If you can wait patiently on the Lord ..........Victory is Sure!

A Reflection on God's faithfulness!

Introduction:

There is a fullness of time with the Lord, a time when all the preparation you have had, all the training, seminar, a college degree will be utilized.  You will see yourself face to face with the challenge for which the Lord has been preparing you for.  When that time comes, you will know immediately.

When it was David's time, he knew. He took food to his brethren in the war front, only to hear Goliath harassing all of them.  They had weapons, but they were not ready to face Goliath.  They were trained soldiers, but they were scared of Goliath.  So, this young boy heard Goliath...and Immediately his heartbeat changed.  That was the reason why he was anointed to lead Israel, the reason why God gave him the grace to kill a lion and a bear that came after his sheep in the bush.

He asked what will be given to the person that will kill this man?  The rest is a story for another day!  You may be waiting on God now, know there is a fullness of time and that your time will come.  It may not be now, but it will come.

You must not go ahead of time.  God may have given you a vision, but it will work out when its time comes.  All you need to do is to prepare yourself and be ready.  If the vision is clear to you, then learn from the mistakes of those on the stage at the moment, so that when your time, you will not make the same mistakes they are making.

Continue to prepare yourself for the task ahead of time.  Never say you are getting old or you have waited for too long.  When you see the challenges God is preparing you for, something will move in you.  You will face it without fear, just as David faced Goliath.

It is, therefore, a great tragedy for a person's time to come and he is not ready! That will not be your portion in Jesus name.

Waiting on God 

God is faithful whenever He makes a promise to fulfil it, and so waiting on Him will bring a sure reward. There are many times when people hear a specific word of God, promising them something they have asked for in prayers or probably something they will need sometimes in the future.

With a word from the Lord promising you something - The waiting time begins. Sometimes you may have to wait for a long time for that promise to be fulfilled.  Many are not even able to wait for the promises of God to manifest because according to them, it takes time for God’ s promise to be fulfilled.

But the truth is that God has an appointed time for everything He has decided to do. Right from creation, we can see God establishing seasons and periods for almost everything.  There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to rejoice and a time to be sad...  There are seasons and times.  

The rainy season will bring with it, heavy rainfall that will water the farmlands, a delight of farmers - big or small and a time when their seed and plantations are nourished to produce fruits. There is also the dry season that will be hot and without rain or much rain.

In creation proper, it takes a period of time for anything that produces to bring forth fruit.  From the time of plantation and harvest, you will count months and sometimes up to a year for different fruits.  

It takes nine months for a pregnant woman to deliver her baby and her joy will be full after delivery.  In the same vein, it takes twenty-two (22) months for an Elephant to deliver their baby, almost two years and when the baby elephant is born, it looks as big as a goat.

But the question is when does your waiting start? Can you patiently wait for God's time to come to pass?  If the blessing is very big, the period of waiting maybe longer, just like the Elephant gestation period.  Can you be calm and know that while it takes an elephant 22 months to bring forth, it only takes 20 days for rats to conceive and bring forth.  SO, if your waiting period is staying longer, be patient!

God called Abraham and promised to bless him and make him a blessing - Gen 12:1-3, he answered and followed the instructions of God.  In chapter 15, God sent a word to him in a vision, saying Fear, not Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward and Abram said Lord God, what will you give me seeing I go childless…and the Lord promised him a child from his own bowels shall be his heir. Gen 15:1-6.

Have heard specific promises from God?… It will surely come to pass.  Your waiting time should start from the time you receive the promise from God.  Do not take a promise from the bible without hearing any specific word from the Lord. If it from the Lord, then God is committed to fulfilling His word.

Many times people begin to wait for God’s promise, they never imagined they would have to wait for so long.  Many will think that because they are born again and spirit-filled, their prayers will be answered sooner than later.  Others think that because it was God who promised them, the result will come speedily…But it does not necessarily follow that way.  That is the reason for this reflection.  

When I married my wife, I was very zealous for the things of God, and thank God, I am still zealous till today. I never knew, thought or imagined that we would wait for nine years before the first child would come.  So many believers never believe that suffering and enduring hard times are part of the gospel experience, so when many encounters challenging situations, some are greatly discouraged and then open the door for the devil to tempt and overturn their faith in God.

Believers should be strong in the Lord and in His word and be ready for any situation.  The assurance of God is that HE WILL BE WITH YOU.  He will see you through the situation, no matter how turbulent it may be and give the direction and grace to overcome it.

To wait for God’s time requires patience and determination.  Waiting times are great times of trial and temptation.  Some people are waiting for God to restore them…like in the case of Job.  Some people are waiting for God to fulfil His promise upon their lives …like in the case of Abraham.  

Some people are waiting for God to deliver them from strange attacks, sickness or plague, while others are waiting for God to avenge them – of an accusation or evil report.  They are asking God to expose the truth in their matter that will exonerate them.  Others are crying for justice and so on.

