73. How Do I Wait On God?

In this episode we discuss the periods of our lives where we are "waiting on God" and how to live in those seasons. 

Transcript

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Hold on. Sorry. Because I don't want to say good morning. I just want to say hello. Okay. Say whatever you want. What? You're said say whatever you want. You're introducing the podcast. You shouldn't until we were recording. No, you're fine, dude. Welcome back, everybody, to the Everyday Kingdom podcast. I'm here with my very good friends, Pastor Caleb Lay and Rafael. What's up? And today we're going to talk about Wait, who are you? Oh, I'm Miriam, in case you didn't remember. Just kidding. Um, I'm Miriam, and today we're going to talk about waiting and trust and how it's not common in our culture for us to have to wait for anything, really, and what it looks like in between. Who likes to wait? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. You know, I uh when we were growing up, uh, I remember people talking about uh never pray for patience. Because you know, using scripture and talking about, you know, what the scriptures say about patience and and uh what produces patience and having to walk through various trials and things like that. And so I never don't ever pray for patience. Right. That's this don't ever and and then they'd be like, don't ever pray for me to have patience. Right, right, yeah. And uh and I used to laugh at that and I think, oh man, yeah. And then I realized one day that patience is just an attribute of love. And so I'm like, I can't ask God to help me to love better and not have patience be dealt with in my life. You know, and so I thought, oh man. So I began to look at it and just kind of change my my perspective on it. To to be, you know what? If I want to be a better lover, that means I get to be patient and I get to learn what that's like. Yeah, well, and I'll tell you, you saying that, that really even helped shift my perspective with it because you know I always thought about patience as a fruit of the spirit, but thinking of it separate from love. So not even recognizing that, hey, my love is growing in this. As my patience grows, so my love grows. So then I'm growing more in Christ. Yeah, it's just it's really beautiful when you look about it, look at it that way and think about it from that perspective because you think, oh my gosh, Lord, look at what you're doing in me. And you know, and look at what look at how your love is growing. And I'm gonna love so much better when I get to the other side of this. And then that just gives you something to anticipate, you know, and to hope for so that you're not sitting in despair even as you're waiting. And the truth of it too is so much of what we grow in as believers comes through the situational things that we walk through, right? Like God uses those things in our life, and so uh patience gets a bad rap because of it's specifically scripture talks about you know, trials, but if you think about it also, like so does joy, you know, and I want to be a joyful person, but it's in the middle of trials, I get to count all things as joy, is what James says, right? And it's like I I think God uses the the challenging, testing times in life uh that that naturally occur, He uses those to help to shape us. And if our hearts are focused and fixed on him in that process, then we'll actually uh learn how to not only like withstand it, but we'll learn how to appreciate it as well. And and instead of our prayer being like, God get me out of this situation, we're like, okay, Lord, walk with me through this and show me how I can grow in this season. You know, I I think so many times as as Christians, you know, especially coming out of like the word of faith movement, uh, we can we we shortchange ourselves and our growth because anything that is negative that we walk through, we automatically assume it's from the devil. And so we're like, get rid of that. Yeah, you know, I'm only gonna walk in all of the good things. And it's like, but that's not what Jesus said. Right. He said, Take heart, I've overcome the world. You're gonna walk through trials, you're gonna walk through the stuff. Yeah, but I think we shortchange ourselves because the the the trials and that stuff is part of our maturation and our growth. And and our father uses the challenging things to help us to grow and to begin to reveal his character in our lives. And and if we can shift our perspective, which is like that's what James talks about, like count it as joy. He's saying shift your perspective from looking at it as a negative from a negative thing to a positive thing, you know, should look at it that way, because when you do, this is going to begin to produce a steadfastness in you and something that is greater than than what you had before. And I I think that if we can all adopt as believers, and not just as believers, as sons and daughters, as we begin to adopt this mentality that my father's got me, A, no matter what. So if I've got to wait, if I've got to walk through a trial, if I've got to deal with something that's challenging, okay, my father's got me, he's gonna walk with me through it. Right, then it's going to produce something really, really, really beautiful in my life that's not just a solution to the problem, but it's actually growth of my own character. Right. And the fruit of the Spirit of God gets to be produced in my life. Right. So it's even, but we're shifting from looking at the problem to looking to him. Exactly. Right. I like how it says in James It says, Count it all joy you fall into diverse temptations. Like, wait, what? The waves are getting higher, and the the sea is rocking and it's going back and forth, and I should count this joy. Yeah. Knowing this at the trying of your faith works patience. Keep just keep swimming. Like just keep swimming. Why? Because it builds up. It builds up and it builds up. And there's a strength when you're working out your own salvation. And this patience is like gold. Like if you knew that there was gold in the earth, you would dig down, and if you knew it was a huge deposit, like the one in Africa right now, okay? Like you and it was only you know a hundred feet underneath your feet. And all you had to do to support all of Africa, Africa, all the United States, all of the world, all you had to do was dig a hundred you know, feet down below your feet, but you had to dig it with your fingernails, and you had to dig it with your hands, no shovel. And there was there was gonna be some rock there. What would you do in that time? Being patient to get that gold. Well, it's the same thing with us because our faith is gold. And it's the testing of this, the purifying, like as we just go down and dust things off, like wash what is very good and lovely. I love that. And you know, you actually you you mentioned something there that I would love to touch on for just for a minute. Um, you said to work out your salvation, right? And that scripture that Paul talks about, I was literally just having a conversation about this this week with somebody, and uh, and and Paul talks about uh working out your salvation with fear and trembling. Yeah. And a lot of times the context of that scripture