Waiting Upon The Lord, Sowing Into Your "Suddenly"

Waiting Upon the Lord

Isa 40:31 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; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

The benefits of waiting upon the Lord:

Inward strength - they shall renew their strength -perseverance - they were in captivity

Upward strength - mount up with wings as eagles

Outward strength - run and not be weary

Onward strength - walk and not faint

In this message I don't want to speak about the benefits of waiting on the Lord, but what exactly does it mean to wait on the Lord. If we do the waiting right, we will get the rewards right. We will be sowing into a “Suddenly,” moment.

What it means to wait upon the Lord

1. Listen attentively

One of the best things that should happen in a season of waiting is that your spiritual hearing should improve. I am not saying you will hear a louder voice, I am saying that by straining your ears you will learn to hear more of the sounds that are already there.

Have you ever gone in the woods, and stopped the noise in your mind to pay attention to all the sounds of the woods? It is amazing all the background noise we miss, because we don't pay attention enough. Waiting on the Lord is a season where we should improve our ability to hear God better because we are straining after His voice. Consider this passage:

Pr 30:18 There are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand:

Pr 30:19 The way of an eagle in the sky, The way of a serpent on a rock, The way of a ship in the middle of the sea, And the way of a man with a maid.

The way of an Eagle in the sky.

Solomon did not understand how an Eagle could soar. We now are somewhat able to answer this question: An eagle learns to soar by using thermal currents of air. These warm air patterns are created by the surrounding terrain. They will spread their wings and their tail feathers and let the warm updrafts carry them to new heights, then glide down to catch another upward thermal. Soaring saves an eagle energy because it does not have to flap its wings as often.

Soaring is a touch thing. Making 3 pointers is a touch thing, anybody can chuck a ball up. Waiting on the Lord is a time in your life where you cherish little nudges from God. By practice you can learn to hear the small whispers of God much better. Often God doesn't need to speak more, we need to hear better.

3 Levels of spiritual hearing

Joh 12:27 ¶ Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, [saying], I have both glorified [it], and will glorify [it] again.

Joh 12:29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard [it], said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

1. Could not make out a distinguishable sound - thunder

2. Angel said something to him.

3. Someone heard exactly what was said.

In a Peruvian textile factory in the city of Arequipa, some 500 miles southeast of Lima, generations of women have learned to rapidly sort alpaca fiber into five qualities of fineness merely by touch, distinguishing diameter differences of as small as one micrometer— one hundred-thousandth of an inch.

*Discover magazine April 2001

Alpaca is famous for its incredible fineness (which translates to softness), its warmth (many times warmer than sheep wool) and its hypoallergenic qualities (no lanolin and small fiber cores equals low-prickle factor!). Continuous sorting of the fibers allows the women to fine tune their ability to discern minute difference. Even so straining after the voice of God will fine tune your spiritual hearing, you will go from thunder to hearing specific words.

2. Pray more when you fell less

The usual response is to pray more when you feel more, that is we tend to pray more when we are in a season of personal revival. The discipline of prayer is better than revival praying, because its results are more consistent and more long term.

Waiting upon the Lord means you are in a season where "it," hasn't yet happened. Whatever your "it," is. But it also means you are doing something about it, you are praying and seeking God. That is the truest and most correct meaning of waiting upon the Lord. Waiting does not mean sitting still and doing nothing, it means sitting still and praying and seeking God.