Sermon Title: Waiting Upon GOD – The Measure And Test Of Faith
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The ultimate measure and test of the Christian’s faith is to wait upon God.
Life is filled with moments and seasons of waiting for something to happen, or for someone to show up.
It is an inescapable reality.
Even our universe is fundamentally designed around patterns and seasons that compel us to live not only in the present, but also with a compelling anticipation of what is to come.
We have been taught that there are three divine answers to every prayer – yes, no and wait.
However.
We hate to wait.
We hate everything about waiting.
We hate to be in a queue; and we hate to get stuck in traffic.
I struggle when I have to wait.
But what I hate most about waiting is when someone behind you gets ahead of you.
I remember placing my order for pizzas ahead of someone; and as we were waiting together, he got his pizza orders ahead of me.
I must admit that my peace was disturbed ever so slightly; and it was some moments before I got my order.
And during that time the Lord spoke to me, “Still yourself. you got what you were waiting for. Stop being hangry.”
An underlying biblical theme through the lives of God’s faithful servants is that they spent most of the time waiting upon God.
Moses essentially waited the first 80 years of his life before fulfilling his destiny to lead Israel out from Egypt; and even in his last years, spent a great deal of time – waiting upon God.
David spent his life taking care of his father’s sheep against bears and lions whilst waiting – before facing Goliath; and after more waiting, subsequently became king of Israel.
Even the disciples who followed Jesus waited for copious amounts of time – for what was to happen next; but most essentially, what was to ultimately happen, as they waited upon the Lord.
Don’t waste your wait.
The worse thing we could do is to think that waiting is a waste of time.
As People of God, waiting upon God – for His Help, Healing, Deliverance, Salvation, and most importantly, His Return - is the measure and test of our faith in Christ.
To the faithful, there is no such thing as a holding pattern or a passive posture of being; but instead, to wait upon God – Divine Waiting – for the Christian is active, cherished and sustained.
In speaking to how we must wait upon God, I invite you to contemplate on a recent struggle or challenge in your life that tested your faith - an event in your life where you needed to exert your faith in Christ.
The fundamental biblical concept of divine waiting is premised on an expectation or a promise of God that has already been fulfilled.
When God places a desire in our hearts to wait upon Him, He has already fulfilled the event to which we have been tasked to anticipate of Him.
As Christians, we never wait for nothing; we especially never wait upon God for nothing.
There is nothing passive about the divine act of waiting upon the Lord.
The Christian should never tire of waiting upon the Lord; should never disregard, or despise the times God has set aside for us to wait upon Him.
And there must be a sustained effort to the divine wait – whereupon the depth of our faith in God is reflected and becomes evident.
What must we do as we wait upon God?
There are four key efforts – active, cherished and sustained – that constitutes a life lived waiting upon God.
Worship;
Acceptance;
Intercession;
Turning it over to God.
Worship as an act of Waiting upon God
Remember that divine wait is active, cherished and sustained; which is why the worship of the living God is premised upon the posture of active surrendered-ness; and NOT of resignation.
Surrendered-ness speaks to an absolute and complete trust, dependence and obedience to God.
So when you worship Him, you bring your full self, and not your scattered self, before God.
As you wait upon Him, you adore Him; behold Him; placing and keeping your focus wholly on Jesus; turning all your attention to Him.
When you worship God; you consciously and conscientiously refrain from all doubts, all fear, and all worry.
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Covering and Protection in complete trust and surrender.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4)
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Providence in complete trust and surrender.
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Coming Salvation in complete trust and surrender.
“In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)
In fact, the main purpose of worship is to inspire the believer to await the coming of the Lord’s Salvation. (Ref: Acts 16:24-26)
Are you inspired?
As you wait upon the Lord, actively find time to worship Him; cherishing those moments of sustained worship as you dwell in His Presence and seek His face.
Acceptance of God’s Sovereignty and Strength in you as an act of Waiting Upon God.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
To wait upon God is to actively and resolutely accept God’s Sovereign Will in your life; and at the same time accept that - whilst waiting upon Him - God has given you the strength to go on about life with an unrelenting hope that He has already answered, and fulfilled His Promises to you; giving you the very best.
It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:26)
“And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders…” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
In fully accepting His Will for us, we must therefore diligently keep a quiet heart, and lead a quiet life – as we wait upon the Lord.
Intercession as an act of Waiting Upon God
Intercession - or intercessory prayer - redirect all things towards the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit’s Power.
As you wait upon the Lord, be disciplined in engaging in intercessory prayer (Ref: Ezekiel 22:30) – by “standing in the gap” and praying on behalf, or in representation, of the people in need, or the dire circumstance; by bringing the person or the matter, directly to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to learn to stop bringing our thoughts, opinions or suggestions before the Lord; but to only bring the matter to Him and wholly leave it in His care.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Don’t even think about taking things upon yourself.
