God is seeking a man

“And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD. (Eze 22:30-31 KJV)”

Throughout the ages and human history, we have believed that the sovereignty of God means that He can do anything He wants and interfere with the affairs of men. This belief is entirely accurate only if it involves the participation of Man. Two specific scriptures underpin this truth that God will always need a man’s involvement before He can interfere with the affairs of Man, and that is why we need to pray always.

“The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. (Psalm 115:16 KJV)”

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Gen 1:26 KJV)”

The word given in the psalms means: to entrust, to permit, to appoint, to assign, and it also means to designate. So, then we can say that though God is the Creator of all things, He entrusted or better still designated Man to rule the earth. This truth is further emphasized in Genesis 1:26. The word dominion (raw-daw in the Hebrew) means: to rule, to dominate and to reign. The concept of dominion must have certain factors to be valid: Designated Authority and Territory. Simply put, God after creating the earth(territory), then gave man the authority to rule it. This authority means that anytime He wanted to do anything on earth, man has to be involved.

The amplified version of the bible sums it up beautifully: “Then God said, “Let Us (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) make man in Our image, according to Our likeness [not physical, but a spiritual personality and moral likeness]; and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.(Gen 1:26 AMP)”

Jesus also validated this truth when he was teaching the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. He taught them to pray: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Mat 6:10 KJV)”. From this scripture, one can conclude that if God can cause His will to be done on earth all by Himself, then why would Jesus ask us to pray for His will to be done. The reality is this: Our prayer is man authorizing God to come and influence the affairs of man and enforce His will on earth.

When we read the whole of Ezekiel 22, we have a better understanding of the circumstances that led to the declaration in Ezekiel 22:30-31. The bible gives the account of Israel departing from the ways of God. Among others, the scriptures sum it up this way “The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. (Eze 22:29 KJV)”. Their abomination and rebellion kindled God’s wrath, and His holiness and justice demanded judgement to come upon Israel, but His mercy and lovingkindness wanted to forgive them.

God needed a man, not even a group or church, to stand in the gap and pay the price at the altar of prayer and intercession, a man who will pray and intercede, and appeal to the mercy of God so that His wrath will be averted but He found no one, and hence destruction came upon the land. Wow, this tells us that until man stands and engage God in prayer, it does not matter how deeply God loves humanity, we will not experience all the possibilities and realities in heaven on the earth. The agenda and the purposes of God though established in heaven will not be replicated here on earth unless we pray. God is seeking for a man; will you be the one?

There are countless examples in scripture where men stood in the gap to pray and God answered them. On several occasions, Moses had to intercede to avert God’s anger over the children of Israel’s rebellion (Exodus 32:10-14, Num 11:1-2), Joshua prayed that the Sun and the Moon should stand still so that the Israelites can defeat their enemies in battle (Joshua 10:12-13) and Abraham interceded for Lot to be saved in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

(Genesis 18:20-33)God honours men when they pray. The book of James tells “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (Jas 5:17-18 KJV)”

In the Acts of the Apostles also, we see that Stephen was arrested and because the church did not pray, he was killed. Then Peter was also arrested and put in prison to be killed. But the bible tells us that this time, the church prayed earnestly for Peter and God brought deliverance. (Acts 7, 12:5-11). It was the prayer of the saints that brought about the deliverance. If they had not prayed, Peter would have been killed.

In every generation, continent, nation, city, town, community, church and family, God is always looking for a man that will stand in the gap and pray. Will you be the one? God is counting on you. Always remember – if there is a man to pray, there is a God to answer. It is my prayer that God will give you the grace to stand in the gap and pray for your family, church, community, city, nation and the world so that His will can be established on earth. Amen