Whichever is your case, you need:

1. Determination

2. Patience

3. Discipline

4. Persistence - If you will not give up, you will never be defeated.

Job’s calamity was great, but he was determined to wait on God till the days of his appointed time to come.  He had the discernment to know there was an appointed time for his change to come, the same is true of me and you – All of us .

Job had an expectation of God’s intervention when he suffered the losses.  He knew he was God’s servant and as such he had an expectation in God for help and intervention. If you are not committed to God, when troubles come, your hope and expectation in God may be shaky. 

This is because He was not your trust before the accident.  So, make God your trust and hope in good times.  In prosperous times, remember God and make Him your source and strength.  That was what helped Job to have hope in God and hope that He will help him.

But what happens when the help from God is delayed?  Will you rather curse God and die, as Job’s wife told the husband NO WAY!  Remember that after Job’s wife spoke the same word the devil told God about Job, no mention was made of Job’s wife again.

REMEMBER:

1. There is never a barrier that can stand against God when your waiting period is over.  God said I will work and who will withhold me? Isaiah

2. Every hand holding you lets you go when your period is over.  When it was time for the Jews to leave Egypt, God subdued the resistance of Pharaoh, and in a hurry, he asked the children of Israel to leave.

3. Understand that where you are right now cannot hinder the promise of God from being fulfilled in your life. Comfort yourself with the knowledge that everything is working out for good for you.  Where you are now is in fulfilment of the promise of God for you. 

4. Five Things God Remembers:
His Covenants - Gen.9:15-16
His Truth and mercy - Psalm 98:3
His Promises - Psalm 105:42
Our Frame - That we are flower or wind that passes away - Psalm 103:14
That we are Dust - Psalm 103:14

Who would have thought that Joseph will move from Prison to Palace?  To be in the Prison at that time was in the line of his destiny.  Had he missed the prison at the time he was there, he would have missed the palace.  Had he compromised with Potiphar's wife and remained in Potiphar's house, the palace experience would have also missed him.

When your time comes in life or when your waiting time is over, the Lord can remove your name from the list of barren and make you fruitful, from sickness to health and from a Tenant to a Landlord. Elizabeth was barren in the house of her husband Zacharias and both of them worshipped God in truth and in spirit, and were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, yet they had no child and were both well stricken in years. Luke 1:5-7. 

Imagine that such a wonderful couple were without a child because God had determined that they are worth a couple to father and bring to earth the fore-runner of Christ, John the Baptist.

When the time was ripe for the coming of Jesus Christ, God sent angel Gabriel to Zacharias and the wife got pregnant and had John.  So, your delay in conception may be as a result of God’s plan.  Be rest assured that no child of God is barren…That’s the word of God and that settles the issue of barrenness.

If you are a child of God, waiting for His promise of blessing, you are encouraged to be patient and hopeful until the end. Temptations will come to cause you to change your mind,  worldly ideas and alternatives will come from the devil and his agents, with the intention to exchange your glory.  

If suffering that is meant to usher you into your palace is ...exchanged, then your glory is also swapped. This is why everyone waiting on the Lord must be patient and disciplined, else the devil you give you a dummy and take your glory away.  He sold the dummy of  "wisdom, to make a man be like God" to Eve and deceived her to eat the fruit and to give her husband, while he took away their Dominion over the entire creations of God – Evil exchange.

So, while waiting, be hopeful and worry not. God knows you are waiting, Satan also knows you are waiting.  Avoid short cuts and do not release yourself. Do not say “I have waited long enough and I cannot continue to wait”.  Please wait for God to release you so that the pains and sorrow will be wiped away.  

If it is God that released you to go, then you are going with your blessings and not alone.  When God releases you, you are going with your blessing in your hands or going to possess your possession…No stories!.  But if you release yourself, you will miss your blessing.

God’s waiting time and when it is fulfilled is only known by God, that made the promise.  During the period when you are waiting, you will continue to worship the Lord and to praise Him and live right before Him. The Lord will continue to talk to you about other things and assignments.  You may even become a friend of God at that period of time, yet you will still wait and complete the waiting period. 

Understand that there is a purpose for the time of your waiting, which you may not know.  Zacharias was a Priest of God and served Him day and night with his wife Elizabeth, yet their faithfulness before God and in His service did not interrupt their waiting period…And when the time was over, Elizabeth conceived and had a son.

The waiting period, not a waste of Time

We notice from Job’s wife that when you are facing challenging and difficult situations, the devil will like to use people close to you to suggest wrong options and ungodly alternatives. You must know how to say No to everything alternative that is not biblical or from God.

Sometimes, while you are waiting, God takes you to the place of your assignment to for you to see and feel.  Be careful to know your time is not yet and return to where you are.  If you stay put when the time is not ripe, you will be sent back or rejected.

Waiting periods teach great lessons that will remain in our memory until we complete our assignment on earth.  From Abraham to Joseph, to Jacob, all of them learned experiences that advanced them in the Lord, that brought them closer to God and remain with them till they completed their assignment. 

God will always give you signs or show you some pictures and arrange some contacts for you to meet in order to learn more for the task he is preparing you ahead.

FIRE...