Standing in the Gap

Watching from the sidelines as someone you love battles anything is difficult but most especially one who is a battle for their own faith.

Instead of being place of helplessness, standing on the sidelines can be a place of great power. God has empowered me as I have been forced to the sidelines of the life of someone I love. We can’t give our loved one our faith but we can be someone they can lean on and who will:

• Pray without ceasing
• Send encouraging and positive messages, lightly seasoned with scripture.
• Help the fighter set short-term goals then hold them accountable to keep the goal. (The goal does not necessarily have to do with their faith. Perhaps it has something to do with organization or being responsible.)
• Refrain from being too preachy, our job is not to be their Holy Spirit but be a vessel in which the Holy Spirit can use.

I was reminded of the story of the butterfly. The butterfly struggles and pushes itself out of the cocoon. The struggle and pushing has to take place so the butterfly can develop the strength necessary to fly on its own. If someone were to slit the cocoon open so the butterfly did not have to work so hard to get out, the butterfly would not develop the strength necessary to survive on its own.

Our fighters are the butterfly. They must struggle, push, and endure some hardships and failures to have a faith strong enough to survive on their own. As gap-standers we can stand on the sidelines cheering, praying, and encouraging then when the victory comes we can run on the field to celebrate.

I eagerly await victory until then I stand in the gap.