waiting on the lord
My desire to manifest Myself to My children is greater than their desire to see Me.
- the LORD to Bro. Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj
Why wait?
Timing is everything. Waiting on God is waiting for His timing. He has a plan for your life - a purpose for you. A plan that will bring Him glory and fulfilment in you. But if you reject His plan, you will not have the best for yourself.
God's concept of 'waiting' is different from our understanding of what it means to wait. It does not mean you do nothing. He wants you to be productive all the days of your life. According to Charles Stanley, it is sort of an 'active stillness'. An example of waiting can be seen in the life of King David. When the prophet Samuel anointed David as king of Israel, he did not ascend to the throne right after his anointing. In fact, he waited for the next 14 years before it finally materialised.
You might ask: what was David doing while waiting? During that time, David was fleeing from King Saul's persecution on him. He was running and hiding, trying to escape from Saul. But David did not despair; he remained faithful and steadfast to the LORD and he placed his hope in the LORD to restore him and fulfilled His promises for him, which we read in the Psalms [he is the author of the Psalms].
Another example of waiting on God can be seen in the Pentecost, an event where the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles. Before the LORD ascended into Heaven, He commanded those who were present at His ascension - to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. Ten days later, only 120 of His disciples were present, waiting in obedience to the Lord's command, while the rest had left. And the ones that left missed out on God's grace. This is why the waiting on God's timing is necessary to position ourselves to receive God's grace.
God's timing is perfect. Only He alone knows when you are ready to receive certain things in your life, when you can handle certain blessings, the dangers that you might face etc. We need to trust in His timing and leadership.
How long should this 'waiting' be?
On one occasion, the LORD surprised Bro. Sadhu in a visitation when He revealed that His desire to see His people is greater than His people's desire to see Him. If that's the case, why are we not seeing Him as often as we would like to? His answer is: "Because My people cannot wait on Me."
Rick Joyner explains that, "impatience is not the fruit of the Spirit. If you let impatience lead you, you are not going to follow the Holy Spirit." Many Christians missed the mark by failing to wait on the LORD. Today, we live in a 'rush rush' culture where we literally rush through everything in life. We want results in an instant; at a press of a button. From our fast food orders to the services we subscribed to, we expect GOD to respond to us in a similar manner. I am certainly guilty of this. Sorry to say but GOD does not work like this. The waiting itself is an art - something which we need to master in order to make spiritual progress. Some Christians are simply too lazy, too impatient, adopting a 'couldn’t-be-bothered' attitude. They give up too easily when they don't see results.
Basically, we wait until we receive a confirmation from Him or a breakthrough. Confirmation can take the form of the LORD's actual presence while in prayer, or through a vision, or an audible voice, or Rhema. There is no limit on how God can speak to us. This wait can be a few hours, days, weeks, months or even years. Only the LORD in His infinite wisdom knows how long each of us need to wait before He reaches out to us, for no two souls are of the same character.
When the LORD responds ...
When the LORD 'knocks on your door' of your heart - and He does this in so many different ways - you will experience a sudden peace that envelopes you. Sometimes, you will hear your name called. Or you will get Rhemas or sudden word of inspiration would suddenly come to mind. That's the sign the LORD is knocking on your door. At this point, you have to learn how to connect ... "Here I am Lord. What are you saying here?" Be still for a moment. Just listen to what He has to say.
Be in the right disposition
Firstly, we need to have a right disposition when we come before the LORD. Our body, soul and spirit need to become one- that oneness. This is by no means an easy feat, and it takes practice. Our mind needs to be trained to be still. There is no such thing as 'multi-tasking' where our mind wanders somewhere else while we are in the midst of waiting. Scripture tells us to love God with all your heart, all your mind and all your soul. Therefore your full presence - body, soul (consists of our mind and emotion) and spirit - is required.
Also we need to rid as much 'darkness' of our heart before we can come before the LORD. For when the Light comes, and if we are spiritually unprepared, it can kill us. For the darkness within us cannot comprehend the Light. John 1:5
Rick Joyner echoes the same sentiment when he says, "Things you can get away with in the Outer Court, will get you killed in the Holy Place." He is referring to the Outer Court in the context of the Tabernacle of Moses, representing the various levels of faith. Basically, we need to qualify to meet God. When the LORD asked the Israelites to meet Him at Mount Sinai as we read in Exodus 19:10, He asked that they purify and consecrate themselves and He will come to meet them on the third day,
When we are in prayer, we need to also believe that the LORD is right before us. During a visitation, the prophet Enoch explains to Neville Johnson that, " It takes faith to manifest true reality. He that comes to God must believe He is truly there."
