Better Together

Waiting on God | Better Together Episode 1153

April 1, 2026 | S8 E1153 | 50:59

What does God do in the waiting? Jesus’ burial reveals that waiting is a purposeful part of God’s plan. When one season seems lost or buried, God is preparing you for something even greater. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000

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Better Together | Waiting on God | Better Together Episode 1153 | April 1, 2026

- when jesus was buried in a garden tomb,
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Everyone thought that hope had died,
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But god knew that resurrection was coming.
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Come on, let's talk about that.
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[music]
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- so, holy week.
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I've been thinking today about people
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Who feel like they're in a waiting season,
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Like they're in a friday season.
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They know that maybe sunday's coming,
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But it seems a long way off, that they're just waiting.
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And i wonder, what do we do in those times
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When you're just waiting and it seems
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Like god's not doing anything?
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I remember when i was at seminary,
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And i was probably in my second year.
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And i was sitting one morning in a class,
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And it was on the reformation of the 16th century,
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And i'm taking notes, and i suddenly put my pen down,
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And i think, "this is ridiculous.”
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Okay, so this happened and that happened.
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There are people out there who are dying,
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And there's a whole world that needs to know about jesus.
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And i actually got up from my desk, and i left the class,
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And i went to the seminary principal and knocked on his door.
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And i said, "i just want to tell you that i'm leaving.”
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And he was a very kind man.
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His name was gilbert kirby.
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And he said, "why don't you just let me make you a cup of tea?”
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So, he made me a cup of tea, and we sat by the fire,
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And he said, "talk to me about how you're feeling.”
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And so, i just unloaded all this profound stuff
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That suddenly seemed to dissipate in the sunlight of, you know,
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What's going on in the world.
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And here i am, and i'm learning about this, and
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It doesn't matter.
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And i remember him saying, "sheila,
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Do you ever think that god might be more interested
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In what he's doing in you at the moment
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Than what he could do through you?”
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And it was one of those moments where you recognize it's coming
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Through a human voice, but you recognize it's the voice of god.
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Because i remember thanking him,
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And going back up to my room in the dorm, and sitting there,
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And thinking, "lord, i feel like i've got so much wrong.”
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I feel like when i gave my life to christ,
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I had this internal list of things i needed
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To do so that god would love me and not stop loving me.
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And life had to make sense to me in certain ways.
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And suddenly, i found myself in a place where i thought,
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"well, i'm not doing anything.”
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I mean, i'm learning, hopefully,
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But i'm not really doing anything.
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But this whole understanding of your life is not about you
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Being this little person that runs
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Around and does things for god.
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This is all about you living with god.
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It's about the presence of god.
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It's about knowing you can sit in that reformation
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Of the 16th century class in the presence of god.
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I was reading in isaiah 64.
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Verse 4 says this, "for since the world began,
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No ear has heard and no eye has seen a god like you,
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Who works for those who wait for him!”
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And so, i started looking that up last night when i was at home,
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All the times it talks about waiting and god.
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And i realized it's a huge part of our journey
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That when we actually wait on god, it's our way of saying,
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A, we trust you, but b, we're more interested in relationship
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With you than doing things for you.
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So, we're kind of looking today at the burial of christ.
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And what is burial all about?
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Why is it important for something to fall into the ground?
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Like a seed has to fall into the ground and die
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Before it bears fruit or remains alone.
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And i'm wondering your reflections on that.
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What is that all about?
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Waiting seasons, why sometimes something is buried.
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What are your experiences of something like that?
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- yeah.
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I mean, i find that whenever we're called to wait
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For a long time, god is usually doing something way
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Beyond what we're asking for, you know?
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I mean, i'm reminded of hannah, right?
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And what she thought was she wanted a son.
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What god was trying to do through her was shift
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The spiritual atmosphere of an entire nation.
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You know, and you see it very literally
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In first samuel chapter three.
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In the beginning, it says the word of the lord was rare.
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And then, by the end of that chapter and into chapter four,
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It says that the lord will continually speak
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Through samuel to israel.
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You know, it's all of a sudden, you have a nation
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That couldn't hear from god now can hear from god
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Because you have a woman who is willing to pour herself out,
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And she endured a weight.
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And what she wanted was just a child,
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But what god wanted to do through her was something greater.
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And i think, you know, the matter of redemptive history.
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A lot of times, we feel like our role here as christians is just
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To live this good life here on earth,
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When we forget, no, we are a part
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Of a redemptive history story, right?
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And god is trying to use us, not just as like a chess piece,
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But as friends, right?
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He wants to work through us as chosen vessels.
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And i think sometimes we feel like waiting equals abandonment,
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That waiting equals rejection, that waiting
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Is just god dismissing us, right?
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You know?
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But actually, god has always called his friends to wait for him.
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You know, when you look throughout scripture,
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The times when god has given the calling to wait,
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And i believe waiting in and of itself is a calling,
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It wasn't just to anybody.
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It was to those that he entrusted that calling towards.
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- one of the hardest things, i think,
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For us as human beings is waiting.
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None of us likes to wait.
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We like things to happen, and we live in that kind of culture
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Where things just happen so quickly.
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But sometimes god will allow things to stay buried for a while.
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And i've discovered in my own life it's
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Because he's more interested in who
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I'm becoming than what i'm doing.
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You know, i used to see myself as just somebody
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Who would do all these good things so that god would love me.
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So, i realized, he doesn't need me to do good things.
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He needs me to understand how good he is.
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If you find yourself in a place of waiting,
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Maybe enjoy that as a place where you can enjoy
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Deeper friendship with the lord.
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Even do something kind of crazy, i do.
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I sometimes drag a chair in the middle of my room,
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And i just sit there.
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And there's something about saying, "lord, i'm here.
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I'm in your presence.
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I'm waiting, but i'm waiting with you."
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- man, that's such a provocative question, sheila.
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It's like, what is the significance of burial?
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And as you were even talking, faith, i was thinking to myself,
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Like, "why did jesus have to be buried?”
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Like, why couldn't he, you know, tear the veil?
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He'd step off the cross.
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Done.
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Why?
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But what's fascinating, and you kind of hinted on it, faith,
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Is like, just because something is buried,
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That doesn't mean nothing's happening.
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Like even burial, there's a work taking place.
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I'm not a gardener by any means, any stretch of the imagination,
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But i do know that when you bury a seed in the soil,
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That's important because that space allows
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For the roots to actually grow.
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And if you think about potted plants,
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They only grow to a certain size
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Because that's the amount of soil
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And that's the space that they have.
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And so, you may see the seed get buried and think,
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"oh my gosh, there's nothing happening.”
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Oh, there's a ton that's happening.
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And in jesus's case, the burial was not stagnation.
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It was not even a stopping point.
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There was a lot that god was doing in the realm
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Of the spirit over that time.
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And so, i think part of waiting truly is trusting
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That god is still active.
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- jesus was not buried because he had lost.
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He was buried because the work of one season was finished,
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And the ground was being prepared for what would come next.
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Nothing buried in obedience is ever buried in vain.
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But that's what we think.
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I mean, think of all the things that we've started in obedience
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To god, and then all of a sudden, you're waiting and waiting,
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And it dies, and then you finally have to let go.
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You finally have to bury it.
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But just like jesus, i mean, he dies,
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And then he goes and gets the keys to help death in the grave,
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You know, and conquers everything for us.
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And so, i think what we need to know is that when we've done
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Things in obedience, god is just preparing something
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Greater than we ever imagined or even prayed for.
