My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defense; I shall not be moved. (Psalm 62:5-6)
Waiting on the Lord is one of the
hardest things for the flesh to embrace. One of the biggest obstacles to moving
into the new season, and moving into greater glory and harvest, is impatience.
Impatience caused Moses to be set on the backside of the desert for forty years
as the Lord dealt with his life and character. Impatience caused King Saul to
presumptively take matters into his own hands when it seemed Samuel was delayed
in his arrival to bless the troops before battle (1 Sam. 10), thus causing a
hardening of his heart in pride and ultimately losing the kingdom. Impatience
by the newly saved Saul of Tarsus caused unnecessary turmoil and problems for
the still infant church in Jerusalem, causing the senior leaders to send him
back home to Tarsus for the discipline of silence and solitude (Acts 9:27-31).
Part of the Lord’s refining process to prepare us to enter into the fullness of
His presence and purposes is learning to wait on the Lord. There’s nothing more
irritating and deadly to the fallen nature, but conversely reviving to the
Spirit of God within us, than waiting on God. Waiting on the Lord
is part of the sifting process where the precious (His presence within the
believer) is separated from the worthless (that which is under the dominion of
the world, the flesh and the enemy). This has always been a necessary stage in
the sanctification/training process in a believer’s life before moving forward
into the fullness of the Lord’s purposes.
Most, if not all of those whose
hearts beat after the Lord, desiring to fulfill His desire and His purposes,
have been going through this process over the last few years. While I was out
for a prayer walk one morning recently, the Lord asked me three questions that
determine whether I am ready to move forward into a greater manifestation of
His presence, power AND engagement with the enemy. I submit them to you as He
did to me….
1.
What is the Lord sifting from your life that
must go in order to move forward into this next season? Before we
answer that question, it would greatly behoove us to seek Him and what He sees
as to what He wants to separate, because it may not be the obvious. Sometimes
what we ask Him to help us remove from our lives, He pays no attention to
because it’s a fruit and not a root. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal the
specific thing that is hindering us from moving forward, and He will reveal it.
Warning: it’s usually something we think
is ok and actually of value to Him! It can be humiliating to actually
find out the source of the hindrance.
2.
What of the past, good, bad or otherwise,
are we still grasping to? We must let go, not only of failures, but of
victories as they could become monuments to nostalgia and sentiment that will
block the narrow gate we must pass through into the new season (Phil. 3:7-11).
3.
What aspect of Himself is He trying to form
in you to move forward? He will only release authority and power to
that which is conformed to His image. The greater the transforming work of the
Holy Spirit within, the greater the fullness of His kingdom and purposes are
released and established.
What are we waiting for?
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