or the the way that people receive that scripture is it's like, man, I gotta work this thing out. Yeah. And and and and they hear the the terms fear and trembling, and it be it's like this really negative connotation, they get scared about it. But that's not what Paul is actually communicating. He says work out your salvation, not work for your salvation. Right. Yeah. And I think that's a really important determination because when you hear work out your salvation, a lot of times people are are they they will from especially with religion, any kind of religious background, which we're just coming out of this Free From Religion podcast, but it it it's it's they they see it as I've got to work for this thing in order for it to be effective. But what Paul is saying, when he says, think about it in this context, it's like he what he's communicating is work out of your salvation. So he's saying work it out, meaning let it become fully manifest in your life. Let it be what is produced out of your life. You're not working for your salvation. There's nothing that's contrary to everything Paul ever taught. Right. And that's contrary to the gospel. So it's like you're not working for your salvation, obviously, but working out your salvation is allowing what God has already done become the reality of your life and let it come out of you. And that's exactly what we're talking about with waiting patiently on God, counting things as joy. This is the salvation package that God has given us, which is not only, you know, what people talk about salvation, they talk about going to heaven or hell. It's so much more than that. It's it's it's coming, it, you know, John talks about the eternal life is knowing God, knowing Father, and knowing the one whom He sent, Jesus Christ. This is eternal life. It's like this is what is actually being produced in my life. And so instead of it being a destination, you know, where where am I going? It's actually something more than that. And Paul is saying, listen, work this thing out of your life with fear and trembling, meaning, work this thing out with reverence, with with a with a with a an awe and a reverence of, oh my God, like my God, what you have done for me. Yes. Like you have saved my life. And now I'm working this thing out and I'm letting it manifest out of me. And the way that it manifests is in my patience, love is being produced, right? Joy is being produced. And so I just I love that you even brought that up because that scripture gets uh gets taken out of context a lot of times, and and it makes it something that it's not. It's literally just allowing God to work through you for your salvation to come out of you and for you to do it from a place of complete awe and reverence of what God has done. It's like thank you, Jesus. It put it poshes your heart in a place of thankfulness. Yes, really, ultimately. And I think from that space, that helps us then to be able to sit in the waiting because we know I have been saved. Yes. Well, I know in whom I have believed. Yes. You know what I'm saying? And that's the whole thing. I'm not trusting the situation, or I'm not trusting even my own strength, or even how much patience is growing in me, or even how well I use joy as my strength, you know, because there's all of these things that encourage us in these moments. But anytime I shift my focus off of him and on to either myself or the trial, then I'm not standing in in that trust of him. You know, I'm I'm not I'm not in a great place to for waiting. That'll get me worked up, that'll stir up all of those negative things. Exactly. So yesterday we um we actually went over to a friend's house and we painted. And um, I actually love to paint because uh to me I call it occupational therapy. You know, you work a lot with people and and what we do and you pour into them, and sometimes you see change, sometimes you don't, and sometimes it takes 20 years before you see something happen. But with painting, and painting happens like that. You know, you do. As soon as you put a stroke on the wall, there's color. Oh, look at that. You know, it's so it's it's it is uh it's so nice. It's I like why I call it occupational therapy because it's very therapeutic to me to see something come together and then you work on it, and then boom, all of a sudden there's massive change. You see the result of that. So we're painting yesterday, and the thing about painting uh is that you you know you apply the paint. First, you gotta clean the whole place to make sure it's it's good to go, but you have to apply the paint, which is a process in and of itself. But to me, the harder part is I get the first coat on, and then I'm like, all right, let's do the second coat. But you gotta wait. Yes, you gotta wait until the second coat is up can be applied. Because if you try to apply the second coat too soon, while the first coat is drying, it becomes tacky. Wow. And if you start to try to apply it too soon, you will actually undo the because you will pull the paint off the wall again because it hasn't have had time to actually adhere and settle. And so it's got to be able to have that time in order to cure so that then the second coat can be applied. And that requires patience. And I can't tell you how many times I've been impatient and I've tried to go and apply a second coat of paint too early, and I messed up what I did before, which then caused more work in my life to then go back through, sand it down, make sure I had no spots, and then reapply two coats again. So it's it what happens, I think, as you equate this to real life, you know, is that there's oftentimes seasons and parts of our lives where God maybe has promised us something, or we're praying about something, or we're desiring something, and there's a season of waiting where we have to be patient. And if we are impatient, we will go and we'll try to do it ourselves, you know, kind of like what Abraham did. I was just thinking, I was literally just thinking about it. Kind of like what Abraham did, and we will cause more work and more issues through our impatience than than we would had we just been patient, trusted, and waited in the first place. Let me ask a question here. And this is not like a devil's advocate thing, but do you think that because there are times in life when it seems like there's something after another after another after another, like there's one thing after another, after another that people are dealing with? And they're like, I'm just trying to wait on God, but it seems like every time I turn around, bam, I'm hit with something else. How how does do you think that that applies in this situation? Like, I you know, I know that a lot of time I'm I'm kind of thinking about like, you know, why is it people think, why is this happening to me? And like it's just time after time after time. Like, do you think that is that similar to like what you're saying? Like, I'm I'm trying to kind of draw something here. Sure. So I actually I I really like that question because that is a a very, very common response for people is when you walk through something, the first question is, why? Right. Why is this happening to me? Why this? So when you begin to ask that question, that automatically automatically reveals