“The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. . . . So what kind of people should you be?”  2 Peter 3:10-11 (NCV)

Great question. What kind of people should we be? Peter tells us: “You should live holy lives and serve God, as you wait for and look forward to the coming of the day of God” (vv. 11-12).

Hope of the future is not a license for irresponsibility in the present. Let us wait forwardly, but let us wait.

But for most of us, waiting is not our problem. Or, maybe I should state, waiting is our problem. We are so good at waiting that we don’t wait forwardly. We forget to look. . . . We are too content. We seldom search the skies . . .We seldom, if ever, allow the Holy Spirit to interrupt our plans and lead us to worship so that we might see Jesus.

by Max Lucado
Used by permission
From: When Christ Comes
Copyright (Word Publishing, 1999)

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
https://www.maxlucado.com/about/

FURTHER READING

What are Your Ethical Standards?

What is Your Standard for Living?

What Do You Want Jesus to Say When you Meet Him Face to Face?

The post Waiting Forwardly appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“ Hannah became pregnant and in due time bore a son and named him Samuel [heard of God], Because, she said, I have asked him of the Lord.” 1 Samuel 1:20 (AMPC)  

I want to speak to those that have been following hard after God in obedience; you have been living by the Word of God, fasting, praying but there are still requests you have made to the Lord that have gone unanswered.

You have been waiting but it appears you’re waiting is in vain. You have been praying and fighting but still nothing. I come to encourage you to press on, don’t give up in well doing.  You will reap in due season.

Let’s look at the life of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter one. Hannah was the wife of   Elkanah. Out of his two wives he loved Hannah more. She found favor in his sight. It would appear that she had it altogether, but Hannah was not able to conceive children unlike Peninnah, Elkanah’s second wife. And to top it off she flaunts it in Hannah’s face.

Hannah’s distress drove her to the throne of grace. Her prayers were fervent and passionate to the point that Eli, the priest, thought she was drunk. In her passionate pleas Hannah asked of the Lord to give her a child. She coupled her prayer with giving by vowing to give the child back to be raised in the temple. God answered. Samuel became a well-known Prophet in his day and age. The Bible declares that every prophecy he spoke came to pass.

There are times God will take us through seasons of denial because He needs to prepare us for what He has for us. He needs our hearts to be in line with His will not our own desires.  God desires that we partner with Him in fervent prayer to bring to pass His desires for us.  Even Jesus endured this same process in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed for His will to come in line with His Heavenly Father’s.

It was known as place of the oil press located near the Mt of Olives. This is important because the olives had to be pressed and crushed to get what was of value from it, the oil. That is what God is doing in many of our lives, even on the verge of quitting we must realize it is because of what He has placed on the inside of us that we need to keep going. People need what we have. If we quit now, someone will lose out on their breakthrough.  Our yes is the direct link to someone else’s freedom.  Press on and keep the faith, your breakthrough is on the way.

Lord, many are struggling to hold on to their faith during seasons of disappointments. I pray that You will infuse them with inner strength and power on today and allow them to see Your hand at work in their lives. Give them glimpse of hope Father. As they continue pressing, send others to help refresh them for the journey. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

By Mary Pinckney
Used by Permission

RELATED READING

• Waiting on the Moth
• The Silent Waiting
• A Time of Waiting
• Waiting on God

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“Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.” Psalm 27:14 (NLT)

This verse is, and always will be, one of my life verses. I remember the day I gave my life to Jesus. As I wept and was embraced by His mercy and grace, He put this Scripture on my mind. I knew immediately why He had done this, for I was always one who loved instant gratification. I was a child of the microwave era, and when I wanted something, I wanted it now.

But that is not how God works. God wants us to rely and depend upon Him fully, which takes an enormous amount of trust on our part, especially when we have to wait.

Watchman Nee expresses the importance of depending on God when he says, “A person who wholly follows the Lord is one who believes that the promises of God are trustworthy, that He is with His people, and that they are well able to overcome.”

The fact that we have to wait in no way means that God has forsaken us. It is during this waiting process that we learn to lean on Him more than ever before. If He gave us everything in “microwave fashion,” would our trials produce strength, courage, or endurance in us? How else are we going to learn to overcome challenges by abiding in Him.

Through waiting on God, we learn to stop being the leader and to instead live as a follower of Jesus.

