UNTIL...stand

A man in my church talked about President Bush's visit to the Middle East. He was bowing down to Muslim Presidents as they put Islamic medals around his neck. Political correctness. How did we as a culture get to this place? It couldn't have been an instant shift, but a slow degrading of the mind-set of the church, a mind-set that is not renewed by truth. Instead, influenced by tolerism, even the possibility of absolute truth is dismissed. A slow death. Seeker-friendly, let's not rock the boat mind-set. Maybe that's not how we say it, but that's at the core of how we are behaving. "Peace, peace, when there is no peace."

Who will stand in the gap?

That is what God asked Ezekiel when a nation walked away from the One True God. He was looking for someone to climb into that whole, and make a stand--"UNTIL something shifts, I refuse to move." They own their stance--because they are owned by God. Like the mighty man in David's army who wouldn't move from the vegetable garden he was assigned to guard, they endure until the end. This warrior was prepared to defend and die for where he was assigned.

The prophetic time scale will go on. Wars and rumors of wars will haunt the hours of the last days. Tsunamis. Cold hearts. Nations rising against nations. Kingdoms rising against Kingdoms. Those are all a part of what will begin to happen. But, "Darkness no coveres the earth; deep darkness covers her people. But the Lord shines on you, and PEOPLE SEE HIS GLORY AROUND YOU." (Is. 60:2)

This gap is big. It seems impossible to stand there and actually believe that anything could happen. But that's just like God--to call out to a people to dream big dreams that could never be accomplished in their own strength. To dream the dreams that are on His heart--to be willing to lock into those dreams to see the face of the earth begin to change. It's only through dreaming these big dreams and going after them that the glory of God will shine on the earth. BURN FOR HIM!!! Yeah, you're going to seem crazy to most people...but in the process of trying to decide if you really want to be crazy, remember-- No decision is worse than a bad decision that is made from a pure heart! Universities burning for Jesus. Movies that change people's lives. Orphanages that minister to the next generation, helping to shape a nation for Christ. Supreme Court Justices who help end abortion. National prayer movements. Preaching to prime ministers. Yes, the gap is big. But God is bigger. Disappointment comes...but... UNTIL...I will stand. UNTIL...I will fight. UNTIL...I will burn. UNTIL...I will believe. UNTIL, UNTIL, UNTIL. I will stand in that gap UNTIL. Don't abandon your dreams. Don't get out of the gap.