You are not even your own; for at the greatest cost of Christ’s sacrifice of atonement on the Cross, you were redeemed - “you were bought at a price.”
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – a place in which all things that enters gets redirected to the sole attention of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You get tired, frustrated and disillusioned when you wrongly believe that you must absorb the problem, and resolve the situation.
No.
You cannot.
In fact, you have absolutely no ability to.
But what you must do is to wait upon the Lord in active prayer intercession; because every problem that comes to you can only be resolved by God.
The Apostle Paul tells us that in waiting upon the Lord through intercessory prayer, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)
In intercession, pray in tongues as the Spirit empowers you and gives you utterance.
Devote an hour each day praying in tongues.
Do it; and your life will be changed.
Your perspective will change, your desire will change; you… will change.
For in our willingness and devotion to pray in the language of the Holy Spirit, we are uttering the very prayers of intercession that the Holy Spirit expresses through us – targeting the very heart of the problem - established wholly upon the Will of God.
We are placed in this universe to glorify God and fulfill His Will.
The life of glory and fulfillment is attained only when we consciously glorify God and fulfill His Will. In this life, the peace of Christ reigns.
As you wait upon the Lord, actively engage in sustained intercession by praying in Spirit-empowered tongue; because only in that way are you praying in accordance to the Will of God; and in the knowledge that it will be fulfilled.
Turning it over to the Lord as an act of waiting upon God.
To trust in God is to not only refrain from doubts, fear and worry; it is to completely turn your circumstance over to the Lord
Proverbs 3:5-6 and Psalm 23 makes it abundantly clear:
“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.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
So many fail to grasp the true meaning of trust because of the lack of courage – divine courage to turn our lives and every situation over to God in the utter acknowledgement that we are merely sheep; and that He is our Shepherd.
The Lord Jesus commands us to “take heart” (John 16:33); to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9) – for He who has overcome the world, will be with us wherever we go.
Our hearts should not be anywhere else but be with our Lord; for we cannot lean on anything else – nor can we attempt to understand anything – except depend absolutely on Him.
We have no ability to fully understand; only in part.
And when we understand in part, we have no understanding at all.
Which is why it makes sense to surrender our lives and situations to Him; in utter faith that He will make our paths straight – setting things right not in accordance to our wills that are mired in depravity, wickedness and self-centeredness, but in accordance to His good and perfect Will.
We – and every human being - are sheep who know nothing.
God is our Shepherd who is Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipotent (all-powerful) and Omnipresent (all-present).
Whom should you trust?
Whom should you turn your life over to?
When you live in the reality that the Lord is our Shepherd who gave His life in atonement for our sins, we truly lack nothing.
As we await His Salvation, we know that our wait is fulfilled – and in faith, finished –because we have turned our lives over to Him.
He is Lord, and has fulfilled all things in the eventual inbreaking of His eternal Kingdom.
Where we are right now is in the middle of His Story.
His Kingdom is already established in us; and will one day, be established in all of Creation – New Creation.
The King is who we are waiting upon; His Love, Salvation and Restoration is why we are waiting; and His Coming, Eternal Kingdom is what we are waiting for.
The ultimate purpose and objective of our wait upon God is for the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Brethren, W.A.I.T. upon our Lord; for He is coming soon! (Ref: Revelation 22:7, 12, 20)
And as you do, may you cherish and sustain every moment that you actively
(i) Worship the living God,
(ii) Accept His Sovereign Will and Strength upon you,
(iii) Intercede and
(iv) Turn everything over to the Lord.
For everything has been fulfilled, when we daily:
“Wait until the Lord comes.
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.
At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (I Corinthians 4:5)
Wait upon God.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I wait upon You in active worship, acceptance of Your Will, in constant intercession and in turning my life and every situation into Your hands.
May I truly love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength. (Ref: Mark 12:30)
Forgive me when I come before you scattered with doubts, fear and worry; help me come before you with all that I am.
In every prayer and need, I wait upon You.
My God and Saviour – by Your Spirit’s Power - help me acknowledge utterly and live wholeheartedly in waiting for Your Glorious Return – which is my blessed hope. (Ref: Titus 2:13)
I watch in hope for you, Lord. I wait for God my Savior. I know that You hear me and are close to me all the days of my life. (Ref: Micah 7:7)
May my heart’s every desire await your Return, Lord; for I know that You “will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart”; and at that time, I await the time when I will receive praise from You! (Ref: 1 Corinthians 4:5)
Lord, keep me in Your Love; that I may daily await for You to bring me to eternal life. (Ref: Jude 1:21)
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
The ultimate measure and test of the Christian’s faith is to wait upon God.