to me where your heart and where your perspective is. You are focused on yourself and it's back to you. Yeah. So the the mark of the maturity or the mark of a mature believer doesn't go to why is this happening to me? How could this happen to me? You know, like it doesn't, it doesn't go because it's it when that's the case, what you're saying, what you're actually like truly communicating is woe is me. Right. I don't deserve this. Right. How could this be how could this be instead of again what I was just mentioning earlier, God. Yeah. It doesn't matter what I'm walking through, you're walking through it with me. That's right. So it's like, you know, we we used to have a song when I was in uh elementary school that said, Hey, hey, come what may, I'm not gonna let that ruin my day. No, sir, no way, I'm not gonna let that ruin my day. And it would, and it goes through this whole thing of like, you know, spilling mustard on yourself and your pants ripping, and like it's like all kinds of like silly little things that happen. And and the majority of the time in our lives, when stuff like that happens, we the perspective then shifts to ourselves. Why is this happening to me? What have I done? What have I done? And and what like what's going on? Are you serious? And so I think the the mark of the true the the maturity of the believer is getting to a space where I stop asking the question, God, why is this happening? I honestly I don't really care why it's happening. Right. The reason we ask why it's happening is because we think that if I know the why, then I'm gonna be able to understand it better. Or I'll be able to control the situation and figure it out. That's ultimately why we ask why. Instead of asking why, I like to ask, what do you want me to do? Yeah. So instead of why, I'm like, what? And what can I do in this season? Even in that question, you're looking to him. Exactly. You're not saying, I mean, you're saying what do I need to do, but you're saying, Father, right, guide me. Yes, a hundred percent. And so it sh it shifts your perspective from yourself and what you're walking through to what do you want, Father? What are you trying to show me? What are you trying to reveal in me right now? You're looking for him. Exactly, exactly. And it's like, and and and here's where people often get things confused too. It's because if I ask the question, what are you trying to reveal to me? Then they might assume that, oh, well, then all these things are happening to me because God's causing them to happen. Because He needs, He's, He needs them to be, He needs to cause them to happen so that this can be revealed to me. It's like, no, that's not that's not what I'm talking about here. But what I'm saying is that our God is so incredibly amazing. The scriptures say that He has the ability to work all things together for good. And so what I look at whenever I'm walking through something that's challenging, because life happens and things are challenging, God is not the author of destruction in our lives, He's the author of life in our life. And so in that, I look at it and I think, okay, God, how are you gonna take this ugly part of what I'm experiencing and turn it to something beautiful in my life? Because I know that you turn all things together for good. Like you can make this good. So what do you, what can, what, what can you turn? What am I what should I be looking for in my life to be able to turn? And what he'll do is he'll be like, okay, I see you're walking through this. I'm he's ever the opportunist. I'm gonna use this and I'm gonna reveal something in you, and I'm gonna help you to grow in this. I'm gonna help you to be refined in this. This is a test of your faith. So let's see what's going on. Let's get rid of all the the chaff. Let's let's see the impurities rise to the service and let's scrape them off and let's continue to refine you because our father wants us to be refined because we're made in his image, and he wants us to live the beautiful, pure life that he's created us for. I liked I like the book of uh Job and how James actually mentions Job. We we have this concept um that you know it's it's old testament and and it shouldn't be brought up, but James brings it up and he says, you know, Job was a man who kept on praying. He kept on praying. Um what did the enemy want? He wanted Job to quit talking to God. But the Lord knew that whatever came Job's way, that Job will grow. And neither life nor death, nor things present, nor things come, nor sword shall should separate him from the love of a God. And he knew that Job was his, and Job knew that he was God's, even though he was going through boils, even though he was uh years maybe, yeah, you know, daughters, sons, wealth, cattle, whatever. And he's just like, no, like my God is here, he is present, and then you know, all these good elders, bad elders. He was in the same chapter, it says, Call the elder elders of the church. Well, you might have some good or bad elders advice, and that's okay. Yeah, and that's okay because people are sometimes will be blame you for something or say, Oh, you caused this, and you know, like you could have done in this, and and it's just like, no, it's just God saying, I know that they're mine, they know that I'm I'm theirs, and I'm going to prove myself to them. I'm gonna prove, I'm gonna make every enemy bow down before their feet. There's gonna be 10,000 that fall at their the right hand, and I'm giving my angels charge over him, and nobody can take their life, and they will walk on water, they will like be as the book of Joel, like they're gonna be stabbed, but they're not gonna fall down. They're gonna they're not going to break their ranks, like I upset them in authority, and like no matter the pain that is in the present. This will bring a righteous manifestation of my love to show everybody, it's a token of the manifestation of the love of God. First the Thessalonians, and so you continue in the book of James, and it says, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. It doesn't say how many times you have to pray. Joe prayed a lot, and so it continues, and Elijah, he prayed. The Bible says, three years for the rain. Pray, just keep on talking. It's just about the relationship with God. Dude, you're stirring so much stuff in me right now, like I'm about to explode. Because as you're saying some things, God, I feel like God just literally just like this is we're I'm processing through this revelation as we're talking right now, okay? So this is like super fresh. But you're talking about Job and what he's encountering and this, the all of the stuff that was. I mean, obviously the book of Job is cr is like crazy. Nobody wants to walk through that kind of stuff, right? But but here this is the thing, and this is what this is what I feel like the Lord was just showing me. Job walked through the hard stuff of life, right? Clearly, there were things that nobody ever wants to walk through, but God says, in it or what we see written in the scriptures is that God's like, He's he's gonna be okay. And what what I because it Tempter goes to him, can I tempt him? Can I do this? Can I do this? Can I do this? And he's like, he's gonna be okay, right? And I'm paraphrasing for