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And sometimes that's a, "god, didn't i hear your voice?
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Didn't i do what you said?”
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Not knowing and not trusting a faithful god, you know,
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We expect him to be faithful, and here we're faithless
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Most of the time, you know, going, "did i miss it?
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Did i not hear you correctly?
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Did we make a mistake?”
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And i just think that when you live in the kingdom of god,
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Which that is why we're here, that everything we do today
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Is building the kingdom of god here on earth, right?
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When he said the kingdom is at hand, thy kingdom come,
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Thy will be done right here on earth.
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So, i don't think when jesus died, he took it back with him.
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I think he left it here for us to accomplish.
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- you know, so many of our plans, plans that we think that god,
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And know that god has told us to do, dreams
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That we've had in our hearts, so many of us
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Have had to bury something.
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Just let it die, get it in the ground,
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Seed sown, that's always what i say.
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I say, "you know what?
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That is a seed sown.”
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You know what happens down in the fertile soil
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When you bury your seed.
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God has a plan.
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God has a purpose.
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God is the renewer of all things.
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It's not dead and gone.
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Time is not dead and gone.
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God has a revival.
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God has a resurrection of something.
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If you've done something in obedience to god, you cannot fail.
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Just keep your anticipation up.
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Keep your hopes up.
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God is going to resurrect something far,
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Far past what you could have ever dreamed,
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Or imagined, or prayed for.
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God has that for you.
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- but burial is the ultimate waiting for us.
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There's nothing we can do as humans in burial,
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But jesus, but god can.
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And so, it's this--
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We see the old testament, and then, of course,
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In the three days that he was buried.
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But how much of the waiting?
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And we're such a--
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We don't understand god's timeline.
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Our timeline is so like--
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We get so impatient.
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We say, "we've been waiting for so long,”
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And it's been like three seconds.
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You know, it's just like who we are, right?
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It's a reminder of god's time is not our time,
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And are we trusting him or are we trusting ourselves?
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In john 12:24, it says, "most assuredly, i say to you,
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Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies,
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It remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.”
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So, that waiting, that burial has to happen for flourishing.
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And it's a community of flourishing.
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It's like more.
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It's not just what i have here.
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And so, you know, and it's just a reminder
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That we need to die to whatever our--
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Like, not our dreams, because i think that our dreams align
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If we're doing it right, we're aligning our dreams
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With what god calls of us, but there is this bit of like,
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I don't know, maybe just me, but there's my own selfish desires,
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And that has to die, and it has to be buried and left there,
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Not to rot, but to change into something else.
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- i think we think of waiting so much as wasting.
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- correct.
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- like we're wasting time.
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I'm wasting time.
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God, if you would just intercede right now
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And help us do this when the lord says,
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"isn't it better of what i can do in you right
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Now than what you think you can do for me?”
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I think what we do for the lord,
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It's what he can do inside of us that matters.
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And so, i think we've got to get the mental change.
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This is god's time, that waiting.
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What do we do when we tell our kids, "just wait a minute.
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Just wait a minute"?
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What are they doing?
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They're just expecting something good to happen.
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You're going, "ok, just hang on.
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Just wait.
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We got to get this done first.
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Let me put this on you.
00:12:51.026 --> 00:12:52.695
Let me protect you with a coat, and get your shoes on,”
00:12:52.695 --> 00:12:57.366
And get all the things that we prepare them
00:12:57.366 --> 00:13:01.270
For to wait just one more second,
00:13:01.270 --> 00:13:04.540
But it's that anticipation that is always looking for something.
00:13:04.540 --> 00:13:08.944
God is going to do something great today in my life.
00:13:08.944 --> 00:13:11.981
This is the greatest season of my life
00:13:11.981 --> 00:13:14.283
That i'm living in right now because i'm expecting
00:13:14.283 --> 00:13:17.486
For god to do something.
00:13:17.486 --> 00:13:18.587
And i'm waiting on the lord.
00:13:18.587 --> 00:13:20.356
- he is.
00:13:20.356 --> 00:13:21.357
[crosstalk]
00:13:21.357 --> 00:13:23.025
- when lazarus, who was such a good friend of jesus,
00:13:23.025 --> 00:13:26.829
When he died--
00:13:26.829 --> 00:13:28.797
Before he died, when mary and martha send this person
00:13:28.797 --> 00:13:31.400
On a day's journey to say, "please tell jesus.”
00:13:31.400 --> 00:13:33.802
And he said, "not just lazarus, tell them the one you love.”
00:13:33.802 --> 00:13:36.906
It's not just lazarus the butcher
00:13:36.906 --> 00:13:38.474
Or lazarus the baker down the street.
00:13:38.474 --> 00:13:40.242
- the one you love.
00:13:40.242 --> 00:13:41.543
- it's your lazarus.
00:13:41.543 --> 00:13:43.779
And jesus could have come right there
00:13:43.779 --> 00:13:46.715
And then and didn't, he stays.
00:13:46.715 --> 00:13:49.485
And for those, the disciples, it was kind
00:13:49.485 --> 00:13:51.487
Of they were grateful he wasn't going back
00:13:51.487 --> 00:13:53.923
Because they tried to stone him early on, so they're like, cool.
00:13:53.923 --> 00:13:57.159
In fact, doubting thomas is the only one who says, "hey, listen,
00:13:57.159 --> 00:13:59.929
If jesus is going back, i'm coming with him.”
00:13:59.929 --> 00:14:01.864
[laughter]
00:14:01.864 --> 00:14:03.198
And so, eventually when jesus--
00:14:03.198 --> 00:14:04.533
When they do go back, the heartache that mary
00:14:04.533 --> 00:14:07.269
And martha have gone through having to--
00:14:07.269 --> 00:14:10.005
Because obviously, they're not married,
00:14:10.005 --> 00:14:11.373
They're living with their brother.
00:14:11.373 --> 00:14:13.676
But god was up to something bigger.
00:14:14.476 --> 00:14:16.979
There was something bigger.
00:14:16.979 --> 00:14:18.113
It's like sometimes i think, lord,
00:14:18.113 --> 00:14:19.481
Could you just make this happen?
00:14:19.481 --> 00:14:21.283
No, but there's something bigger i'm doing here.
00:14:21.283 --> 00:14:25.020
- one of the things that was really hard for mary, and martha,
00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:28.590
And lazarus, two sisters and a brother
00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:30.826
Who lived together in bethany, and
00:14:30.826 --> 00:14:32.728
They were very close to jesus.
00:14:32.728 --> 00:14:34.530
You know, it was one of the homes where sometimes when he
00:14:34.530 --> 00:14:36.665
And his disciples were just exhausted,
00:14:36.665 --> 00:14:38.801
It was one of the places--
00:14:38.801 --> 00:14:40.135
You know where you can go and just be yourself with people?
00:14:40.135 --> 00:14:42.338
You know, you're not on, you just get to kind of chill.
00:14:42.338 --> 00:14:44.907
And that's who they were to him.
00:14:44.907 --> 00:14:46.408
But then, lazarus gets really sick.
00:14:46.408 --> 00:14:48.744
And so, mary and martha send a message to jesus.
00:14:48.744 --> 00:14:51.847
He's about a day's journey away on foot.
00:14:51.847 --> 00:14:55.084
And they say, "could you come?
00:14:55.084 --> 00:14:56.385
Our brother, not just any lazarus, our brother,
00:14:56.385 --> 00:14:59.221
The one you love, is sick.”
00:14:59.221 --> 00:15:01.824
And jesus waits.
