Waiting On The Lord

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

 

Waiting on God is not waiting on Him to move or to serve us. God has already moved and served us by sending His Beloved Son into the world to perfectly redeem us. Jesus is God’s love for us fully and completely expressed, and out of this fullness, we have received. Hence, we lack nothing. Such an amazing love calls for our response. Waiting on God is serving Him and being attentive to His needs, just as He was attentive to ours in sending Jesus. It is drawing by faith upon His fullness within us. Our account in Jesus is full. God has given us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. His fullness in us is just waiting to be drawn upon and invested in our lives. 

 

Waiting on God is mounting up on wings like eagles. An eagle soars on currents of air without flapping its wings. It flies on the wind, not of its own strength, and therefore can ride air currents for hours with little or no effort. Those who wait on the Lord are like an eagle, moving in the flow of the Holy Spirit and not their own effort. They can serve stronger and outlast those who serve on their own strength. The work they do endures and stands the test of time. Those who do not draw upon the Holy Spirit within themselves trust in their own strength and ability. They will not soar through hardship. They will give up. Instead of being established on the foundation of what they have received in Christ, they are built on sand that washes away. 

 

As we seek the Lord and trust Him for our needs and direction, He will replace our human strength with His supernatural strength to endure and not grow weary. This is not just a one-time thing. You must continually be filled with His power. You must continuously draw upon the fullness of God that is yours in Christ. Isaiah 40:30 states that the youngest and strongest will faint. But those who look to the Lord for their strength will never fail. They will draw on the limitless strength of the Lord. The Lord has already moved and served us. He has already provided. We must draw from His complete and unlimited supply within us. His well is just waiting to be tapped.

 

Samuel told Saul that God loves obedience more than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). When our work for the Lord becomes our sacrifice instead of our obedience, we fail. Jesus made Himself the perfect sacrifice for us because we could not do it for ourselves. Jesus’ obedience to His purpose is the fuel that powers our obedience to serve God.

 

You can prime a well with your own human strength. Water will come for a while, but it will not last. It has to be primed again to flow. When your new life in Christ is primed by faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on your behalf, it will flow and last. Its work will endure and stand strong. 

 

Submit to God what you consider your own ability and strength. Submit to Him what you consider your weakness and inadequacy. It is in your willingness to humbly submit to God that you receive more grace from Him (James 4:6). When you wait on the Lord and serve Him in the power of the Holy Spirit, you have no need to prove what He has already proved. You have no need to gain what He has already gained. You are serving Him out of the fullness you have received because He became the perfect sacrifice for you.

 

"Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord" (Psalm 27:14)!

 

Don’t be discouraged. Your account in Jesus is full, just waiting for you to draw from His never-ending supply. Draw by faith upon the well of God’s Word that is yours in Christ. Draw upon every truth you have received from Him. If you wait on the Lord and serve Him in the strength of the Holy Spirit, your heart will be strengthened. His work in and through you will be greater than you ask or think. He is faithful to perfectly perform His Word in you. 

 

“It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect” (Psalm 18:32).

 

 

Humility Experiences The Blessings Of God's Grace

Many Christians place trust in themselves before they trust God. They put their opinions and experiences above God’s Word. They look to themselves instead of looking to God. As a result, they struggle to believe. Since they haven’t given their worries to the Lord, they have trouble receiving His care. They get weary. Pride traps and keeps them from experiencing the blessings of God’s grace.

 

Our words reveal what is in our hearts (Matthew 12:34), and our words will either absolve or condemn us (Matthew 12:37). The Lord knows when we are full of conceit and pride. Yet, He is gracious (Psalms 145:8). He does not treat us as we deserve (Psalm 103:10). 

 

Pride is full of jealousy, bitterness, and anger. It never produces righteousness (James 1:20). Pride declares that the end justifies the means. However, a good outcome isn’t so good when a morally bad thing is used to achieve it. God grants us time to accept His grace, repent, and humble ourselves (2 Peter 3:9). But a time will come when God will judge our pride (Hebrews 10:30).

