First of All, Pray: Blog
Bringing Biblical Truths to Daily Life
Allow the “joy invaders”
What Esther can teach the Church
I’m reading through the book of Esther today. When I landed on chapter 4, I was amazed at its parallel to our time.
A decree had been issued (chapter 3) throughout Susa and the entire kingdom of King Ahasuerus (which stretched from India to Ethiopia, over 127 provinces according to chapter 1…think Afghanistan smack dab in the middle) to slaughter all Jews in one day and to seize their possessions as plunder. This decree was the brainchild of Haman, who had a personal grudge against Esther’s cousin Mordecai.
You see, Mordecai had refused to bow the knee to Mr. Haman…and that was a blow to Haman’s overinflated ego; and he concocted a plan to get the king to sign off on the mass genocide of Jews. Whenever genocide of any race, religion, or ethnicity is on the table, you better believe petty, unresolved EGO, JEALOUSY, and SIN are at the root of it all.
Chapter 4 opens with Mordecai discovering the diabolical plot of Haman, and his response is very eye-opening. Did he hide away, in the terror of alarm? Did he seek to flee to a distant land? NO. He tore his clothes and threw on sackcloth, the garb of public mourners, and went directly to the open square and to the palace gates, wailing loudly and bitterly.
Many of us do exactly that when we speak of grievances to others and post them publicly on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. We share videos and articles. We attend various meetings, rallies, and write to our Congress people. And, I believe, we are getting bolder in so doing.
But when Queen Esther found out that Mordecai was making a scene, she was OFFENDED. How do I know that? She sent a clean, respectable set of clothes for him to change into immediately. He refused.
At this point in the chapter, the question arose within me concerning our present state of affairs: In YOUR quest to make the truth of our current situation known, have you run into mockery? Scorn? Censorship? Even among your brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ or members of your own family? Are they DEMANDING you to squelch your growing concern? Does it make them uneasy? Angry? Esther was very uncomfortable with Mordecai’s open display of grievance.
Did her discomfort sway him? Absolutely not. He rejected his dearest relative’s offer to change into the clothing of status quo, and he was resolute in his refusal.
Verse 4 reveals that Esther writhed in agony at his rebuff of her “sound” offer. Perhaps your dearest friends don’t understand you; they worry about you; they have backed away from you. Perhaps they’ve INCREASED their pressure to get you to conform. Whatever may be your situation, you have become a pariah.
Fortunately, however, Esther was willing to research and step out of her comfort zone to learn an inconvenient truth. She sent to Mordecai to discover why he was so upset.
Then things got VERY interesting; from Mordecai she received the news that Haman had placed all Jews under a “seek and destroy” decree throughout the kingdom. ALL Jews. HER people. Mordecai sent her a copy of the very document that detailed the upcoming slaughter. Did Esther scream, “FAKE NEWS”?
No. Esther became red pilled.
Once YOU are red pilled to any agenda of harm, you need to act accordingly. God has given each of us varying gifts and talents, passions and pursuits in which He beckons us to act. You need to go before Him to hear Him for yourself. No one else can do that for you. Hear Him; and then DO what He says.
Esther, being the king’s wife, had a peculiar role to fulfill in this whole red pill experience. In those days, in the Medo/Persian area of the Middle East, women—including beloved wives—had little to no leverage, even in approaching their husbands.
But Esther knew she could not remain in the shadow of opulent anonymity; she had to approach the king despite the potential loss of her life. She had not seen her husband in thirty days; she probably wondered if he had decided she wasn’t quite what he wanted…maybe a new young thing had already caught his eye…
She risked enraging him, and then—death.
But now red pilled, Esther mustered all her courage; called for a three day fast; and declared that after the fast “I will go into the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish” (verse 16).
Perhaps God in His wisdom is directing YOU to speak up and stand out contrary to our current cultural convention. He will make it clear to you as you seek Him…and then, like a godly soul from New Testament times declared when confronted accusingly by his culture, you can also say, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard ” (Acts 4:19-20).