sake of time. But the point is, and this is what I feel like God was showing me, is that in the times of our crazy, the stuff that's going on, you know, we get to scripture encourages us to stand in faith, right? To stay faithful to the Lord and to believe and to trust him. But what if in those times it's actually God saying, I have faith in them? Yes, yes, my father saying, I have faith in you. He's saying, He's saying, I believe in you in this moment that you're going to stand. Yes. And because I mean, because ultimately the faith that we have is the faith that God has been given has given us, right? Whether it's I know what I'm giving you. Right, whether it's this much or this much, every bit, every measure, any measure of the faith that we have is not our own. It's actually our father's. So what if it's father saying, I believe in you in this because he's trying to confess and prophesy over you? You can stand, you can be like me. I am the faithful one. Let me show you. Let me show you. And I'm believing, I'm believing you that in this moment that is a trial and is a is a situation that you don't want to be part of. I understand that, but I believe that you can be part of it because my kids do hard things. Yes, right? This is who you are, and this is what I've made you to be. And I and I trust and I believe in you in this moment. Like, come on, like, how much does that stir up your faith as a son? Like, if your father stands there and he says, No, son, I know this is hard, but I know that you can do it. Yeah. And I'm and I'm here with you, empowering you. I'm here the whole way. I'm gonna protect you, I'm gonna keep you, I'm gonna provide for you. You can talk about the prayer of faith healing someone, right? What if God is praying that prayer of faith over us? Yes. I mean, like, you know what I'm saying? Like not just talking about physical healing, but like emotional healing, social or soulful healing, spiritual healing that He's like, I'm praying this prayer of my faith over you in this moment because I believe. It's like it's the faith of God. If if some did not believe, yeah, you know, shouldn't it make the faith of God void and none of it? Right. No, it's it's a perfect law of the spirit, yeah, not of the carnal flesh, but of the spirit. Exactly. And I'm just I'm grateful for things that accompany salvation. In Hebrews, it says in the faith chapter, it says, Yeah, this person did this, and women received their dead back to life, and some did not, you know, they they died like this. But faith they kept the faith, and they're going to receive the reward. Yeah, and it's so much greater than your hundred years here, right? And let me tell you, you're not just gonna have a hundred years here, you're gonna have time and time and time and time and time again forever. And so, what is something so short as grass that withers when it comes to the aspect of you know, God in eternity? We we think about death, okay? Like it's gonna be the anniversary of one of my sons' death here in like five days, yeah, okay. But I also have an anniversary with my wife, like tomorrow. Yeah, like and today my my son was born six years ago, yeah, right. And so like I have all these things, and I can have this moment where I'm in the past over 12 years ago with a dead son in my arms, right? And I can think about all these different things, and woe is me, or I can be rejoiceful like like David. He says, I know he can't be here anymore, but I can go where he is, and I'm going to see him. I'm going to see people like this life is very short. Like your body, who cares? Like, who cares? Like if this body does this or or that. It's only for a short period of time. And this is the the patience, this is the testing of our faith. It's just it seems long. It in the moment, no son likes going through this. Yeah. But it's good for the body, it's good for people to learn patience. Yeah. And and and speaking of patience, yeah, modern culture teaches us to be very self-reliant and very impatient, right? We call it a microwave culture. I mean, everything is is so quick between Amazon Prime to instant coffee to like, I mean, literally, like, we're it, we're so trained to be impatient, yeah, that even with Amazon Prime, like you don't even have to go through and add to cart and all that. You there's a button that says buy it now. And you can literally just buy now, boom. It's one click instant, right? Who wants to wait and go through like that's the type of culture that we live in, right? And that's what modern culture is is is teaching and communicating. But the kingdom is is is about submission and patience. Waiting. There's a lot of waiting involved. So I I just I wanted to pose a question today, not just to to for us to maybe discuss a little bit, but also to our listeners as well, is why does it seem like waiting is so threatening to us? Because you're not seeing the the future that you want to see right now. And I think it it's because it feels like no. Yeah, that's good too. It's because it feels like I'm not getting my way. Say that. It feels like, what are you talking about? I want this, so I'm gonna have it. And like you say, it's so easy to say bye now. You know, people say, you know, they look at, oh, I want this, and you know, you hear so much noise about manifesting things, and I'm not jogging, speaking affirmations and talking positive to yourself. I think that's really important. But there's so many things that people think, well, because I want it, that means it should be mine. And we get to put to death the desires of our flesh, you know, like you were saying, and and look to Father and be like, okay, Father, what are your desires? You know, and how long do I have to wait for that to be manifest? Because things that things that are worth something are not always really quick, you know. It's so it's so good and so true. I I think sometimes we get to a space where we think or we feel like because God didn't answer a prayer immediately, or uh we didn't see the results of what we desired immediately, even though we quoted scripture. Absolutely about that too. Even though we quoted our scriptures and we confessed it and we believed it, we didn't strong arm God into getting to doing what we wanted, uh, like a petulant child. Right. Right. Right. Uh because he is so much more than just my my slot machine. That's right. Like he's so he's so much more than my hand me out, give me what I need. Give me, give me, give me. Like and and the thing is sometimes those desires are not just selfish. Sometimes it's somebody's sick, and you know, okay, Father, I want to pray. So, but it's the same kind of let me pull the lever, right? Let me say all the right things, let me do all the things because I know you're good, but this is what I'm asking for. And I expect this because this is it, it again kind of goes back to the I deserve this. Like when you're something bad happens, you thought I don't deserve this. Well, when you're wanting something good, father, this is what I deserve. Right. Well, the truth is, I mean, we don't deserve any of it. I mean, our our life. What do you deserve? What do we actually deserve? You know, like and then when you start to consider that, it's like, oh God. So thank you. You again