Father, it is hard to wait when the winds and waves of life are hitting me from all sides. Help me to place my trust in You and to hold on to You for dear life as I face these struggles. Fill me with Your Spirit so I may be brave and courageous as I face these trials. I will wait upon You Father and trust You completely. Amen.

Thought: What are you waiting on God for these days? How are you waiting? Prayerfully and patiently? Or with frustration and self-reliance? Take a moment to ask God to give you the strength and endurance to be courageous in Him as you wait patiently.

By Daniel Forster
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Waiting Patiently
• How To Wait When God Seems Slow
• How do We Wait?

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Be Still, My Daughter
Sit still, my daughter.
Ruth 3:18 NKJV

My personal paraphrase of Ruth 3:18 is precious to me. God spoke to me and said,

“Sit still, My daughter, the apple of My eye, waiting as long as it takes, until you learn (know, perceive, understand, discern, and distinguish as truth) how the matter, thing, question, or cause will turn out, because surely the Man Christ Jesus, your Kinsman-Redeemer, will not by any means be idle, or silent, or have any peace until He finishes His purposes, working until the job is done, in His eternal now.”

Why is being still such an un-American activity?

Ten years ago, our daughter Elizabeth was asking the same question. Read her story about learning to be still.

Come with me to a beautiful Saturday morning in October. It’s the third weekend of the month, and I am at a retreat center in the north Georgia mountains with twenty students to learn about student leadership. The weather is crisp, the sky is pure blue, and the sun is beaming. The day before I had spotted two swings overlooking a lake with the mountains in full fall colors as the backdrop. My soul and spirit, hungry for time alone with God, knew there was the perfect place for time with him. The announcement was made, “Go outside and spend 45 minutes alone with God.” As the assignment was being given, I got into my racer’s blocks waiting for the start gun. Why? Because I had to be the first one to the swing by the lake so I could have a meaningful time with God, of course. As the group split, I overheard several girls say, “Hey, let’s go to the lake where the swings are.” Immediate sirens went off and a red flag raised… they can’t go to the swing… that’s where I’m supposed to be! All of a sudden, the mission was clear: get to the swings first! The closer I came to the lake, the more focused I became. My pace was intense, my joy fleeting, and winning was all that was important.

As I approached the lake, I was almost in a full gallop. The swing was on the opposite side of the lake from me. The girls made a foolish error by going to the left. Ha ha! So I quickly dashed off to the right to make it around the lake first. If we only had a instant replay, you would see me as I ran around the lake. I rushed right past a small white chapel. I flew past a wooden cross on the shore. I jumped onto the swing feeling good about my victory, but too wound up from the competition to be still and know that He is God.

As I sat there trying to catch my breath, it hit me.

“This is what your life is like. You’re wrapped up in getting things accomplished, even good things, and you’re relying on your flesh and power most of the time for insignificant victories, all the while missing what’s important.”

Then I looked back around the lake and saw that in trying to be in control, I had missed things God had wanted me to stop and see along the way… the white chapel (faith), the cross (everlasting hope), and the gift of still time with the Savior sitting on a swing (love). It didn’t take a seminary degree to catch God’s reference. The words of 1 Corinthians 13 came ringing at me, “But the greatest of these is faith, hope, and love.”

John Piper says that as he approaches the Word of God, he prays for the gift of reading slowly, to truly hear God in His Word. That is my own desire, but I would take it a step further and pray that God would give me the gift to live life slowly. I want to hear God not just in sections of my day marked “Time alone with God,” but when He decides to speak in unexpected times and unique ways, I want my soul and spirit not to be racing around the lake but instead be in a place of continual stillness on the swing, so that I might drink deeply of what He has prepared to show me.

It sounds pretty on paper. And it is the longing of my spirit, and yet it is a daily, more like hourly, battle to embrace quiet. Since my theology lesson on the swing that day, I have been experimenting with stillness, solitude, and silence. I am realizing how addicted I am to activity and noise. I understand why David had to command his soul to be still and know that He is God. Being quiet is difficult, and almost impossible for some of you. But I have discovered that my soul and spirit have been starving for stillness for a long time. And now that I have given my soul a taste of stillness again, it will not be satisfied unless it is a regular part of my day. Will you take 15 minutes to just sit and be quiet? (Driving a car with your cell phone turned off doesn’t count.) I mean so quiet and still that you can hear the clock tick. And just sit, look, listen, and remember what it’s like to be still.

Will you take the challenge to “Be still and know that I am God?”

