Standing in the Gap

I have a family member whom I've been praying for for years. Lately, I've been a bit disheartened because there seems to be no change in this person. And just when I thought "I'm tired of praying for her. She can continue to screw up her life if she wants to but I have other things I need to concentrate on," the Lord has convicted me not to give up.

I've been studying about prayer, the make up of prayer, the various kinds of prayer, etc. I've heard the term "stand in the gap" before when it comes to intercessory prayer but never thought much of it.

A gap separates two things; it keeps them apart. To stand in the gap means to connect the two. When I go to work, I work on a forecast. The forecasts are statistically and computer model driven. To the untrained eye, it all looks like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. When I finish the translation of it and make the graphics, viewers at home will see an easy explanation of what it is to come. In using communication skills and broadcast technology, I stand in the gap and connect the viewers with the complexity of the atmosphere.

Ezekial 22:29-31 talks about standing in the gap and has such a sad statement. The people in Judah had used oppression and extortion and committed robbery. They wronged the needy and poor. "And I sought a man among them who should build up a wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, that I should destroy it, but I found none. Therefore have I poured out My indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their own way have I repaid upon their own heads, says the Lord God." God was basically saying He needed someone to pray and He couldn't find anybody who would, so He had to destroy the land. Think about that...all He needed was one person to pray. Now I see how important intercession is.

We need to be willing to pray and we need to be sensitive to those times when the Holy Spirit is leading us to pray for someone (even when we get tired of it). We never know when our prayer might be the one needed to fill a gap and result in connecting God's power with a desperate situation.