00:15:01.824 --> 00:15:03.292
He doesn't--
00:15:03.292 --> 00:15:04.593
So, it's actually the fourth day by the time he gets there.
00:15:04.593 --> 00:15:07.663
And mary and martha, in different ways, both say, "lord,
00:15:07.663 --> 00:15:10.532
If you had been here, he would not have died.”
00:15:10.532 --> 00:15:13.736
And i think it's interesting.
00:15:13.736 --> 00:15:16.171
We read there, it's one of the shortest verses in the bible.
00:15:16.171 --> 00:15:18.474
It says that jesus wept.
00:15:18.474 --> 00:15:20.843
And i think there's all sorts of reasons.
00:15:20.843 --> 00:15:23.078
He wept because he saw the grief of mary and martha,
00:15:23.078 --> 00:15:25.614
Even though he knew he was about to bring lazarus back
00:15:25.614 --> 00:15:28.450
From the dead.
00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:29.585
But i think it's more than that.
00:15:29.585 --> 00:15:31.420
I think he weeps for all the things
00:15:31.420 --> 00:15:32.821
That you've walked through that didn't work
00:15:32.821 --> 00:15:34.957
Out the way you thought they would.
00:15:34.957 --> 00:15:36.759
Wept for all the things where some dream of yours died
00:15:36.759 --> 00:15:40.129
And fell apart.
00:15:40.129 --> 00:15:41.630
We don't have a god who's not compassionate,
00:15:41.630 --> 00:15:44.400
But having wept, then jesus--
00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:47.202
I love the fact that he says, "lazarus, come forth.”
00:15:47.202 --> 00:15:50.439
Because as the author of life, if jesus had simply said,
00:15:50.439 --> 00:15:54.143
In a bunch of gravestones, "come forth,”
00:15:54.143 --> 00:15:56.478
Goodness knows who would have come forth.
00:15:56.478 --> 00:15:57.746
There would have been a lot of people.
00:15:57.746 --> 00:15:59.481
He said, lazarus.
00:15:59.481 --> 00:16:00.816
And actually, when you look at the original greek,
00:16:00.816 --> 00:16:02.651
It's like, "lazarus, it's this way out.”
00:16:02.651 --> 00:16:05.421
And so, this man who'd been in the tomb for four days,
00:16:05.421 --> 00:16:08.791
What suddenly came out, and jesus said to the friends,
00:16:08.791 --> 00:16:11.660
"unwrap him and set him free.”
00:16:11.660 --> 00:16:14.129
Ultimately, lazarus would die again.
00:16:14.129 --> 00:16:15.898
He would go home to be with jesus.
00:16:15.898 --> 00:16:18.000
But it was just one of those times.
00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:19.368
In fact, from the moment that jesus raised lazarus
00:16:19.368 --> 00:16:22.738
From the dead, he didn't appear in public anymore.
00:16:22.738 --> 00:16:25.441
That was his last time because suddenly,
00:16:25.441 --> 00:16:27.142
People began to become so divided.
00:16:27.142 --> 00:16:29.745
You'd think if you saw a miracle like
00:16:29.745 --> 00:16:31.513
That, you would follow him for the rest of your life.
00:16:31.513 --> 00:16:34.416
But it says that 50% of the people fell on their knees
00:16:34.416 --> 00:16:37.252
And worshiped, and 50% walked away and said,
00:16:37.252 --> 00:16:39.455
"you have to take care of this guy.”
00:16:39.455 --> 00:16:41.457
God is in the miracle business.
00:16:41.457 --> 00:16:44.059
You never know when he's going to call lazarus out of us.
00:16:44.059 --> 00:16:48.063
- god created us to be in community,
00:16:48.897 --> 00:16:51.366
And we want you to join ours.
00:16:51.366 --> 00:16:52.868
- follow us on social media and join our conversation.
00:16:52.868 --> 00:16:57.005
- follow us on social media and join our conversation.
00:16:57.005 --> 00:16:57.273
[music]
00:16:57.607 --> 00:17:00.610
- i have a confession along those lines.
00:17:00.610 --> 00:17:02.011
I want to share this with anybody
00:17:02.011 --> 00:17:03.313
Who may be frustrated in the waiting.
00:17:03.313 --> 00:17:05.448
So, i spent 20 years in corporate leadership
00:17:06.449 --> 00:17:09.085
Across some big companies, and the lord called me
00:17:09.085 --> 00:17:12.822
To full-time ministry back in, i think it was 2022,
00:17:12.822 --> 00:17:17.160
August 17th, 2022.
00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:18.595
I was in a leadership role at meta,
00:17:18.595 --> 00:17:20.630
And it was my fifth anniversary,
00:17:20.630 --> 00:17:23.399
And the average tenure at the company was like 18 months.
00:17:23.399 --> 00:17:25.869
So, the fact that i had been there for five years made
00:17:25.869 --> 00:17:28.404
Me longer tenure than like 99% of the company.
00:17:28.404 --> 00:17:30.773
And when i prayed that day, i heard the lord say--
00:17:30.874 --> 00:17:33.743
I'm one of those that i hear the voice of god.
00:17:33.743 --> 00:17:35.778
I heard him say, "season's over, full-time ministry.”
00:17:35.778 --> 00:17:39.382
And he had been working on me for like a year
00:17:39.382 --> 00:17:40.984
At that point to go into full-time ministry.
00:17:40.984 --> 00:17:43.019
But when i looked at my paycheck and i looked at my stocks,
00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:48.825
I was like, "i don't think this is the time
00:17:48.825 --> 00:17:51.227
Because we're on the up and up.
00:17:51.227 --> 00:17:52.996
I just got a promotion, like my scope expanded.”
00:17:52.996 --> 00:17:56.166
And i was like, "i hear you, lord, but no thanks.”
00:17:56.166 --> 00:17:59.202
And i eventually was just like, "ok, well,
00:17:59.202 --> 00:18:01.671
Maybe instead of going into full time ministry,
00:18:01.671 --> 00:18:04.340
I will just work in ministry and technology.”
00:18:04.340 --> 00:18:07.343
So, i took a leadership role at youversion
00:18:07.343 --> 00:18:09.179
That makes the bible app.
00:18:09.179 --> 00:18:10.413
And about nine months into that role,
00:18:10.413 --> 00:18:13.283
It's like god made it very clear.
00:18:13.283 --> 00:18:15.385
"i said full-time ministry."
00:18:15.385 --> 00:18:19.255
- this is not what i said.
00:18:19.255 --> 00:18:20.390
- so, i went ahead, and i stepped out of that role.
00:18:20.390 --> 00:18:24.027
But even in doing that, and this is just a confession,
00:18:24.127 --> 00:18:26.629
People would look at that and be like, "oh, you were obedient.”
00:18:27.931 --> 00:18:30.633
I was not because i stepped out of the role,
00:18:30.633 --> 00:18:33.836
But i stepped out of the role because i had other like business
00:18:33.836 --> 00:18:36.439
Things lined up, and it was just like, okay, yeah, you know,
00:18:36.439 --> 00:18:39.175
Just like speak and write books,
00:18:39.175 --> 00:18:40.276
But i'll do this business because that's the thing.
00:18:40.276 --> 00:18:42.178
Well, fast forward about a year after that, and i had like three
00:18:42.178 --> 00:18:46.416
Really big business deals that i was negotiating,
00:18:46.416 --> 00:18:48.718
Like six, seven-figure deals i was negotiating.
00:18:48.718 --> 00:18:50.987
And every single one of them, we would get down to the wire.
