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When God's Timing Is Taking Too Long by Opeomoope: 9:25pm On Nov 01, 2016 |
We all want good things to happen in our
lives, but too often we want it now...not
later. When it doesn't happen that way, we
are tempted to ask, "When, God, when?"
Most of us need to grow in the area of
trusting God instead of focusing on the
"when" question. If you're missing joy and
peace, you're not trusting God. If your mind
feels worn out all the time, you're not
trusting God.
The tendency to want to know about
everything that's going on can be
detrimental to your Christian walk.
Sometimes knowing everything can be
uncomfortable and can even hurt you. I
spent a large part of my life being impatient,
frustrated and disappointed because there
were things I didn't know. God had to teach
me to leave things alone and quit feeling
that I needed to know everything. I finally
learned to trust the One who knows all
things and accept that some questions may
never be answered. We prove that we trust
God when we refuse to worry.
God wants us to live by discernment—
revelation knowledge, not head knowledge.
It's difficult to exercise discernment if you're
always trying to figure out everything. But
when you're willing to say, "God, I can't
figure this out, so I'm going to trust You to
give me revelation that will set me free,"
then you can be comfortable in spite of not
knowing. Trusting God often requires not
knowing how God is going to accomplish
what needs to be done and not knowing
when He will do it. We often say God is never
late, but generally He isn't early either. Why?
Because He uses times of waiting to stretch
our faith in Him and to bring about change
and growth in our lives.
Wait With Patience
We spend a lot of time in our lives waiting
because change is a process. Many people
want change, but they don't want to go
through the waiting process. But the truth
is, waiting is a given—we are going to wait.
The question is, are we going to wait the
wrong or right way? If we wait the wrong
way, we'll be miserable; but if we decide to
wait God's way, we can become patient and
enjoy the wait. It takes practice, but as we
let God help us in each situation, we develop
patience, which is one of the most
important Christian virtues. Patience is a
fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22). It's
developed only under trial, so we must not
run from difficult situations. But let
endurance and steadfastness and patience
have full play and do a thorough work, so
that you may be [people] perfectly and fully
developed [with no defects], lacking in
nothing (James 1:4).
As we develop patience, the Bible says we
finally feel completely satisfied—lacking
nothing. Even our relationship with God
involves progressive changes. My
relationship with God is so much different
now than it was in the early days of my
Christian experience. It is not nearly as
emotionally exciting...and yet it is better.
Every change I've gone through has made
me more mature, solid and well-grounded.
We learn to trust God by going through
many experiences that require trust. By
seeing God's faithfulness over and over, we
let go of trusting ourselves, and gradually
we place our trust in Him. Looking at it like
this, it is easy to see how timing plays an
important part in learning to trust God. If He
did everything we asked for immediately,
we would never grow and develop. Timing
and trust work side by side.
Accept God's Timing
God gives us hopes and dreams for certain
things to happen in our lives, but He doesn't
always allow us to see the exact timing of
His plan. Although frustrating, not knowing
the exact timing is often what keeps us in
the program. There are times when we
might give up if we knew how long it was
going to take, but when we accept God's
timing, we can learn to live in hope and
enjoy our lives while God is working on our
problems. We know that God's plan for our
lives is good, and when we entrust
ourselves to Him, we can experience total
peace and happiness.
The book of Genesis tells the story of Joseph,
who waited many years for the fulfillment of
the dream God had given him. He was falsely
accused and imprisoned before the time
came for him to do what God had shown
him he was to do. Exodus 13:17-18 tells us
that God led the Israelites the longer, harder
way on their journey to the Promised Land
because He knew they were not yet ready to
go in. There had to be time for their
training, and they had to go through some
very trying situations. They wasted a lot of
time wondering about God's timing, but
God never failed to take care of them and
show them what He wanted them to do. The
same is true in our lives. It was many years
after I received my call from God in February
of 1976 before I finally began to see major
fulfillment of what God had called me to do.
God's training period simply requires us to
do what He tells us to do when He tells us to
do it...without questioning or trying to
figure everything out.
Learn to Rely on God
Proverbs 16:9 says, A man's mind plans his
way, but the Lord directs his steps and
makes them sure. Proverbs 20:24 says,Man's
steps are ordered by the Lord. How then can
a man understand his way? When God
directs our paths, He sometimes leads us in
ways that don't make sense to us so we're
not always going to understand everything.