 

Job discovered this truth. Job lived around 2200 BC. He was a man of integrity who followed God even when no law required it. Job feared God and rejected evil. He was wealthy, but in just one day, his wealth was taken away, and his children and many of his servants died. And then painful boils covered his entire body. 

 

When Job’s friends heard of his plight, they came to ease his pain. They sat and grieved with him for seven days. Finally, Job opened his mouth, emitting the bitterness and anger in his heart. He cursed the day of his birth and wished for his death (Job 3). Then Job’s friends responded, not easing his pain at all.

 

“Bad things don’t happen to good people,” they said. “Your own sin has brought all this adversity on you.”

 

“If I’ve sinned,” Job responded, “show me my sin. I don’t know why this is happening. I’m innocent.”

 

The advice of his friends only caused Job more grief. During their back-and-forth conversation, Job began to question and doubt God. He went from “I don’t understand why this is happening to me” to “God isn’t fair to me, and there is no benefit in serving Him.” 

 

Job 32:1 says that Job’s friends stopped answering him because Job was “righteous in his own eyes.” 

 

When God finally spoke, He didn’t explain Himself or answer Job’s questions. He only addressed Job’s foolishness. In chapters 38-41, God reminded Job who He was and who Job was.

“Of course, Job, you know everything because you were born before it was all created, and you are so very knowledgeable! If your righteousness is so much greater than mine, do what I do! Clothe yourself with excellence and glory. Cast forth your anger! Behold the proud, bring him low, and put him in his place!” (Job 38:21; 40:10-12).

 

It’s God who brings the prideful low and exalts the humble (1 Peter 5:6).  

 

Look at Job’s response. 

 

“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance” (Job 42:2-3, 5-6, NLT).

 

Humility and repentance are the right responses to God’s correction. Job humbled himself and repented, and God exalted him by restoring everything Satan had stolen. 

 

Look at the responses of others in the Bible to the glory of God. Each time they saw His glory, humility was the consequence.  When Isaiah saw the Lord, he repented (Isaiah 6:5). When God spoke to Abram, he fell on his face (Genesis 17:3). When God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, Moses hid his face from God’s glory (Exodus 3:5-6). When the angel appeared to Joshua, he bowed to the ground in utter devotion (Joshua 5:14). 

 

If we ever genuinely see God’s glory, we, too, will humble ourselves and lose all conceit and pride. My own opinions and those of others will mean nothing.

 

When faced with adversity, we don’t need to go from “I don’t know why this is happening to me” to “God isn’t fair, and there is no benefit in serving Him.” Pride keeps us from experiencing the blessings of God’s grace. God exalts those with a humble heart—just as He exalted Job when he repented. 

 

God’s glory was once hidden from us because of our sin, but God, in His love for us, sent His Beloved Son to become our sin, so we could be justified and glorified in Him (Romans 8:30). For those who believe in Jesus Christ, God no longer judges us from without. Jesus has justified, glorified, and humbled us from within. Disgrace may come with pride, but grace and wisdom come with humility (Proverbs 11:12). God gives more grace to the humble (James 4:6) and wisdom to those who ask (James 1:5). 

What shall I say to these things (Romans 8:31)?  How can I not respond in true humility to the Lord who humbled Himself for me? 

The Second Time You Will See

So He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the town. And when He had spit on his eyes and put His hands on him, He asked him if he saw anything.

—Mark 8:23

In Mark 8:23, Jesus had a purpose in leading the blind man out of the town. Bethsaida was among the cities that drew Jesus’ strongest censure; the citizens’ stubborn disbelief had hardened their hearts (Matthew 11:20–22). The unbelief of others can hinder the manifestation of God’s will. Matthew 13:58 notes that Jesus was unable to perform mighty works in Nazareth due to their unbelief. In Luke 8:54, Jesus had to remove those mourning over Jairus’ daughter to perform a miracle. Many miracles have never happened, not from unwillingness on God’s part, but because the person expecting a miracle overlooked how others’ doubt could affect their belief.