move back to to thankfulness because of it. Right, right. It should it should reshift perspective, you know. Yeah. And and that's the thing is coming into a place of understanding where we realize that waiting on God is not God forgetting about us. Right. You know, delay does not mean no. No. Right. And and the timeline from which God operates oftentimes does not align with ours. What we get to do is align ours with his. Yes, yes. And we try to make his align with ours because we're in such a hurry for everything. But again, God is operating from eternity, and if time was something that constrained him, then he wouldn't be God. Time would be God. Right. And it's not. And so he operates outside of the bounds and the confines of time, which then allows him to like, and this is this is the thing that I guess we also we have such a finite understanding of time, you know, that it's it's so very linear for us. But God operates outside of that construct. And so, you know, for him, we might live our lives for 50 years and be like, come on, I'm running out of time. And he and and he has the ability to reverse things for us, and to take in what would be the blink of an eye. And for us, maybe it took us 50 years to accomplish, takes him a a spoken word and it happens. So, like he he doesn't have to operate within that that that confine. And and the and oftentimes when God speaks something into our lives, it never manifests immediately. Right. You know, when God promises something, it rarely manifests immediately. It is often over time. And I think the waiting portion is the space where God uses to prepare us for the promise. Right. It's the it's the it's the it's the portion of time where he is like, okay, look, I've promised this to you, but you're not ready to carry it yet. It's like my daughter today is is my oldest daughter's 10 years old. Last night I had a dream about her driving. And she was driving and I was in the car with her, but she wasn't paying attention. And I was like, Kylie, pay attention. You're about to run into this like there was a car in front of us. She was she was about to run into. And and I and I I told her that today. I said, Hey, I had a dream about you driving. I didn't tell her about the her about running into the car, but I I had a dream about her. And um, I told her, I said, I had a dream about you driving. She goes, Oh man, you know, I can't wait to drive, and I'm I'm excited about that, and that's gonna be fun, whatnot. And I'm like, yeah. And I began to think about, you know, if she what what would happen if I told her you're gonna drive one day, you're gonna be a good driver, right? I'm gonna prophesy over you. I'm gonna listen, I'm gonna use spiritual language, ready. I'm gonna pro I prophesy over you today that you are going to be a good driver. You're gonna be a safe driver, you're gonna be able to get people where they need to go. You are going, you were gonna go far, you're gonna go fast, but you're gonna go safely. That's right. Right. And and so I begin to prophesy over her like this. And and she's 10 years old, right? And what what would happen, this, and this is what happens oftentimes spiritually, is then as a 10-year-old, I received that prophecy, and I'm like, okay, God, make it happen now. And then you get angry when you can't get your driver's license until you're 16 and a half years old, right? But and I'm not spiritually getting my license until I'm 16 and a half years old. Why? Because there's a season of waiting that takes place between 10 and 16 and a half that has to take place for my development, both physically and mentally. Yep. Right. And and also lawfully. There are things that are in play that maybe I don't understand and and I don't want to apply to me, but it does. And in the same way, in the in due season, when the time is right, boom, it's gonna happen. God's promise shall be fulfilled because his word does not return unto him void. And so it's it's this space for us as we're waiting on God to say, okay, I'm not gonna be like a 10-year-old who wants my driver's license right now. God, you've promised this to me, and I'm okay with waiting until the time is right. You appoint that time, and I trust you in that. It's not about what I want, it's not about what I think should happen, but I believe that everything that you've spoken over me is going to come to pass. I'm gonna walk in it in the fullness in due season. And I'm okay with the waiting in the middle. So Abraham and Sarah, okay. We're talking about time, we're talking about waiting, right? So Sarah is waxed old. She says, I'm waxed old. I I can't even, you know, be with my husband. But something happens to make her so beautiful in the eyes of Pharaoh. I believe personally that God reversed her aging. He did something in her to make her so beautiful on the inside and outside that it she was desirable even to Pharaoh. And God said to her, This time next year, you're going to bear a child. And how can it be a woman who is 90 something years old? How is this gonna be? Because with God, all things are possible, and you have the same thing with Moses, something something similar, you have a similar language, he's 120, and he did not lose his natural vigor, right? And so these things in scripture, they're it's just like, hey, it's impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So you might not even have to wait 10 years, you might be waiting 50 or 60 years or 70 years. I don't know how old Sarah was when she first was told, Hey, you're gonna have a child, and then here here again we see, you know, when she's 90 something years old. All this time she's waited, she's believed, Abraham has believed, and this is why you know he's called the father of faith, not because he's good, but because he counted God faithful. Yeah. And so are you willing to wait 60 years? Yeah. And and it's more, it's even more than just it's expecting while you're waiting. Oh yeah. You know, it's it's it's living from that space of expectation while you wait. I'm still expecting this to happen because I'm still believing, right? A lot of times people equate waiting with abandonment, right? I mean, even the the remember the the people in Isaiah, they're like, God doesn't see us. Yeah. You know, yeah. They're they're they're like, God, why don't you see me? My way is my way is hidden. You've passed by my claim. Yeah, and then Isaiah goes and he reminds us. I mean, because think about that, like that's such an honest thing to say, right? Like when you're in a season where you're having to wait, maybe it's uh on a spouse, right? Because that's a really, that's a really, really great example, is you've expressed a desire to be married. You've expressed a desire that this is what I want in my heart. I want someone who is a good believer, who loves me, who wants me, who desires me, uh, who wants to have a family together, to serve God together, you know, and will love me well, right? And you have this desire that's in your heart, and you're like, and I'm just getting older, God. You know, it's like, come on, like at any point in time would be great, you know, like that would be, or or maybe you came out of a relationship and you're dealing with that as well. And you're just like, okay, like