MY GRANDMA WAS A GAP STANDER, I INVITE YOU TO BE ALSO

L- R: Grandma Ajulo Victoria and  Grandma Ibrahim Esther, kindhearted grandmas, lovers and inspirers of Kingdom minded teens and kids, ever ready Gap Standers 

Hello highly cherished friends and members of this wonderful family. How are you all doing? I believe all is well with you and yours. 

Let me first of all congratulate you for making it to the New Month of July, and on the basis of this wish you happy new month. We also give thanks to the Lord for seeing us through in the last month. We thank Him for His provisions, protections and guidance in the first half of the year, praying that this second half would be even better and greater.

As Kingdom minded teens and kids, there are things expected of us based on some of the attributes that we hold so dear to our heart and profess regularly, certain characteristics that we are expected to possess and exhibit. One of such numerous attributes is gap standing. 

Gap standing as the name implies is standing in the gap. It simply means praying for others, lifting them before the Lord Almighty, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Being a voice to others who cannot or who are finding it difficult to speak for themselves is also part of it.

God wants us to stand as intercessors for others regardless of who they are. It does not matter whether they are people of different indigenous or ethnic group, nationality, religious belief, social class, educational background, professional qualification or age bracket (i.e. grandparents, uncles, aunties, older cousins, etc.) or not. It also does not matter if you think or have been told or made to believe that they hate you. 

This hatred or dislike could be as a result of unpleasant stories you were told about a person or group of people. It could also be your interpretation of his/her/their actions towards you (which may be wrong or right). It could also be a combination of both factors. 

In all the situations identified above, what matters is the fact that the people involved are humans - which means God created them, and He (God) wants you to care about  them. 

Remember, the greatest commandment given to us in God's Word, the Bible is to love one another, just as Christ loves us. This should supercede any negative feelings or thoughts harboured against anyone by you. 

Do you have any classmates, friends, siblings, cousins or neighbours that are doing the wrong things (stealing, consumption of illicit or hard drugs and cultism? Are there those that are not serious with their school work, are abusive and stubborn to parents and older ones at home, in the street corners and/or in school, etc)? 

Do some of your friends indulge in things that go contrary to the instructions of the Bible?

Is any of them in the habit of making wrong choices and decisions for their life that may destroy them either now or in the future? 

If yes is your response, do they receive judgement, curses and accusations, condemnation from the teachers, parents and others in the society? 

Do you also join them to tongue lash the so called "offenders?" 

Are there people around you that live in less human conditions of life than they should, for no fault of theirs, but due to their present status, lack of care and improper treatments meted to them. Some of them are house helps, and are badly maltreated and humiliated, called different names or labelled as witches, useless, and many of such. They live in what Bob Marley the great reggae artist describes as sub-human bondage. 

Grandma Uwakwe, another ever ready Gap Stander and lover of teens and kids 

Are you part of those that believe old people are evil, perhaps as a result of negative things you have been told about them, or things you watched on television that suggested it? 

If you are not, are there people around you who believe so and as a result exhibit characters that show disdain and scorn towards the aged members of the society, the senior citizens? 

If you don't have a say in such an issue, probably because those doing it are older than you, what do you believe in your heart and how does it affect your relationship with the aged people? 

What about things pertaining to your village, your place of origin? 

Do you easily identify with your village, and try as much as possible to connect with the people there or do you disconnect yourself from your root and your kinsmen simply because you have been made to believe that the people there are evil? 

Of a truth, you have been told at least lots of things by word of mouth and you have also watched on TV and listened to the radio equally and all you have watched and heard portrayed the village people as evil, guilty as charged.

As Kingdom minded teens and kids, God's call to us today is to desist from such acts as judging, condemning and stigmatising people. We are instead encouraged to treat them lovingly, and to rely on the words of the scripture to turn them away from such deeds, if they exist in them. Pray for them fervently in your closet. Pray that the Holy Spirit will work in them, and gradually transform their heart, separate them totally from evil, and make them to become changed people, and enjoy the free love and freedom of God.

We are also enjoined to pray for those parents, aunties and uncles who treat their house helps as lesser human beings, that their hearts be transformed. Pray that they be released from the stronghold of the enemy, for they are in bondage of the evil one. It is only after their release or liberation that they can see their househelps as people to be loved and cared for too. 

My Grandma 

Equally, we are here reminded that the grandparents/older people are not evil, therefore, you should not run away or disconnect from them. They have not committed any offence living at old age and sometimes behaving the way they do. It is all part of life. As a matter of fact old age is a blessing from God and a privilege. 

Remember, your loving, young and dashing parents of today, if the Lord Almighty tarries, shall one day grow old too. 

Rather than treat the old of the present with disdain and scorn, draw closer to them, and in your closet adopt the honoured habit of lifting them before the Lord Almighty, regularly.

When we sincerely commit to doing the above, we are standing in the gap for other people. My late Grandma thought me, my late Grandma stood in the gap for others and she urged me to do the same for other people and I am happy sharing this with you, as well as inviting you to stand in the gap for other people.

Bear in mind that the old people have a lot to offer you and numerous others from their wealth of experience, infact they are a library, an institution of sort. Drawing close to them has lots of benefits to us the younger generation. 

My Grandma was blessed with Old age. She lived for 101 years and I benefited immensely from her old age and will always share the benefits with you.

Till I come your way again, keep being ambassadors of the Kingdom. 

Byee

Anchor/Host

Nnabugwu Chinazaekpere