May the blessing of boldness be on you this hour,
Dorothy
© Dorothy Frick, 2021
Freedom of speaking
…do not throw away your CONFIDENCE… Hebrews 10:35
CONFIDENCE here is the Greek word parresia, which means FREEDOM OF SPEAKING.
So, here is Hebrews 10:35 in its entirety using this definition:
Therefore, do not throw away your FREEDOM OF SPEAKING, which has a great reward.
In other words, you are not required to submit to the rules imposed upon you by those who do not fear God. You know—rules such as don’t talk about this; don’t refute that; never oppose culturally-held, unscriptural beliefs openly or publicly.
God’s Word gives you a different directive: Hold fast to your confidence. You have as much right to speak as anyone else. Speak Life. Speak Truth. Speak the unadulterated counsel of God.
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Psalm 91:4 Faithful to cover
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge;
His faithfulness shall be
your shield and buckler.
When you picture feathers or wings, do you typically think of military shields? That’s not my customary train of thought, but this unusual pairing reveals how intensely protective God feels about you. His heart brims with the desire to cover you when danger lurks and to be your shield against incoming attacks.
He shall cover
you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall
take refuge…
The Creator has always had a bird’s eye view of the animal kingdom, and He chose—out of all His creatures—to liken Himself to an eagle when revealing His protective nature toward His people.
In the Song of Moses, it says of God’s relationship to Jacob, “…He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions” (Deuteronomy 32:10-11).
David also use this same imagery in five of his Psalms. In Psalm 57, you can hear his anguished devotion when he cries out, “Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by (verse 1). I love this! In the hour of greatest desperation, you, like David, have the right to hunker down under the shadow of God’s wings until destruction passes you by.
Not only did God’s people the Jews have access to the powerful shelter of God’s wings, but the Moabite Ruth also found refuge under His protective wings as well. Boaz spoke highly of Ruth’s deep devotion to and care for her mother-in-law Naomi when he said, “May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge” (Ruth 2:12).
David, Moses, and Ruth each found refuge under the majestic wings of the Lord. The Almighty God is still ready and willing to cover anyone who seeks His help; He will never tire of protecting you.
…His faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler.
When I come to this section in prayer, I am reminded of another shield—the mighty shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one (Ephesians 6:16). But how many times—instead of believing your faith could quench every incoming missile—you’ve felt absolutely worthless? The enemy works overtime to make you feel like a complete faith-failure.
I felt like that more times than I could count…until this verse came alive to me. You see, God’s faithfulness itself is your shield! You don’t have to have monster faith; your God has enough faithfulness for the two of you! Just put your faith into His faithfulness, and when you feel weak, your trust is no longer in your own ability to be some kind of faith giant; your trust is in God!
And when it comes to God’s protective care over you? Place your trust fully in His faithfulness to do what it takes to keep you safe.
One night as a thirty-something woman, I had been passing out gospel tracts on the St. Louis Arch grounds with a group from my church. Because I was somewhat “seasoned” at this sort of thing, an inexperienced young couple were paired with me. Toward the end of the evening I was sharing Jesus with a young woman. The couple got bored and wandered off to find the rest of the group. I didn’t care because she was very interested in giving her life to Christ.
Soon, her eyes popped open as big as silver dollars, and she scrambled away. I turned and immediately was surrounded by a group of six to eight men. As they closed in around me, the oddest thing happened. I had a vision!
No longer was I standing near the top of the south stairway of the Arch; I was at a Charles Capps meeting at my church! There Brother Capps stood, preaching with his Arkansas twang, “My brother, sister, Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’; and if Jesus SAID ‘Let us GO to the other side of the lake’, then no wave, no wind, no storm could stop Him!”
And with that, there I was, back at the Arch, surrounded by the same six to eight men. I looked across the way and saw the old Riverboat McDonald’s. I SAID to the men, “I am GOING to McDonald’s!”
I walked right through that circle; no one touched me. As I descended the long stairway, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly, “Walk. Don’t run. Hold your head high, and don’t look back.”
