HARD WAITING!
Small church but Big God!
God works wonders for those who wait for him! .
Isaiah 64:4 “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! "
First of the Month, early morning service was being conducted in a small church in a small town. Everything was being done in order and discipline; however, except for one person, the church was empty. There were chairs but no people, but pastor, his wife and daughter were worshipping and preaching as though there were thousands in front of them.
From a sincere heart, they began to call on Jesus, and God’s presence filled the place, and He moved in a powerful way.*Amen. You can see that the emptiness did not bother them because they were waiting for God to do a miracle in their life. When you have faith in your heart, then what you see is frivolous because your spiritual eyes are opened.
Hebrews 11:1, NIV: Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
*No matter where you are in your life, facing a challenge, depressed, discouraged, feeling like you’re without hope, sick, lacking, or alone, Jesus says today trust me wholeheartedly.
Forehead like a diamond,: I am not talking about waiting for a bus or job, I am talking about something more serious, when everyone forces you to go do something else, you need to hold on to the promises of God and wait upon Him. Don't budge! Keep your forehead like a DIAMOND, yes, you need to be hard if you have to hold on to the promises of God, are you listening? The Lord told Prophet Ezekiel: Ezekiel 3:9I will make your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or dismayed at their presence, even though they are a rebellious house.” People will come with million ideas , plans, strategies in order to distract you from the plan of God; however, now you need to focus on God’s plan for your life. Remember the words ‘forehead like a diamond’ and don’t move away to the right or to the left from what has for you.
?During poignant moments, when you know not what to do, trust God.
?When things look utter dark, remember Jesus is the true Light.
?When the pain still lingers, don't forget your Healer is still alive. He will help you. He will do a mighty thing in your life.
DON’T GET WEARY OR TIRED:
Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.
WORTH THE WAIT : This strength is supernatural friend, clap hands for God, will you? What a word! It is like energy drink, just when you feel depleted, exhausted and worn-out, here comes the Word from the Lord: ‘ those who wait on the Lord, will soar like an eagle’, with such promises, it’s worth the wait.
When you have an option: When you have an easy option out, right in front of you then it would be hard to trust for a miracle. If your eyes wander away from God to other options then you would do a drastic mistake like Sarai who made her husband have a baby through Hagar. During my second pregnancy, I was diagnosed with multiple fibroids in my uterus, the doctor’s told me I should abort the baby and remove the uterus – this was no good news; however, in the midst of this dark verdict, I chose to select the hard path of PRAYING AND WAITING on God for a miracle to heal the uterus and for the miraculous birth of my baby instead of abortion and relief of pain. I suffered during the entire pregnancy period, it was no fast-food miracle, but it was tough, I patiently waited though, my son Joshua was born on March 1, 2000, he is now a pastor pursing his masters in Divinity, while also taking care of our ministry. Great things comes through great pain and great faith! Click LINK to read my full testimony from our website.
https://worshipjesusministriestrust.org/aboutus.php
WHEN YOU WAIT:
A) YOU LEARN PATIENCE
B) YOU LEARN COMPASSION
C) YOU LEARN SILENCE
A)PATIENCE: Daniel “knew that the writing was signed,” yet he did not say a word or do anything other than walk into his prayer room. Remarkable attitude! His silence, patience and reticence revealed his faith in ‘his God.’ Nothing could shake him. David says in Psalm 16:8 “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” The true mark of spiritual maturity is to learn to ‘stay quiet”. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:19 “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” We live in a world where the “toughest survive”, the “loudest are lauded” and the ‘aggressive ones are appreciated”. Having worked for many years in public sectors and multinational companies, I have seen how the boisterous ones excel. But listen, God’s blessings are eternal and would surely come on you when you patiently endure the heat like Daniel and wait for God to show up in your life.
