Are We There Yet?

“Are we there yet?” The well-known call of travel weary children, probably cried out even on the first journey away from home by cavemen families. And now in today’s modern time we still can’t get things fast enough. Pizza at our door in thirty minutes, scanned documents sent via email and the snap of a photo sent to the world in one minute.

How frustrating is it to have the Lord of our lives sometimes needing us to wait?  For me, very!! But I've learned that waiting doesn’t have to be filled with anxiousness about the future or the feeling of wasting time. We can’t control God’s timing but we can control our actions during the waiting period.  Making this time more productive means we turn frustration into active waiting.

Back in 2000 I had a period of my life filled with waiting. As I've said, I am not good at waiting.  But, the idea of active waiting was something I heard from many of my prayer partners at the time so I listened, re-directed my energy and made a waiting plan. When I looked at my list I was glad God was having me wait -  I could see how unprepared I really was. Here are some of the notes of how I turned my spiritual frustration into Godly preparation:

• Study the Bible
• Read a spiritual enrichment book every three months 
• Watch what God's doing and Journal
• Pray for the Eyes of Jesus, the Heart of David, the Passion of Paul, the Courage of John, and the spirit of Mary (Martha's sister)
• Develop deeper personal relationships with people
• Submit to leadership and be faithful in small service
• Attend a training seminar in an area of giftings
• Pray for the church body
• Continue to study books by authors in the field called to serve
• Find a Mentor
• Find an Accountability Partner
• Visit other churches to see what God is doing
• Pray for others in the field of calling
• Rejoice for others success and pray for comfort when fear of being left behind wells up

Patience is a fruit of the spirit.  The Holy Spirit at work in our lives developing patience as a natural response. The growing of fruit takes time before it’s ripe and ready to be used for its true purpose.  Even if we want patience to be granted instantly it has already been established as a fruit. This fruit seems so elusive to me and I was thinking how great it would be if it was more tangible. So I wondered, if Patience was an apostle and He wrote a letter to us, like Paul wrote to the Romans, what would it sound like? A passage of that letter might read like this combination of verses:

Patience 1:1-10

1 “Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything.  2 The Lord has told us – “Just be still and you'll see that I am God”.  3 However, “be still” does not mean - sit down, oh no!  4 Take this time to prepare your heart and mind for action.  5 You should know the devil is crafty and will try to stir up fear to provoke you to move. Do not listen to these lies. 6 You can rest assured the spirit of fear has no power over you. You are already equipped with the spirit of God's power, which is love, and your mind is a sound mind rooted in the Word of God. 7 You can stand firm in Christ with feet fit with readiness and peace.  8 Until He takes you into the field and puts you to work, you can only faithfully prepare with the will of a bridled horse. 9 The alarm will sound when it’s time to be used for the purposes of good but remember, the cause is the Lord’s and it is His to win.  10 So, after you have actively waited…. stand.”

**Lord, help me get to know the personhood of the Holy Spirit that is patience. Show me what you’d like me to do during those periods of waiting that would be useful preparation. Sooth my heart with your peace and give me ears to only hear your voice. Forgive me for stepping out on my own and whining about the lack of action. I long to be used by you, but I will wait for your perfect timing..**

BONUS CHALLENGE: Look up these verses and match them to the Patience passage.

Philippians 4:6// Psalms 46:10// 2 Timothy 1:7// 1 Samuel 17:47// Ephesians 6:10-18// 1 John 4:17-19//  Proverbs 21:31// Jeremiah 15:11

Click here for link to see The Opposite of Active Waiting