There were whistles and catcalls as I fearlessly walked across Leonor K. Sullivan Blvd. to the gangplank leading to McDonald’s. Down the gangplank I marched, opened the door to the Golden Arches and saw my whole team—including the young couple. In an instant it dawned on me what God had just shielded me from. My knees became Jello, and I wobbled to the counter to order a bag of fries and a Coke.
God’s faithfulness was my shield and buckler that night; and the good news is that He will always be the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Put your faith in the faithfulness of the Lord and take refuge under His all-encompassing wings!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Psalm 91: Security in God’s protection
Are you feeling a little shaky right now with all the uncertainty of our culture pressing in on you from all sides? Covid-19 shut downs, positive tests, quarantines, isolation, masks, racial disparities and the ensuing unrest and violence, anger on social media, crazy weather and horrific fires, clashing political conventions, passions, and fears, tensions at home, at work, among friends…even while shopping, gassing up the car, or hanging at the park?
I have found some solace in all of this, a refuge from oppression and intimidation. It’s in the Bible—Psalm 91—and the entire chapter focuses on one thing: God is willing and ready to protect you—yes, YOU—in all kinds of danger.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I keep a pile of laminated Psalm 91 index cards handy so I can grab one and go. I have them in my car, my purse, I take them on trips, but mostly I carry one in my hand when I go for a walk. I have fresh Psalm 91s, used Psalm 91s, and raggedy Psalm 91s. I like the raggedy ones the best. They have a good feel to them.
Several years ago, maybe in 2015 or so, I sensed the Lord telling me to pray Psalm 91 a thousand times. When I shared this with someone, they said, “OK. Pray it three times a day and you can be finished in a year.”
That’s not how I approach things. When I try to race through Bible reading just to say I’ve done it, I honestly don’t retain much. I like to squeeze the juice out of what I’m reading; I like to interact with what I’m reading; and I like to tear into it.
It’s kind of like when I went to Grenada on a mission trip back in the ‘80s. Kim, a Canadian full-time missionary there, picked up the local way of eating chicken. She ate each piece with great gusto, but unlike me—who when once the meat was pretty well picked off the bone, I’d set it down and reach for a fresh one—she would gnaw and chew every last tidbit of meat and gristle off that bone. Then, without hesitation, she would crack that bone and go after the marrow! She’d worked that chicken bone until there was nothing left but splinters!
That’s how I’m happiest with my Bible time. If I go for reading large amounts, I know I’ll miss out on so much. I go for the meat, the morsels, the tidbits, the gristle, and then crack that Bible “bone” to go in after the marrow. I may not cover the whole Bible in a year, but I sure get as much out of what I do read as I can.
Anyway, I’m somewhere in the four-hundreds in praying this Psalm. As you can see, I don’t do this every day, and sometimes I forget to tally when I do pray it, but nonetheless, Psalm 91 has become a dear friend to me.
As I walk my neighborhood and pray this Psalm, I often like to emphasize one word at a time in a verse. For example, take the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” Here’s how my “emphasis method” would go:
- “JESUS wept.” I’d ponder the fact that JESUS HIMSELF did the weeping. I would think about how the Lord HIMSELF had such deep, human emotions, and because of that, He has no problem understanding my sorrow or anguish.
- “Jesus WEPT.” Now I would consider the fact that He actually WEPT. I’d think about salty tears falling down His face, and I’d be pulled into His moment, His feelings, His sorrow. I would find myself wanting to comfort Him.
As I walk and pray Psalm 91, I am frequently surprised by new ways of thinking about one verse or another. Of course, there are also times when I realize I haven’t listened to anything I’ve just prayed. When this happens, I simply start again where I first trailed off in my mind.
I’ve been sensing a leading by the Holy Spirit for a few months to start blogging about the amazing protective provisions God has revealed in this Psalm. I just need the boost to get started…and telling YOU I plan to do this should light the fire I need to get this meal cooking.
