Standing in the Gap
If you were asked to give a brief summary of the Book of all books, how would you reply? This reminds me of my favorite seminary professor giving us an assignment. He asked us to summarize the Bible in one page. He then explained he didn’t want us to use “Christianese,” or any well known theological terms but to wrestle with it ourselves and to put in our own words. He wanted us to think! Do whaaat? The next class he asked us to do it again, but this time in a paragraph. The following class meeting he asked us to reduce it to a sentence. Finally, and unbelievable to us, our assignment was to summarize the entire Bible in one word. “It can’t be done!” some responded, while others murmured, “how can we do this?”
I use this same method of teaching in my current ministry. I call it, the “art of reduction.” If someone asked you to put the Bible in a word, what word would you choose? After much wrestling with it myself, the word I chose was advocacy. Think about it, advocacy means “to intercede or to stand in the gap.” In the book of Ezekiel, God sought someone to intercede on behalf of the people – to stand in the gap and be an advocate for them. Ezekiel writes, “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30 (NLT)
I believe a main element in discipleship is advocacy. I don’t just talk about it, I try to show them. This entails standing in the gap for them in prayer and sometimes getting in their way by challenging them to step up spiritually or even to step away from sin. We have the perfect example of this in our Lord Jesus Christ. He willingly stood in the gap for us, carrying our sin to the cross. As 1 John 2:1 reminds us, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Please pray:
for Penny, our family, and myself
for men I disciple and meet with locally
for my upcoming trip to Haiti
for pastors I will meet with in Haiti
for a future trip to the Dominican Republic
Thank you for advocating for us in all your prayers and love gifts.
-Keith 141Ministry.com