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Are you
being patient with God?
We live in a
very impatient culture. Technology has trained us to expect instant
gratification. We want it and we want it now. As quickly as possible.
We are the now generation.
The world has
programmed us to be impatient. We hate to wait. We despise delays. We
don't like anything that takes time. We want it and we want it now.
We want overnight success, instant wealth, quick solutions to our
problems, rapid recovery from illnesses. But the reality of life is
we spend a large part of our lives just flat out waiting. There is
always a period of time between sowing and reaping, asking and
receiving, vision and fulfillment, conception and birth, that
requires us to wait. We need patience! But patience does not come
overnight, it is developed over a period of time.
In James
5, he mentions
the word "patience"
or "persistence"
six times. He gives us three illustrations-the farmer, the prophet,
and the person of Job as examples of how, why, and when to be patient.
First, he
says when we should be patient. He gives us these three
illustrations. He says we need to be patient in three conditions:
-
When
circumstances are uncontrollable.
-
When people
are unchangeable.
-
When problems
are unexplainable.
Second, he
tells us why we should be patient. he says there are three reasons:
-
Because God
is in control.
-
Because God
rewards patience, not only in this life but in heaven.
-
Because God
is working it out. We just need to trust Him.
Third, he
tells us to be patient. How to wait on God. Using these three
illustrations of the farmer, the prophet and Job, he says...
-
You've got to
wait expectantly.
Like the
farmer in vs. 7, I need to wait expectantly. What does a farmer do
while he's waiting? he prepares. He doesn't plant the seed and then
go spend a year in Florida. The whole time he's anticipating,
expecting, that there's going to be a harvest, so he starts getting
ready for it.
Psalm
130:5 (LB)
"I
wait expectantly trusting God to help..."
What have you been waiting for God to do in your life? For your
marriage to be turned around? For a financial situation to be
reversed? For a loved one to come to or back to Christ? To heal a
hurt? For a physical healing? For your teenager to get his/her life
back in line?
Of these
things you're waiting on...One, are you really expecting it to
happen? Because, "According
to your faith it will be done to you."
Some of you really don't expect it to happen. Two, if you expect it
to happen, what are you doing to get ready for it? Because faith
prepares. That's what it means to expect. It means you prepare in
advance. While you are waiting, be preparing, because that
demonstrates faith.
I've
discovered that many times I thought I was waiting on God, when
actually it was God waiting on me. You need to get your act together.
You need to get prepared for the blessing God wants to give you. Once
you're ready and once you've learned patience and once you've built
the character you need, God will answer. "You're
not waiting on Me,"
says God. "I'm
waiting on you! I'm waiting on you to make the changes necessary so
I can bless your life."
Isaiah 49:23
"The Lord says, 'No one who waits for My help will be disappointed"
-
You wait quietly.
We don't mind
waiting as long as we can complain about it. If we grumble about it,
we can handle it. I don't mind standing in line or having to wait if
I can gripe and mumble and complain. In this passage, James gives us
two things to do. "Don't
grumble against each other brothers or you'll be judged." The
New English Bible says, "Don't
blame our troubles on one another."
He says if your are going to learn to wait, you wait expectantly and
you wait quietly. That means you don't gripe about it while you're waiting.
Do your rise
and whine in the morning? Do you grumble? Do you gripe? The Bible
says, don't grumble.
The Bible
says when you're waiting, you wait expectantly and you wait quietly.
You don't grumble about it.
Then he says
in v.12 don't swear, "After
all my brothers, don't swear, not by heaven or earth or anything else."
has waiting ever tempted you to swear? You're so ticked off and you
let it rip! What happens when you're frustrated and you can't do
anything about it? Unfortunately, the typical response is we take it
out on the people closest to us. Many times they're not even part of
the problem. You're irritated by somebody at work and you come home,
walk in the door, and emotionally vomit on your family. You feel a
whole lot better but they feel kind of sticky! That's not fair. Why
should they have to take your flack? Why should the fallout from your
irritation be directed at them?
He says, wait
quietly. Don't grumble. Don't complain. Don't swear. Manage your mouth.
Lamentations
3:26 "It is
good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."
-
You wait confidently.
Micah 7:7 "I
wait confidently for God."
When the outlook is bad, you look up. This is what hope is. It's
confident expectation. HOPE-Holding
On. Praying Expectantly.
How do you
show confidence when you're waiting? Not by wiggling but by standing
still. How many times in the Old Testament does it say, "Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord!" Don't get nervous.
Don't get antsy. Don't get the spiritual wiggles. Wait confidently.
What is
Confident waiting?
It is David in Psalm 27:13-14 "I
am still 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 on the Lord." It
is David in Psalm 38:15 "I
wait for you, O Lord; You will answer..."
It is David in Psalm 40:1-3, "I
waited
patiently for the Lord; And he turned to me and heard my cry. He
lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and the mire; he set
my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new
song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."
What is
confident waiting?
It is Habakkuk 2:3 (LB) "These
things 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."
Some of you
need to cut this verse out and put it on your refrigerator. What is
your vision? What is your dream? What is your goal in life? What is
the deepest prayer request of your heart? God says the vision will be
fulfilled. Just be patient. If it seems slow do not despair for these
things will surely come to pass.
What is
confident waiting?
It is Isaiah 40:28-31 "Do
you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or
weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to
the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired
and weary, and young men stumble
and fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and
not faint."
PASTOR VICTOR MASSEY
PLEASANTDALE CHURCH OF GOD
DORAVILLE, GA 30340
*Materials
used: Sermon notes from Rick Warren |
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