Psalm 27:13-14 sets the foundation:
“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”
Waiting for the Lord is not empty space or a pause between the request and the answer. It is a process. In that process God is not primarily watching the clock. He is watching the heart.
It pleases Him when, while we wait, we carry courage, faith, joy, hope, and love. These are not qualities we put on after the answer arrives. They are the posture we choose inside the delay. Strength and waiting happen at the same time.
Time itself is not neutral or passive. While we wait, something is being refined, something is being removed, and something is being prepared that could not be prepared any other way. The process often requires both time and faith working together. Faith without time can become impatience. Time without faith can become mere survival. Together they form something deeper than the original request.
We can call this active waiting.
In active waiting the primary focus shifts. It is no longer fixed on the thing we are waiting for. The central work becomes the condition of our own heart, mind, and spirit. We seek to align them as closely as possible with the purity, trust, and quiet confidence the Lord delights to see. Pleasing Him with the thoughts we entertain and the spirit we cultivate becomes the main assignment of the season.
He remains the focus. The delay itself becomes a place where love is practiced and the inner life is stewarded. The person who receives the answer is no longer the same person who first asked for it.
In active waiting we succeed not when the external request is finally granted, but when the heart stays fixed on Him throughout the process.
We don't know when the Lord will return for us, it could be today or it could be 5 years from now. This servant does not know, you don't know, no being on planet earth knows, not even our Lord Jesus Christ knows, but only the Father. Which means we are waiting. All of us carry our burdens, bills, money, health, jobs, etc, the list is long. We pray over everything but some things are bigger than others. Some things act like a giant industrial sized vacuum cleaner trying to suck every moment of our attention into a black hole of worry, despair, doubt, whatever. This paradigm shift from "the thing" we are waiting for to a loving attempt to please our Lord throughout the process helps in every way.
The stuff we are waiting for is all temporary stuff (whatever it is). Our "waiting on the Lord" serves an eternal purpose. This process of active waiting aligns what is most important to us, with what is most important to Him. We used to fixate on the "thing" asked for, now we fixate on loving and pleasing the Lord while we wait for Him to answer, regardless of what the answer is. We are more concerned now with traveling through this process in a mental, soulful, spiritual state that is pleasing to Him than the outcome. Process>Outcome, all day every day.
We also should be cognizant that while we "active wait" time is passing...This too shall pass, whatever "it" is we are waiting for an answer to. Soon enough, whatever it is we are asking and waiting for will be in the rear view mirror just like all the rest of our life. This idea of active waiting has been a game changer for your servant David who writes to you today. And last but certainly not least we will take note that this process of active waiting incorporates love...These three remain, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love. Our focus shifts from the temporary thing we are asking for to our love for our eternal God and pleasing Him while we wait.
This new mindset, this paradigm change is going to help somebody. Glory to God.
Faith, Hope, Love, Joy, Peace
Please join with your brother in praying over the prayer targets today.
Glory to God
grace and peace