Lord, I would, I would really, really love this. And things aren't happening for you right now. Yep, it's not happening on your timeline or like you want, right? And so you get this opportunity to be patient and and you hear people in these types of moments are like, God, do you even see me? Like, do you even hear me? Do you hear my cry? Like, do you hear the desires of my heart? You said to delight yourself in you, and you give me the desires of my heart, and I'm delighting in you. Yeah, why aren't you giving me my desires? Like, God, why is this taking so long? Like, do I am I doing something wrong? Like, is there sin in my life? And then you begin to ask all of these questions, and you be good, like it's just such an honest place to be. It's where people are oftentimes. And I I think that what we get to do is we get to draw upon this is not a new thing. This is something that has been happening all throughout time. And what happened in Isaiah is the the the people of God were were so uh frustrated and and and and wanting and to know like God, do you even hear us? Do you see us? And Isaiah goes and he says, he begins to remind them who God is. He says, He is everlasting, he is faithful, his understanding is unsearchable, he does not faint, he does not grow weary, he he never rests, he never slumbers. Like he it he is a God. Yeah, and and it's this reminder of like, okay, yeah, you're right. I'm not seeing it right now. Right. And and and even though it is a desire of my heart and I want it, and I'm not seeing the full effect of it yet, God, I trust you, and I'm going to remember the person of who you are. And we get to see that person in Christ, you know, in his long suffering and his compassion, because he is the express image of Father. And so it's it's it's allowing our souls to be reminded of that. Our spirit knows that. Yeah. But it's allowing our souls to be our mind, our will, and our emotions, and and and our flesh as well, to be reminded of these things, to say, no, God, your understanding is unsearchable. You know things that I do not understand and I do not see. You're able to see beyond my vision. And and and I trust you with my life. And if you can speak with a word and cause creation to be created, then you can speak with a word over my circumstance. I don't have to fear. No, I don't have to worry. I know what you can do. Right. I've seen it happen in the past, and I'm going to choose to remember your faithfulness and my life. You've brought me up out of this place. And and and hear my cry today as not whining and complaining, but as my soul crying out to you, saying, God, I long for this and I trust you in it. Yep. And that the answer to that is immediate peace. A hundred percent. And it just floods into you. And in that you can just sit and rest. And it's like, okay. And and and because of that, your strength is renewed. Right, exactly. Right. And that you now you're seeing scripture actually like come alive and play out in your life. Yes. You know, because it says for those who wait on the on the Lord, their strength will be renewed. Right. And so because you have postured yourself in this way, you're waiting on God. Yeah, they and He is renewing your strength because you're no longer focused on you, you're focused on who He is. And in our weakness, He is strong. Right. Like it is the our weakness, our moments of weakness, and the space where we're crying out to Him is the portal for His power to show up big. Exactly. Right. And He strengthens us by His Spirit. His ministering angels come in, and in those moments, He is covering us in that. And it's it all it takes for us is to get our hearts in that space of saying, God, I've not forgotten you. I'm not looking to myself, I'm looking to you in this. And then it causes this thing called patience to be able to grow in our lives. It's not actually perfect work. To have its perfect work. It's not actually as hard as you think it is. Right. We think it's this big striving thing that I've got to go and grip my teeth and bear. And it's like, I actually don't have to do that because his yoke is easy and his burden is light, and he and I are one. So I'm gonna live from that space of easy and I'm gonna look at my situation and be like, you know what? It is what it is. I'm not scared. That doesn't move me. That's right. The the things that are perceived lack in my life, that doesn't move me. In him, I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing, and in him there is no lack. I'm in him, so guess what? There's no lack in my life. That's right. So what looks like lack is not actually that. That's right. I get to look at and be like, oh, you know what? That's actually producing something really good in me. Wow, you look at it as lack and something that's missing. I look at it as something that's being produced, and I'm actually growing right now. You didn't know that. Yeah. It's it just it changes how we see things. And I think that's a really, really big thing for us to uh try to wrap our our hearts around and our minds around. And and you know, God give us clear vision in this. Like Holy Spirit, help us in this. And that's why we have him as a comforter. It's because in those moments we need him to remind us of the things that that Jesus has taught us, the words of God that are words of life. You know, and so it's it's how do we navigate these seasons, right? How do we go through this kind of stuff? Well, I think if we don't do it with if we do it without the Holy Spirit, we're doing it wrong. It's gonna be so much harder. Yeah. And you if we try to concoct a formula out of what we read in scripture, that's not gonna work out well either. You know, because we always I always them like, God, just tell me exactly what to do and I'll do it. I can follow a formula, I know algebra, I know that X plus Y equals Z. I can figure that out. So just tell me what X is and I can solve for Y. Or you know, tell me the two things and I can solve for the rest of it. But every time we try to do that, every you know, we look at the Hall of Faith or whatever, we look at okay, they did this, they did that. Okay, so if I do all of these things, and that just pulls us back into religion. Right. And that just that strips us of our freedom, where our freedom is in we don't recognize the waiting and and the the the small mo the moments we get to have with him as freedom, but it is. That's so good. I think a lot of times that we we think that trust, like trust in God is just it removes all the questions. Right. Right? Like, like, but if you think about it, if if you had no questions, is it even trust at that point? It's not. And and then it we can we can point back to ourselves too. Me knowing this knowledge. Exactly. It's not trust, it's knowledge, right? Right, and so it's it's it's it's tr believing in God and trusting in God is not the removal of questions, it just gives them a safe place to land. That's right. It's like I have God, I have all these questions. I'm walking through this stuff and I have all these questions, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna land them in you. Yes, you know, I'm gonna I'm gonna give them a safe place to land. I'm not scared, I'm not gonna be made fearful. You know, I certainly