B)COMPASSION: It was a day before my husband’s birthday, we had gone to the bank to check out if there were any deposits, but we were disappointed because there wasn’t any, I stood there in front of the bank in despair, because I had nothing to bless my husband with, on his birthday. Just at that time, I received a call on my mobile and it was from the land owner to inform that our cheque had been bounced, never has this happened in our ministry. We were receiving knock after knocks, and I certainly felt drained and depleted. Is this what you call as the ‘fiery furnace that is seven times hotter?’ Surely, I could not take it! I write this portion with tears! When I think of that day, I still shudder. Oblivious to the people around me and unmindful that it was a public place, my eyes brimmed with tears. At that moment, I remembered the childhood days of poverty when we were thrown out of the house because we were not able to pay the rent. Satan cleverly brought the wrong things into my mind to shatter my faith. We asked time from the landlord and prayed for financial deliverance. I would like to state one thing here, despite the miserable condition we were in, we did not resort to using our credit card to draw cash, we did not borrow money, nor did we seek help from relatives or friends, all that we did was to fast, pray and WAIT. As we went through this rough path, we learnt to fast much and pray much.
Dear friends, when finances are delayed and you are going through some severe crisis, fear not, just stay faithful to God. Grind your teeth and stay firm, God will very soon bail you out after you have learnt enough lessons. Are you listening?
Never despair when you go through troubles, we can have a glimpse of God only when we go through the fire. Even today, when I pass through that bank, I praise God for taking me through that path, because He taught me valuable lessons of handling money with caution and care. After that incident, I was able to compassionately look at people who are going through financial crisis. Glory to God! God will never deposit money into a pocket with a hole. Only after making a vessel into a good vessel, would He deliver money into that vessel. The vessel should have the capacity to hold blessings with wisdom! The storehouses of the Egyptians were handed over to Joseph, only after Joseph received training for 13 years inside his prison, without which he would have gone bonkers over the abundance that he received on one single day. Similarly gold, silver, money were handed over to Ezra for the service of the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Besides this abundance, he was also given the authority to ask for ‘whatever more’ may be needed for the house of God, which would be paid to Ezra from the king’s treasury. God trusted Ezra with such abundance because the Law of God was in his hand and he was also a man who not only read the law of the Lord, but he determined his heart to do it and also to teach it.
D) SILENCE: Here, I would like to quote the lovely words of Helen Roseveare, “To love the Lord with all my mind may involve an intellectual cost, I must give Him my mind, my intelligence, my reasoning powers, and trust Him to work through them, even when HE may appear to act in contradiction to common sense.”
When a person is saturated with the presence of God and His wisdom, even their silence exudes profundity! Daniel did not give in to pressure and fear, but stood his ground even when he was thrown into the lion’s den. After throwing Daniel into the lion’s den, the king was unable to forgive himself for his atrocious deed done against Daniel. Now read verse 18: ’Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him.’ He was not able to eat his food, listen to his usual music nor sleep. He spent the whole night tossing to and fro in his bed. The next day he came very early to the den and cried out with a lamenting voice, but Daniel identified the voice of the king and replied back enthusiastically with good wishes: Long live the king! Wow, what a wish from the lion’s den!
During waiting period, you learn to be silent and pray, Amen. When Christians on an average spend less than ten minutes in prayer everyday, and about eight hours (and more) sleeping, I wonder how do I write this portion of praying the whole night; nevertheless I write for the few who would take the effort. I pray God speaks to the hearts of people today and convicts people of prayerlessness in their lives!
I have personally found the night time to be great time with the Lord! With no disturbance of the telephone ringing tone, the door bell, the vendors screaming on the roads and other noises, it is perfect time of bliss to commune with Him. Please don’t sit for prayer with any prior motive of reaping blessings from it, just sit to spend time with Him. That’s it! I tell you, He never sends you empty handed! I know of a young man who spent around five nights of prayer just to get powerfully anointed; however he was disappointed when he felt dry. Praying, fasting and reading the Bible should not become a ritual in our life, we need to do them to seek Him. God knows our inner most thoughts, hence He would reward us accordingly.
It is during such night prayers that God had revealed to me the sermons to be preached and there are other nights that I just sit at His feet; however, such efforts strengthen us to combat the evil forces that come against our family, children, finances, business and health. Why not start with half-night prayer and then scale greater heights for God?
Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:
10’Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.’
Friend, two people above spent their nights differently: one chose to fret and fume but the other chose to take his problems to the feet of the Lord and wait, hence victoriously triumphs over the lions. I am talking to someone out there! GOD BLESS YOU!
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