00:18:50.987 --> 00:18:53.456
Time to sign the dotted line, the deliverables are identified,
00:18:53.456 --> 00:18:56.359
The scope is identified.
00:18:56.359 --> 00:18:57.827
Every single one of them disappeared, every single one.
00:18:57.827 --> 00:19:00.363
And i remember.
00:19:00.363 --> 00:19:01.931
I remember being like, "lord, you told me
00:19:01.931 --> 00:19:04.601
To go in a full-time ministry.
00:19:04.601 --> 00:19:06.269
And like now all this stuff is falling apart.”
00:19:06.269 --> 00:19:08.605
And he was like, "nona, see what you've been calling faith
00:19:08.605 --> 00:19:11.874
In me all these years has actually been faith in you.
00:19:11.874 --> 00:19:15.645
It's been faith in your business acumen, your connections.
00:19:15.645 --> 00:19:18.715
It's been faith in your bank account balance.
00:19:18.715 --> 00:19:20.383
Like that's where your faith has been.”
00:19:20.383 --> 00:19:22.418
He said, "i'm going to have to teach you what faith
00:19:22.418 --> 00:19:25.321
Really is because what i'm calling you to is so big
00:19:25.321 --> 00:19:30.026
That it's going to require a level of faith
00:19:30.026 --> 00:19:31.427
That you've never had to exercise before.”
00:19:31.427 --> 00:19:33.062
So, what he did is over the course of a year,
00:19:33.062 --> 00:19:37.300
When i tell you god shut down like everything except ministry,
00:19:37.300 --> 00:19:40.770
Like he shut down everything.
00:19:40.770 --> 00:19:43.406
And i remember feeling so frustrated because i was like,
00:19:43.506 --> 00:19:46.876
"okay, well, when is this over?”
00:19:46.876 --> 00:19:48.077
Like, how long?
00:19:48.077 --> 00:19:49.012
How long before these other things?
00:19:49.012 --> 00:19:50.580
Like, how long, lord?
00:19:50.580 --> 00:19:51.848
- wait.
00:19:51.848 --> 00:19:52.248
[laughter]
00:19:52.248 --> 00:19:53.816
- and i remember, to your point, sheila,
00:19:54.751 --> 00:19:56.719
About god always doing something more.
00:19:56.719 --> 00:19:58.121
He was like, "i have to birth character in you.”
00:19:58.121 --> 00:20:02.258
And he convicted me.
00:20:02.258 --> 00:20:03.626
He said, "nona, your problem is self-reliance.
00:20:03.626 --> 00:20:07.463
From childhood issues, all types of things,
00:20:08.431 --> 00:20:10.366
You have essentially adopted a posture
00:20:10.366 --> 00:20:12.568
That if it's going to happen, i have to make it happen.”
00:20:12.568 --> 00:20:14.937
He said, "i have to teach you dependence on me.”
00:20:14.937 --> 00:20:17.607
And sometimes that weight, sometimes
00:20:17.607 --> 00:20:20.243
That gap is because god is trying to teach you to depend on him.
00:20:20.243 --> 00:20:25.782
So, things don't work out.
00:20:25.782 --> 00:20:27.150
The doors don't open.
00:20:27.150 --> 00:20:28.785
It seems like prayers aren't getting answered.
00:20:28.785 --> 00:20:30.486
That's not true.
00:20:30.486 --> 00:20:31.621
What's happening is god is molding, and building,
00:20:31.621 --> 00:20:34.390
And shaping things in you that are going
00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:36.993
To be needed in your next season.
00:20:36.993 --> 00:20:38.928
I've walked through that.
00:20:38.928 --> 00:20:40.296
- i would say i do not wait well.
00:20:41.097 --> 00:20:42.932
Even today, i don't.
00:20:42.932 --> 00:20:44.000
I think i wait better.
00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:44.801
And i think that's the goal.
00:20:44.801 --> 00:20:47.070
That's the goal.
00:20:47.070 --> 00:20:48.371
And god sustains you in the waiting because he will always--
00:20:48.371 --> 00:20:54.677
What i have experienced, i'm not good at waiting,
00:20:54.677 --> 00:20:56.612
But i will say that i have experienced him showing up
00:20:56.612 --> 00:21:00.350
In the unexpected.
00:21:00.350 --> 00:21:02.185
More times than not, it's not what i asked for,
00:21:02.185 --> 00:21:04.854
But it's exactly what i needed.
00:21:04.854 --> 00:21:06.422
And so, i think if you would open up your mind
00:21:06.422 --> 00:21:08.524
And just your willingness to be flexible to what
00:21:08.524 --> 00:21:10.827
That answer might be, it is actually going
00:21:10.827 --> 00:21:13.062
To be better than you think.
00:21:13.062 --> 00:21:14.897
- yeah, and you know what i think is interesting?
00:21:14.997 --> 00:21:17.767
Waiting often conceals what we want to see.
00:21:17.767 --> 00:21:21.971
- oh, yeah.
00:21:21.971 --> 00:21:22.872
- but reveals what we need to see.
00:21:22.872 --> 00:21:24.774
You know, like that waiting season is a season
00:21:24.774 --> 00:21:29.379
Of great revelation of what's within us.
00:21:29.379 --> 00:21:33.883
- i didn't know it was in me.
00:21:33.883 --> 00:21:34.751
- particularly--
00:21:34.751 --> 00:21:35.518
- i didn't know.
00:21:35.518 --> 00:21:36.486
- right, like particularly our purpose,
00:21:36.486 --> 00:21:38.988
Like what we are driven by, you know,
00:21:38.988 --> 00:21:41.991
What we are driven towards.
00:21:41.991 --> 00:21:44.427
And if it is not friendship with god,
00:21:44.427 --> 00:21:47.864
And we were talking about this yesterday,
00:21:47.864 --> 00:21:49.432
If it's not intimacy with the holy spirit,
00:21:49.432 --> 00:21:52.368
The waiting will reveal it.
00:21:52.368 --> 00:21:53.903
Then, that's when waiting feels like wasting,
00:21:53.903 --> 00:21:56.038
Kind of like what laurie was saying.
00:21:56.038 --> 00:21:58.474
That's when waiting becomes a stumbling block
00:21:58.474 --> 00:22:03.513
To our faith, right?
00:22:03.513 --> 00:22:04.947
If you are living for success, if you're living
00:22:04.947 --> 00:22:08.284
For breakthrough, if you're living for your reputation,
00:22:08.284 --> 00:22:12.588
And you're in this time where you're waiting for things to turn
00:22:12.588 --> 00:22:16.025
Around for those ends, that will stumble your faith.
00:22:16.025 --> 00:22:19.695
But if the purpose of your life is to know jesus intimately,
00:22:19.695 --> 00:22:24.100
Authentically, and passionately, then waiting has a blessing.
00:22:24.100 --> 00:22:28.304
It has a purpose.
00:22:28.304 --> 00:22:30.339
- i was rereading andrew murray's book on prayer last night,
00:22:30.339 --> 00:22:33.142
And i wrote this down.
00:22:33.142 --> 00:22:34.544
He said, "all our waiting depends on the state of the heart.”
00:22:34.544 --> 00:22:39.215
All our waiting depends on the state of the heart.
00:22:39.215 --> 00:22:41.951
I think when--
00:22:41.951 --> 00:22:42.985
You're right, that waiting and that space,
00:22:42.985 --> 00:22:46.589
It allows time for the lord to expose what's really going
00:22:46.589 --> 00:22:49.192
On, what we're dependent on, what we're counting
00:22:49.192 --> 00:22:51.127
On, what we're looking to.
