Tag Archive for wait on God

We Wait on You

2018-09-28 Devotional Companion to Revelation, Devotional with Hymn No comments

A prayer response to Revelation 14:6-20,
a series of visions

Father, a voice within me is screaming:
“We are tired of waiting!
God, it’s time for You to act!
You see what Your world is going through!
How can You just sit by and do nothing?”

“Lord, I am tired of waiting!
I am ready to act myself!
I have ideas!
I have big plans!
But when I ask You to guide and provide,
the only response I hear is
silence.”

Father, I know what Your silence means.
Your silence tells me to wait on You.
Your Word tells me to wait on You.
My history of failure tells me to wait on You.
The saints of all the ages implore me to
wait
on
You.

So today I will simply be Your humble servant.
Today I will joyfully perform the little services
You give me to perform.
Today I will be loving and kind.
Today I will be faithful.
Today I will be prayerful.
Today I will listen for Your whispers
and obey.
Today I will remain fully available to You
moment by moment.

Father, Your ways are always wise, and
Your timing is always perfect.
I will wait on You.
We will wait on You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Waiting for Our Lord
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Patience and Persistence in Prayer

2017-06-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

James 5

Father, You act in Your all-wise, all-loving time,
not on my anxious, self-centered schedule.
Help me to wait for You patiently,
as the farmer waits for rain (James 5:7-8).

Father, we consider the great saints to be greatly blessed of You.
They patiently endured suffering.
They remained faithful,
no matter how dark the days seemed.
Like them, help us to stay strong in faith (James 5:10-11). 

Father, as Your people,
help us to meet every situation with prayer:
suffering, with patient petition, relying on You;
joy, with thanksgiving and song;
sickness, with anointing and intercession;
sin, with confession to one another and forgiveness (James 5:13-18).

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Keep Us Strong in Faith
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Wait for His Time

2016-06-07 Devotional No comments

In John 7:1-10, Jesus is in His home territory of Galilee, with the time drawing near for the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem. Faithful pilgrims would soon begin their long journeys.

Jesus’ brothers, not yet believers, were needling Him to go to the feast. They were cynically pushing Him to go and show off His “miracles”. “Why do these things in secret? Go show Yourself to the whole world!” they mocked.

Jesus responded, “My time is not yet here; for you anytime will do” (John 7:6, NIV).

“For you anytime will do.” If our agenda is set by human desires – whether our own desires or the desires of others – it will always be time to act. Human desires are a constant craving. They will always push us to act NOW. Human wisdom shouts that we should set goals, then reach them by careful planning, diligence, and personal initiative. The time is always NOW. It’s all up to you! Don’t just sit there! Go for it!

But if you are following God’s agenda, you will need to await His time, as did Jesus. Realize that God has gifted all human beings with the power to make meaningful decisions. He then forces them to live with the consequences of those decisions. In order to respect our decisions and still surely accomplish His own purposes, He waits for the right time to take just the right action. He patiently works within human limitations.

For example, God knew that Jesus was the full and final solution for all our needs. He was the key to God’s entire plan of salvation. Yet He waited for thousands of years until “the fullness of time came” (Galatians 4:4, NASB) before sending Jesus.

If you want God’s will for your life, you will have to await His time. That wait can be days, months, years, or decades. Many of His choice servants have died without ever seeing the fruit they desired from their labors. God is never rushed, never surprised, never caught short. He always does the perfect thing at the perfect time. Wait on Him. Each day be content to do whatever task He has assigned you that day, however menial or meaningless it seems. Faithfully plant the seed He gives you, then leave the harvest in His hands.

Wait

2016-02-16 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God waits.
Because He gave us the freedom to choose,
because He patiently interweaves
our human choices with
His eternal purposes,
because He perfectly selects the right time to act,
God waits.

We wait on God
because He waits,
because He is all-wise and
we are not,
because He is all-loving and
we are not,
because He is sovereign and
we are unspeakably small.

We wait on God,
assured that He always does what is
exactly right at
exactly the right time.
Always.

Loving Father, we wait on You.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Thank You for Your Perfect Will
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Nine Months Pregnant

2015-04-05 Devotional with Hymn One comment

“Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.
(Isaiah 66:9, NIV)

I remember when my wife, Gloria, was pregnant with Jason, our first child. As we attended childbirth classes, she felt the insecurities that I’m sure most mothers-to-be share: Will I be able to do it? Will something go wrong? Even though I was only a coach and hand-holder, I too was apprehensive about the whole process.

I remember the teacher repeating to the class the same basic assurances over and over: childbirth is a natural function, and one way or another, the baby will be born. Unless you’ve been through it, that probably sounds laughable. But during the long months of waiting and wondering, we clung to those statements. And even when the day came, as Gloria’s intense pain gnawed relentlessly, and the hospital staff seemed so unhurried, we wondered if the delivery would ever really happen.

I’ve been through those times in my life. The relief that I desperately need, or the dream I cherish as deeply as life itself, doesn’t come for years…or decades. Most of us endure times when, in some important area, we feel nine months pregnant, with discomfort and pressure that won’t quit, but no relief in sight. We feel full term, but God is in no hurry.

During my “labor”, Isaiah 66:9 brings me assurance that helps me not only endure, but rejoice. I can testify that God never begins anything in our lives that He won’t finish – beautifully, completely, and perfectly. All that His love has conceived, He will deliver, and at the right time.

If you’re feeling nine months pregnant, learn to rest in Him more constantly and completely. He is drawing you to Himself. Even as you wait, He is working all things for your good and for the blessing of those around you.

Listen and sing:
Hymn: Wait on the Lord
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics