When God says "Wait"

When God says wait: Sitting In God’s waiting room

Psalm 40 verses 1-3 says:

I waited patiently on the Lord, he turned to me and he heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

I must confess waiting is not one of my strong suits, and yet Psalm 40 has meant so much to my life, I memorized the whole chapter. I have found God has placed me in periods of waiting on Him throughout my life… whether it be waiting for answers to my prayers, waiting to have a child, waiting for loved ones to know Jesus, or waiting to be released from strongholds in my life such as from fear, or depression. One thing I have learned from waiting in God’s waiting room is: He is faithful and he hears ours cries. God has used these periods of waiting to know him more intimately, so that my faith and trust in Jesus may be even deeper, and so that my need to spend time daily with Him in God’s word is even greater.  Today I’m going to share with you somethings God has taught me over and over again through these times of waiting and my prayer is that it will give you encouragement to not lose hope, or lose your joy, or peace during your times of waiting with God.

The First Point I want to share is this:

DON’T RESENT THE STRUGGLES IN LIFE BECAUSE THEY CAUSE US TO RELY ON JESUS’ STRENGTH TO PULL US THROUGH…THE MORE WE STRUGGLE THE MORE WE LEARN TO TRUST JESUS TO BE THE ANCHOR OF OUR SOUL.

 

 

Here are a few things I’ve learned while waiting in God’s waiting room:

1. A time of waiting can sometimes leave you in a pit or a stronghold. And I want to share with you today some ways to avoid the slimy pit of despair.

Let’s Reread Ps. 40: 1-2

I waited patiently on the Lord, he turned to me and he heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

I don’t want us to miss in verse one where it says: THE LORD HEARS OUR CRIES! When we are in a time of waiting the closer it is to our hearts the harder the enemy will try to make us think God is not listening to our prayers, or he might say to you “if God loved you, you would not still be waiting for an answer to that prayer” Listen those are LIES!! We have to learn to identify lies from truth and trust that God’s timing is always perfect.

Is. 55:8 says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” Declares the Lord.

God’s wisdom is far greater than man’s, we have to guard our thoughts from the enemy’s attacks or we will find ourselves in a pit of despair consumed by feelings of hopelessness.

#2. The second thing I’ve learned during periods of waiting is: we must learn to use God’s word so we can determine lies from truth! Unless we read our bibles we will not know if the enemy is lying to us. 

Eph. 6:11 says: Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the devil’s schemes

It is so important to arm yourself while you are waiting on God with the sword of the spirit which is the word of God. When we are waiting for our prayers to be answered we must remember God’s great love for us and that he has great plans for our lives.

Jer. 29:11 says: For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm, plans to give you hope and a future.

#3 The third thing I’ve learned to help us avoid falling into a pit while we wait is: we should work on memorizing scripture.

2 Corinthians 10:45 says The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

The type of weapons they are speaking of here is not a sword or a spear, but it is the word of God. When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Jesus used the word of God to make the devil flee from him.

Another powerful weapon we can use to fight with is prayer. A great way to pray and use scripture is by reading a verse and praying afterwards.

He’s an example using Romans 8:28:

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Lord I know your word promises that you can work my child having an incurable disease out for our good, but this doesn’t feel good right now, in fact my heart is broken into a million pieces right now. Lord, I know you are close to the brokenhearted and that your words says for who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his or her life, and so I am laying this at your feet and asking you to be my comfort and my strength. I trust in the fact that your ways are higher than mine and that somehow you will be able to work this out for our good, because your words are true and alive and active. In Jesus name I pray. Amen

Did you see how I used many scriptures I have written on my heart and worked them into my prayer? That is why memorizing scripture is so important. It allows us to know God’s truth and to apply it to our lives when our world is shattered and broken.

A great way to memorize scripture is to write it daily in a journal and then say it out loud 10 times and then try saying it 10 times with your eyes closed. Do this for several weeks until you have written it on your heart.  When choosing a scripture to memorize look up verses about what you are going through or ones that will help bring you encouragement and comfort. The Psalms a great place to look.

The second part I want to teach on today when we are sitting in God’s waiting room and are waiting patiently to hear God answer our prayers is this: TO REMEMBER WHAT GOD HAS BROUGHT YOU THROUGH!  This is essential in making the waiting process more bearable and avoiding that slimy pit of despair.

First of all it is essential to spend time in prayer!! Spend time praising God for ALL the trials in life that God has helped you overcome.