00:22:51.127 --> 00:22:53.162
And as every issue comes from the heart,
00:22:53.162 --> 00:22:56.232
I think that that's one of the gifts of waiting.
00:22:56.232 --> 00:22:58.801
Lord, expose my heart.
00:22:58.801 --> 00:22:59.936
Let me see what i'm counting on, what i'm leaning
00:22:59.936 --> 00:23:02.572
On, what i'm depending on.
00:23:02.572 --> 00:23:04.207
And when you have this heart purified by the lord,
00:23:04.207 --> 00:23:08.311
Waiting is never wasting.
00:23:08.311 --> 00:23:10.213
It's becoming.
00:23:10.213 --> 00:23:11.280
- it's not inactivity.
00:23:11.280 --> 00:23:13.950
It's like a restrained obedience, you know, waiting on god.
00:23:13.950 --> 00:23:17.854
That's where you get discernment, that's where you get intimacy,
00:23:17.854 --> 00:23:22.225
And all that good stuff is in that waiting time.
00:23:22.225 --> 00:23:26.362
And i think that's probably the most precious time
00:23:26.362 --> 00:23:28.798
To god with us is when we become reliant on him.
00:23:28.798 --> 00:23:32.969
There's nothing like a child being reliant on you
00:23:32.969 --> 00:23:35.771
When i can do something for my kid.
00:23:35.771 --> 00:23:37.974
I mean, even my kids are in their 30s.
00:23:37.974 --> 00:23:40.710
And for me to be able to do something for my kids,
00:23:40.710 --> 00:23:43.880
There's something about that that i just take such pride
00:23:43.880 --> 00:23:46.582
And joy in, you know, such joy in that.
00:23:46.582 --> 00:23:49.685
- if you feel trapped in a waiting season,
00:23:50.653 --> 00:23:52.421
First of all, let me tell you, i could resonate,
00:23:52.421 --> 00:23:56.492
And that's okay to really be wrestling
00:23:56.492 --> 00:23:59.028
With the tensions of waiting.
00:23:59.028 --> 00:24:00.863
And i would say revisit what your purpose actually is.
00:24:00.863 --> 00:24:04.834
The waiting oftentimes reveals what we're really living for.
00:24:04.834 --> 00:24:08.271
And if you're living for success, that waiting can be torment.
00:24:08.271 --> 00:24:11.841
If you're waiting for a spouse, that waiting can be torment.
00:24:11.841 --> 00:24:15.945
But if you live to know jesus, then
00:24:15.945 --> 00:24:19.315
That waiting is an opportunity to truly know him
00:24:19.315 --> 00:24:22.351
In a different way.
00:24:22.351 --> 00:24:24.086
- and that's why we will not be able to witness what only
00:24:24.186 --> 00:24:27.757
God can do unless we learn how to wait well, right?
00:24:27.757 --> 00:24:32.295
And i think the fear in waiting is we feel as
00:24:32.295 --> 00:24:34.764
Though we are fruitless, that we
00:24:34.764 --> 00:24:36.766
Are getting absolutely nothing done.
00:24:36.766 --> 00:24:38.234
But to your point, right, i mean,
00:24:38.234 --> 00:24:40.703
And i showed this before, but patience is a fruit
00:24:40.703 --> 00:24:43.506
Of the spirit, right?
00:24:43.506 --> 00:24:45.207
And endurance, right?
00:24:45.207 --> 00:24:46.876
And i think we feel like, okay, nothing's getting done.
00:24:46.876 --> 00:24:49.545
Actually, you are being extremely fruitful in this hour
00:24:49.545 --> 00:24:52.748
Because your choice to wait on the lord is a declaration
00:24:52.748 --> 00:24:58.087
That no one will move me but god,
00:24:58.087 --> 00:25:00.923
That no cultural pressure, no internal pressure,
00:25:00.923 --> 00:25:05.328
Nothing will move me but god.
00:25:05.328 --> 00:25:08.064
- i've been reading through the old testament,
00:25:08.064 --> 00:25:09.966
And that waiting period is so valuable.
00:25:09.966 --> 00:25:14.170
It's so valuable because when you think about the israelites
00:25:14.170 --> 00:25:17.607
In the wilderness for those 40 years,
00:25:17.607 --> 00:25:19.809
People would look at that and be like,
00:25:19.809 --> 00:25:21.811
"when are we going to get to canaan?
00:25:21.811 --> 00:25:23.346
First of all, it was 11 days out of egypt.
00:25:23.346 --> 00:25:25.581
Why are we still here?”
00:25:25.581 --> 00:25:27.083
But deuteronomy 31--
00:25:27.083 --> 00:25:29.485
God convicted me so deeply because
00:25:29.485 --> 00:25:31.087
After he took me through that waiting season,
00:25:31.087 --> 00:25:33.889
And he really was building dependence on him
00:25:33.889 --> 00:25:36.459
And all of that, i was reading through deuteronomy
00:25:36.459 --> 00:25:38.160
At the same time.
00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:39.095
And this is what he said in verse 19.
00:25:39.095 --> 00:25:40.429
He's telling moses, "now write down this song
00:25:40.429 --> 00:25:43.432
And teach it to the israelites and have them sing it,
00:25:43.432 --> 00:25:46.068
So that it may be a witness for me against them.
00:25:46.068 --> 00:25:49.205
When i have brought them into the land flowing with milk
00:25:49.205 --> 00:25:51.273
And honey, the land i promised on oath to their ancestors,
00:25:51.273 --> 00:25:54.110
And when they eat their fill and thrive,
00:25:54.110 --> 00:25:56.612
They will turn to other gods and worship them,
00:25:56.612 --> 00:25:59.181
Rejecting me and breaking my covenant.
00:25:59.181 --> 00:26:01.183
And when many disasters and calamities come on them,
00:26:01.183 --> 00:26:03.252
This song will testify against them,
00:26:03.252 --> 00:26:04.754
Because it will not be forgotten by their descendants.
00:26:04.754 --> 00:26:07.223
I know what they are disposed to do, even
00:26:07.223 --> 00:26:09.091
Before i bring them into the land i promised them on oath.”
00:26:09.091 --> 00:26:12.061
That to me was the most convicting,
00:26:12.061 --> 00:26:14.964
Where god was basically like, "i know what's in your hearts
00:26:14.964 --> 00:26:17.700
That when i do bring you out of this waiting period,
00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:20.603
When i finally take you into the thing i promised you,
00:26:20.603 --> 00:26:22.805
You're going to forget about me.”
00:26:22.805 --> 00:26:24.640
And i said, "lord, let that not be my testimony.
00:26:25.675 --> 00:26:29.345
God, please.”
00:26:29.345 --> 00:26:30.613
I said, and this was my--
00:26:30.613 --> 00:26:31.981
I said to god, even this morning, i said, "god,
00:26:31.981 --> 00:26:34.817
If i would ever forget you, just keep me in the wilderness.
00:26:34.817 --> 00:26:38.688
Just keep me there.”
00:26:38.688 --> 00:26:40.089
I don't want anything that's going to distract me.
00:26:40.089 --> 00:26:44.627
I don't want anything that's going to cause me to somehow forget
00:26:44.627 --> 00:26:47.697
Who you've been to me.