It was very unusual for Jesus to minister healing and then ask what the results were. We can rule out the possibility that Jesus didn’t know what the will of the Father was (John 5:19). In asking this man if he could see anything, Jesus didn’t doubt God. He knew that manifestations of God’s power could be hindered by the unbelief of others. Jesus knew that his man could have unbelief, just as the town had unbelief. Rather than release His Father’s power into this man and then leave him struggling to receive healing, Jesus helped this man with his unbelief until his healing was complete (Mark 8:25).

This reveals that not all healings (or any other answers to prayers) are instant. Satan can hinder God’s power even after it has been released. In Daniel 10:1–13, Daniel persevered in prayer for twenty-four days. The angel told Daniel that God had answered his prayer right away, yet it took twenty-four days for him to receive the answer because the prince of Persia (a demonic entity) had fought against him. God answers many prayers (Matthew 7:7–8) that are never received because those praying failed to persevere (Mark 11:24, Galatians 6:9).

“And he looked up and said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’ Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly” (Mark 8:24–25).

It was uncommon for Jesus to inquire if someone had received their miracle; it was more unexpected for Jesus to lay hands on someone a second time. In the Old Testament, Elijah and Elisha prayed more than once to see the result of their prayers (1 Kings 17:21–22, 18:42–45; 2 Kings 4:32–35), but this is the only instance in the New Testament where Jesus needed to minister more than once for a healing to be complete.

In Mark 8:24, the Greek term “anablepo,” translated as “looked up,” suggests spiritual sight or the exercise of faith. Instead of “looking up” to Jesus and relying on faith, many of us ask God for things and then examine our circumstances to judge whether our prayers were answered. That is walking by sight and not by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). If we can’t “see” God’s answer, then we pray again, asking for the same thing. This is not the way Jesus taught us to pray and receive (Mark 11:22–24), and we can be certain that Jesus didn’t lay hands on this man a second time because He thought His Father hadn’t heard Him the first time. Since the man received partial sight, it’s evident that God’s healing power was at work in him. Jesus wasn’t asking His Father again to heal this man. Jesus knew that unbelief was hindering God’s healing in this man, and He simply gave him another touch of the anointing power of God. 

Satan may hinder but cannot overcome someone who continues to resist him (James 4:7). We should petition God for a need and then believe that we receive (Mark 11:24). If we beg God again and again, then we didn’t really believe the first time we asked. We should continue to pray in faith until we receive our answer, just as Jesus did with this blind man. 

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1).

There is more to prayer than simply petitioning God for something. We should keep resisting the devil’s interference through intercession and praise, with prayers of agreement and prayers of binding and loosing (Matthew 18:18–19).

Often, instead of believing, we ask for God’s power to change a situation or heal us, and we do one of two things. We either give up or we ignore any evidence to the contrary. The best thing to do is exactly what Jesus did in Mark 8:23–26. We should trust that we received what we prayed for, enough to face any evidence to the contrary and continue to apply God’s power. God doesn’t hinder our answer. Just as Daniel’s example reveals, perseverance in prayer overcomes Satan.

“Then He sent him away to his house, saying, ‘Neither go into the town, nor tell anyone in the town’” (Mark 8:26).

Jesus said this to the man for the same reason that He took him out of Bethsaida. Jesus had to separate him from the unbelief of the people in the town. 

How many times do we allow others to talk us out of what we believe the Word has revealed to us? We’ve looked to Jesus in faith, and yet somehow we have allowed others to speak unbelief into our lives. We’ve allowed them to weaken our faith, steal our perseverance, and kill our promise.

“As a man thinks in his heart so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). 

What do I believe in my heart? Do I believe God hears my prayer and answers? I’ll persevere, believing. It may take a while, but I’ll never give up. God is faithful. The second time I’ll see.

Becoming One With God

A pursuit of God that is just intellectual isn’t a relationship because there is no interaction with Him. It is in interaction with God that we are changed. Knowing what the Word says is extremely important, but we should never limit God. He has more for us than intellectual knowledge. God created us to “know” Him intimately. To be intimate, there must be interaction. Since God is the Word, He communicates with us through it. We have a relationship with the Word.

