Stand Firm and Hold Your Frame
Author: Crystal Pannell
I find myself returning to this stance time and time again.
Over the years, as trials have left broken pieces, and the turbulent winds of pain pushed in the opposite direction we were trying to walk, and the refiners’ fire seemed almost too searing to bear. I have often heard the whisper of the Lord say “Stand firm and hold your frame.”
I have been planted for 24 years in a healthy, thriving church. I have grown in wisdom, learned how to be a parent, learned how to stay the course of a marriage, and have grown in confidence in who I am in Christ. I have also seen the wind and the rain and the fire sweep through at different times.
When my kids were little I used to make them repeat after me, I would ask “What do you do when someone hurts or offends you ?” Stay planted they would reply, I would ask “What do you do when you feel like you don’t fit in? “ Stay planted . We would go through many scenarios in which the enemy would try to pull up their roots. I wanted them to know the value of staying rooted and planted in the house of God.
The things that come against you and come against the church will pass, if you choose to stay planted you will be in a strong position to hear the whispers of the Lord. If you let the wind, the gossip, and the offenses be so much louder than the whisper it will uproot you and blow you around, and you will miss out on what God does next. The enemy will be more than pleased he succeeded to remove the value you and your family were intended to add to the church.
In the scripture passage below when Elijah says lord they are trying to kill me he tells him to go and STAND.
Go stand and wait on the lord amid the rejection, when it’s just you Elijah go stand
God wasn’t in the shaking, the breaking, or the fire, but Elijah continues to stand through those things therefore he was positioned to hear the whisper of the Lord. He was positioned to hear the clear direction of the lord he was not clouded by the pain, the lies, the rejection of man, or by the smoke of the enemy.
The Lord Appears to Elijah
1 Kings 19
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Stand, Stay Rooted. There will be times God moves people and calls people to other churches or areas, those choices to obey are healthy. We need to be quick to stand firm and refuse to be moved unless God tells us to move.