Tag Archives: help

During this Hour God is Looking for Someone to Stand in the Gap

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images-23            Death tolls are rising, unemployment lines are getting longer while people are becoming more hopeless as the days go by. In the midst of this sweeping virus across the world, an out of the blue, earthquake shakes Idaho Tuesday afternoon adding to our fear-soaked society. There’s a need for God’s people to stand in the gap for the land.

My oldest daughter Joy was away at college when she was unable to sleep one night due to a burden she was carrying for her sister. Joy sensed an urgency and pressed into prayer not even knowing the details. The next day I called and shared with her that Aimee had been in a serious car wreck but miraculously was not hurt. God had used Joy to stand in the gap for her sister in her time of need. Romans 8:26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us.” The Christian who chooses to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading will be used in God’s divine purpose and plan in the earth.

In Ezekiel 22:30 we see God’s heart in intercession. “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” God is still looking for willing believers to stand in the gap. He is still touching different hearts with a burden to pray for different situations and people. Have you responded to His nudge to stand in the gap or like this scripture states, has God found you unwilling?

What really does it mean to stand in the gap, anyway? Well, let me explain by asking you a question. Have you ever seen a hedge lining some ones property border where the neighborhood kids have made a trail right through it leaving a big gap? This pathway through the hedge makes way for anything to go in or out. Many times that is how it looks in the spiritual realm. When there is a gap, God calls his prayer warriors to stand and plug the hole, keeping out the activity and injustice of the enemy. That is the call of an intercessor in the body of Christ.

We find a fascinating example of intercession in this story of Abraham pleading and standing in the gap for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. The story begins in Genesis 18:18-33 with a visitation from the Lord to Abraham’s house. It says that Abraham stood before the Lord. It’s a picture of an intercessor going before the Lord with prayers for mercy because the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were tipping them towards God’s judgment. Abraham saw the possibility that believers would be destroyed in this judgment and pleaded on their behalf. He started with the question, “What if there are fifty righteous? Will you destroy it?” God said He would not. Abraham then asked, “What if there are forty-five?” He kept asking until he got all the way down to ten. Unfortunately, there wasn’t even ten. Yet, this story illustrates the incredible principle of standing in the gap for others.

In this passage we get a good look at the mercy and love of the Father through Abraham’s pleadings for the righteous in those cities. One man’s plea for others pulled on God’s heart for mercy. He has designed you and I to be gap-fillers and wants us to come boldly before Him on behalf of others. Our society is in desperate need for willing individuals to pray and cry out to God on behalf of our land for mercy and deliverance.

 

I Have Fallen and Can’t Get Up

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images-11Have you ever gone through a tough situation and cried for help and no one responded? It can be very discouraging. How about when you cry out to God and it seems He is not hearing you. You might feel a sense of despair and all alone.

David recorded many of his emotional valleys in his Psalms to the Lord. In Ps 39:12 he says, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears”. I believe many people can relate to his cries for help. David like many others have come to a place that they are desperate for God to hear their cry for help. It reminds me of an incident I heard where I grew up.

A adventurous hiker was hiking up a rugged Idaho creek some years back. He was going down the path all by himself enjoying his journey when the rock he stepped on shifted and sent him tumbling down the steep rocky ravine. As his body slammed up against a tree and settled in an outcrop over-looking the creek, He knew

God hears the cry of His children and as a earthly parent responds how much more will your heavenly Father answer!         (tweet)

that his leg was badly broken. Unable to walk and being much to far to even crawl he lay hopeless in the back-country of the Rocky Mountains with the curtain of the day closing.

Barely surviving the frigid cold night he began to yell for help until he hardly had any voice. His journey had come to an abrupt stand still and his future was becoming more hopeless as the day went on.

Then, across the creek and up the ridge came the noise of a chain saw cutting wood for the soon coming winter. The man collecting the fire wood was getting frustrated at his kids who were constantly interrupting him as he cut the fallen tree, shutting off his saw he began to scold them. As his children defended their case they said, “we thought we heard someone yelling for help”. He listened and heard nothing so he continued with the chain saw.

The hurt and almost lifeless hiker knew this was his only hope and began to scream even more. The wood-cutter’s kids knowing they heard a cry for help risked getting in trouble and interrupted their dad agian. Seeing the urgency in their eyes he stopped and walked to the edge of the ravine. He listened and moments before he gave up he heard the faint cry for help.

Though this story ended with a good ending it is unfortunate that in our society there are multitudes of individuals that are crying out for help. Many have gone down a path in their life thinking they are fine and then abruptly interrupted by tragedy. These circumstances will bring the most independent person to cry out for help in desperation. But will there be a answer?

We read in Ex 3:7-8, where God speaks to Moses saying, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people … and have heard their cry … I know their sorrows.” God had heard the cry of His people and understood their sorrows, for they were in bondage to the Egyptians as slaves. God sees the oppression of those that are in desperate situations. In this passage God says, “So I have come down to deliver them”. God hears the cry of His children and as a earthly parent responds how much more will your heavenly Father answer! (Lk 11:11-13) If you’re in that place now, hang on for He hears and will deliver.

Hang On Help is on the Way

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a0048-000162Most people would agree that the Welsh Revival was a revival of prayer. Often the meetings would go for hours without any type of teaching or singing, only with prayer and travail. God used a young man named Evan Roberts as His instrument, who was a true intercessor and a man of prayer.

The goal for his first meetings was to train and raise up intercessors for the coming revival. In his book, Revival, Winkie Pratney says, “A prominent member of a Newport Baptist Church declared that Evan Roberts had been praying for thirteen months for that wave of revival to come. He related how the young man was turned out of his lodgings by the landlady who thought that, in his enthusiasm, he was possessed or somewhat mad. He spent hours preaching and praying in his room until the lady became afraid of him and asked him to leave.”

God is not a respecter of persons, but is looking for anyone who will yield to a life of persistent prayer. (tweet)

Evan was persistent in prayer, knowing the key to revival was through a life totally surrendered to the Holy Spirit. At times it would seem his passion and persistence in prayer was unnatural. Yet, when you look at the results of one hundred thousand souls saved in six months, you can only rejoice for his obedience. God is not a respecter of persons, but is looking for anyone who will yield to a life of persistent prayer.

As we read the parable in Luke 18:1–8, we see Jesus teaching that we should always pray and not lose heart. He uses the illustration of a widow going before the judge to get justice from her adversary. Due to the widow’s continual persistence, the judge chose to grant her plea. For she was wearing him down through her persistent pleading. In verse 7, the Lord said, “Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” God wants us to understand that He will answer the righteous who cry out to him continually and persistently! That’s a promise! There is a blessing to those who will not lose heart! Continue reading →