have bullseyes on them - and the enemies of God (OUR enemies) are continually shooting flaming arrows at these points (ear, eye, mouth).
Guard your mind. Keep a watch at the gates. Don't let the devil get in to your mind (Ephesians 4:27; Luke 12:39).