standing in the gap for matthew

i don't write a lot anymore. i don't have time.

at least that's the excuse i make. and that's what i keep telling myself.

but i do have time...i just fill it with other things.

someone once told me, "everyone makes time for what they want to make time for." and that's one of the truest statements i have ever heard.

we all make time for what we want to make time for.

and hopefully the important things don't slip by.

the important moments aren't missed.

the important people aren't forgotten.

and sometimes, when we're faced with just how fragile life is, we stop to think about that. and we remember what we should be making time for.

we remember who we should be making time for.

for a lot of us in my small town, that time is spent on Matthew Butler. we wake up thinking about him. we spend our days thinking about him. and we go to sleep thinking about him.

because he's sick. really sick.

and he needs a miracle.

but thankfully we serve a miracle working God.

and we're fully expecting that miracle for him.

and so we pray. non-stop. continuously. all the time.

we pray with our eyes open and our eyes shut. we pray when we're sitting down and when we're standing up. we pray long fervent prayers and quick whispered ones.

we pray through tears, down on our knees, asking Him to hear us. and we pray in thanksgiving, knowing that He already has. 

we don't know what else to do, so we do what we know.

we pray.

all the time.

because we are determined to stand in the gap for Matthew.

because we are determined to lower him down through the roof and bring him to Jesus.

because we are determined to flood the very streets of Heaven with our love for him.

and because we are determined to pound on the doors of Hell to remind "satan, you take your hands off Matthew Butler in the Name of Jesus, you CANNOT have his life!!

"everyone makes time for what they want to make time for."

so very true.

Matthew, this time...our time...all of our time...is for you.

praying, believing, standing on the promise that Jesus bore your sickness on the Cross.

keep the faith. keep the fight. keep holding on.

and we'll keep praying.

always.

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Luke Chapter 5
¹⁸ Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. ¹⁹ When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
²¹ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
²² Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” ²⁵ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.