Wait Expectantly for God to Answer

“…I will station myself…” Habakkuk 2:1 (NIV) 

If you want to get God’s vision for you life, you must want to hear it, you must withdraw to hear it, and then you must wait to hear it. To get God’s dream for my life, for my career, for my family, for my relationships, I’ve got to withdraw and then wait to hear from God.

The New International Version says, “…I will station myself…” (NIV) What does it mean to station yourself before God? It means stay put. It means, ‘I'm not moving.’ It means, ‘I’m going to be still.’ ‘I’m going to sit here and I am not going to move until I hear from you, God.’

Hurry is the death of prayer. The reason you never hear God speak to you may be because you don't wait long enough, and God won’t speak to you as you run out the door. He wants you to care enough to listen.

Most of the time we’re running so revved up, we can't get slowed down enough to tune into God.  So, how do you slow down? You calm your mind by relaxing your body. You take deep breaths and you relax your muscles and let the tension drain out.

The Bible says David sat before the Lord. Some people think you have to kneel in prayer and that is one of many appropriate ways to pray, but it's not the most common way of praying in the Bible. The most common form of praying in the Bible is standing with your eyes wide open looking up to heaven and talking out loud to God.

You don't have to have a speech. You don’t have to be poetic. You don’t even have to speak in complete sentences. Just talk to God like you’d would normally talk, but then, like any conversation, stop talking and listen – wait to hear from God.

David says there are three things to do as you wait –

• Wait quietly -- “I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.” (Psalm 62:5 NLT)
• Wait patiently -- “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.” (Psalm 37:7 NLT)
• Wait expectantly -- “I wait expectantly, trusting God to help, for he has promised.” (Psalm 105:5 LB)

And this is so important: you must expect to hear from God. Expect for him to give you a dream, an insight; this is the faith factor where you wait expectantly. Waiting on God is never a waste of time. In fact, it's some of the best time you are ever going to invest in your life.

by Rick Warren

In Search of Perfect Conditions

Then the LORD ordered him, “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.” Judges 6:14 (TEV)

Think about this the next time you insist on perfect conditions before you’ll get started on God’s plan –

Gideon, a mighty warrior and judge in the Old Testament, was the least member of the weakest clan in the tribe of Manasseh. His job was the tedious threshing of wheat, a process where the cereal grain is knocked loose from the chaff.

Perhaps he hoped to do great things for God when the conditions were right, but, for now, Gideon saw himself as just a guy cranking wheat through a creaky old winepress.

But that didn’t matter to God. God saw Gideon as a mighty warrior and judge. He told Gideon: “Go with all your great strength and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I myself am sending you.” (Judges 6:14 TEV)

Gideon was still stuck in tunnel vision, believing what he thought and what he saw defined the truth. To paraphrase the ancient Hebrew, Gideon told God, “I just don’t have what it takes, Lord. I know you’re perfect, but I think you made a mistake.” (Judges 6:15)

Again, paraphrasing the ancient Hebrew, God told Gideon, “Get your head out

of the wheat dust and pay attention to me. I will be with you and so, yes, you will strike down all the Midianites as if they are no more than one man.” (Judges 6:16)

The strength of the Sender is more important than the strength, or perceived weakness, of the one being sent.

It doesn’t matter what Gideon says about himself or what others say about Gideon. Only one opinion counts: God’s.

What God says about Gideon is the truth. What God says about you is the truth. You are his precious child, created in his image; a sweet aroma that is pleasing to the Lord. Trust in God’s strength and do what he tells you to do.

Don't Be Distracted From Your Purpose

"Will we fulfill God’s purpose, or will we shrink back and live a comfortable, self-centered life?" Rick Warren Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 (NIV) Living this decade for the glory of God will require a change in your priorities, your schedule, your relationships, and everything else. It will sometimes mean choosing a difficult path instead of the easy one. Steve Adams, our pastor to children at Saddleback Church, says when we are moving forward in the direction God tells us, “Action requires traction, but the enemy brings distraction.” In other words, we can’t just say we believe in God’s plan, or say we need to take some steps. God requires that we take real steps to move us forward. But the enemy, as Steve notes, rushes in with distractions designed to pull us away from God’s plan. We become like the man described by James in the Bible, who looks into a mirror, but then forgets what he looks like as he walks away. Distractions such as bad attitudes, excuses, procrastination, and busyness make us mere ‘listeners’ of the word when God calls us to be ‘doers.’ We face a choice with every step we take into this decade of destiny: Will we fulfill God’s purpose, or will we shrink back and live a comfortable, self-centered life? Will we live for our own goals, comfort, and pleasure, or will we live the rest of our lives for God’s glory, knowing that he has promised eternal rewards? From Saddleback Resources – by RIck Warren

God Develops Us Slowly

The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once …. Deuteronomy 7:22 (NLT)

"Growth is often painful and scary, but if you want the next ten years to be the best of your life, the work you are doing now will be worth it."

Although God could instantly transform us, he has chosen to develop us slowly.
Why does it take so long to change and grow? There are several reasons --

We are slow learners. We often have to relearn a lesson forty or fifty times to really get it. The problems keep recurring, and we think, “Not again! I’ve already learned that!”—but God knows better. We need repeated exposure.

