Standing in the Gap for the World

UV 3508/10000 Standing in the Gap for the World

O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and look at our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You because of our own merits and righteousness, but because of Your great mercy and compassion.

Daniel 9 v 18


The Lord is asking us to pray for the world, our nation, our cities, our people, like Daniel for mercy not on our own merits and righteousness. We should humble ourselves and repent. We should plead with the Lord to take action to cease this pandemic and not to delay. Daniel stood in the gap between God and His people by faith and grace. Today, we have Jesus as our Advocate on High in heaven. He identifies with the dying, the suffering, the afflicted and knows our pain. We need to acknowledge like Daniel our sins and rebellion, that we have behaved wickedly, turning away from His commandments and ordinances.

The Lord reminds us of the parable of the Bridegroom, the bride and the bride’s maids with the lamps. The Bridegroom (Jesus) is ready but the bride, the church is not ready, the lamps are not filled with oil ( the Holy Spirit) and are not lit. Like Daniel we must fast and pray. We must humble ourselves as erring servants and seek the Lord’s face and mercy. The present pains of the world-wide pandemic are like the birth pangs, the signs of the return of the Bridegroom to take His bride. The church needs to be prepared, purified and be ready to receive the Lord.


We may not wear sack clothes now to indicate our repentance but we need to take active steps to turn away from sin and rebellion. We cannot take grace for granted for a heavy cost has been paid to purchase our salvation, to ransom us from the serpent leader. We cannot and should not be lured to fall into his traps or snare again. It is regretful that a couple of senior leaders of our faith have fallen into the trap of the enemy in terms of adultery. Instead of staying away from public ministry for a fair length of time in which the Lord would deal and heal with their underlying weaknesses, they have concealed it from many who are unaware. They go on with impunity as if nothing had happened with a strong possibility that they may prey again on some innocent person in the future.