GPBC Blog

By Laurel Nordlund--

I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. Ezekiel 22:30 NIV

This verse almost takes my breath away. Can it be that once again this nation that was chosen by God to display Him and all His welcoming attributes to people around them had completely abandoned Him and allowed the idols of the surrounding cultures to entice and capture them into unbelief? A wall was the best means of protection in ancient times. A breach in the wall would let the enemy through. No one in Israel repaired it. No one in Israel asked God to help. No one begged for mercy.  Judgement was assured.

God still seeks people who will stand in the gap for friends and family, for people groups and nations, asking God to spare and to save (I Timothy 2:1-4). 

Without realizing it, God taught me to stand in the gap for my family shortly after my decision to follow Jesus. Another young mom asked me to pray with her for our families. Each week we picked up the kids at school and got on our knees at the sofa in her living room, and while the kids played around us, we prayed for each person in our families. That was 46 years ago. She has moved to North Carolina, but we still pray over the phone and try to meet once a year for extended prayer.  We prayed for our kids’ teachers, friends, studies and all those little details that consume a mom’s heart.  We prayed for their colleges, for their future mates and now for our grandchildren and all that will be a part of their future.  Last fall we met for an extended time of prayer and revisited a book we used to pray character traits into our children. We prayed that each of these character traits would be exhibited in our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.  To date all our children, their spouses and all our grandchildren are followers of Jesus and walk in His story. We take no credit, and always begin our times together with praise and honor of the One who takes a mustard seed of faith and moves mountains.  The only assurance we have of the future is that He will always be there listening to the prayers of two grandmothers standing in the gap. 

God taught me to stand in the gap for people groups and nations when my husband and I met a young Nigerian who was starting a mission school to train men and women to reach the unreached tribes.  We felt God calling us to support him. Each month a prayer letter came through the mail with daily prayer requests. Throughout the years I used these powerful prayers as a template for my own prayers, taking back ground that the enemy had claimed in our city, state, nation, and the world. I still receive the prayer letter and have praised God as numerous tribes and people groups have heard about Jesus for the first time, and planted church after church despite merciless persecution.   

As I read back through this, I sound like one of those mighty prayer warriors who wore holes in their carpets from being on their knees. Nothing could be further from the truth.  I wrestle every day to get to prayer. I find intercessory prayer to be the most difficult of all prayers and I have failed more than I have succeeded. Thank God I’m not the only one standing in the gap! Thanks to all of you who stand with me. And for all of you who are hearing His call, jump on board and extend the army of those needed to stand in the gap to complete His great commission.