Journey to The Journey

     In this week's lesson, we had the opportunity to look at what it means to wait upon the Lord.  God often allows us to remain in seasons of waiting in order to teach us something about ourselves, about him, or perhaps a bit of both.  However, when we find ourselves in these prolonged periods, we often struggle to remain faithful.  Doubt, fear, worry, impatience, and frustration can all begin to creep in if we are not diligent to guard against such responses.  Again, this isn't easy.

     In my sermon this week, one of the areas in which I would have liked to have spent more time was on the practical application and instruction.  It is easy to tell ourselves that we need to be more faithful and more trusting, but it is quite another thing to actually do it.  Admittedly, I've struggled in this area myself in my own seasons of waiting.  In many ways, this week's message may have been a case of the blind leading the blind, at least more than I'd like to admit.  However, I have a few ideas and exhortations that I hope may help us all experience greater joy in our struggles.

1.  Give grace
     I think the first thing we need to be willing to do is extend a tremendous amount of grace to ourselves.  A Christian must have an intimate connection to the gospel.  It must be like the air we breathe and the food we eat.  We must, like the father of the demon possessed boy in Mark chapter 9, be willing to cry out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"  Our Heavenly Father knows the innermost groanings of our hearts.  There is nothing that remains hidden from him.  If you are struggling, just be honest about it...with God, with your brothers and sisters, and with yourself; knowing that all of our unbelief has been redeemed upon the cross in Christ.

2.  Run to scripture
     I suspect that anyone who listens to enough of our sermons and teaching thinks that we sound like a broken record at The Journey.  All we ever talk about is the Bible!  Is God's word really the magic pill for all of life's questions and problems, like we seem to think it is?  You bet it is!!!  I cannot stress enough how important it is that God's children be nourished by scripture each and every day.  I also cannot begin to explain to you how much better every single area of my life seems to function when I am regularly reading my Bible.  I'm not even talking about intense Bible study here.  I'm just talking about picking it up and reading it, just to hear from God.  A human being can't physically survive in the desert without water.  And your soul can't survive long in a spiritual desert without the living water of scripture.  Drink from the well often!

3.  Keep praying
     I suspect in seasons of waiting, one of the first things we lose faith in is the value of our prayers.  If they don't seem to be working, we are apt to give up.  Or maybe more likely, we never really prayed much in the first place.  My wife has a great knack for knowing when to ask me about my prayer life.  If I am wrestling with a tough decision, often the first question she asks me is, "Have you prayed about it???"  Ouch!!!  I hate when she asks me that, because I know I am already several steps into my own plans and I haven't been faithful at any point in taking it to God in prayer.  We have to become better prayers.  And like all spiritual disciplines, the only way to get better is through constant practice.  If you want to experience more fruitful prayer, you have to pray...often!  We have to get past the fact that it feels weird, or we aren't good at it, or we are distracted (and maybe even a bit disinterested).  We have to fight through our own stubborn resistance to change.  We have to, like the Nike motto says, "Just do it!"  And once we start, we need to never stop...no matter what!

4.  Seek counsel
     I don't think we place a high enough value on the role of the local church in our day to day lives.  We gather on Sundays (and maybe once in the week) and otherwise, we keep our personal lives and our church lives largely separate and compartmentalized.  This is not how God has designed us to live as a church family.  When we face difficulties and struggles, outside of God's word, some of the best counsel we can receive comes from our brothers and sisters; those people who are doing life together in community with us.  The key there though is that we are doing life together.  The people who likely know you (the real you) best of all are your family (either blood or surrogate).  The term "church family" isn't meant to just be cute.  It means that God has designed local communities of faith to function as families...to love one another, support one another, provide for one another's needs, instruct one another, correct one another, etc.

5.  Take the leap
     I am convinced that more often than not, our prolonged seasons of waiting are self-inflicted.  In other words, we fail to act because we are afraid.  This isn't necessarily unreasonable, after all, God often calls us to live and work outside of our comfort zone and outside of what we are able to do in our own strength.  Do you think that the Apostle Paul wasn't afraid when he was called to head back to Jerusalem where the Jews were seeking to kill him?  Do you think Nehemiah wasn't fearful when God called him to return from exile and rebuild the city?  I can think of hundreds of similar examples from scripture.  Absolutely, God allows us to enter into seasons of waiting for our edification and sanctification.  But eventually, he calls us into action.  When he does, are we willing to step out in faith and obedience?  Sometimes, if we have sought the counsel of scripture and our brothers and sisters, if we have been faithful in prayer and fasting, if we done all that we can do, and we believe God has given us an answer...we just need to take the leap of faith.

In Grace,
Chris Morris

If you missed this week's sermon (or just want to listen again), follow the link below to listen. Or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes.

Waiting On God

Questions discussed in this sermon:

1.  If God is good, why do we suffer?
2.  How do we patiently trust God in seasons of suffering?
3.  Why do we miss God's answers to our prayers?

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