The Last and Hardest Lesson

"Wait, and you shall realize the joy of the one who can be calm and wait, knowing that all is well.  The last and hardest lesson is that of waiting.  So wait.  I would almost say tonight, 'Forgive me, children, that I allow this extra burden to rest upon you for even so short a time.' I would have you know this, that from the moment you placed all in my hands and sought no other aid, from that moment I have taken the quickest way possible to work out your salvation, and to free you."

Those words came to me on October 30, 2009.  They originally were "heard" by someone who was intentionally listening for God's voice and they were passed on to me in a time of great need.

The time of waiting continues.  Specifically what I was waiting for, and what I am still waiting for, is for a particular loved one to be healed and freed.  I am often very impatient and want to take matters into my own hands!  Also, many feel the same sense of urgency and I'm also waiting for the resolution of issues in our church and the reconciliation of those who are just having a hard time.

Still, often, I am tempted to stop waiting and to, instead, take matters into my own hands.  So tonight, another someone who listens for God's voice gave me a copy of a piece entitled "Life Principle 14: God Acts On Behalf Of Those Who Wait."  I hope these words will be as much as blessing to you as they are to me tonight.

    Why does God so often ask us to wait?  Let's consider five major rewards of waiting.

    1. We discover God's will and purpose in the things that most concern us.
    "The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks him" (Lamentations 3:25). God does not string us out to tantalize us. He does not dangle carrots in front of our noses to lead us along. He does not say, as do so many earthly parents, "We'll see." No. Right now, even as we wait, God is working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Romans 8:28).
    2. We receive supernatural energy and strength.
    God invites us to claim His promises.  "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:29-31).
    God promises that as we wait on Him, he will supply us with supernatural energy.  While our impatience makes us weary and worn, actively waiting on Him  energizes us...

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AUTHOR'S SURPRISE - this is beyond strange... I did not write this today. It just appeared here. It looks familiar though... My guess is that I wrote this at some previous time and somehow dated it way in advance thinking that I'd finish it by the time it automatically posted. I can tell it was in process because I only finished transcribing two of the five points. If you don't understand that it's because you don't blog! In any case, I'm utterly amazed. An hour ago I chose to take a week off from Facebook so I can spend some time waiting and listening to God more carefully. Then I came back from church to the parsonage, talked with my wife for awhile--she's at family camp down at Okoboji with our sons--and for some reason decided to look at the blog. And lo and behold here is this posting that comes out of some point in the past. The incredible thing to me is that not only is it still applicable (though I have gotten a bit better at "waiting" in the past few months), it's just the confirmation that I needed and it comes at precisely the correct time!  Wow!  I am so thankful for the Lord's amazing work! Thank you Jesus. Now I wait for the healing that I (and others) have prayed for for such a very long time.  I wonder when I wrote this?  I'm so curious!

Okay - so I did a search for the original piece that I was transcribing way back when and found the other three rewards of waiting.  They are all true.

    3. We win battles.
    When we rush God’s plans or do things our own way, we end up defeated. But waiting on Him will ensure our victory and keep us from foolish and precipitous acts. Proverbs 20:22 says, “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the LORD, and He will save you.”
    4. We see the fulfillment of our faith.
    The Lord says, “Those who hopefully wait for Me will not be put to shame” (Isa. 49:23).
    In the end, we’ll never be embarrassed if we choose to wait on God. It’s always the wise thing to do. When others encourage us to forge ahead, we need to remember the Lord’s plans and timing are always best. He knows our strengths, weaknesses, and preferences better than anyone else—even better than we know ourselves. And only He can predict the future.
    Don’t let circumstances tempt you to take matters into your own hands. God has a purpose for all you experience. Ultimately, you will be honored—whether during your life or after it ends—if you remain faithful to Him (1 Cor. 4:5).
    5. We see the Father working on our behalf.
    Isaiah spoke of a God “who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him” (Isa. 64:4). What a wonderful promise! While we actively wait, He actively works. Think of this: Every single day, we have the greatest Mediator working on our behalf.
    Although waiting can be one of the more difficult things in the Christian life, it is not wasted time. During periods of waiting, God teaches us lessons we couldn’t otherwise learn. In such a season, He sifts our motives, strengthens our faith, and may even change our circumstances. His purpose is to keep us in step with Him as He prepares us to receive the answers we need to hear.

Ephesians 1:11 says that the Father “works all things after the counsel of His will.”

What are you currently waiting on God for?

