Why Am I Still Waiting

Does it seem as though you are always waiting for what God has promised you?

Have you ever wondered why is it that God makes people wait so long before He does what He promised He will do?

• God made Abraham wait 25 years before his promise of Isaac being born.

• Isaac was 60 before his sons Esau and Jacob were born.

• Joseph waited 22 years before he saw the prophecy come true where his brothers bowed down to him.

• Israel waited 215 years from the time they went into Egypt until they left in the exodus.

• David waited around 15 years before he sat on the throne after he was anointed to be king.

• Israel was under bondage in Babylon for 70 years.

• Simeon waited most of his life for his promise from the Lord to see the "Consolation of Israel" before he died.

These are just a few of the biblical examples showing how people had to wait before God fulfilled His promises in them.

So why does he make us wait so long? If God can do anything, Can't He just fulfill what He wants in me?

This is a good question, but it will lead you into many problems that you will not be able to handle.

God wants to fulfill his will in everyone because He loves us and He knows His will is our best outcome.

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [Jeremiah 29:11]

This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. [1 Timothy 2:3-4]

. . .give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1 Thessalonians 5:18]

Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. [Hebrews 13:20-21]

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. [Proverbs 3:5-6]

God has you wait to learn who He is and how he wants things done; so you can learn His works and His ways. These are not the ways of region or traditions of men that have been developed by denominations. God wants us to develop into the person He needs, then He starts using us and fulfilling His will in our lives.

While You Wait, Learn Who He Is

God may have revealed to you what He wants you to do, but He needs you to learn the things necessary for the anointing He has placed upon you. The first thing He does with us is to show us who He is.

While David was waiting to take his God-given place as king of Israel the Lord started teaching him who He is. This is why David said in Psalm 25:4-5, "Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You, I wait all the day."

God is usually nothing like what man's religions have presented Him to be. Religion is man's opinions of who God is being subjected upon their society; while faith is God being injected into a person through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. It has always been God's desire that we become one with him; all in all:

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him. [Ephesians 1:7-10 NKJV]

God wants us to understand His virtues and become like Him, through Jesus Christ, taking on his ways.

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your]hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." [1Peter 1:13-16 NKJV]

We become like God by taking on His virtues which are the Fruit of the Spirit:

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ... But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. [Galatians 5:16, 22-25 NKJV]

While you are waiting for the Lord to fulfill in you the promises He has given you, He wants you to learn who He is and He wants you to start becoming like Him.

While You Wait, Learn to Hear His Voice

The next thing God wants us to learn while we are waiting is to hear Him when He is talking to you. God wants you to learn to hear His voice. In John 10:27 Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow me." We have the teachings in John Chapter 10 likening us to sheep so that we understand God wants us to follow Him as sheep do the shepherd and he intends that everyone hears His voice speaking to them.

• We have the Word of God that speaks to us. As your read God's Word, He moves upon you through the words of the Bible, which is God speaking to you.

• When you are saved Jesus abides in you and now you can hear God speaking to you from inside your being.

• When you are have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you now have the Holy Spirit abiding in you and through the spirit that is in you, you can hear the voice of God.

These are all ways which the Lord speaks to people today. While you are waiting upon God to fulfill His promises to you, become very familiar with these ways and you will be better prepared when God does manifest His will in your life.

While You Wait, Learn to Do Things His Way

It is not about you or the things you think need to be done, it is all about what God has anointed you to be and what He wants you to complete.

God wanted Moses to take the children of Israel out of Egypt when Moses was forty years old but it did not happen until Moses was 80 years old. Why did he have to wait so long? Because Moses wanted to do it his way instead of God's way. It took Moses forty years keeping sheep before he learned how to be humble enough to lead people. When Moses was forty years old he learned of his true lineage and in his eager self-righteous thinking started protecting the Israelites by killing a taskmaster that was beating another Israelite. The next day when Moses tried to stop two Hebrew men from fighting, they said to him, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" [Exodus 2:11-14, Acts 7:23-28]. Moses started learning that day his ways were not going to work. After keeping sheep in the wilderness for his father-in-law, Moses was visited by God in a burning bush. God started showing Moses who He was and then He began showing him who Moses was and how He wanted Moses to do things.

We must learn to do things God's way. After you have been saved by accepting the Lord as your savior you must be baptized in the Holy Spirit, what is referred to as being filled with the spirit (Ephesians 5:17-18; Acts 19:5-6). The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us in all truth (John 16:13) and it is God's will that you are filled with the Holy Spirit so you can better understand the things of the spirit. The Holy Spirit understand the deep things of God (1Corinthians 2:10-12) and He will guide you in all truth to understand who God is.

God wants us to use His Word, the Bible, as our rule of faith and practice to show us who He wants us to be and how we are to do the things He has called us to.