Please pray for me! I am asking for Holy Ghost get-up-and-go to grip and propel me so I can fulfill this task which I know He’s given me.
Thanks!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
The power of Your anger
Some of you may remember my series at the beginning of the year on Vision. The Lord downloaded six principles that He wanted me to hold dear this year.
Today as I was praying concerning these, I decided to reacquaint myself with the accompanying Scriptures.
The very first principle I received for the year of clear vision was to fear God.
Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? Psalm 90:11
Right away, I was transfixed as I absorbed that first statement: Who understands the power of Your anger?
As I prayed and mulled it over in my mind, I thought of recent scenes of anger in the news. An officer kneeling on a defenseless man’s neck, depriving him of oxygen…of life. The ensuing anger and rage, destroying properties and burning cities. I thought of the targeted rage of man against man and of multitudes intent on destroying an individual. I imagined myself as the focus of such targeted rage; then I heard this in my spirit: That rage is nothing compared to Mine when once it is released.
The God I serve is Love (see 1 John 4:16), and yet, He who made Man and Woman in His own image feels—and He feels deeply—just like us.
When we see a wrong, it angers us. God made us that way because He is that way.
I read it again, in a different translation. Who knows the power of Your anger? Then it hit me: No one alive—north or south, east or west, left or right—KNOWS the power of our God’s anger. None of us have experienced it—if we had, we would no longer be here.
And because we have never experienced the full range of God’s anger—and because we know from Scripture that He is Love—we suppose He is devoid of anger.
He is not.
Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
He is patient with us; He is kind toward us. He loved us so much and longed for intimate friendship with us, His creation, so greatly that He sent His Son to allow our sins to be heaped upon Him and, as a result, He took on the full wrath of God that we deserved. Once the full measure of that punishment was spent, in accordance with God’s plan, He raised Jesus from death to be our forever Advocate before God as a reminder—I paid for their sins in full.
So why fear Him if everything is already covered? It has to do with the very reason Jesus came here in the first place—to restore relationship between God and His creatures.
I know many of you are bothered by that word “fear” in relation to a loving God. Well, imagine with me for a moment my favorite animal on earth—a cat.
Let’s say a large cat—a Lion—came to live with you. This Lion loved humans—and not necessarily to eat! This Lion enjoyed companionship with humans and chose to live with you, to love you, and to be loved by you.
Imagine burrowing your face into His [hypoallergenic] golden fur, walking with him down your street with your hand on his back, unafraid of a soul due to his magnificent strength and presence.
You would learn how to care for him and what made him happy. Just as quickly, you would want to know what made him mad. In your love and desire to continue to live with your Lion in harmony, you would refrain from everything that would arouse his displeasure. Why? Because fellowship with this Lion would be too rich, too amazing, and too precious to recklessly neglect, discard, or jeopardize.
In other words, you would both love and fear your Lion. You would love him because of his great love and gentleness toward you; you would fear him because you understood that in his love for you, he restrained the unmatchable exercise of the full range of his terrifying ability to destroy. And because of his terrifying ability to inflict damage on those who hated him (and by association, you), you felt safe whenever he was near.
So it is with the Living God. He loves you and is gentle toward you. And yet, He is unmatchable in the full range of His terrifying ability to destroy—that devastating power which He has chosen to restrain for now. But because of that power, those of us who have opened our hearts and our homes to Him can feel safe.
I am grateful that I have neither known nor experienced the power of His anger. But not unlike that Lion, He is certainly worthy of all the fear, respect, and reverence that is due Him. The day is coming when His anger toward those who shun Him will no longer be restrained.
Choosing to live in the fear that is due Him,
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
Declare
I had a thought today while reading Romans 1:4a. “[Jesus] was DECLARED the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead…”
That word DECLARED stood out to me. I thought that word always had to do with WORDS that are SPOKEN. However, here, it is a NON-VERBAL declaration by the ultimate DEMONSTRATION of GOD’S POWER—raising Jesus from the dead.
