Waiting upon God is not Passive
Psalm 27 (NIV)
Of David.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Waiting:
Over the past couple of months, God has truly brought me to a place of waiting. He has challenged me to look deeper into why “He has me where He has me,” so to speak. It has been such an awesome but challenging experience to encounter. He does this so we can experience His power, presence, love, solution, will and calling for our lives.
We all come to a place in life where the Lord wants us to wait on Him, but that doesn’t mean we can become lazy or careless during that time. In fact, those who are paused before the Lord are seeking His will. This means we should be praying, searching Scripture and perhaps even fasting. We should know what our God has for us in times of waiting, not to mention times of uncertainty and decision making. Christ wants us to surrender to His sovereignty over our lives. In verse 14, I love the hope that God displays through and to David. The confidence that David exhibits through his relationship with the Lord is a perfect example of what God wants in His relationship with us. David’s hope is the kind of hope that our God will bring to us in times of waiting.
Luke 18 (NIV)
The Parable of the Persistent Widow
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Praying:
As followers of Jesus Christ we have all been given the powerful gift of prayer. Throughout the entire Bible, God’s people speak to him, cry out to him and call to him. Prayer is not something we have to do but rather it is something we are all called to enter into.
“From beginning to end, our Lord’s lessons and examples teach us that prayer that is not steadfast and persistent, nor revived and refreshed, and does not gather strength from previous prayers is not the prayer that will triumph.” – William Arthur
These Scriptures have convicted and encouraged me to meet with our God face to face in a new and fresh way and I see His promises unfolding. He will answer and move us if we come to him with open hands.
Action Steps:
1. What do you need to give up in order to follow Christ intimately?
2. While you wait upon the Lord, you must stay active through this process: Serving, praying, searching Scripture and fasting. Which of those areas do you struggle with or need to depend on Him more?
3. What do you depend on, rather than the Creator of our lives? The designer of our souls. The one and only Savior, Jesus Christ that gave us power over sin and death. The maker of eternal life. The one who will return again for his pure bride?
4. Try Jesus’ model for prayer – Mathew 6:5-13 (NIV) – Extended with Scriptures
No matter where you stand in life and what decisions, small or large that you might need to make, our loving Lord and Savior Jesus Christ wants to break through to you. He wants to guide you. He wants to use you in might ways. Most importantly, He wants to hear from you and give you peace and rest.
My prayer for us is that we actively enter the throne of grace everyday upon arising, to fully surrender, so that we can allow our powerful and loving God to completely inhabit us. I pray that He would move in, through and around us!
Shalom.
Devotional Author: Dewey W.J. Rogge