What do you see Him doing in your life as you wait?

Peace to you all in Jesus' name.

www.equalsharing.com

Prayer and the New You

Praying and preparing to preach and pray this week, I'm in the book of Revelation.  Here we have a complex vision that God gave to the Apostle John when he was imprisoned on Patmos.  In Revelation we see earth's history from God's point of view, a war between good and evil which ends with total joy, total peace, total beauty.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... and I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I encourage you to meditate on this section of the book of Revelation by clicking here.  You won't understand it all, but you will get a sense of how glorious you will be in the end when you are joined to Jesus Christ.  For the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the "bride" of Christ--that is you--when you are joined to Jesus Christ.  When you are joined to Jesus you are beautiful beyond description.  You are a jewel in the holy city.  When you are joined to Jesus, you are a precious gift of God. Words fail in describing how excellent you are in the eyes of God.

Of course, your beauty is not your own doing.  Your own goodness is nothing but filthy rags. But when Jesus, your groom, claims you by God's Word and Holy Spirit, you are made new.  At the end of all things your glory will be revealed, not as anything you are in yourself, but as a part of the glory of God coming down from heaven.  Your goodness, your beauty, it comes "down out of heaven from God."

Will you trust Jesus for your beauty today?  Will you give up your search for your own beauty?  Will you come to the Lord in humble prayer, asking that your heart and your eyes be healed so you can see yourself as God sees you?  Will you ask others to pray for you and with you?  When you are sick at heart or sick in body, God has a promise for you.

Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. James 5:14-16

It's that sort of prayer that God is calling us to at our church during these days.  Some of us feel far from the Lord.  Some of us feel far from beautiful.  So we come, as God commands, to His Word and in prayer, clinging to his promises.  Promises that transform and change us when we pray.  In prayer, God's beauty shines.

Come to church every Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. for prayer.  Or call us or other mature Christian friends (elders) who will pray with you at another time.  There is a special blessing when we get together in the name of the Lord.  This Thursday we have a special time of prayer--the National Day of Prayer.  Here in the Dassel-Cokato area we have times of prayer at the schools (7:30-7:45 a.m.), at the Cokato City Hall (12:20-12:40), and at the Elim Mission Church from 7-8:00 p.m.  The morning prayer at the schools (7:30-7:45 a.m.) will be at Dassel Elementary (next to the music room), at Cokato Elementary (music room), and at the High School (in the choir room just off the main commons).

Though God is perfect, prayer never is.  But still, stumbling or profound, God honors us when we come humbly to him in prayer, seeking his eyes, his heart, his purposes.  As we keep praying together, God will raise you up!  In the end, joined to Jesus, you and I will be jewels, precious, beautiful, the bride, the city of God.

www.equalsharing.com

God's Will Be Done

A part of our Lord's Revelation to John the Apostle that we'll be reading at worship tomorrow morning:

21 ¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; ⁴ he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵ And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.

What does that mean?  There is a lot that can be said.  But, just to whet your appetite, here's part of a commentary by Brian Peterson, Professor of New Testament at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary, Columbia, SC:

God will wipe away every tear (verse 4a). This is surely one of the most moving images in scripture. The connection to the former things passing away (verse 4b) is crucial here. The promise is not only that God will wipe away any tears that might happen to linger on our cheeks after that Last Day, but that God will reach back through time to wipe away all the pained tears ever shed.

God will not just comfort us and help us to forget the bad things, but God will redeem the whole sorry story of human history. This is part of the deep hope of apocalyptic texts: salvation cannot come for me, in its full sense, as long as the terrible effects of my sins continue to ripple through the world... The promise here is that the chain reaction of human sin will be ended, and all the tears will be wiped away. The tears that God must wipe away are not only the tears we shed, but also the tears we cause.

We do not need to wait until we get to heaven.  The time for deliverance is now!  Lift up a suffering friend or family member to the Lord tonight!  If you can, go to them with others that care.  Gently touch their heads or shoulders and pray that they will know how precious they are in God's eyes.  Pray God's best now.  And keep praying.  This is God's will, made possible when Jesus took our all our sins to his cross and rose victorious to give us a new life.

Will you pray with me?

Father God, come and begin wiping tears now through your precious promises.  Through your Holy Spirit, come and do your work.  Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Bring suffering ones we name before you out of the scarred past and into the light of your presence now.  Give them a glimpse of your forever and ever love.  Begin and continue and complete your healing work. In Jesus' name.

www.equalsharing.com