"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples."

[John 15:7-8]

"As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who calls us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature. . ."

[1Peter 2:3-4]

While You Wait, Learn Who You Are in Christ

Do not allow the delays of waiting to cause you problems that can distract you and keep you from being what God needs you to be. While Moses was up on the mountain hearing and learning from God the people let the world and religion distract them and they stopped being what God intended for them to be. They made an idol to worship and lived according to their desires (Exodus 32:1-6).

Never let the noise of the world or your problems be louder than the sounds of your praise and worship to the Lord. In your worship and praise God will begin to show you who you are in the Body of Christ. The more you learn of who God is the more He will show you who you are. You must learn to obey the Lord with the things of this study before the Lord will take you into deeper things about the work He wants you to do. Deeper knowledge demands a deeper commitment on your behalf.

The blessings of God does come without its amount of suffering.

If you want the blessings of the Lord it requires an understanding of his sufferings.

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. [1Peter 4:12-13 NKJV]

Some of the things we endure while waiting on the Lord should not be a surprise, but as Christ suffered, we should be willing to learn how these things are developing us to be more like Christ.

Sometimes the blessings of the Lord requires us to endure a sifting so that we can be what He needs us to be as we function in our anointing and calling.

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." [Luke 22:31-32 NKJV]

Sometimes the blessings of the Lord requires us to endure things so we grow in faith and knowledge of who Christ is, allowing us to be like him.

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. [2Peter 1:5-8]

Sometimes the blessings of the Lord requires us to endure things so we progress to the point we become settled in Christ.

Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. [1Peter 5:9-10]

It takes time to learn what God needs you to be so you can carry out your purpose. We are not ready-made Christians able to do the things we should for Christ. Our wait is our time to develop and grow into what Jesus needs us to be.

God tells us early before we are ready because He is calling us to our purpose. Then He works in us to become what he needs us to be, giving us truth and understanding and experience in the things we are anointed to do. God does not surprise us with these mindsets, He teaches us about it first, so we will have the mind of Christ in what we are for him.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, [and] coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. [Philippians 2:5-8 NKJV]

As Jesus was obedient unto death, we should be obedient unto life in Christ.

We should use the time of waiting to learn how to be like Christ.

Let Patience Have Its Perfect Work

God is not going to give you the things you want unless He sees you can be responsible to deal with them in the manner and mindset in which He intends for you to use them. Until you are at that place you will continue to gather and work in a time of waiting. No one understood this better than King Solomon. He had done most everything that a man could do by the desires of his heart. In his searching, he learned that God gives people of faith blessings while he gives to those who live without Him gathering and collecting.

Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God. For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, more than I? For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner, He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. [Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 NKJV]

To have patience work in you, you must allow God's love to casts out all fear, which casts out all doubt, and then you begin to understand He WILL do as He has said! This is how you let God's WILL become a reality to you and the blessings of the Lord start manifesting in your life.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. [James 1:2-4 NKJV]

Patience comes from His presence in every part of life. Where you are having difficulty is where you have not allowed the presence of God to be there with you.

We serve an amazing, holy, supernatural, loving, forgiving, merciful, always present, mighty, powerful, creative God. God is so huge that it takes a lifetime to get to know everything about Him...and there is still more beyond that!

We have an image of Him on the inside that is so important for our lives and future. As a believer...God has placed a deposit in you-- a wealth of purpose and power to harvest and be made manifest. The Bible says it's a treasure, that the excellence of the power of God may be in us not of us (2Corinthians 4:7).

The Apostle Paul wrote the best inspiring words to express how God wants us to gain understanding and purpose for what we are to do.

Ephesians 1:15-19

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what [is] the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. . . [NKJV]

Use your time of waiting as a time of growing, learning, discovering and proclaiming to yourself:

"I am alive to God’s greatness and majesty...I am in Christ"

"I AM...loved and valued by the creator of the universe."

"He has made a deposit in me. There are gifts in me waiting to be developed and released."

"I affirm that I am a special treasure unto God; I have a purpose and destiny in life, a destiny of blessing and fulfillment."

"I will live the glorious and supernatural life, fulfilling God’s purpose, in my expression of His virtues, gifts, excellence, and wisdom."

"This wisdom is working in me to guide and lead me in the right paths to fulfill the dream and visions that the Spirit of God has given me."

"The treasure that is in me is so much greater than the trouble around me!"

"Thank you, Lord, for the journey of discovering what is ahead for me."

"I will walk with patience, seeking your truths as I wait upon you, O Lord".

Victory will come because you waited.

Triumph will come because you waited.

Blessings will come because you waited.

Revelation will come because you waited.

All the things you are wanting and look to God for will come because you waited.

Grow in Christ Jesus as you continue to wait upon the Lord.

#Waiting #ListAll