That got me to thinking. I SAY things all the time; but what is my LIFE declaring? It is certainly speaking day in and day out.
I will pray that my life, as well as my words, will declare the things God has ordained for me to declare. I am aware that this will take some discipline, self-control, and at times being brutally honest with myself and others. It will take the power of God that is beyond my ability.
But I believe it will be well worth it.
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
One way to restrain…
Second Timothy 3 is one of the oft-quoted end times chapters in the Bible. BUT good news! Buried within are these two verses which reveal how to pray in such a time (which I am taking out of order for the purpose of my argument):
Verse 13: “But evil men and impostors will PROCEED from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” NOTE the word PROCEED. It is the EXACT same Greek word as the word PROGRESS in the next verse (vs. 9a):
“But they will not make further PROGRESS; for their folly will be obvious to all…”
How do we pray in such a demonically-driven, deceptive time?
One way is revealed in 2 Timothy 3:9. Pray boldly that “their folly will be OBVIOUS, OPENLY MANIFESTED to ALL.”
You see, men and women of evil intentions WILL proceed from bad to worse; however, their PROGRESS will remain LIMITED as we pray and act effectively. After all, this is STILL the Age of Grace. We STILL have authority as members of the Body of Christ. We ARE individually members of the RESTRAINING FORCE that is STILL on the earth (2 Thes. 2:6-7).
We must pray and act like it!
Dorothy
© 2020, Dorothy Frick
The weapons of our warfare
[As intercessors, we are engaged in probably the most intense battle we’ve seen in our lifetime. Your stand in this hour is not one of weakness or ineffectiveness, NO. God, in His foresight has equipped you and me with spiritual weapons custom-made for this very hour of warfare. My hope is that this entry, originally posted on August 15, 2014, will help to gird and strengthen you for your portion of this spiritual battle.]
***This was first posted on Day 6 of the conflict in Ferguson after the death of Michael Brown. Although our current events rage even greater than in those days, the principles in the Word of God are eternal and sufficient for every conflict.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ… 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Many around the nation have been praying about the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri. I am grateful for every bit of spiritual assistance in the face of all the hurt, anger, and discord in the area—my area.
We stand in the gap before the Lord on behalf of the residents and others involved in this situation. As we stand, we pray, sowing seeds of peace for the purpose of rebuilding the hedge of protection around the community.
But we also stand equipped. God never sends His children into spiritual battle without granting them the appropriate equipment and weaponry.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh…
If you are alive, you are walking around in a flesh and blood body. But even though you are “packaged” in flesh, you don’t conduct spiritual warfare according to the flesh.
… for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh…
Bible commentator David Guzik explained this portion of Scripture. He wrote, “The carnal [or fleshly] weapons Paul refuses were not material weapons like swords or spears. The carnal weapons he renounced were the manipulative and deceitful ways his opponents used.” (Guzik’s Bible Commentary can be found at BlueLetterBible.com)
No matter what the concern or conflict may be, you need to lay aside manipulation, backstabbing, slander, deceit, hate, insinuations, power plays, and all the other methods which typically rise up out of a fleshly desire to justify yourself, prop yourself up, save face, or get ahead.
…but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
God does outfit you with equipment and weapons for fighting spiritual battles. In Ephesians 6:11, the apostle Paul urged, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” when struggling against the unseen forces of darkness. The armor He provides not only protects you defensively, but it is also effective offensively against the enemy targeting you or those for whom you pray. However, you must lay aside both the defensive and offensive techniques of the flesh and take up God’s equipment if you are serious about effectual gap-standing.
According to Ephesians 6, God provides six specific pieces of equipment to any believer seeking to stand against the enemy—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Guzik observes, “Our spiritual weapons are scorned by the world, but feared by demonic powers”. The man or woman who launches into prayer covered by the truth and righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the preparation of the gospel of peace, steadfast faith, the helmet of salvation, and the Word of God can be confident in the face of any scheme of the evil one.
