I was just listening to a worship song and one of the lines was that God is in the waiting. This rings so true for me right now. Back in April of 2016, I attended the Azusa Now gathering at the L.A. Coliseum and during that time, God made it abundantly clear that I was to be back in full-time ministry. He spoke to me several times during the 15-1/2 hours of prayer and worship and then if that wasn’t enough, He caused two complete strangers to confirm that to me verbally. Then on the ride home, He confirmed it to Karen, my wife and I in the car.
Since that day over four years ago, I have been contacting churches and ministries to find that full-time position. Doors have opened and closed and right now, in the natural, there are no possibilities.
I’m a real action, run at a thousand miles an hour with my hair on fire kind of guy, so the waiting is tough. I feel like a thoroughbred race horse stuck behind the gate, while the other horses race off. What I’m discovering is that God is in the waiting.
In John 5:17, Jesus says, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.” Although I can’t always see what the Father and Jesus are working on, I know that they are working on something really amazing for me. Jeremiah 29:11 is my life scripture, “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.”
It’s tough waiting on God, but I know that His plan is to prosper me, to give me hope and a future. I also know that He is able to do immeasurably more than all I ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within me (Ephesians 3:20).
Here’s where it gets difficult. If God has given us a direction and we don’t wait, we have the possibility of creating an Ishmael. If you know the Bible stories, you know that in their old age, God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child. They got tired of waiting for a natural child and Sarah told Abraham to sleep with her maid. A son was born and they named him Ishmael. His sons became the head of the tribes that were always fighting with the Jewish nation and are the roots of Islamic Religion.
The moral of the story is when you hear from God, do what the Israelites did in the desert; when God stopped they stopped and didn’t move until God moved. God is in the waiting and if we are patient in those waiting times, God will unveil something amazing.
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