want to understand, like help me to understand, but even if I don't understand, I'm okay with that. Right. And that I think that's because my heart trusts you. Because my heart trusts you. Yeah, my uh you have my entire life. It's like, you know what? I don't have to know everything. The every people get to this space where they feel like they have to know everything, and the reason they have to know everything is because they need to feel as if they're in control. Right. They're just feeling poor. And the reason they need to feel as if they're in control is because they're scared. Yeah, this is why the love of God is so critical in our lives that when you get the revelation of how much your father loves you, how much Jesus, the Holy Spirit, they love you, then it drives out the fear. Yeah, so if Drives out the fear that I don't have to control things. If I don't have to control things, I'm okay with not having the answers to every question. Right. I actually trust him wholeheartedly because I know he loves me. He holds me. You know, I love that song Whole Heart. We sang it actually this past Sunday, and like every single time we sing it, like just the very first line, I instantly tear up. Yeah. Because it is this reminder of like, hold me now with the hands that created the heavens. Like, oh my God, you, my God, you created the heavens. You're my God. Yeah. Like it's so personal. It's like, you know, you are you are mine. You are not only my God, you are Abba. Right. Like you are dad. And you hold not only the heavens, you hold me. Yeah. And you hold my heart. I don't have to know everything. I don't have to understand everything. What I do understand and what I do know is this. You, yeah, you got me. Yeah. And I trust that. And so by having that space, it's like all of the fear then dissipates because it, I know who's got me. Right. I know who holds my heart. I know who is the king of all the universe. That's my dad. You know, and if that doesn't like produce this, like like straighten up your back a little bit, like your chest kind of puffs out, it's like I will boast in my God. It's like it produces something that's like, hey, you know what? Whatever, come what may. I'm not gonna let that ruin my day. You know who my dad is. That's right. Yeah. Like, get up out of here with that nonsense. I can be as patient as I need to be. That's right. I'm just like dad. That's right. You know, and it begins to produce something in you that causes you to walk out and work out this salvation in your life because you are so in awe of who your father is, you know, that it it causes you to act differently, to walk differently, to talk differently, to believe and see and think differently. And that's that's that is the transformation that Paul's talking about with renewing your mind. It doesn't look like the world looks, it looks like the kingdom. Yeah. Because it looks like the nature of the king who happens to be your dad. I can imagine David. The lion and the bear. And here he is going to go face a giant. He's taking stones. He's taking time to calculate how to take down the giant. And he hears this this thing blaspheming the name of the Lord God of Israel. And he's just like, Who are you? What are you, problem? To mock my God. Yeah who I who are you to say that my God is not real and my God is not present. My I know him as Father. I know him because the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I am anointed. I am anointed and I am appointed for this purpose. And I'm not coming to you with a sword, with a carnal weapon, or this or that, but I come to you in the name of the Lord. I'm not using the name of the Lord to command, I'm saying I am yielded in the name of the Lord, and you this day will no longer be here. And I'm going to trust my God with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my strength. And God will not be mocked. And God is giving us power right now. Yeah. For giants. Yeah. He is. These things that we think are giants and problems, they're nothing but worms underneath our feet. They are but the dust of the earth. And they will be trampled upon again and again. Because he said, I've given you all authority, all authority. Trample upon the serpents. Yeah. And the scorpions. These things seem like a problem. And and maybe that they are like venom, or maybe maybe they're like poison. But God has given us authority. Yeah. And what's beautiful about that is when you walk, like you talk about David, and David is such an awesome example that people love to use when talking about slaying giants, right? And David says that the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. We actually get a step further. The Spirit of the Lord is not upon me. The Spirit of the Lord is in me. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just upon me. It's not just resting on me. It's flowing out of me. Yes. Like that's what the new covenant establishes with Christ. I'm coming to make my home in you. My spirit's going to live in you. That's right. And you come to a space where it becomes such a reality to you that you can be like Paul with the venomous serpent, bites him on his hand, and he shakes it off into the fire like it's no big deal because it's no big deal. Yes. I don't even have to look at it and be like, I'm going to take your head off. It's it's you are nothing to me. Like literally, you're nothing to me. I it's it is a complete disregard for the things that would come against us. Like that, you wanna you wanna know if you're walking by by the faith of God, like complete faith of God, when things come against you, it's you disregard it. Literally, you cast it off as if it's nothing because it's nothing. Right. And and so many times we have to we feel like as if we got to work something up and be like big and mighty. I don't even have to do that. It's like you you literally are nothing. Yes, like I'm spiritually flipping you off right now. Like you are you you mean nothing to me. Like you you are nothing. I'm completely disregarding you in this. And so these seasons, what what it would be beautiful is if we could come to that with that understanding into these types of seasons where we're waiting. It's like waiting is nothing for me. That's no big deal because waiting is part of my nature. I'm loving. Right. Proper It's proper perspective. It's literally like, how are you breathing? Oh my god, how are you breathing? It's like because I'm breathing, this is what I was created for. Yes. Like, why are you making breathing such a big deal? Just breathe. Yeah. It's I mean, it it's it's literally just operate in the natural function by which you were created. Yes. That's patience for us. Because it's love. The way in which we have been created. If God is love, that is who he is, and I've been made in his image and likeness, guess what? I can live love loudly, as if I'm just breathing. Yeah. Because that's how I've been created. I don't have to think about that. I don't have to like try to force it into happening. Just the same way as I mean, you think if you think about it, like when you try to breathe, when you think about breathing, breathing seems to get harder. You're like, wait, how do I do this again? I forgot. Why am I holding my breath right now? But