Standing In The Gap

Standing in the Gap

If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.

“After two weeks in NICU, my son is going home today.” Her voice cracked on a sob, and I clutched my phone a little tighter as my own tears started streaming down. There was still a myriad of appointments in their future, still a journey of healing to walk, but we could not help but weep with joy at the first glimpse of normality.

My friend lives two thousand miles away: too far away to hug, too far away for me to storm the hospital with takeout food and chocolate as she grapples with all that comes along with new motherhood, complicated one hundred times over by a baby hooked up to tubes and wires. As my friend slipped into motherhood the hard way—living alongside her son in the NICU for two weeks—I stood in the gap for her, weeping and sometimes shaking my fist at God, praying with anger, praying with hope, praying as I wept for healing, for provision, for rest in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.

I told my friend that I would be her advocate before the gates of heaven, praying with persistence like the widow in Luke 18. I sent some of my prayers via text so my friend could be encouraged, knowing with certainty that she and her husband were surrounded by others praying in accordance with Matthew 18. Some prayers were between just me and God.

Just as I don’t need to understand why flipping a light switch makes my lights turn on, I also don’t need to understand how prayer works. I trust God, and I trust what he says to be true. He tells us that gathering together in unified prayer changes outcomes, and that promise has become my practice. I pray over my friends, over their children, and over their marriages with fierceness and consistency. If I love someone, I am praying for that person—it is just a part of being in friendship with me.

— Julie

— Today’s Act of Friendship —

Pray for your friends consistently, standing in the gap for them.