 

Knowing God mirrors the physical intimacy of marriage, where a man and a woman become one. In a good marriage, there is no fear of condemnation or shame. That marriage relationship has the freedom of honesty because it trusts. It is deeply personal and vulnerable. Most of all, it is safe. You can have this kind of intimate relationship with God where you can be vulnerable because you know you are safe. 

 

Safety is found in surrender. When you surrender to God, you are declaring that you trust him. You can be honest with Him, exposing all your fears and failures. He rejoices in your honesty. He doesn’t shame or condemn you. You belong to Him. God calls you to experience knowing Him. He has made the first move toward you with the finished work of the cross. He is waiting for your surrender.

 

God reveals the things we need to let go of to experience His goodness. Surrendering to Him unlocks your heart to receive from Him. It is the same as in marriage. Surrendering to your spouse allows intimacy to grow, and surrendering to God allows deeper intimacy.

 

“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). 

 

This is God’s promise. What God says He means. He doesn’t play games with you. He follows through with what He promises. But His promises involve your response. When you search for Him with all your heart, you will find Him. God desires all of you—not a spur-of-the-moment you. He doesn’t want you distracted by anything that keeps you from Him. God isn’t vague about you. His love for you is intentional, and He desires the same from you.

 

When you intentionally seek God, you will become so acutely aware of Him that your heart becomes interwoven with His. You will know without a doubt what breaks His heart because it breaks yours, and you will know what brings Him joy because it brings you joy.

 

Don’t you want to have a heart like this? A heart that is intimately one with His?

 

Paul writes in Philippians 3:10: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”

 

Every aspect of my life should revolve around knowing Jesus intimately and personally. In this verse, Paul takes knowing Jesus even further. Paul wants to know the power of His resurrection. It is only in intimacy with Jesus that we experience His resurrection power working in us. And it is only in intimacy that we understand the suffering He experienced for us. I want a deep personal relationship with the Lord that releases His life and power through me into the lives of others. I can only find this relationship when I surrender completely to Him. 

 

This is the intentional purpose Paul writes about in Philippians 3. Do I press on toward the goal of knowing Him? Do I surrender myself, my struggles, doubts, fears, and desires so that I might know God intimately? The more I seek Him, the more I know Him. The more I know Him, the more He reveals Himself to me. In my pursuit of knowing God, I am becoming one with Him.

Lord, I don’t want to limit myself from receiving the best You have for me. I want to experience You. I want Your profound truths to be revealed in my heart, and I want my heart to mirror Yours. Reveal each thing that holds me hostage to myself. Reveal each lie that I have believed, and I will surrender it to You. I pursue You, Jesus. I surrender all I am. I rest in your finished work. You, O God, are my Father. I trust You.

 

Jesus In Me

What is power in my life? Power is simply Jesus flowing through me. No matter how weak or how unaccomplished I might feel, when I allow Him to work through me, then what I do will be powerful. I need to remember this during days when I seem to slide back two steps after climbing one. 

No day is a failure when I have given it to God. His use of my surrendered day may not be apparent, but it is real. If I dwell in Him, and He dwells in me, then I will bear fruit. The fruit is not mine to bear. I am just the branch that carries the life of the vine to the fruit. He is the vine, and I am the branch. For the life of the vine to flow through me, I must surrender all that I am to Him. If I dwell in Him, and desire only His will and His work, His Spirit will not fail to flow through my life into the lives of others.

Is His power hindered in my life? The only hindrance that can hold His power from flowing through my life is myself. If this is the case, then I don’t have enough hunger for the revelation of His Word and intimacy with Him. Why don’t I hunger enough for Him to let go of all that I am, all that I want, all that I have chosen? Why don’t I realize that when I hold on to the least vestige of myself, I have told the Lord that I am the vine? That is pride. 

Consider Peter telling the Lord he was not worthy to have his feet washed. What appeared as humility in Peter was really pride. Peter was trying to hold on to his relationship with the Master as it had been by saying he was not worthy for the Master to wash his feet, and the Lord was asking Peter to surrender to a new relationship with Him. Pride. Self. Unworthiness. All are excuses to my absolute surrender.

