Weekend update: Stand

…stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand, stand firm… Ephesians 6:13b-14a

Another evening of protests in Ferguson  turned into another nightmare for the community as looters and vandals took advantage of heightened passions stirred by further police disclosures. As I watched the footage of lawlessness and the contrasting video of the citizens of Ferguson and neighboring towns cleaning up the damage and offering other assistance to store owners this morning, I couldn’t help but notice a sense of defeat and hopelessness in both citizens and reporters; and it threatened to seep into my soul as well.

As I mulled over the situation, comparing the difference between events on the ground and the outcomes many of us are seeking to obtain by prayer, I sensed the still small voice of Comfort Himself reminding me, “Just stay in the gap.”

Stay in the gap. Keep your position in prayer. Stand. Just by doing that, you are being used by the Spirit of God to make a difference in the spiritual atmosphere over the conflict. If you don’t know what to pray, that’s OK. You standing in the gap brings the presence of God to the ripped-open hole created by darkness, and as you stand there, knowing that God is God and chaos is not, you proclaim the Lord’s rule and reign. By standing in the gap during the most dismal reports, you are preparing the way of the Lord to move in, dispel darkness, and bring deliverance, salvation, and healing to a ravaged community.

Obviously, there are other spiritual job responsibilities besides gap-standing. But when the hedge has been ruptured and torn open for anything and everything to pass through unhindered, more gap-standers are needed to make up the hedge.

Here’s my encouragement to you: As you go about your day, remember that Jesus is Lord over this crisis. Just mutter that truth to yourself when hopelessness or defeat attempts to grip your thoughts. Listen for Scripture verses coming up from your spirit; think on them, let them permeate your heart and mind, and then pray them out over this community.

And by doing just that, you are a gap-stander. As you and others like you simply stand and refuse to budge from the truth that Jesus is Lord and that His will shall prevail, you will be part of the miracle poised to pour out over the region—and the world.

God bless, gird, and guide you as you stand in the gap.

Dorothy

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable… 1 Corinthians 15:58a

Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. Galatians 6:9