Will you take some time to sit and quiet your soul before the Lord? Ask God how He wants to meet you in His presence. Meditate on these “be still” verses.

Be still and see the salvation of the Lord.
Exodus 14:13-14

Be still by the side of the Lord.
Exodus 33:21

Be still so you won’t miss the great things God is doing.
1 Samuel 12:16, Job 37:14

Stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord.
2 Chronicles 20:17

Be still. It’s the antidote to fretting.
Psalm 37:7

Be still and know He is God.
Psalm 46:10

Be still before the Lord.
Zechariah 2:13a

Let Jesus rebuke your storms, “Peace, be still.”
Mark 4:39

by Sylvia Gunter
used by permission

FURTHER READING

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“Be still, and know that I am God…”  Psalm 46:10

“Abby, come quickly to the garage.”  I knew she would be so excited to see the chunky caterpillar crawling on the floor.  As predicted, she was thrilled by my discovery and wanted to keep him.  Minutes later, our little friend had a new home in a plastic container filled with grass and leaves.

Abby awoke early the next day to check on the critter.  To her surprise, the caterpillar had encased himself in a cocoon in the top corner of the plastic box.  We were so excited because we knew it would only be a matter of time until a beautiful moth would emerge from the cocoon.  It is so fascinating to watch God at work in the life cycle of insects and how He transforms them into new beings.

Now, my daughter and I are waiting. And waiting… And waiting…  We check the plastic container several times a day to investigate for signs of change in the cocoon.  Sadly, the encasement is dormant, no activity has been detected.  It is hard for us to be patient and continue to wait.  We are ready to see the beautiful designs on the wings of this new creature.

The moth has reminded me that sometimes in life, I have to learn to be still and wait on God.  Many times I pray diligently for specific areas of my life and I sense God telling me to wait- wait on Him for His perfect timing.   I have faith God has good things in store for me.  I’m reassured God will help me grow and mature, just like the moth is growing and maturing right now in its cocoon.  I need to pursue an attitude of forbearance and wait on the perfect timing of my Savior, for He knows what is best for me.  Maybe you have a “moth” that you are waiting on in your own life.  Do not lose hope.  Waiting is rarely ever easy. But find hope in reflecting on what the moth begins as and then to the wonderful transformation that entails.  God wants to help us become beautiful beings in His sight.  We just need to trust Him to complete the metamorphosis.

By Alisha Ritchie
used by permission

FURTHER READING

• Waiting on God
• Anointed but Waiting
• The Silent Waiting

The post Waiting on the Moth appeared first on Thoughts About God.

“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits…” (Psalm 130:5)

“The Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion… Blessed are all who wait for Him!” (Isaiah 30:18)

A young boy was grocery shopping with his mother. Seeing the two checkout lines ahead, he made a quick strategic call: “Look, Mom! Those customers are moving faster. Let’s get behind them.”

Why was he in such a hurry? Was he late for a football game or television program? Was an important person waiting outside the store? I suspect that this boy had just fallen victim to the no-time-to-wait mentality so many of us adults have.

Waiting is not one of my strengths (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this sentiment; most of us really dislike waiting). I identify with Carlo Coretti, who wrote,

“This pursuit of impatience easily drifts into my spiritual life. Wait on God? Wait for God? I need an answer now! An even more dangerous thought process proclaims, ‘I need spiritual maturity now.’”

Has the pursuit of impatience drifted into your spiritual life as well? How does one gain spiritual maturity in a fast-paced world?

Action Step: This week choose the longest line up at every chance. Pray while you wait in line so you can live by the pace of the Holy Spirit.

by Marilyn Ehle
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Prayerful Waiting -by Max Lucado

Calming the Waters– by John Grant

Are You Enjoying the Goodness of the Lord?  – by Kathy Cheek

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“But those who wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”  Isaiah 40:31(KJV).

How do you respond to a prolonged time of waiting?

Waiting for the house to sell, waiting for your children to call, waiting for improved health…

Most of us find waiting hard. We consider it a waste of time. Yet waiting is a part of life.

“Don’t wait for God’s plan to unfold; God’s plan is happening now. The journey is part of the plan,” writes Oswald Chambers.

All of God’s heroes experienced long waiting periods. Abraham went through thirteen year of silence before the fulfillment of a promise from God. His son Isaac waited twenty years for Rebecca to have children. Moses’ vision of delivering his people from Egyptian bondage lay buried for forty years in the desert. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not displeasure. They experienced the promise after a time of waiting.

