Waiting

Waiting is important in prayer.

I say it's important because the psalmist says it is - frequently.

But how and why are we to wait?

I am naturally an impatient man.  I want to see results right away from whatever I do.

But I have learned that rushing things doesn't always yield dividends.

Like many others, I have often gone to God with specific demands without asking him what he wants.  Sometimes he gives me what I request - other times, not.

But, looking at scripture, I see that the great people of prayer spent a lot of time with God, getting to know him and what he wanted in their lives.

For example, take Moses.

I turn often to Exodus 33 and its description of Moses going out to the Tent of Meeting to commune with the Lord, accompanied by his young disciple Joshua.  The people knew that this was Moses' special time with God where he would hear from the Lord.

Moses would sometimes question God, but he knew he had been commissioned by the Lord to lead the people God's way - not his.

So, he learned to listen and wait when others would have plunged ahead with their own agendas.

That teaches me an important lesson: If I want to see God work in my life, I need to wait, listen and obey.

My record in this area is uneven.  I have a lot to learn.

Dick Eastman urges me in his book The Hour That Changes The World to simply spend time in silence daily, just focusing my mind on God and his love - enjoying him.  In other words, I am to seek God for himself - not for his gifts.

I believe that was Moses' approach.  And David's, too.

I love David's words in Psalm 27:4:

"One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and to seek him in his temple."

Moses and David were leaders and men of action.  But they ardently sought God's presence - and waited upon him.

I can see difficulties in waiting.  It's hard not to decide what is right in certain circumstances and ask God to do my bidding.

And I believe we are to bring our needs before the Lord.  He wants to hear from us and help us.

But, ultimately, I know that there is blessing in putting everything aside and coming to God for himself alone.

All fears subside as I get to know the Lord better.

Winnie's story

Ready to give up on praying for your friend or family?

Maybe Winnie's story will change your mind.

A couple of years ago, Joseph M. Stowell, former president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, was speaking at the great Keswick Conference in England, a three-week annual gathering of people seeking a deeper relationship with Christ.

One Sunday, he was about to speak in a church at the outskirts of Keswick when the church pastor asked a woman to come up front and lead in prayer and give her testimony.

The woman said she was a shopkeeper in a deli and gift shop in Keswick several years before when she met a visitor at Keswick named Winnie.  Winnie visited the shop every day for coffee and the shop assistant struck up a friendship with her.

Stowell says the shopkeeper "admitted that there was something different about this woman, and that at the end of the week she felt sorry that her new friend, Winnie, was leaving to go back to her home".

"Every year she waited to see Winnie again during the conference weeks, but as the years passed she never came back," writes Stowell in his book Simply Jesus and You.

"Several years after she had met Winnie, however, she began to have a drawing in her spirit to Jesus that was so strong that it was almost physical in its power.  After trying to dismiss it, she found that it persisted in increasing strength, until one day she wandered into a church.

"After meeting with the pastor, she accepted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour."

A couple of years after she became a believer, a woman walked into the Keswick deli and gift shop and asked her if she remembered Winnie from many years before.

She lit up at the memory of Winnie and mentioned to the visitor that years after meeting Winnie, she had become a follower of Jesus.

"The lady on the other side of the counter gasped in joy, and said she couldn't wait to tell Winnie, since Winnie had prayed for her salvation every day without fail since she left Keswick years before."

Stowell says he could hardly hold back the tears as he heard this testimony.

Winnie had prayed every day for years "until the enemy finally said, 'I give up, I can't hold on to her against the power of these persistent prayers.'"  The way had been cleared for Jesus to draw her to him.

Then, the woman finished her story by saying: "And I am so glad that Winnie is here this morning."

Winnie stood up to enthusiastic applause from the normally reserved English congregation.

After the service, Stowell went up to Winnie and her friend and said that Satan must have had a tight grip on the shopkeeper's life in order to take such a long time to become a believer.

"I cannot tell you how strong his grip was on my life!" she said.

Stowell writes that Winnie is a model of what it means to pray for people to become followers of Christ.

"She persevered in long-distance prayer without a clue of what was going on in the spiritual underworld.  The Spirit energized her undaunted commitment to the welfare of others and the battle was won."

God rewards persistence in the cause of Christ.

Hope out of hopelessness

The apostle Peter was devastated by the death of Jesus on the cross - he had lost all hope.

But three days later the impossible happened - he saw Jesus again.

This makes me think about hope and hopelessness.  And God.

It encourages me to wait in prayer for God to move.  Even if it means waiting until after I die.

I believe our view of God is very important in prayer.

I cling to the truth of Romans 8:28: "We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

In this passage, the apostle Paul doesn't specify what kind of good we can expect.  But we can be sure it will be good for us - even if we find out what it was after our death.

Take Paul himself as an example.

He suffered greatly in life as he spoke for Christ in many places around the Mediterranean Sea.  But God delivered him repeatedly from the edge of death.  Until he didn't.

Paul knew before his final journey to Rome to stand before the Roman emperor for judgement that he would die.  But he went obediently.

Paul died - history says he was crucified for his faith.  But he left a legacy of faith that rings throughout the ages.

My guess is that none of us will have that kind of impact.  But living with faith and trust in God will have an eternal impact, no matter what.

That faith and love may touch someone's life that you may be unaware of.

It may be that the person you pray for seems hopeless when you last see him or her.  But amazingly, God works in that person's life and you will find out in eternity.

One of the great prayer warriors, George Muller, prayed seemingly unsuccessfully for a friend to become a follower of God for more than 60 years.  That person became a believer at Muller's graveside.

I have pointed to extreme examples.  But we can be sure that waiting before God in hope will be rewarded often in our everyday lives if we trust him to bring good out of seemingly hopeless circumstances.

I write this to encourage myself.

I believe this to be true because God says it.

And he has proved it throughout history.

God's gifts

A church functions best when all members use the spiritual gifts God has given them.

Equally, a community is most blessed when all the gifts are distributed effectively among the local churches.

For these reasons, we should pray that the Lord will stir up church leaders and community leaders to understand the importance of all the spiritual gifts for their congregations and their communities and to use them.

That’s the conviction of Eddie Smith and Michael L. Hennen, authors of Strategic Prayer: Applying the Power of Strategic Prayer. 

“God endows individuals, communities, and nations with gifts designed to help lead the nations to Christ,” say Smith and Hennen.

The apostle Paul outlines some of the gifts bestowed on believers by the Holy Spirit in such passages as Romans 12:4-8 and Ephesians 4:11-16.  These gifts range from pastor, evangelist, helps, hospitality, wisdom and leadership to miracles, healing, faith, and mercy.

The authors suggest that one of the problems in using all the gifts available is that Christians often move about from church to church without settling down in a congregation and establishing strong relationships.

“People who drift from one congregation to another never give their gifts opportunity to become rooted in a set of relationships that will enable their gifts to grow and operate most freely,” the authors say.

Christians should be accountable to one another to use their gifts for the good of others in their church community.

Smith and Hennen also say that God has given believers gifts to be used in reaching those who do not know Christ.

So they say we should pray that Christian leaders understand the importance of all the Holy Spirit’s gifts for their own congregations and their communities.

“Pray that they will welcome and encourage the use of these gifts among their members.”

I must say I had not considered how vital it is that every church make use of all the spiritual gifts, not only for their own church members but for the advancement of the kingdom of God in their own communities.

Most evangelical churches place a high priority on teaching and preaching.

But the gifts of helping, serving and generosity may have an even larger impact on reaching people outside the church doors.  People may be more willing to hear the message of Christ after demonstrations of Christ’s love.

So let’s pray that God will move believers to use their gifts for God’s purposes.