Faith

The Requirements of Waiting

WAITINGWhile we are waiting on God’s timing for our heart’s desires, there are some very real and sometimes difficult requirements of waiting. I have found in my own personal waiting, that I have come across five:

1. Faith

Isaiah 55:8-9 makes it very clear that God’s ways and timing are not a thing like ours. Often, from our very human perspective, God’s timing is not what we expected, when we expected it, or quite honestly, what we would like. But His love for us is boundless, and because of that, we can trust that His timing is perfect.

2. Humility

To wait for the Lord’s very best requires humility as we acknowledge that He knows what we need far better than we ever could. And it gets kind of hard to charge ahead with our own plans in mind when we are fully surrendered to His plans for our lives.

3. Patience

Waiting on God, and for His perfect timing, requires a super human patience. (I keep looking for my Super Girl patience cape to help me out with this one, to no avail.) However, when we ask for it, God gives us the strength to stay when we want to go, and helps us grow and stretch into a patient person that we just may not recognize when the process is done.

4. Courage

Who would have thought that waiting takes courage? But it absolutely does, and it requires it in abundance. When those around us are pressuring us to move on, to act, to give up dreams, to let go, courage helps us stick to what we know is God’s chosen path for us. And the hardest valleys we encounter in our own doubts, questions, and fears, when all seems beyond bleak and dark, require an even deeper courage.

5. A Thick Skin

And lastly, I have found that waiting requires a thick skin. Sometimes strangers, friends, and even family may have the best intentions when they are talking to us and trying to encourage us in our periods of waiting, but they can say things that just bring us to our knees. And sometimes, the most innocent of statements from a well-meaning person, can be what Satan uses to hit straight to our hearts.

Waiting is for Warriors. It requires Faith, Humility, Patience, Courage, and a Thick Skin. So, let’s put on our armor of God and stay strong in the battle until the war has been won. And it will be won.

Faithfully Praying in the Waiting

Prayer on FoundationA very hard thing we encounter as we continue to faithfully pray in our waiting, is that we start to feel like our prayers are pointless.  Our emotions begin to take over and the questions abound: If God hasn’t answered my prayers yet, is He really going to? It’s natural and human to ask that question. And Jesus answers that question very clearly – continue to ask, seek, and knock.  Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”[i] He is specifically calling us NOT to give up.  In fact, in Luke 18:1, we are told that “Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”[ii]

Not only are we called NOT to give up, we are also called to pray without ceasing.  I Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”[iii]  Rather to the point right? Again, here is where I wish God gave us an asterisk with this verse that gave us a specific timeline, but He didn’t.  He wants us to keep praying without ceasing until the prayer has been fulfilled.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

Why does He call us to do this? In the first place, as long as we are praying, we are far less likely to worry about our current situation.  We move our eyes off our situations that so quickly drag us down, and onto the Lord who is the only One who can bring our waiting to an end.

In the second place, we see that delayed answers to our prayers are trials of faith used to grow us into more mature Christians.  Delays are not refusals of our prayers, but rather evidence that God has a fixed time and ordained purpose for everything in our lives – especially the things for which we wait.  So, we let the delays teach us how to be ever more steadfast and persistent in our prayers, letting each prayer build upon the last until we are triumphant.

By the way, the impossibility of our situation means absolutely nothing to the Lord, so we can’t use that as an excuse to give up our praying.  God loves to bring answers when all we see are obstacles.  Can anyone say “Red Sea”?  He is looking at our situation through omnipotent, omniscient eyes while we see them only through human eyes.  The impossible situations we are praying for faithfully represent the perfect time for God to do His work.

And the best time for Him to do His work is when we have done everything humanly feasible to solve our problems or change our situation of waiting, and there is still no change.  In fact, too often in my own life I have believed that after I prayed, it was then my responsibility to do everything I possibly could do to help the answer along.  “Yet God taught me a better way and showed me that self-effort always hinders His work.  He also revealed that when I prayed and had a confident trust in Him for something, He simply wanted me to wait in an attitude of praise and do only what He told me.”[iv]

The answers I seek won’t be a result of my actions, and neither will yours.  Our big problems require big answers, and that thankfully, is God’s specialty.  In Mark 10:27, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.’”[v]

I recently just asked the Lord if I need to continue to pray for the promise and the person that He put on my heart as I have been doing so for many years now. Interestingly enough, my devotions on back to back days, after asking the Lord that question, were on continuing to pray even in the midst of my unanswered prayers. So, my plan is to keep on praying. And I hope yours will be too.

[i] NIV Matthew 7:7

[ii] NIV Luke 18:1

[iii] NAS I Thessalonians 5:17

[iv] Streams in the Desert 4/18

[v] NIV Mark 10:27

Cycle of Desires: God’s Blessings Part 5 of 5

Cycle of DesiresGod’s Blessings

As we turn back again to the Cycle of Desires, where we are at the point of “Giving Up” and “Surrendering,” God seems to open up His storehouse of blessings and rains them down in a way that literally blows our minds.  He wants to bless us abundantly.  In fact, John 10:10 says, “I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”[i]

Full Cycle of Desires

What a cycle to take us through!   I don’t understand why we have to go through it, but from my perspective, there appear to be two key points: 1. God wants to bring us to the point where we know we need Him more than anything else in this life; and 2. God wants to bring us to the point of brokenness and submission where we are willing to do and be anything He wants us to do and be!

The beauty in the Cycle of Desires is that “dreams don’t come with expiration dates.  Taking a circuitous route to your dream doesn’t mean you won’t get there.  Life’s unexpected circumstances come as no surprise to God.  Instead, you may find that God is moving you toward a dream perfected for you – better than you have imagined.  The life you live and the wisdom you gain will make your dream that much sweeter.  Maybe that will prove to be the purpose of the delay all along.  Be patient.  God is not finished with you – or your dreams – yet.”[ii]

And remember, nothing is too hard for the Lord.  As He did with Abraham and Sarah, He loves to pull off the impossible.  No matter how long it’s been and no matter how impossible it looks, stay hopeful. Your time is coming.  Every dream that’s in your heart, every promise that has taken root, God not only put it there, but He has every intention of bringing to pass.  Remind yourself that your time is coming! God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. Oh what a sense of joy He must get as He orchestrates miracles in the lives of those who love Him.

[i] NKJV John 10:10

[ii] Listening Heart devotional