As Christians, we are aware that God has promises for us. God has promised us eternity, love, freedom, pure life and so much more. And those things will come one day when we return to our home, but what about the things the Lord promises here on earth? The Lord wants to give us the desires of our hearts, but how do we pray for those and process the different promises He has for us.
The thing is we have this hope as christians. We know that his promise will come, but what do we do in the meantime?
In Acts 1:1 it says, " Jesus began to do and teach.." Before we even ask for something from Jesus I think it is important to know that even while we wait for a promise we must be working on our walk with the Lord. We must be DOING.
In Acts 1:4 it says " And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father..." I think that Acts 1 begins to clarify exactly how we should live our lives while waiting for the promises of the father. When we pray for something, while we wait for that prayer to be answered we must first live in a constant state of knowing that Jesus stays with us. Jesus does not listen to our prayers and then leave while in consideration. No, he stays with us as we wait. That gives us a peace about waiting for our answer. No matter what the Lord has for us, He is waiting with us.
Secondly, we are not to depart from Jerusalem. I don't mean this literally, but it is a clear depiction of the mindset we should have. A lot of times when we pray for something we do not have patience. We want the Lord to start working in us immediately but I think that sometimes what the Lord had for us is to stay right where we are and wait. Stay in your relationship with the Lord. Don't leave just because you aren't getting an answer. Continue planting the seeds of prayer, wisdom, and obedience as you wait. Keep growing in the waiting. In Acts the Lord is speaking to a promised people telling them that if they just wait and continue bringing glory to him, his blessing will fall upon them. But first, they must wait! The Lord uses this time of waiting to fully prepare us to receive his promise. I think this is important because we live in a society of immediate gratification and ignore the growth that can occur in the waiting. The waiting can be a beautiful and abundant place for the Lord to move in your life. It shows that you appreciate him in the midst of anything.
Later in Acts 1:7 it says " It is not for you to know times or seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority." While we wait we have to have the attitude that the Lord has authority over us. Our lives are not determined by our needs and wants but of those of the father. It is not our place to know when he will do these things because our brains do not work they way that He does. He knows the times and seasons better than anyone because he created them. WE have no place to question him. So instead plant your seeds before the waiting, so that when your waiting they can become deep rooted and prosper. Then....when the wait is over ,the flowers will have bloomed and you will be fully prepared to receive what the Lord has for you.
I once talked to a farmer and he told me the process of planting crops. And the farmer said " My job is to plant the seeds. What happens next has nothing to with me but everything to do with God. If he decides to let them grow, it will be in his time, and they will break through the ground when He wants them to."
So wait for the Lords promises in hope that you will not only receive them but that you will grow waiting for them.
