As we continue to focus on "waiting on the LORD," the ‘trigger’ for us as
pastors was the question, ‘What is God’s leading for us as a church?’ Is there something more for us? We are convinced that He has something for
us. We are pursuing the LORD with
greater focus and desire. So, that has
led us to meeting weekly as pastors for prayer walks and extended times of
prayer together as well as our Leadership Board also committing to an early
morning 6:15am prayer gathering as well.
What does waiting on the LORD
mean?
The word wait is also
translated ‘hope’. It is not a ‘hope
so,’ but a confident, believing hope. It
is listening, It is seeking direction, It is an exchange,..
The most famous passage that
is used on speaking about this is Isaiah 40:21-31 where Isaiah is
Brought In For Questioning
and he enters the Throne Room
It was where God called him To
Lift Up His Eyes
No one compares to our
LORD
The Great Exchange….the great
REST
From a place of lack to a
place of power
From a place of weariness,
tiredness to a place of new strength and new flight!
Do you not know? Have you not
heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the
earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He
gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired, And vigorous young men stumble badly, Yet
those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with
wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not
become weary. Isaiah 40:28-31
That is where we began last
week from sunrise to sunset and here is
just a sampling of what we heard when we were wrapping up that evening
·
Sensing
a call of learning to sacrifice and what it means to run to people who are
suffering
·
The
challenge for mature believers is to not fall into the same old, same old as we
mature in the faith, a real need to long for the deeper things of God, fresh
insight, how transforming is the holiness of God and the call to plumb the
depths of God.
·
More
than ever, the realization that God wants our hearts.
·
From
the prayer walk downtown – there is a real battle going on down there for the
hearts and lives of people
·
One
person shared that they need to learn to slow down and soak in the beauty of
the LORD
·
Sensing
the importance that we must be ‘thick’ in the Spirit that people would see
Jesus in us.
·
Trusting
God for Grace to be a place of healing from sickness, brokenness, pain and
hurt.
·
From
the sunrise prayer, sensing the birth of a new day at Grace
This morning I want to focus
on inward disciplines and where they lead us in a time of questioning, a time
of seeking and when searching for direction.
These disciplines are not only beneficial for a church, they are
beneficial for a nation and they are beneficial for you in your own journey of
faith.
We will look at confession
and obedience, meditation and study, fasting and seeking direction as well as
listening and prayer.
Confession and Obedience
Deuteronomy 28:v1,12 In context, God is setting out a clear
imperative to His people that there is incredible blessing if they walk in
obedience to His commands. In v12, we
read that God will open up the heavens.
There is a place of greater blessing for the people of God when they
obey their Father and conversely disobedience will make life extremely hard for
them.
2 Chronicles 7:14,15 At the dedication of the temple (signified
the presence of God among them)
14 if my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive
their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears
attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated
this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will
always be there.
Malachi 3:10 – speaking of
the financial (natural) blessing of the LORD when we do not withhold our
tithe.
10 Bring the whole tithe into
the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the
Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and
pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
You see this truth of greater
blessing and open heaven in Jesus’ life in John 1:51 and with John himself in
Revelation 4:1
1 John 1:9
Ephesian 6:1
These disciplines lead us
to a greater blessing and purpose.
God honors and blesses a
heart that is fully His…wholeheated devotion.
It was while being in these
exact passages that God led Faytene Kryskow, to a greater discovery in her own
life. Faytene is a great advocate for
prayer in our nation and also with ministry to our nation’s leaders. She wrote about a time where God spoke to her
about the sin and compromise in her life and yet she knew God was already using
her in many ways. However, God clearly
revealed to her that she wouldn’t fully move into the destiny that He wanted
for her.
She writes, “some people are
motivated away from pain while others are motivated toward reward, because as soon as the Lord showed me clearly
what the ‘sin’ in my life was costing – my destiny- it was finished. “God, if You need to slow me down in order to
build a foundation for me to stand on in later years, do it!”
Meditation and Study
Joshua 1:8,9
Romans 12:2
2 Timothy 1:7 not given you a spirit of fear…power, love
and self discipline
The first part of meditation
and study is the art of repetition because we are so prone to forget His truth
in the middle of the battle – repeat, go over again and again and commit it to
memory
Memorization
Concentration – it is the
ability to be in that place of focus, free from distractions and outside
influences.