00:26:47.697 --> 00:26:49.932
So, the waiting season becomes a time
00:26:49.932 --> 00:26:52.234
Where you not only build dependence and reliance on god,
00:26:52.234 --> 00:26:55.971
But you also build the muscle of memory
00:26:55.971 --> 00:26:58.874
So that when you get married, some of us are waiting
00:26:58.974 --> 00:27:01.577
On marriage, when you get the job,
00:27:01.577 --> 00:27:04.313
Some of us are waiting on employment,
00:27:04.313 --> 00:27:06.549
When you get the house, whatever it is that you're waiting
00:27:06.649 --> 00:27:09.785
On, so you don't forget god.
00:27:09.785 --> 00:27:11.654
When you get the thing, that's the temptation.
00:27:11.654 --> 00:27:13.789
- well, and so much of that is your character.
00:27:13.789 --> 00:27:16.058
God building our character in those times
00:27:16.926 --> 00:27:19.528
So that we can carry the calling, right?
00:27:19.528 --> 00:27:21.997
Normally, that calling is when you finally come
00:27:21.997 --> 00:27:24.333
Into the calling of god.
00:27:24.333 --> 00:27:27.203
You're normally the most humble person in the room, you know,
00:27:27.203 --> 00:27:30.372
Because you've had to go through the mill to get there.
00:27:30.372 --> 00:27:34.143
- the wait is the hardest part of being a faithful believer
00:27:35.377 --> 00:27:41.517
In jesus, because if we're honest,
00:27:41.517 --> 00:27:43.753
And maybe it's just me, i think we can sometimes expect
00:27:43.753 --> 00:27:48.190
That when we pray, we will have an immediate answer.
00:27:48.190 --> 00:27:51.527
And sometimes we can even be angry at god
00:27:51.527 --> 00:27:54.163
Because he does not respond immediately to our prayers.
00:27:54.163 --> 00:27:58.033
But i believe that it is the waiting season,
00:27:58.033 --> 00:28:01.403
It is that time where we're kind of in limbo,
00:28:01.403 --> 00:28:05.541
That we actually have the opportunity to have the most growth
00:28:05.541 --> 00:28:08.377
And development because it is in that waiting period
00:28:08.377 --> 00:28:11.480
Where we are totally dependent, totally reliant on god.
00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:15.618
He's proving to us that he's faithful.
00:28:15.618 --> 00:28:18.287
And i believe that if we steward that waiting season correctly,
00:28:18.287 --> 00:28:21.190
We will emerge on the other side of it with a level of faith
00:28:21.190 --> 00:28:24.760
And a level of trust that we simply could not have had had god
00:28:24.760 --> 00:28:28.697
Answered us immediately.
00:28:28.697 --> 00:28:30.132
- sometimes i look at waiting--
00:28:30.866 --> 00:28:32.234
I think some of us like waiting, and we think it's a punishment.
00:28:32.234 --> 00:28:34.503
We think it's, "oh, i didn't do this, and
00:28:34.503 --> 00:28:37.206
So therefore i'm not getting this.”
00:28:37.206 --> 00:28:39.008
But there have been many times, you know, with kids, you know,
00:28:39.008 --> 00:28:41.710
When i had two at the time, and i had a baby,
00:28:41.710 --> 00:28:44.113
And then i had a toddler, he was three at the time,
00:28:44.113 --> 00:28:46.949
He's 20 now, so they're huge.
00:28:46.949 --> 00:28:48.784
I remember taking him out of his car seat,
00:28:49.752 --> 00:28:52.154
And i said, "wait right here.”
00:28:52.154 --> 00:28:53.455
It's a big parking lot.
00:28:53.455 --> 00:28:54.657
And then i was like, "i'm going to get your brother.
00:28:54.657 --> 00:28:56.425
Wait right here.”
00:28:56.425 --> 00:28:57.626
And he just like wanted to go so bad.
00:28:57.626 --> 00:29:00.529
It was just target.
00:29:00.529 --> 00:29:01.463
He wanted to go target because it's fun
00:29:01.463 --> 00:29:02.531
And there's so many colors, right?
00:29:02.531 --> 00:29:03.766
But he wanted to go.
00:29:03.766 --> 00:29:04.733
And i said, "wait.”
00:29:04.733 --> 00:29:05.768
And it wasn't because i was punishing him.
00:29:05.768 --> 00:29:07.570
I didn't want--
00:29:07.570 --> 00:29:08.370
It was to protect him.
00:29:08.370 --> 00:29:10.105
I don't want to get hit by a car, right?
00:29:10.105 --> 00:29:11.574
And so, it's like we have to kind of--
00:29:11.574 --> 00:29:13.843
We do that too.
00:29:13.843 --> 00:29:14.610
We want to go, we want to go.
00:29:14.610 --> 00:29:15.544
And god's was like, "no, no, no.”
00:29:15.544 --> 00:29:16.545
What might be--
00:29:16.545 --> 00:29:17.346
Like what is in front of you.
00:29:17.346 --> 00:29:18.447
Just wait, just wait.”
00:29:18.447 --> 00:29:20.049
And in hindsight, of course, we see that in our lives, right,
00:29:20.049 --> 00:29:22.284
But if you're living through it right now,
00:29:22.284 --> 00:29:24.453
And i think we're always in some space, some season of waiting,
00:29:24.453 --> 00:29:28.624
Sometimes it feels overwhelming.
00:29:28.624 --> 00:29:30.626
And maybe even, and i use this word not lightly,
00:29:30.626 --> 00:29:33.662
But sometimes it feels oppressive, depressive.
00:29:33.662 --> 00:29:37.166
It is actually, okay, how much are we going to god?
00:29:37.166 --> 00:29:41.303
How much are we presenting it and saying,
00:29:41.303 --> 00:29:43.239
"okay, i'm trusting you?”
00:29:43.239 --> 00:29:45.207
It's an opportunity to be in his presence and wait.
00:29:45.207 --> 00:29:49.378
What a privilege to wait on god.
00:29:49.378 --> 00:29:51.113
- yeah, i'm reminded of when jesus was going back
00:29:51.113 --> 00:29:56.819
To the right hand of the father,
00:29:56.819 --> 00:29:58.520
And he told his followers, "wait.
00:29:58.520 --> 00:30:02.191
Wait for the gift of the holy spirit,”
00:30:02.191 --> 00:30:04.894
Which is interesting because, you know,
00:30:04.894 --> 00:30:06.762
In matthew 28, he told them the commission
00:30:06.762 --> 00:30:08.964
And he gave it to them.
00:30:08.964 --> 00:30:10.332
So, they had a mission statement,
00:30:10.332 --> 00:30:12.067
But they weren't allowed to ready, set, go.
00:30:12.067 --> 00:30:14.403
You know, he told them to wait because, you know,
00:30:14.403 --> 00:30:16.338
Like we have been saying, and what a week to talk
00:30:16.338 --> 00:30:19.441
About this is, the purpose of it all isn't just
00:30:19.441 --> 00:30:22.311
To be productive, it's to do it with him.
00:30:22.311 --> 00:30:23.913
It's that friendship, it's the intimacy, right?
00:30:23.913 --> 00:30:26.248
And he told them to wait, but what i think is really profound
00:30:26.248 --> 00:30:28.617
Is as they waited for the baptism of the holy spirit,
00:30:28.617 --> 00:30:32.888
I mean, stuff was happening.
00:30:32.888 --> 00:30:34.323
You know what i mean?
00:30:34.323 --> 00:30:35.357
Like they had to kind of rearrange things,
00:30:35.357 --> 00:30:37.426
Like make sure that they were like 12 apostles, you know,
00:30:37.426 --> 00:30:40.763
And things like that, right?