How can we make waiting more enjoyable?

I received an interesting lesson at the airport one day. When we learned our plane would be delayed, some of the passengers complained bitterly to the stewardess and worried that they would now miss their connecting flight. Another group of passengers, however, gathered in a group and began to play cards, laughing uproariously at times. They turned their waiting into a time of pleasure.

I learned that waiting is not passivity—doing nothing. While you wait commit yourself and this time to your faithful Creator and continue to do good. Carry on with normal activities. Keep working the soil, planting , watering, and weeding in anticipation of the harvest. Keep hope alive by focusing on Scripture promises of God’s faithfulness.

‘Patient waiting is often the highest way of doing God’s will’, writes, Bishop Collier of the 17th Century.

Faith in God, even when that faith does not seem to be rewarded, makes it into God’s hall of fame. In Upon His Blindness, John Milton writes: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

God is present in our waiting. When we leave the whole thing to Him, it is uncertain how He will come in, but He will come.

Thank you, Father, that you are present in our waiting. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him Isaiah 30:18

By Helen Lescheid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Waiting on God – How Do We wait? 

• Prayerful Waiting

• The Waiting Side of Faith

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“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3: 13-14

“Waiting” has been my buzz word for the past two years as my name has inched up a long list toward a surgery date. I recall a counseling appointment early in the process where I wrestled with feeling set on a shelf. Waiting felt passive, like a huge waste of time. While the specifics of what the counselor said are lost, the bigger message stuck – “Live your life.”

Over time, I am adopting this perspective more and more that my life is whatever is presently going on. It sounds simplistic but are we waiting for something to change or get better in order to start living? I appreciate one author’s idea that we must forgive the very circumstances of our lives and I would add to that, that we even need to embrace them. This is my life – today – right now – these moments. Whatever they are…or aren’t.

And yet I am called to wait for the hope of glory. Scripture clearly instructs us to fix our eyes on the prize, keep the finish line in view, to remember the goal of eternity. So I experience a tension in this earthly home, not waiting to live the one life God has given me here while waiting to live with Him eternally. At first it can seem contradictory when, in fact, it’s the very looking forward to eternity that needs to inform my priorities for today. I catch a glimpse of the big picture as I attempt to faithfully walk out the small picture.

Lord, please help me to keep my eyes focused on the end goal so that I will see You in this moment and what You have for me today. Help me to live each day fully for You. Amen.

Thoughts: Consider what you are waiting for and ask yourself if it is keeping you from living or motivating you toward eternity. How can you actively anticipate eternal life? What are you putting off?

By Shelaine Strom
Used by Permission

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How are you at waiting?

I am talking about the kind of waiting we do for answers as we seek God’s direction in matters of prayer and decisions that need to be made and hopes and dreams that have yet to be realized.

I’ve been thinking about how to do better than I have impatiently waited in the past.  This has been a long and gradual process. Waiting is teaching me how to wait.

Waiting – with trust added to it will give us endurance, peace, confidence in God’s ways, His plans, and His timing. Waiting without this kind of trust can be acutely agonizing and will make us miserable.

Waiting on God should be our place of rest, not worry and fretting and not wringing our hands. Waiting on Him from a position of rest comes when we have learned to trust Him with everything and with all of our heart.

When I am waiting on answers from God, I know He is asking me to trust and rest while I am waiting -and I want to do that, but I must admit I often find it difficult.

That is okay, since I am continually learning to walk by faith, draw closer to Him, listen for His direction, and not be in a hurry. As He teaches me to wait on Him with all my trust placed confidently in what He is doing in my life, I will find I can wait more patiently for what He knows is best.

When we find the place of rest that waiting God’s way will bring us, we will find a new strength we didn’t know before, because we have experienced our faith growing, and we know in our heart that what we are waiting for is a perfect answer from God.  That makes our waiting worth it all.

Isaiah 40: 31

But those who wait on the Lord
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.”

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

You can find info about her book and read more of her devotions at www.kathycheek.com

Further Reading

•  Prayerful Waiting – by Max Lucado

• Waiting on God – How Do We wait? – A Bible Study by Sylvia Gunter

•  Salvation Explained

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“For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!” Isaiah 64:4 (Application Study Bible). “Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18

Jesus loved Martha and Mary and their brother, Lazarus. They were His dearest friends. When Lazarus became gravely ill, his sisters sent an urgent message to Jesus: “Lord, the one you love is sick” (John 11:3). They were certain that Jesus would come quickly.