We have a lot to unlearn. Many people go to a counselor with a personal or relational problem that took years to develop and say, “I need you to fix me. I’ve got an hour.” Since most of our problems—and all of our bad habits—didn’t develop overnight, it’s unrealistic to expect them go away immediately.

Growth is often painful and scary, but if you want the next ten years to be the best of your life, the work you are doing now will be well worth it. There is no growth without change; there is no change without fear or loss; and there is no loss without pain. Even if our old ways are self-defeating, we are tempted to return to them because, like a worn out pair of shoes, they are comfortable and familiar.

You must let go of old ways in order to experience the new, but what God has planned for you is far more than anything you can imagine. Stay steady at it, remembering that “little by little” God is clearing the way for you to grow and change.

To Hear God You Must Cooperate

The seeds that fell in good soil stand for those who hear the message and retain it in a good and obedient heart, and they persist until they bear fruit.” Luke 8:15 (GNT)

"You need to be able to say, "God, I'm willing to do whatever you want me to do. Even if it seems scary or unusual or hard, I'm going to do it.""

God speaks to people who decide in advance to do what he tells them to do, not those who say, “God, tell me what to do and then I’ll decide if I want to do it.” When you have an attitude of cooperation, you are going to hear from God. A willing mind is the good soil that we see in today’s verse.

You need to be able to say, “God, I’m willing to do whatever you want me to do. Even if it seems scary or unusual or hard, I’m going to do it, and I’m going to keep at it until I bear fruit.”

How do you bear fruit? Luke 8:14 says it takes persistence. But it takes more than that. In the next verse, Luke 8:15, Jesus says this, “they listen to God’s words and cling to them and steadily spread them to others who also soon believe” (LB).

One of the ways to bear fruit is to pass it on. Teach somebody else. That is the secret of growth. Whatever you learn, as soon as you learn it, pass it on to someone. Whoever teaches, grows the most -- because when you teach you show that you’ve not only heard it, but you’ve incorporated it and can communicate it to others.

Why Is It Essential To Hear God?

My sheep recognize my voice and follow me.” John 10:27 (NLT)

A lot of people think it’s not so important to hear from God. But you should not be satisfied with that attitude. You need to be hearing from God on a daily basis. Why? There are three reasons why it’s absolutely vital for you to be able to hear directly from God.

1. It proves you’re in God’s family. When you are tuned in to God and hear from him, it confirms your relationship. Because God talks to his children. John 10:27 says, “My sheep recognize my voice and follow me” (NLT).
   
   Just as parents talk to all their children, God talks to all of his kids. He doesn’t just single out the pastors or the missionaries, or those who have been Christians the longest. He talks to all believers, whether they are mature or immature.
   
   And just as children recognize their parents’ voices, we should be able to recognize God’s voice. Now babies don’t instantly know their parents’ voices, but as they grow, they naturally begin to recognize mom or dad’s voice and can hear it anywhere. It’s the same with us. As we grow spiritually, it becomes easier to hear God.
2. It protects you from mistakes. If you listen to God, you’ll make fewer mistakes because you’ll hear him warning you in advance. Proverbs 3:6 says, “Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, and everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track” (MSG).
   
   Notice the verse didn’t say just in church; it says, “in everything you do, and everywhere you go.” I couldn’t count the number of times God has saved me from wasting time, wasting money and wasting energy because I listened to him.
3. It produces success in life. This is not the kind of success the world talks about where you’re famous and filthy rich. This is God’s definition of success – being exactly who God made you to be so that your life can have meaning.
   
   “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8 NLT). Did you know that the best pathway for your life is different than the best pathway for someone else’s life? And if you try to follow somebody else’s pathway you’re life will be filled with problems.
   
   God has a customized pathway for you, and if you follow it you will succeed.

by Jon Walker

But God Is Our Deliverer

But God untied the death ropes and raised him up. Death was no match for him. Acts 2:24 (MSG)

"Each time we face a "God, what's the plan here" moment, we can know that we're also nearing the "but God" moment, where we'll see our story unfolding for God's glory and for his good plans for us."

In moments of despair, confusion, or darkness, it’s only natural to wonder if God is paying attention. In honesty, sometimes you want to ask, “Hey, God is there any kind of plan here?” Or, “God, do you realize what’s about to happen—to me?”

That’s when we need to cling to a “but God” faith, where we believe things may look bad, but God is working it for good. “But God untied the death ropes and raised him up.”

Sometimes our deliverance comes immediately after the “but God;” sometimes it is years before we see the end of the sentence that God is writing with our lives.

But that doesn’t mean God has abandoned our story.

God uses the time before “but God” to develop in us a certainty in his sovereignty and grace.

We may be hard pressed on every side, but God keeps us from being crush; perplexed, but God lifts us from the pits of despair; persecuted, but God stands by our side; struck down, but God makes us indestructible by filling us with his incorruptible Spirit. (2 Corinthians 4)

Each time we face a “God, what’s the plan here” moment, we can know that we’re also nearing

the “but God” moment, where we’ll see our story unfolding for God’s glory and for his good plans for us. (Jeremiah 29; Romans 8:28)

As we wait, Jesus changes us. We no longer see the need to know how we’ll be delivered. We come to know that, no matter how the story ends, it includes the phrase, “but God is our Deliverer.” (2 Samuel 22:2)

by Jon Walker