if you stop thinking about it, it's it's an autonomic response, meaning that it is automatically ingrained in you and your body knows how to do it without you trying to do it. Yes. This is what love becomes for us as we are united in Christ, as we are living from him. This is the union that we have. It is his love that overflows, and I'm offering no resistance to it because I'm not allowing my mind to try to contemplate and make it happen. I'm allowing it because I have meditated upon him, my mind is set on him, that this is what then naturally autonomically flows out of my body. It is the love of God which requires or which includes patience. Because love is patient and love is kind. And so, how do we do this kind of stuff while we're in a waiting season? What does it look like? What do we do? Let's let's let's wrap it up here. What do we do in the waiting season? You just said it. Just be, just breathe. We don't have to make it any more complicated than it is. Every time we do, we fail. Yeah. And we spin our wheels and we stir things up that just need to be left alone, that that don't even have any importance in our life because it's him, right? So you're saying that that what I do is I don't do anything? Yeah. It's so hard. It's very easy to say. It's easy for us to sit here and say, oh, just be, just trust. But it really comes down to just that. Well, and and to offering no resistance to him. So I'm gonna I'm gonna reframe it in this way because I think I think this would be this would be helpful for people. Make it practical. Just be. Yeah. And and all of that. What we're talking about is we're talking about living from our union with Christ. Yeah. Right. So if you are, and I'm gonna use air quotes here, if you are needing something to do, get to know Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. You just get to know him. Yeah. How do I do that? Well, I spend time with him. The scriptures say draw near to him, he'll draw near to you. It's not that he's far away, but what we're talking about when we're just talking about drawing near is it's like I'm right now, I'm I'm close to Miriam, but if I wanted to know her more, I would intentionally begin to ask her questions, spend time with her, be in her proximity, right? We are friends, right? But if I wanted to continue to draw near to her, or same for Raphael. Like if I want to draw near to you, I'm intentionally doing that. I ask questions and I'm positioning myself in proximity to you, asking you, what do you like? What do you think? What are your what's your heart? What's your perspective on this? What and it's the same thing with Christ. It's saying, Father, uh Jesus, Holy Spirit, like what's your perspective on this? What's your heart on this? How how would you operate in this situation? Right. I want to know how you would live and how you would move so that I can have my being in you. And even like you said before, like when you're in a situation, okay, Father, what are you doing here? Or how how how can I be closer to you in this situation? How can I know you more as I'm waiting? Yep. You know, again, it's that continual seeking to know him. Yeah. And and and a lot of times people will give you the okay, you're gonna want to listen to worship music, you wanna read the Bible, and you're gonna go to pray and you're gonna go to church. Those are actually really great things. Like, like do all those things. Just don't make those the the formula, right? You know, because you're living from relationship. I'm living from union with him. Yeah. All of those things would we would can we would call those spiritual disciplines. So like live discipline, it's the same thing as like if I wanted to lose weight, if I wanted to get stronger, there are spiritual discipline or there are physical disciplines that I would walk through. I would eat better, I would, I would work out, and I would move more, right? Like, and when I do those things, stuff happens because there's a natural consequence associated with each one of those things. In the same way, my spiritual disciplines, if I if I pray, if I am worshiping God, if I am attending church, if I'm reading my Bible, if I'm in community with people, there's stuff that's gonna begin to be produced in my life that wasn't produced before. Right. Because this is a spiritual discipline that has natural consequences that come out, right? And spiritual consequences that come out. And so it's again very, very relational. If I want to know God, then I get to know God. Right. I get to know him. And these are some of the ways in which we can do that. Having conversations with people, listening to podcasts. Like there are things that we can do that will help us to that are keys that help to unlock our understanding. And and maybe there's some things that have been binding us up in our minds that God's like, I want to set you free from that stuff. Just let's have a conversation about that. I like um a reel that I seen the other day. I'm gonna make this very short. Um one guy goes to the gym, the other guy he has gym life. And so you can either do the podcast, you can go to the church, or you can have a Christ life. You be you you are something, you're beholding the future that's already in you. And so you're not worried about what will happen because you know what will happen, and you know that you trust. And so when we meditate on the word and who he is, we we do everything that you just said. Yeah. And and I just I I wanna like I want to encourage everybody out there, like this is for you. Yeah, you know, like this, this is for you. Like, this is not something that is unique to pastors or spiritual leaders, this is for everybody. Yeah, you know, and and it's something that each and every one of us gets to walk through and encounter in Christ. And so can you believe it? Yeah. That's the question. Miriam, would you uh would you pray for us? I'd be happy to. Thank you. Father God, thank you, Lord, for helping us and showing us and always showing us you, Lord. I pray today that we are able to put aside the the things that would cause us to be like um sit in turmoil, Father, but that we would look to you and that we would focus on you, and that we would allow our eyes to see who you are, Father, and that we would offer no resistance to your power and your presence in our lives, Father, but that we would receive that union and that we would learn to live from that place, that we would work out of our salvation, Father. And I thank you, Father, for that today. I pray for anybody out there who is going through a season and that patience is having its perfect work, but it doesn't feel so perfect, Father. I pray, Lord, that you would allow them to shift their perspective to you and to remember that you are faithful, God, that they would not grow weary and well-doing, for in due season they will reap if they do not faint. And I thank you, Father, that that doesn't just apply to what we as we are serving, but it also applies to how we are living and being in you. And I thank you, Father, that we can be strengthened and renewed in you, and that we can walk in peace in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for listening to the Everyday Kingdom podcast, and we will see you next time.