Waiting on God from My Prayer Closet

I did not think it was possible for God to teach me about waiting without giving me something to wait for and He has given me plenty. Then He lovingly taught me that the best position for waiting is on my knees! If we choose to wait on our knees, we cannot go very far from where He is.

Wait;

Pause, be in a place of expectancy, to remain in one place, not to depart;

It is not easy to be in a place of waiting if you want to accomplish much, get ahead and see stuff happening. Waiting invokes humility in us when we really begin to understand what role it plays in our relationship with the Father (God).The mark of maturity in Christians is their ability to trust in God and keep running with the vision when to every eye it looks like success will never come, when things are not working out as expected.

As I learn from being with God in my closet, I have begun to understand that my program is not important if I am certain God is speaking to and guiding me. In fact, my program may become a hindrance. God will bring things to pass at the appropriate time in His time; I only have to be obedient. I can give many examples from the Bible starting from Genesis to Revelation of the many men and women who had to wait on God’s timing.

In Genesis, we see God give Abraham the promise of children to be fulfilled in his lifetime. Amidst many trials, temptations (one of which Abraham vainly yielded to) Abraham eventually had Isaac the child of promise, now fulfilled. Even then, Abraham never entered the land promised to him to possess it as God promised. He never saw his many numberless children, but he believed and in time it came to pass.

The Messiah who is promised in the prophets, talked about in Isaiah, Micah 5:2 over 900 years before His eventual appearance in the flesh is evidence of a promise that took so long to fulfill, yet came to pass. It is over 2000 years since Jesus ascended to heaven promising that He would come back for those that believe in Him, we are still awaiting his return. If God had not set a precedent in time past of His ability to hold back until the right time, we would be despairing. But, we know from History that God teaches us patience and that is why it is a fruit of the spirit. Waiting to God means much more than just expecting or remaining in one place. It means growth, maturity, dependence on God and test of our faith.

Ecclesiates 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

From my prayer closet I come out with the confidence that no matter what happens, I cannot fret or be anxious about anything, I have to learn to move with God’s timing. Understanding His sovereignty is being at a place where I know that I do not need to fight my own battles, God will fight them for me. If I start fighting my own battles, having sleepless nights, sinking into depression or being overtaken by anxiety, then I am outside His word and therefore His will. I am outside His will not because He has tossed me out but because I have chosen to ignore Him and take things in my own hands.

It is so much harder to fight God for what we want than it is to wait on Him and trust that He will take care of His own promises. If His agenda is ours, there is nothing to fear, we know that the meeting will proceed well, all issues will be touched in their time and the work we do together as co-laborers in His field will be accomplished to a clean dot, in His time.

Coming out of the Prayer Closet on the wings of the wind of God is like being crazy to many people, but then, who thought Jesus had it all together? One time they accused Him of using the power of Beelzebub to cast out demons. And you too friend, be ready to be thought of as crazy if you are willing to walk and live in God’s timing. You have to be prepared to join the ranks of many like Jeremiah, Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, Paul, the prophetess Hannah, Ruth, Rahab and many many more like them if you are going to truly be the person God wants you to be and learn to wait on Him.

Waiting is an every day thing for the set apart child of God. We get to waiting because we acknowledge that we can do nothing by ourselves. We awake each morning and wait for the marching orders for the day. We turn to Him for all that has to be done, we cannot walk in our own scheming or have confidence in our own designs, we have to be instructed if we are truly yielded.

Psalms 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. 26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

Waiting encourages me to be yielded when I understand whom I wait on and when I see what He does with those who wait on Him. God is never in a hurry for anything because times and seasons are in His hands. If our mission on earth is but one, He will still have us wait and be completely prepared to fulfill that one purpose because all His purposes point to His love for all of us. They must be timely.