00:30:40.763 --> 00:30:42.231
It's like, it wasn't like nothing was happening, you know?
00:30:42.231 --> 00:30:45.935
Like things were being rearranged, you know, so as in to say,
00:30:45.935 --> 00:30:50.439
You know, like we're all just kind
00:30:50.439 --> 00:30:51.907
Of reiterating this waiting is not a waste, you know?
00:30:51.907 --> 00:30:55.878
But the last thing you want to do is just fizzle out
00:30:55.878 --> 00:31:01.050
And just walk away from that act of waiting, you know,
00:31:01.050 --> 00:31:05.287
Because can you imagine if the disciples and the women,
00:31:05.287 --> 00:31:10.025
They did not go to that upper room to tarry before the lord,
00:31:10.025 --> 00:31:14.563
And god has called us to tarry.
00:31:14.563 --> 00:31:17.232
And i really think that the art of tarrying is sort
00:31:17.232 --> 00:31:20.803
Of getting lost in our generation.
00:31:20.803 --> 00:31:23.706
I'm reminded of elijah, right?
00:31:23.706 --> 00:31:25.741
Like that whole, that dramatic arc of him going to mount carmel
00:31:25.741 --> 00:31:30.412
And talking to the king, that started with the promise
00:31:30.412 --> 00:31:34.249
That there's going to be rain, right?
00:31:34.249 --> 00:31:36.185
And it's like--
00:31:36.185 --> 00:31:37.553
But then, you know, he goes to mount carmel,
00:31:37.553 --> 00:31:40.055
He does all these things, and there's fire.
00:31:40.055 --> 00:31:43.959
And he could have just been like, "you know what?
00:31:43.959 --> 00:31:45.594
That's good.
00:31:45.594 --> 00:31:46.562
Like, that's great.
00:31:46.562 --> 00:31:47.363
Like, there's just fire.”
00:31:47.363 --> 00:31:49.064
But the promise was rain.
00:31:49.064 --> 00:31:51.133
And so, elijah, he goes up after, you know,
00:31:51.133 --> 00:31:54.570
When fire came down onto mount carmel.
00:31:54.570 --> 00:31:56.905
He goes, and he starts to tarry before the lord.
00:31:56.905 --> 00:32:00.109
And he says to the servant, "go and look, is there a cloud?”
00:32:00.109 --> 00:32:02.978
And multiple times, the servant will go back,
00:32:02.978 --> 00:32:06.582
Say, "there's nothing.”
00:32:06.582 --> 00:32:08.150
And what does elijah do?
00:32:08.150 --> 00:32:09.151
"go back.
00:32:09.151 --> 00:32:10.386
Go back and see.”
00:32:10.386 --> 00:32:11.754
He just kept on tarrying because he hung on to that word, right?
00:32:11.754 --> 00:32:16.091
He hung on to that word, and he did not give up.
00:32:16.091 --> 00:32:18.961
It's so easy to forfeit that word for other blessings.
00:32:18.961 --> 00:32:23.465
Kind of like, oh, well, god gave fire.
00:32:23.465 --> 00:32:25.167
So, you know, i don't need to wait for rain, right?
00:32:25.167 --> 00:32:28.270
And we could forfeit that word when we don't see the fruit.
00:32:28.270 --> 00:32:32.641
Like to hear multiple times the bad report.
00:32:32.641 --> 00:32:36.145
There's no cloud.
00:32:36.145 --> 00:32:38.814
Just the fact that he says, "go back, go back, go back.”
00:32:37.346 --> 00:32:42.184
And he would just, head between his knees,
00:32:42.184 --> 00:32:45.821
Just contend and tarry.
00:32:45.821 --> 00:32:47.990
Can we imagine how many things that we are forfeiting simply
00:32:47.990 --> 00:32:53.395
Because we refuse to actively tarry
00:32:53.395 --> 00:32:56.498
Before the lord for what he's promised?
00:32:56.498 --> 00:32:59.468
And if anyone's like, "well, i don't really know
00:32:59.468 --> 00:33:02.538
What he's promised.”
00:33:02.538 --> 00:33:04.239
It's all right here, right?
00:33:04.239 --> 00:33:06.408
It's all right.
00:33:06.408 --> 00:33:07.543
Even elijah, he didn't just make that up, right?
00:33:07.543 --> 00:33:09.578
He didn't make up the fact that god will give rain.
00:33:09.578 --> 00:33:12.815
I mean, it's even in scripture that if you are faithful,
00:33:12.815 --> 00:33:16.218
That there will be rain.
00:33:16.218 --> 00:33:17.186
And if you're not, it won't be, right?
00:33:17.186 --> 00:33:19.121
It's like it's even in scripture.
00:33:19.121 --> 00:33:21.090
And so, if you don't know what to tarry for,
00:33:21.090 --> 00:33:23.358
Then it's all right here.
00:33:23.358 --> 00:33:25.694
- waiting is not inactive.
00:33:26.328 --> 00:33:28.330
I think because we're still or it seems like there's
00:33:28.330 --> 00:33:32.201
Not busyness that it might be inactive.
00:33:32.201 --> 00:33:36.105
But waiting is an action.
00:33:36.105 --> 00:33:38.474
You actually have to go in intentionally
00:33:38.474 --> 00:33:41.410
With the mind of an outcome.
00:33:41.410 --> 00:33:44.947
And it's not your outcome, but it's
00:33:44.947 --> 00:33:46.582
That expectancy of god's outcome.
00:33:46.582 --> 00:33:48.784
So, no, it's not laziness, it's not taking a back seat.
00:33:48.784 --> 00:33:50.752
It is anticipating what is to come.
00:33:50.752 --> 00:33:53.655
- john 15, that talks about the true vine.
00:33:54.623 --> 00:33:57.593
And i think sometimes--
00:33:58.193 --> 00:33:59.695
Because that's so powerful what you just said about tearing.
00:33:59.695 --> 00:34:02.064
It's like, so we are called not only to be fruitful,
00:34:02.064 --> 00:34:06.368
We're called to abide in the lord.
00:34:06.368 --> 00:34:09.738
And i haven't looked to see which greek word is translated
00:34:09.738 --> 00:34:13.709
In there, but i do know that there are at least two words
00:34:13.709 --> 00:34:17.813
For abide in hebrew, one of which is yashab
00:34:17.813 --> 00:34:21.350
And the other is lun.
00:34:21.350 --> 00:34:22.718
To yashab is to live, to settle, to stay in a place.
00:34:23.819 --> 00:34:29.658
Like it's not to visit, not to drive
00:34:29.658 --> 00:34:31.193
By, not to just stop in occasionally.
00:34:31.193 --> 00:34:33.962
And then, to lun is to lodge, to rest.
00:34:33.962 --> 00:34:38.200
And so, when we tarry, it's like it's an invitation
00:34:38.200 --> 00:34:42.037
To actually live, settle, stay, rest, dwell in a place with god.
00:34:42.037 --> 00:34:47.809
Abide in me.
00:34:47.809 --> 00:34:48.644
I will abide in you.
00:34:48.644 --> 00:34:51.013
But you can't just be like, "well,
00:34:51.013 --> 00:34:52.314
I guess it's not your will, so i'm moving on.”
00:34:52.314 --> 00:34:53.815
It's like, no, he called us to be fruitful.
00:34:53.815 --> 00:34:57.286
But we have to abide.
00:34:57.286 --> 00:34:59.021
We have to actually abide in his presence, abide with him.
00:34:59.021 --> 00:35:02.057
And i think you're right.