Neville adds, "As we connect to the LORD by faith, we connect to His realm, which becomes accessible to us. He is the Door. If you are aware of the LORD in your midst, you are already in His realm. Then the spirit realm opens up. Whether we can see Him or not, He is there."
Blueprints
of Heaven
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
⏤ Jeremiah 29:11 | NIV
The benefits of 'waiting on the LORD'
For every Divine assignment on earth, there is a blueprint in Heaven on how GOD wants it to be executed. When GOD instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle, He is very specific on how He wants it done - down to the choice of the materials to be used, priestly garments, the protocols in the 'Tent of Meetings' etc.
We are reminded in Isaiah 55:9 that as Heaven is much higher than earth, so are God's ways much higher than our ways. We should always trust in His wisdom, His plan for us; His leadership. He has a blueprint for your life, what He has called you to do - a Divine Assignment. All is required of you is to wait on Him, and at the right time, He will reveal His Blueprint for you.
Question is, are you willing to cooperate with Him, to wait on Him? If you venture out on your own, following your own ways, you could be spending years heading in a direction that is not conformed to His plan for you, which may end up in wasted years.
Bro. Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj highlights the following benefits for those who wait on the LORD:
1. Your strength shall be renewed and your ugliness removed. It is how an eagle will go through a molting period in its life where it will purposely remove its old feathers, claws, beak and wait until they are replaced.
2. GOD can open the 'eyes of your understanding', revealing His Blueprint for your life and your ministry. This will be a guiding beacon for you to be successful for the works you will do for the LORD. Please note that 'success' does not mean how big your ministry is. Here, 'success' is doing the perfect will of GOD. We would recommend you to say this prayer daily for your spiritual eyes and ears be opened.
3. They shall walk and not faint. GOD will give strength to those who are about to give up.
4. They shall mount up with wings like eagle. This 'wings like eagle' is literal not figuratively. Once our spiritual eyes are opened, they are opened permanently and we are able to 'see' into the spirit realm as well as the spiritual gifts that we are given [which our natural eyes cannot see].
The Danger of venturing out on your own without confirmation
While waiting on the Lord, share with Him your plans. Seek Him first as Proverbs 3:6 tells us: "In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path." If we insist on venturing out on our own without a clear confirmation and direction from the LORD, then the danger of failure is real. We could suffer burnout during our ministry, giving up half way or face severe setbacks which are beyond our ability to handle.
There have been examples of pastors who wasted years on ministry work only to discover - through confirmation from the LORD years later - that what they have done is not in line with what God has planned for them. We do not want this to happen especially when we are now living in the Last Days. We need to live a Spirit-led life, letting the LORD to lead us.
If you truly believe JESUS is your Master, the Sovereign LORD, King of kings, Lord of Lords, your Boss, then you will wait and do nothing on your own until you hear from Him.
Preparation of a soul | personal holiness
Are we living a godly life? Are we obedient to God's Precepts, viz. the 10 Commandments? Is there a fear of God in our heart? The LORD says if we love Him, we will obey Him and His Commandments. These are questions we need to ask ourselves constantly. There are consequences for violating His Commandments. A Commandment is not a suggestion, idea, or concept... it is a command, and it is meant to be observed, regardless of what your opinion is. In a sovereign nation, there are laws in place where its citizens must abide by to maintain order. Violating the law comes with consequences. Depending on the severity of the violation, different degree of penalty is imposed on the offender. These are the laws of men. Likewise, God also has His laws or Commandments of love that we - the creation - need to observe. These are spiritual laws and we are bound by them.
A warning on Spiritual encounters
A word of warning here: do not idolise spiritual encounters. Whether you have a visitation from the LORD, a vision or dream, let it be just an encounter. Nothing more. Such experiences are meant to edify and strengthen us spiritually. Nothing more, nothing less. In the Early Church, they are seen as 'natural' encounters where supernatural encounters are a normal thing.