We are destroying speculations…
While praying for volatile situations such as in Ferguson [or in 2020, throughout the nation], you may not be able to distinguish between speculation and fact. But your part is to remain in the gap and pray. As you do, speculations will be brought down and truth will be made known. Pray that the authorized fact-finders will receive divine direction, grace, and wisdom as they do their jobs. Cover them—those in law enforcement and government and the journalists reporting on unfolding events—so that speculative and incorrect information will be squelched, enabling truth to prevail and healing to begin.
…and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God…
One prayer focus of mine is to address the “lofty things raised up against the knowledge of God” stirring around in Ferguson. People from outside of the community have arrived to take advantage of the chaos and to push their own agendas [as has occurred in 2020 across the nation, drowning the message of those protestors who sincerely cry out for reformed and humane policing]. As I pray, I remind myself that despite what I see or hear, the weapons I’m wielding in the gap are divinely powerful to bring those lofty things down. The forces of darkness—manipulating men like pawns—are not more powerful than the living God—and as you and I pray, their demonic effectiveness is being diminished. However, more often than not, it takes persistence and the long-haul in prayer to see the restoration of territory which the devil has ravaged. That’s why Paul wrote, “…and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm” (see Ephesians 6:13-14).
If things you’re hearing or seeing in a local, national, or international situation don’t line up with the knowledge of God, you are equipped with spiritual weaponry to address them in prayer and render them ineffective. But again, remember—this is warfare, and it won’t necessarily change overnight. Stand.
…and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…
Whose thoughts should you take captive to the obedience of Christ as you stand in the gap? Despite the fact that individuals being manipulated by the enemy are unpredictable or volatile, it’s not their thoughts you’re to take captive. As a prayer warrior, that’s not your job—controlling people or their minds. Instead, first you must get control over your own thoughts, lining them up with the Word of God to the obedience of Christ. Saturate yourself in His Word; let it speak to your heart and direct your thoughts as you yield to the Holy Ghost. Then you’ll be ready to take up your authority in the name of Jesus against the realm of demonic forces stirring and agitating chaos, violence, and destruction.
I have barely scratched the surface of the divinely powerful weaponry God has given to you for effective spiritual warfare. My aim in writing this is to whet your appetite, hoping to make you hungry to press in and learn more and more about how to stand in the all the gaps God reveals to you—and to do so effectively.
Dorothy
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21
© 2014, Dorothy Frick; revised 2020
Gaps
[How can YOU, as an intercessor, make a difference regarding the sea of unrest roiling in our nation? Because of our current situation, I have decided to post the series I originally wrote in August, 2014, during the crisis in my neighboring town of Ferguson. It is my hope that this teaching will assist you as you make a difference in prayer for our country. Originally posted August 14, 2014]
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Ezekiel 22:30, KJV; emphasis added
Let’s take a closer look at gaps: What are they, what is your responsibility concerning them, and how do you interact with them?
Gaps—what are they?
A gap is a gaping hole in a hedge—an unprotected opening through which bad things can gain access to a person, a relationship, a family, a church, a community, a people group, or a nation. The original gap was sin—Adam and Eve blasted a gap in the protective “bubble” surrounding the human race by disobeying God. Ever since then, sin has been the common denominator for all gaps, both large and small. And the common denominator for closing the gap blown opened by Adam and Eve—and every subsequent gap—is Jesus Christ.
Gaps exist wherever there are people. They happen because the devil wants access to lives—saved and unsaved alike. Conflicts between husbands and wives, if not dealt with appropriately, create gaps. Hurts, misunderstandings, miscommunication, and the like can tear open gaps between friends, neighbors, and colleagues. I call these “micro-gaps” due to the limited number of people involved. How do you approach these micro-gaps? Simply, you pray and then you obey; you stand your ground in love before God and you walk by faith—not by feelings or by sight.