But Jesus didn’t rush to their side. Even though He knew the gravity of the situation, He stayed where He was two more days (John 11:5,6). Meanwhile, Lazarus’ condition worsened. Overcome with worry, the sisters fretted,  “What’s keeping Him? We told Him it was urgent.”

Their brother Lazarus died.

Imagine the pain! Coupled with the grief of losing a dear brother was the feeling of betrayal. In their deepest need, Jesus had not come. When Jesus finally came, the sisters both said, “It’s too late.”

Can you relate?  Despite your earnest prayers, you’ve waited weeks, months and even years for things to change. God seems very far away. You cry out with the psalmist,

“How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?” (Psalm 13:1,2)

“Some prayers are followed by silence because they are wrong,  others because they are bigger than we understand,” writes Oswald Chambers. God is silent because He wants to give us a bigger revelation of Himself than we’ve ever had before.

That’s what Jesus’ delay was all about. Instead of healing Lazarus, Jesus raised him from the dead. Jesus revealed to them that He Himself is the resurrection and the life.

Are there times in your life when you feel like giving up on prayer? Nothing seems to be happening. It’s as though God isn’t listening or caring. But God’s delays are not denials. He is listening and He does care. He wants to show Himself to you in a new way.

I pray that you will be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully give thanks to the Father—even before the answer comes.

”Father, I thank you that you are working even though I can’t see it at this time. I want to trust you with this. I give it to you now.”

By Helen Lescheid
Used by Permission

Further Reading

•  Wait for the Lord

•  Bible Studies

•  Salvation Explained

The post While We are Waiting on God appeared first on Thoughts About God.

I don’t know anyone who particularly likes to wait. Waiting in line, waiting for a delivery, waiting for a repair person to arrive, waiting on our children and spouses…waiting can be tedious.

And waiting can be hard.

Especially when we’re waiting on God.

When we wait on God, we don’t know His timing, what the future will look like, or if our days will go the way we want them to.

We don’t get to see the full picture of our lives like God does. And yet, He tells us to wait and trust Him.

It’s not easy because waiting can feel like a waste of time. There’s a sense of loneliness as we watch others move ahead and we’re stuck behind…waiting.

But we are not left alone. As we wait, God promises to be with us. And God always keeps His promises.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Which means God with us.)  Isaiah 7:14 NIV

His very name is God with us. It’s Who He is.

God promised us a Savior and He kept His promise.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”  Luke 2:10-11 NIV

He is Immanuel. God with us.

While we wait and let God work, He does not walk away and He doesn’t leave us. Instead, He draws us close to Him and helps us wait.

He makes hope possible when we see no reason for hope.

He fills our hearts with joy that we can’t explain and won’t find anywhere else.

He renews our strength and energy when we have nothing left inside of us.

He gives us the ability to see His blessings in the midst of difficulties, and He brings peace to our lives where peace doesn’t make sense.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  Romans 15:13 NIV

That’s God—helping us wait on Him.

Waiting can make us feel like we’re not doing anything, but we are doing something. We’re leaning in to Him, learning to trust Him on a deeper level.

Waiting is hard, but it is not time wasted.

Without waiting, we would miss out on the way He draws us close to Him and works in us to change our hearts.

Without waiting and trusting Him, we wouldn’t experience hope when we feel hopeless, joy in the midst of unhappiness, and peace that we can’t explain.

Not through anything we can do ourselves, but all because of Him.

Immanuel—God with us.

By Laura Rath
Used by Permission

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Further Reading

• A Poem of Hope

• What a Friend we Have in Jesus

•  Salvation Explained

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“But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Sometimes we just need to stop, breathe and listen to what God is saying. Life can be so busy at times that we miss the important instructions we need to go forward. Give yourself permission to sit still and enjoy the stillness of the moment.

That brief pause may hold the key to the breakthrough you have been awaiting.

Lord teach us how to be still and wait in your presence. Teach us how important it is to listen for your still small voice in the midst of our daily routine.  Thank you for always being available for us. In Jesus name, Amen

Grace and Peace,
By Mary Pinckney

Further Reading

•  How to Have a ‘Quiet Time’ with God

•  How To Be Sure God Listens To Your Prayers

•  Salvation Explained

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