Comprehension – it is the
knowledge of the truth that sets us free John 8:32. We have all had the experience of reading
something over and over and then all of a sudden we get it. We have that aha moment. To meditate on truth means we allow time to
let it sink in. Often that means writing
it out and journaling the insights that God gives you.
SPECS …sin to be forsaken,
promise to be claimed, example to follow, command to obey, stumbling block to
avoid.
Highlight – use pencil
crayons…red for Jesus, orange for commands, blue –prophecy, green for growth,
yellow for inspiration
Journal
Sharon and I have wrote
truths from His Word, wrote them down on sheets, stuck them in the night table
to remind ourselves
Reflection – do we realize
the significance of what we are reading?
Meditation can often involve
spiritual exercises which allow us to really dwell on truth. I’ll never forget using clay… His
fingerprints all over me.
These disciplines lead us
to greater COURAGE.
We take courage because we
rest in His promises for us
Fasting and Direction
Nehemiah 1:3,4
Luke 5:34,35
Acts 13:2,3
Fasting is a concept that is
foreign to a lot of Christians, it is seen as unnecessary and a form of
legalism, that which God is not pleased with. Fasting brings spiritual awareness and if we are serious about seeking
God’s leading in our lives, in our ministry, in our every move, we would fast
more.
Matthew 6:17,18 – don’t make
it obvious to everyone
Isaiah 58:5-7 – attitude of
fasting
The Purpose of Fasting
• To chasten the soul.
Psalm 69:10
• To humble the soul
Psalm 35:13
• To seek the Lord
2 Chronicles 20:3,4
• For spiritual warfare
Matthew 17:21
One obvious value of fasting
lies in the fact that its discipline helps us keep the body in its place. It is a practical acknowledgment of the
supremacy of the spiritual. But in
addition to this, fasting has direct benefits in relation to prayer as
well. Many who practice from right motives
and in order to give themselves more unreservedly to prayer testify that the
mind becomes unusually clear and vigorous.
There are a noticeable spiritual quickening and increased power of
concentration on the things of the Spirit.
J. Oswald Sanders
These disciplines lead us
to greater CLARITY
It has been in times of fasting
that I can truly say that God has given me a more clear sense of His leading in
my life. I will fast especially prior to
any major decisions that I have to make.
I have also fasted
I have done different
fasts. The most obvious fast is not
eating, but there was a time for LENT
(the 40 days leading to Easter) where
I made the decision to not watch hockey and that included part of the
playoffs. Why? For me in my life I had felt that it had
become too much of a consuming focus.
Prayer and Listening
Hebrews 12:2
John 10:4,16
John 15:7
These disciplines lead us
to greater COMMUNICATION
Be still
Fix your eyes
Ask the question…God what
is it that you want me to know today
Journal –the impressions
that God is placing on your heart.
Richard Foster writes in his
book on prayer about a time when he was down on the Oregon Coast and he came to
a cliff overlooking the beach. It was
there that he was admiring the forest of hemlock, spruce and cedar. He was admiring one giant cedar and then 3
steps to the right, he saw another extremely large but obviously rotting out
cedar. There were some sprouts of green
but it was only a matter of time before the tree died because it center was
exposed.
As he was observing the
rotting tree, he sensed the word of the Lord saying, “This is my Church’ and as
he heard it, tears came to his eyes…the church was decaying. Then for some unknown reason, he turned and
looked back at Haystack Rock in the distance.
The tide had come in and it was completely surrounded by water, the
waves breaking against it. The message
from God was, ‘but this is what my Church is going to be!’
Waiting on the LORD is asking
God to change the atmosphere and praying into that! The reality is that there is a shift when a
group of people are filled with the power and the presence of God. It leads other towards God thoughts and God
type decisions
As we began with confession
and obedience, the picture of God’s blessing was RAIN. They were an agrarian culture and the
livelihood of the nation was dependent on the right weather. The Hebrew word for rain is matar which means
‘heavy rain’ as well. We are talking
about a BIG ‘outpouring’ of the awareness and presence of the LORD!
It is the very presence of
God that leads people to the knowledge of God.
We are asking God to fling wide OPEN the revelation and saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ in this place and that can’t be done by human effort! May we continue to wait on the LORD and let
it rain!
Mark 11:22-25
“Have faith in God,” Jesus
answered.23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw
yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what
he says will happen, it will be done for him.24 Therefore I tell you, whatever
you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
