Friday 8 May 2015

Becoming a Heavy Wait Champion



"Why wait?" The concept of waiting has grown dim in a world ruled by impatience, we want things now, without delay, not grasping the concept of what it means to wait in joyful hope for the promises of God.

Waiting Brings Clarity and Patience Brings Peace:


Towards the end of Exodus we see that Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the commandments written by God. The people grew restless as they waited on Moses to return, having not heard from Moses or God they decided to take matters into their own hands:

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Exodus 32:1

All too often I have fooled myself into thinking I have waited on God, all the while I've gone ahead of Him and did it my way hoping He would bless it. We are so quick to manipulate situations thinking it's God's will, resulting in failed relationships and wrong decisions, when all we need to do is remain patient in times of pressure, and wait on God's voice of instruction instead of listening to the voices around us, like Aaron did. They say it's a good thing be a go-getter, but I've come to realise that it's better to be a God-getter, as God will work the world for those who work His will. Sometimes holding back requires more faith than stepping out, as we wait on God to fulfil His promises in our lives.

Let God Lead you:


"He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” Exodus 32:4

You have a choice to be led by two things: Obedience or Emotions. We often make our own promises and try lead God instead of letting God lead us, basing our decisions on things that make us feel good rather than waiting on God to give us what's best. "What are you worshiping in your wait?" If something is distracting you from giving God all the glory, then it probably doesn’t belong in your life. God will bless what blesses you and will take away what takes you away from Him. Let Him lead you into all the promises He has for you.

In Our Waiting He is Creating


Just like God waited on us to give Him our heart, we have to learn to wait on what His heart desires to give to us, and as we do that the desires of His heart will become the desires of our heart.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10

In Exodus we read that pure Gold was used to create the ark of the testimony, mercy seat and all the furnishings of the tent of meeting. When Moses or any of the high priests entered into the tent of meeting they were anointed with pure oil and pure or sacred spices were made into incenses and set before the testimony. Jewish men also had to be circumcised and only clean animals could be sacrificed to God for the atonement of sins.

God reminded me that He only gives good gifts to His children, so in order for me to be a gift to others, I need to be a pure sacrifice unto to Him. He has given me a pure spirit through salvation, a pure body through wise choices and a pure heart through daily heart circumcisions.

"Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God" Matthew 5:8

In order to see God in every situation and relationship I have to allow Him to create in me a new heart, circumcising setbacks, struggles and bad fruits from it, like impatience, selfishness and insecurity. Sometimes we don't know what the promise will look like but we should know what fruit we want the seeds of our patience to produce.

Ps Steven Furtick puts it this way: "The Bible is not filled with ways to find the right person, it is filled with ways to become the right person"

Pure means unaltered and not contaminated by the world, let the Bible circumcise and give you a pure heart daily. If  the people in your life are willing to wait while He creates, then you know that God has given you something worth waiting for!

Grace, Grace:


"Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you." Exodus 32:34

Even though the people were impatient and didn’t wait on God, God still led them to the promise. God is a God of His Word so even if you fail He will not fail you. He will direct your path to align with His promise

"Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants" Romans 4:16 AMP

We need to acknowledge that all good gifts are given to us and not taken by us. Once we wait for what is given, it will be valid and guaranteed and won't be taken away.

Are We There Yet?


"To those who by patient persistence in well-doing seek [unseen but sure] glory and honor and [the eternal blessedness of] immortality, He will give eternal life." Romans 2:7

The moment you said yes to Jesus He gave you glory, honour and immortality, now the only thing left for you to do is follow peace and pursue patience. Following peace is like taking a photograph, you need to know what you want to capture, find the perfect subject and wait for the perfect moment, you'll feel it in your heart, the moment the light hits the lens and everything is illuminated. To capture light, is to capture the very essence of who God is. If you can find God in the thing you are waiting for then you'll know it's God's gift and not just a good gift.

I am so inspired by the story of boxer, Manny Pacquiao, he could only dream of where God wanted to lead him. Through his practice and preparation he probably expected to win the fight against Floyd Mayweather, as many others did too. Although he didn't win the fight in the end God used him to win thousands of souls for His kingdom, which just goes to show that God's ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Every decision needs a vision, every victory requires a battle and every promise requires preparation: this is the power of patience.

The God things in life are worth waiting for...

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