What are you waiting for?

In my post titled "Are you sitting in God's chair?" I discussed the deeper understanding of Isaiah 40:31. In this verse, the bible states that "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."

We learned that it is God's expectation that we are waiting on Him and not the other way around. Therefore, God is the customer, and we are waiting to serve Him. To that end, the question remains, what are we waiting to serve him? And would He ask us for something that we cannot deliver for Him?

To explore those questions, we need to move over to the book of Philippians. In Philippians 2:13, the bible reads, "..for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." This is an amazing passage with an all-powerful promise. To appreciate this verse, let us break it down to fully understand it.

First, the Greek word for "works", is energeō, which means is to be operative, be at work, to put forth power". The Greek word for the phrase "to will" is thelō. It means, to be resolved or determined, to purpose. This means that as you are waiting on the Lord, you have the assurance that when He is ready to make a request of you that He will "put forth power" in you with resolve to accomplish what He wants.

The key to putting this promise together is connecting it to a time when other believers were asked to wait on the Lord. Fortunately, we have this exact account at the beginning of the book of Acts. In chapter one verses 6-9, it reads as follows,

6"When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.

8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost comes upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight"

Note in the first verse, the disciples asked Jesus a question about the kingdom of Israel. Jesus quickly reminded them in verse 7 that He is the customer, and they are the waiter. Meaning, I am not answering your questions, you are awaiting my instructions. Then in verse 8, Jesus says you will receive power when the Spirit of God comes upon them. This is extremely important. After receiving these instructions from Jesus, the disciples went back to Jerusalem and in verse 14, the bible says, "these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication". This means they prayed and worshipped God until the Holy Spirit arrived and moved in them to perform the work of the Lord. Therefore, the only difference for us today is that we already have the Holy Spirit; plus we know what we are commissioned to do for the Lord (verse 8). However, any additional instructions from God will come as we are actively surrendering over our will to His Spirit within us; to accomplish His work in and through us.

Now ask yourself; Are you waiting on the Lord in this manner? Or are you pacing back and forth, impatiently waiting for Him to do something for you?

Be encouraged,

Thomas Knowles, Minister of the gospel of Christ Jesus