Stand in the Gap II

It was October of 1997. Two busloads of Christian men left the campus of Christian Life College in Mount Prospect to participate in the Promise Keepers call to Stand in the Gap. It was a meeting of over one million men who descended on the Washington D.C. mall area to worship, pray and call our nation to a time of prayer and fasting. I will never forget that day.

While we were traveling east on I-80 it seemed that every other car, van or bus had a sign in its window that said something to the effect of: Stand in the Gap, I am a Promise Keeper, Washington D.C or bust, etc. During the wee hours of the morning, at every rest stop there were vehicles filled with men fellowshiping, praying and encouraging one another to call America back to God.

Well, it looks like another call is being extended. It's called "Stand in the Gap 2007" and will be held in October, ten years after the original call. Our nation needs a humbling time of prayer and worship once again like never before. Men are being called to take the lead. I'm planning on being there.

I took my sons with me in 1997. It was a bonding experience and unbelievably edifying. To stand in Washington, the seat of political power, and to declare to the nation that it is not by might, or by power, but by God's Spirit, focused my attention on who controls the universe, our world, our nation, my family and me.

Pass this message on to other men, pastors and church leaders. Let's make a statement in Washington in October. It's never to early to block that date on your calendar and do whatever it takes to Stand in the Gap. You can get more information by clicking here.

Down is the New Up

“For the devil is farsighted; he looks only for what is big, and high and attaches himself to that; he does not look at that which is low down and beneath himself.” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never I Knew, Harper Collins, 1995)

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!" Phil 2:5-8 (NIV)

The economy of the kingdom sometimes seems backward to us. Jesus taught that the least on the earth would be the greatest in the kingdom. He taught that being a servant was the best way to lead. He modeled it to a tee.

“Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” When we think of ourselves in lofty terms, we draw the most attention from the enemy. He loves to knock people down to size. That’s why the devil blew it when it came to Jesus. In Jesus’ humility, the enemy saw weakness. In Jesus’ servanthood, he saw a pushover. Little did he know that God was traveling incognito. By humbling himself Jesus didn’t attract much attention from the devil. In fact, the most attention Jesus got was from self-righteous religious people. The religious took it upon themselves to initiate his death in complicity with the devil. In doing so, they unwittingly unleashed the fullness of the plan of redemption.

There is a very real but subtle difference between humility and being humiliated. Jesus lived in humility and the result was the humiliation of the devil. The devil was looking for someone on a high horse to knock off and missed the warrior on a stallion that conquered the principalities of darkness. The enemy was looking for someone who lived haughty in spirit and missed the one clothed in humility.

Lay low, don’t attract too much attention to yourself. God will lift you up and use you in great ways in His time