Macro-gaps also exist, affecting hundreds, thousands, millions, or billions of souls. Very likely each one of these gaps began as micro-gaps—unresolved conflicts between two parties which eventually became infected by unforgiveness, bitterness, and unrepentant, hardened hearts. “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled” (Hebrews 12:15, emphasis added) In effect, this is how micro-gaps morph into macro-gaps
Here are some of the glaring macro-gaps in today’s world: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; terrorism; racial conflict; culture war; political polarities; etc. How do these issues qualify as gaps? They are openings through which the devil has gained entrance to create turmoil, confusion, terror, destruction, and the like. They are opportunities for Satan to create a smokescreen, obscuring the gospel. They are openings through which ungodly men and women gain access to positions of influence so as to steer entire cultures away from both godly values and the Lord Himself. Have you noticed any gaps in your world lately?
Gaps—what is your responsibility concerning them?
Because of the immense number of gaps on every hand, recognize that you won’t be able to cover everything you see. But as certain issues pop up on your “radar”—especially repeatedly—you can be certain that those are gaps in which you are to stand in prayer. Trust God to direct you to those specific people and issues about which to pray. Then believe that He will lead you as you pray.
Due to the avalanche of issues out there, I frequently ask God to orchestrate the prayers of believers all over the nation and around the world, divvying up all the various situations, people, and crises, depositing them separately into all the different hearts so that every gap gets plugged and every broken hedge gets addressed. A great company of men, women, boys, and girls are called by the name of Christ; if each one of us prays our part, then much will be accomplished.
You may ask, How much time should I pray about an issue or a person? You pray about it until it lifts off of you or until it resolves. This doesn’t mean, though, that you do nothing else but pray; you set aside time to pray specifically and you pray as you go about your business. This is one reason I like to pray in the Spirit quietly as I move through my day—I keep my spirit open to input from God, making myself available to pray when He brings something up.
And although you’re responsible to pray and stand in the gaps He assigns to you, you need to stay balanced. If you get “heavied out”, back off for a while. Talk with someone. Sing. Laugh. Have fun. Eat a good meal. Get some sleep. If you wipe yourself out as an intercessor, you diminish your effectiveness. You aren’t God; He is, and He’s the only One who neither slumbers nor sleeps. You will need to give it a break from time to time—and then, just like a soldier who has been on leave—after you have rested, you return once again to the front lines.
Gaps—how do you interact with them?
Once you become aware of a gap, simply ask God how He wants you to pray. If you can, pray in tongues as you think about it. The Holy Spirit will direct you. It may lift off of you quickly; that’s OK. A lot of the time, you will be a “stop-gap” gap-stander. In other words, you may be led to pray about something in passing. Sometimes that’s all the Lord leads you to do; perhaps you’re plugging the gap while some other intercessor takes a break. God has all the angles covered; your part and mine is to be ready and willing to participate however He leads.
In the case of the Ferguson, Missouri, situation, I know that I’m supposed to stand for the dissipation of chaos and the resolution of conflict. It’s my region that’s under attack; I must stand for my people—both black and white. I could shrug it off, denying any responsibility to pray by saying that God is sovereign and His way will prevail, but to do so ignores the fact that He searches for folks to stand in the gap.
So how do you stand in the gap? You pray, both in the Spirit and with the understanding. You pray the Word over the situation. You make time to pray; you pray quietly as you go about your day. When God brings light, you pray what you see; when He speaks to your heart, you pray what you hear. If you get no direction, you trust God and pray for His intervention. If your faith is wavering, you build it by feeding on the Word and praying in the Holy Spirit. And you stand, refusing to believe that the situation is hopeless. And you stand, resisting the temptation to throw in the towel. And you stand; having done everything to stand, you stand.
Know that your Father girds you up as you stand. “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10). Although this verse speaks of financial seed, know that as you pray for crisis situations by the leading of the Holy Spirit (often far harder on the flesh than giving money), you are sowing precious seeds of life and deliverance. And He—who has given you that seed to sow directly in the gap of the hedge—will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and He will increase the harvest of your righteousness—a tall, robust hedge!
That’s how you stand in the gap.
Dorothy
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13
© 2014, Dorothy Frick; revised 2020