If we try to reason out everything, we will
experience struggle, confusion and misery
—but there is a better way. Proverbs 3:5-6
says, Lean on, trust in, and be confident in
the Lord with all your heart and mind and
do not rely on your own insight or
understanding. In all your ways know,
recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He
will direct and make straight and plain your
paths. This sounds so simple, yet too many
people make the mistake of trying to figure
everything out themselves. Most of us have
spent our lives trying to take care of
ourselves, but when we accept Christ as our
Savior, we must learn to trust our lives to His
care. When we do, we can say with the
psalmist, ...I trusted in, relied on, and was
confident in You, O Lord; I said, You are my
God. My times are in Your hands...( Psalm
31:14-15).
First Peter 5:5 tells us that ...God sets
Himself against the proud (the insolent, the
overbearing, the disdainful, the
presumptuous, the boastful)—[and He
opposes, frustrates, and defeats them], but
gives grace (favor, blessing) to the humble.
Anyone who thinks they're a self-made man
or woman has a rude awakening coming
because Jesus said, ...apart from Me [cut off
from vital union with Me] you can do
nothing ( John 15:5). Humility is a covering
that draws the help of God into our lives to
protect us. When we humble ourselves by
saying, "God, I don't know what to do, but
I'm trusting You," God gets in gear to help
us. God won't allow us to succeed at
anything unless we're leaning and relying
on Him. But when we humble ourselves
under the mighty hand of God, in due time,
He will exalt us (see 1 Peter 5:6). "Due time"
is God's time, when God knows we're ready,
not when we think we're ready. The sooner
we understand and accept that, the sooner
God can work His plan in our lives.
From Seedtime to Harvest
Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us: To everything there
is a season, and a time for every matter or
purpose under heaven. This lets us know
that we all don't live in the same season at
the same time. You should never be jealous
of someone who is enjoying harvest while
you're still in the planting season.
Remember, they had to go through a season
of planting just as you are. Seeing the results
they are enjoying should be an
encouragement to you. Understand and
trust that God is doing the very best for you
in your present season. Seedtime represents
learning the will of God. Each time I choose
God's will instead of my own, I'm planting a
good seed that will eventually bring a
harvest in my life. If you want to be
victorious, you cannot afford to get pulled
into the world's system, doing what you feel
like doing. James 1:21 tells us what we
should do: ...get rid of all uncleanness and
the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and
in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive
and welcome the Word which implanted
and rooted [in your hearts] contains the
power to save your souls.
Your soul is your mind, your will and your
emotions. When the Word gets rooted in
there and begins to change your mind, it
begins to heal your emotions and turn your
will away from self-will and onto doing the
will of God. Living out of one's own soul is
equivalent to staying in the wilderness.
When my flesh is finally crucified and I get
out of my soul and into doing the will of
God, that's when I enter the promised land.
The promised land is knowing who you are
in Christ, knowing how to fellowship with
Him, enjoying His presence, and having
peace, contentment and joy. Between
seedtime and harvest comes a time of
waiting. After a seed is planted, the heat,
moisture and pressure of the ground finally
cause the outer hull to crack open. Then
roots shoot down, digging their way
through the ground. It takes time for this to
happen, and it takes place underground.
Above the ground, you can't tell anything is
happening. That's the way our lives are.
After we plant seeds of obedience, we feel
like nothing is happening, but all kinds of
things are happening inside where we can't
see. And like the seed that finally bursts
through the ground with a beautiful green
shoot, our seeds of obedience finally break
forth into a beautiful manifestation of God
in our lives.
When harvesttime comes, the desires of
your heart begin to manifest—bondages fall
off of you and you see your dreams come to
pass. You see your kids changing and your
family getting saved. Prosperity, favor,
promotion, honor, and all kinds of good
things come out in the open where they can
be seen. In harvesttime, more than ever
before, you hear from God, you enjoy His
presence, and you're led by the Spirit.
Blessings begin to chase you down the
street, and joy and calm delight become
your normal mood. Are you tired of waiting
for harvesttime in your life? Are you
frustrated, crying out, "When, God, when?"
Then you need to understand that God's
timing is often a mystery. He doesn't do
things on our timetable. Yet His Word
promises that He will not be late, not one
single day. But these things I plan won't
happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely,
the time approaches when the vision will be
fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for
these things will surely come to pass. Just be
patient! They will not be overdue a single
day! ( Habakkuk 2:3 TLB).
God causes things to happen at exactly the
right time! Your job is not to figure out
when, but to make up your mind that you
won't give up until you cross the finish line
and are living in the radical, outrageous
blessings of God! The more you trust Jesus
and keep your eyes focused on Him, the
more life you'll have. Trusting God brings
life. Believing brings rest. So stop trying to
figure everything out, and let God be God in
your life. 1 Like |
Re: When God's Timing Is Taking Too Long by DaddySLY(m): 9:38pm On Nov 01, 2016 |
blood of jezuz ... iiss too looong!!! |
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