I might pray something like this: Thank-you Lord that your love is so strong and so deep that you can use even our biggest mistakes or our deepest pits of despair as a way to draw us closer to you and that you do not use our mistakes as a way to push us farther away from you God. I remember Lord when I was in a deep pit of depression and I felt like there was no hope, I felt like I was in too deep for your love to reach down and save me, but you proved to me that your love goes even deeper and that no one is beyond your reach and you healed my wounds and cleansed my soul. You used your word Lord to heal me and to fill me with your never-ending joy. Your word revealed to me that I was loved and valued by you. That you choose me, and that I was not a disappointment to you, but that I was loved so much by you that you sent Jesus to rescue me. How I praise you Lord. I am so thankful I was among the sick that you came to make well!! I praise you Lord and give you all of the honor you so rightly deserve… Amen.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to REMEMBER where you have been in your walk with God. A great way to remember all that God has helped you with is to keep a journal so that you can look back and remember when you said God is faithful…he is FAITHFUL!! It gives you a way to remember all of the seas God has parted before you and you got to walk on dry ground like Moses, all of the fires that tried to scorch you and you walked away not even smelling like smoke like Daniel, all of the storms he has calmed in your life that tried to consume you like Jesus did for the disciples on the sea of Galilee. He is Just as faithful and alive and active in your life this very day!! Remember all of the prayers that have been answered big ones and small. Because I promise you when you are in a time of waiting you will be tempted to forget God’s goodness and his faithfulness, just as God’s chosen people often forgot, but when you journal you will REMEMBER his goodness and can use that to fight off the feelings of hopelessness.  Another great thing to do when you journal is to keep a list of things you are THANKFUL for.

Ps 28:7 says The Lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusts in him and I am helped. Therefore my heart exults and with my song I shall thank Him.

Praise is another powerful weapon. It keeps your spirit focused on who is in control and who deserves our praises.

Let’s look back to Psalm 40: picking up with verses 3-5 it says:

He put a new song in my mouth a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud to those who turn aside to false gods. MANY OH LORD MY GOD ARE THE WONDERS YOU HAVE DONE FOR US. THE THINGS YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR US, NO ONE CAN RECOUNT TO YOU. WHERE I TO SPEAK AND TELL OF THEM; THEY WOULD BE TOO MANY TO DECLARE.

Did you hear that? The wonders God has done for us are MANY too many to recount. What a great reminder in times of hopelessness that God has done and has planned too many things for us to even be recounted!!

Let’s Recap before I cover our final destination in God’s Waiting Room:

 We are to guard our minds by:

*reading and memorizing God’s word

*we are to pray to God and give him thanks

*we are to REMEMBER he is faithful and recall all that God has walked you through and praise and worship him for his faithfulness

All of these pointers we’ve discussed will help you keep your soul at rest during the waiting process and also help you be prepared incase God’s answer to your prayers is no, or not right now. That can be a tough one to bear.

So how do we keep our faith strong when we have a broken heart?

WHEN LIFE IS HARD AND WE JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND I WILL TRUST IN GOD WHO KNOWS THE BEGINNING AND THE END.

Sometimes as much as we wanted our answer from God to be yes, sometimes when we are waiting on God the answer is no or not now. Our hearts are broken and our world seems to come undone… What do we do then?

PART OF HAVING FAITH IN God IS TRUSTING HIM WHEN YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND OR GETTING OUT OF THE BOAT EVEN WHEN YOU’RE AFRAID, SO YOU CAN FOLLOW AFTER HIM WITH ALL OF YOUR HEART.

When life doesn’t go the way we’ve planned or our waiting ends in a way that is disappointing we MUST STAND FIRM on our ROCK JESUS CHRIST, and know there is far more than this life can ever offer us. Our HOPE isn’t for a perfect life here on earth, but our HOPE needs to be anchored firmly in the eternal life Jesus provided the way for.

In John 16:33 Jesus says: I have told you these things, so that you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, for I have overcome the world.

When we face life’s most difficult moments we must believe what it says in Rev. 21:4

 “God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

I take great comfort in knowing there will be a day to look forward to when all this will be fulfilled, and I understand until that day comes things cannot and will not always work out the way I had hoped. And the last verse I will close with will be the key to hold us together when our lives feel like they are coming undone…  

Nehemiah 8:10

…Do not be grieved or depressed for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Our strength and our Joy must come from God...

To look for strength in anything else outside of the Lord is foolish, God has to be our ultimate source of strength and joy. MAY THESE STEPS HELP GUARD your hearts, souls, minds, and give you the strength you need while you are waiting. May you find courage and strength in God to look beyond your circumstances into the hurting world around you and love and encourage others who may be waiting too. May you always remember God always hears our cries and he is close to the brokenhearted. Amen