Be still and know that He is God. I love that God is a God of repeating, he does this in his word, through confirming thoughts through us and in the ways he requests our obedience when we’re resisting.
There’s been a stirring in my heart about two phrases I’ve heard and how they play off of the other: What God Removes He Replaces and Standing in the Gap. God showed me the Gap as something different, not just as a spiritual distance from him but wounds, places of deep hurt, or physical pain, and I believe when we truly allow ourselves to be still and know that God is God and allow God to be God the other two phrases become a powerful trifecta.
My “downloads” as I refer to them always come to me in the shower, it’s where Holy Spirit pours into me and thankfully I have a husband who is well versed in me yelling “honey can you open the note section of my phone please?” and he willingly types whatever Holy Spirit is showing me as I relay it over the shower wall, while continuing to wash my hair. My husband is honestly amazing.
I was told something once a few months back by our wise beyond her year’s 17-year-old worship singer/drummer Julia, at our church, Hope City. She said, “if you look back over your life during those hard times and ask Jesus where he was when you felt alone he will show you where he was, right by you.” Her words have stayed with me.
As I was in the shower that thought came flooding back with this download. Holy Spirit showed me that in that gap was Jesus literally holding us, healing us, and making us whole again because what God removes he replaces and he can’t do that until we are whole. We are our own worst enemy occasionally working against God by doing his work for him.
Our flesh loves to control and fix situations so when God removes, our first instinct is to get it back and if we can’t get whatever or whoever back, we’ll fill it with something or someone else, right? Making an even bigger mess. That’s our flesh, by nature broken and wounded craving an immediate fix. I’ve been there and I remember the feeling but I also remember the chaos, torture and devastation following. Think of a hurricane and the mess that is left after it tears through a town… that is us just adding fuel to the fire.
But…If we stop. Be Still. Stay Quiet. Give up control. Don’t add to the mess, to the hurt, and just rest what happens? We give God time to be God! We give him time to find that suitable replacement while we are healing. We give him time reinforce the foundation beneath the gap so it doesn’t cave in and break under pressure. We are trusting that God loves us more and wants more for us.
Now I look at things differently after this, and when I tell someone I’m standing in the gap for them I picture standing in the gap with them and Jesus and a whole lot of healing and loving going on when I’m praying. Because being still, knowing God sometimes means resting in his loving arms, in his peace and knowing he has you and that when the time is right when the gap is closed, the wound is healed, and Jesus says, “stand up and walk” – you will! When Jesus says, “do you want to be well?” – you will!
It is then, he begins replacing what once was removed. God didn’t bring you this far to leave you friend, he’s not done.
Jess –
Just Jesus and Jess 