I hunger for others to be better off for having come in contact with me. If I yearn to be a conduit of His unconditional love and grace, I will continually surrender to Him, and His Spirit will manifest the love of Jesus in and through me. If I yield to Him in each moment, then I will be a channel of all He is flowing through all I am not. Others will receive that which I cannot give, and experience His power doing abundantly and exceedingly more than I can think or ask.

There is no way to adequately express the greatness of the gift of God’s grace or the depth of my thanks. May I always honor Jesus as He has honored me. Thank you, Jesus, for your indescribable gift!

My "Joy Unequaled"

Years ago, I realized I needed something more in my walk with the Lord. I thought I knew Him intimately, but trials convinced me I didn’t completely trust Him. I knew faith and fear could never work together. But what I sensed—what I felt, saw, and experienced had more power in my life than the truth I thought I knew. I realized I couldn’t walk by faith without knowing the absolute safety of Jesus’s perfect love for me. The only way I would know the breadth, height, length, and depth of His love was to surrender myself to Him. I wanted to know His genuine and palpable presence, so I came to Him, defenseless, vulnerable, and wide open. I began to delve into the Word as I never had before. Paul’s epistles came to life for me. In Philippians 3:7-8, I found his response to Jesus. 

“But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled]” (Philippians 3:7-8, AMP).

Paul considered everything he had gained in life as a loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Jesus Christ. The things that once mattered, believed, and drove his life had suddenly become nonsense. Paul discovered that in knowing Jesus, he had received the “supreme advantage” of life and godliness. When the Word began to come to life in me, the world, the opinions of others, and the lies I believed became less valuable compared to the precious privilege of knowing Jesus. Faith began to overcome the sin of fear that controlled my life.

Paul’s words reveal the supreme advantage of knowing Christ. Understanding this advantage emerges when we pursue God as He pursues us. God pursued Paul and finally got his attention on the road to Damascus. When faced with the goodness of God’s love, I have a decision: I either respond or I don’t. In pursuing God, I discover the indescribable gain of knowing Him. I receive His forgiveness, healing, deliverance, provision, and blessing. This pursuit restores and completely satisfies me.

Marriage is an example of what our relationship with the Father should be. Personal, intimate, special, protected, giving, receiving, vulnerable, honest, and committed. Two are no longer two. Two have become one. When I value my marriage highly, I consider it a priceless privilege. I'm familiar with what I need to know about my husband, learn to respond to his likes and dislikes, and anticipate how he will respond in various situations. The same is true of our relationship with God. Knowing God intimately acclimates us to His likes and dislikes. We know how to respond in difficult situations. We hear Him clearly and understand the hidden things unique to our relationship. Two have become one.

When we place unsurpassed value on knowing God, we discover He is the God of abundant life. Ephesians 3:18 reveals this abundance as knowing the breadth, length, height, and depth of His love for you. The more we know God, the more of Him there is to know. The gift of His love is unending and just waiting to be unpacked and known by you.

The world offers nothing lasting. God desires to change our lives with His surpassing love and to establish His Kingdom. But we can never build His Kingdom on our merit and limited understanding. Knowing God fully will not only draw us closer to Him but also draw others too. It is our priceless privilege to know Jesus. As we grow more deeply acquainted with Him, we have the supreme advantage to successfully navigate and overcome in this life.

Peter wrote: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3).

We have been given everything we need to live a godly life. We discover these things by knowing God intimately.

Paul wrote: “[I always pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may grant you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation [that gives you a deep and personal and intimate insight] into the true knowledge of Him [for we know the Father through the Son]” (Ephesians 1:17, AMP).

I cannot live by my insight. It is death to my faith (Romans 8:6). I desire my Father’s deep and personal insight. His insight is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

Lord, grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in my relationship with you. As you hunger for me, I want to hunger for you. The former things I thought meant something now mean nothing. The former fears mean nothing. The former life has passed away. I walk by faith and not by sight. You are all I need. Nothing surpasses this priceless privilege of knowing you. You are my "joy unequaled."