Life is filled with moments and seasons of waiting for something to happen, or for someone to show up.
It is an inescapable reality.
Even our universe is fundamentally designed around patterns and seasons that compel us to live not only in the present, but also with a compelling anticipation of what is to come.
We have been taught that there are three divine answers to every prayer – yes, no and wait.
However.
We hate to wait.
We hate everything about waiting.
We hate to be in a queue; and we hate to get stuck in traffic.
I struggle when I have to wait.
But what I hate most about waiting is when someone behind you gets ahead of you.
I remember placing my order for pizzas ahead of someone; and as we were waiting together, he got his pizza orders ahead of me.
I must admit that my peace was disturbed ever so slightly; and it was some moments before I got my order.
And during that time the Lord spoke to me, “Still yourself. you got what you were waiting for. Stop being hangry.”
An underlying biblical theme through the lives of God’s faithful servants is that they spent most of the time waiting upon God.
Moses essentially waited the first 80 years of his life before fulfilling his destiny to lead Israel out from Egypt; and even in his last years, spent a great deal of time – waiting upon God.
David spent his life taking care of his father’s sheep against bears and lions whilst waiting – before facing Goliath; and after more waiting, subsequently became king of Israel.
Even the disciples who followed Jesus waited for copious amounts of time – for what was to happen next; but most essentially, what was to ultimately happen, as they waited upon the Lord.
Don’t waste your wait.
The worse thing we could do is to think that waiting is a waste of time.
As People of God, waiting upon God – for His Help, Healing, Deliverance, Salvation, and most importantly, His Return - is the measure and test of our faith in Christ.
To the faithful, there is no such thing as a holding pattern or a passive posture of being; but instead, to wait upon God – Divine Waiting – for the Christian is active, cherished and sustained.
In speaking to how we must wait upon God, I invite you to contemplate on a recent struggle or challenge in your life that tested your faith - an event in your life where you needed to exert your faith in Christ.
The fundamental biblical concept of divine waiting is premised on an expectation or a promise of God that has already been fulfilled.
When God places a desire in our hearts to wait upon Him, He has already fulfilled the event to which we have been tasked to anticipate of Him.
As Christians, we never wait for nothing; we especially never wait upon God for nothing.
There is nothing passive about the divine act of waiting upon the Lord.
The Christian should never tire of waiting upon the Lord; should never disregard, or despise the times God has set aside for us to wait upon Him.
And there must be a sustained effort to the divine wait – whereupon the depth of our faith in God is reflected and becomes evident.
What must we do as we wait upon God?
There are four key efforts – active, cherished and sustained – that constitutes a life lived waiting upon God.
Worship;
Acceptance;
Intercession;
Turning it over to God.
Worship as an act of Waiting upon God
Remember that divine wait is active, cherished and sustained; which is why the worship of the living God is premised upon the posture of active surrendered-ness; and NOT of resignation.
Surrendered-ness speaks to an absolute and complete trust, dependence and obedience to God.
So when you worship Him, you bring your full self, and not your scattered self, before God.
As you wait upon Him, you adore Him; behold Him; placing and keeping your focus wholly on Jesus; turning all your attention to Him.
When you worship God; you consciously and conscientiously refrain from all doubts, all fear, and all worry.
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Covering and Protection in complete trust and surrender.
“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-4)
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Providence in complete trust and surrender.
“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)
As you wait upon the Lord in worship, you await His Coming Salvation in complete trust and surrender.
“In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)
In fact, the main purpose of worship is to inspire the believer to await the coming of the Lord’s Salvation. (Ref: Acts 16:24-26)
Are you inspired?
As you wait upon the Lord, actively find time to worship Him; cherishing those moments of sustained worship as you dwell in His Presence and seek His face.
Acceptance of God’s Sovereignty and Strength in you as an act of Waiting Upon God.
“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)
To wait upon God is to actively and resolutely accept God’s Sovereign Will in your life; and at the same time accept that - whilst waiting upon Him - God has given you the strength to go on about life with an unrelenting hope that He has already answered, and fulfilled His Promises to you; giving you the very best.
It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:26)
“And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders…” (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)
In fully accepting His Will for us, we must therefore diligently keep a quiet heart, and lead a quiet life – as we wait upon the Lord.
Intercession as an act of Waiting Upon God
Intercession - or intercessory prayer - redirect all things towards the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit’s Power.
As you wait upon the Lord, be disciplined in engaging in intercessory prayer (Ref: Ezekiel 22:30) – by “standing in the gap” and praying on behalf, or in representation, of the people in need, or the dire circumstance; by bringing the person or the matter, directly to our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to learn to stop bringing our thoughts, opinions or suggestions before the Lord; but to only bring the matter to Him and wholly leave it in His care.
“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own; you were bought at a price.
Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
Don’t even think about taking things upon yourself.
You are not even your own; for at the greatest cost of Christ’s sacrifice of atonement on the Cross, you were redeemed - “you were bought at a price.”
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – a place in which all things that enters gets redirected to the sole attention of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You get tired, frustrated and disillusioned when you wrongly believe that you must absorb the problem, and resolve the situation.
No.
You cannot.
In fact, you have absolutely no ability to.
But what you must do is to wait upon the Lord in active prayer intercession; because every problem that comes to you can only be resolved by God.
The Apostle Paul tells us that in waiting upon the Lord through intercessory prayer, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” (Romans 8:26)
In intercession, pray in tongues as the Spirit empowers you and gives you utterance.
Devote an hour each day praying in tongues.
Do it; and your life will be changed.
Your perspective will change, your desire will change; you… will change.
For in our willingness and devotion to pray in the language of the Holy Spirit, we are uttering the very prayers of intercession that the Holy Spirit expresses through us – targeting the very heart of the problem - established wholly upon the Will of God.
We are placed in this universe to glorify God and fulfill His Will.
The life of glory and fulfillment is attained only when we consciously glorify God and fulfill His Will. In this life, the peace of Christ reigns.
As you wait upon the Lord, actively engage in sustained intercession by praying in Spirit-empowered tongue; because only in that way are you praying in accordance to the Will of God; and in the knowledge that it will be fulfilled.
Turning it over to the Lord as an act of waiting upon God.
To trust in God is to not only refrain from doubts, fear and worry; it is to completely turn your circumstance over to the Lord
Proverbs 3:5-6 and Psalm 23 makes it abundantly clear:
“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.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
So many fail to grasp the true meaning of trust because of the lack of courage – divine courage to turn our lives and every situation over to God in the utter acknowledgement that we are merely sheep; and that He is our Shepherd.
The Lord Jesus commands us to “take heart” (John 16:33); to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9) – for He who has overcome the world, will be with us wherever we go.
Our hearts should not be anywhere else but be with our Lord; for we cannot lean on anything else – nor can we attempt to understand anything – except depend absolutely on Him.
We have no ability to fully understand; only in part.
And when we understand in part, we have no understanding at all.
Which is why it makes sense to surrender our lives and situations to Him; in utter faith that He will make our paths straight – setting things right not in accordance to our wills that are mired in depravity, wickedness and self-centeredness, but in accordance to His good and perfect Will.
We – and every human being - are sheep who know nothing.
God is our Shepherd who is Omniscient (all-knowing), Omnipotent (all-powerful) and Omnipresent (all-present).
Whom should you trust?
Whom should you turn your life over to?
When you live in the reality that the Lord is our Shepherd who gave His life in atonement for our sins, we truly lack nothing.
As we await His Salvation, we know that our wait is fulfilled – and in faith, finished –because we have turned our lives over to Him.
He is Lord, and has fulfilled all things in the eventual inbreaking of His eternal Kingdom.
Where we are right now is in the middle of His Story.
His Kingdom is already established in us; and will one day, be established in all of Creation – New Creation.
The King is who we are waiting upon; His Love, Salvation and Restoration is why we are waiting; and His Coming, Eternal Kingdom is what we are waiting for.
The ultimate purpose and objective of our wait upon God is for the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Brethren, W.A.I.T. upon our Lord; for He is coming soon! (Ref: Revelation 22:7, 12, 20)
And as you do, may you cherish and sustain every moment that you actively
(i) Worship the living God,
(ii) Accept His Sovereign Will and Strength upon you,
(iii) Intercede and
(iv) Turn everything over to the Lord.
For everything has been fulfilled, when we daily:
“Wait until the Lord comes.
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.
At that time each will receive their praise from God.” (I Corinthians 4:5)
Wait upon God.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord, I wait upon You in active worship, acceptance of Your Will, in constant intercession and in turning my life and every situation into Your hands.
May I truly love you with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind and with all my strength. (Ref: Mark 12:30)
Forgive me when I come before you scattered with doubts, fear and worry; help me come before you with all that I am.
In every prayer and need, I wait upon You.
My God and Saviour – by Your Spirit’s Power - help me acknowledge utterly and live wholeheartedly in waiting for Your Glorious Return – which is my blessed hope. (Ref: Titus 2:13)
I watch in hope for you, Lord. I wait for God my Savior. I know that You hear me and are close to me all the days of my life. (Ref: Micah 7:7)
May my heart’s every desire await your Return, Lord; for I know that You “will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart”; and at that time, I await the time when I will receive praise from You! (Ref: 1 Corinthians 4:5)
Lord, keep me in Your Love; that I may daily await for You to bring me to eternal life. (Ref: Jude 1:21)
I thank You and pray all these in the Name of our King, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.