00:35:02.057 --> 00:35:04.059
We live in a microwave society where it's just like,
00:35:04.059 --> 00:35:06.428
If it doesn't happen immediately, it's not going to happen.
00:35:06.428 --> 00:35:08.630
But what about living, and settling,
00:35:08.630 --> 00:35:10.365
And staying in his presence until we see the manifestation
00:35:10.365 --> 00:35:13.869
Of the promise?
00:35:13.869 --> 00:35:15.003
- yeah, i think a lot of people abandon their faith
00:35:15.003 --> 00:35:17.039
Because it's not in their timeline, you know,
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:20.042
And they just miss out on what god had planned all along, you
00:35:20.042 --> 00:35:24.279
Know, all the blessings from all the dreams
00:35:24.279 --> 00:35:26.715
That you could never have made for yourself
00:35:26.715 --> 00:35:29.985
Because you lost your faith.
00:35:29.985 --> 00:35:32.287
- in the waiting season, it can be anxiety-riddled.
00:35:33.355 --> 00:35:37.192
We can get to a place where we're thinking,
00:35:37.192 --> 00:35:39.761
"well, maybe if i just do something, things will change.”
00:35:39.761 --> 00:35:43.899
We can get to a place where we think, "well,
00:35:43.899 --> 00:35:45.968
If i'm just active enough, i can actually
00:35:45.968 --> 00:35:48.237
Affect this circumstance,”
00:35:48.237 --> 00:35:49.605
Because we are told it is drilled into us,
00:35:49.605 --> 00:35:52.374
Faith without works is dead.
00:35:52.374 --> 00:35:54.042
And therefore, if you have faith, you should be working.
00:35:54.042 --> 00:35:57.179
But what if in that waiting season,
00:35:57.179 --> 00:36:00.215
What if what god wants you to do is to actually
00:36:00.215 --> 00:36:03.285
Experience a faith that is still?
00:36:03.285 --> 00:36:06.321
What i call still faith is trust.
00:36:06.321 --> 00:36:10.192
It's when you get to a place where you recognize
00:36:10.192 --> 00:36:12.227
That there's nothing that you can do, there's nothing you
00:36:12.227 --> 00:36:14.162
Can produce with your hands, there's nothing
00:36:14.162 --> 00:36:16.064
That you can orchestrate on your own,
00:36:16.064 --> 00:36:18.367
That you are totally and completely dependent
00:36:18.367 --> 00:36:20.802
And reliant on god.
00:36:20.802 --> 00:36:23.171
Sometimes the work of faith is simply trusting
00:36:23.171 --> 00:36:27.309
That god is working for you while you're waiting.
00:36:27.309 --> 00:36:29.978
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[music]
00:36:42.691 --> 00:36:45.594
- i love the amplified version of that passage
00:36:45.594 --> 00:36:47.796
In isaiah 40 where it talks about those that wait on the lord.
00:36:47.796 --> 00:36:50.699
In the amplified version, it says,
00:36:50.699 --> 00:36:53.101
"but those who wait for the lord
00:36:53.101 --> 00:36:54.770
[who expect, look for, and hope in him]
00:36:54.770 --> 00:36:58.840
Will gain new strength and renew their power;
00:36:58.840 --> 00:37:02.144
They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to god]
00:37:02.144 --> 00:37:06.214
Like eagles [rising toward the sun];
00:37:06.214 --> 00:37:08.884
They will run and not become weary,
00:37:08.884 --> 00:37:10.986
They will walk and not grow tired.”
00:37:10.986 --> 00:37:12.754
I love the fact that it's those who wait for the lord,
00:37:12.754 --> 00:37:17.159
Who hope in him, who gain new strength and renew their power.
00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:22.397
I think for me, it's understanding that i get worn out,
00:37:22.397 --> 00:37:26.802
I get tired, you know?
00:37:26.802 --> 00:37:28.370
And there's something about the beauty of being invited
00:37:28.370 --> 00:37:31.373
Into god's presence to wait and to renew our strength
00:37:31.373 --> 00:37:35.844
And to know that we can rise up closer to him,
00:37:35.844 --> 00:37:38.847
But it's not a vacuum, it's a sacred space.
00:37:38.847 --> 00:37:43.985
- and i think where we get exhausted
00:37:43.985 --> 00:37:48.256
Is when our hope is not in the lord.
00:37:48.256 --> 00:37:50.158
Like our hope is in ourselves.
00:37:50.158 --> 00:37:52.394
Our hope is in the economy.
00:37:52.394 --> 00:37:54.429
Our hope is in our marriage.
00:37:54.429 --> 00:37:55.731
Our hope is in--
00:37:55.731 --> 00:37:56.932
And then, when those things fail, right,
00:37:56.932 --> 00:37:59.534
Because anything that is not god will fail,
00:37:59.534 --> 00:38:02.704
It just will, then we end up weary and we end up exhausted.
00:38:02.704 --> 00:38:06.341
And we're like, "how long, lord?”
00:38:06.341 --> 00:38:08.443
I think that's such a beautiful invitation,
00:38:08.443 --> 00:38:10.812
Which it's actually a question, is where is our hope?
00:38:10.812 --> 00:38:13.915
Where is our hope in the waiting?
00:38:14.716 --> 00:38:16.551
Because if our hope is in the lord, a promise is made.
00:38:16.551 --> 00:38:20.255
We'll renew our strength.
00:38:20.255 --> 00:38:21.857
We will run and not grow weary.
00:38:21.857 --> 00:38:22.991
We will walk and not faint if our hope is there.
00:38:22.991 --> 00:38:26.661
- if you have been wanting and trying to wait with expectation
00:38:26.762 --> 00:38:31.867
Without losing hope, and you find it difficult,
00:38:31.867 --> 00:38:34.736
You are not alone.
00:38:34.736 --> 00:38:37.205
It can be strenuous.
00:38:37.205 --> 00:38:39.207
It could really burn us out when we are starting
00:38:39.207 --> 00:38:43.945
To live for things that are other than jesus.
00:38:43.945 --> 00:38:46.715
Waiting is only possible when we live to know him intimately,
00:38:46.815 --> 00:38:51.820
Authentically, and passionately.
00:38:51.820 --> 00:38:54.089
If we try to live for anything else,
00:38:54.089 --> 00:38:55.957
Then waiting is just torture.
00:38:55.957 --> 00:38:58.026
And so, if you want to regain that fresh wind
00:38:58.026 --> 00:39:01.863
To wait faithfully, go back to what
00:39:01.863 --> 00:39:04.933
You were designed to live for.
00:39:04.933 --> 00:39:07.602
- one of my absolute favorite stories in terms of what i learned
00:39:07.702 --> 00:39:12.441
From my own life is found in genesis with joseph.
00:39:12.441 --> 00:39:16.611
Because i think joseph is 18 years old
00:39:16.611 --> 00:39:19.114
When he gets this understanding from god
00:39:19.114 --> 00:39:21.950
That i'm going to do something remarkable through your life.
00:39:21.950 --> 00:39:25.687
And then, it appears from, just looking at it on a human level,
00:39:25.687 --> 00:39:29.191
It appears like everything goes wrong.
00:39:29.191 --> 00:39:30.592
I mean, he's 30 before he sees that.
00:39:30.592 --> 00:39:33.128
I mean, that's like all those years.
00:39:33.128 --> 00:39:35.831
He's betrayed by his brothers.
00:39:35.831 --> 00:39:37.499
He's trafficked into egypt.
00:39:37.499 --> 00:39:39.835
I mean, don't you think at that point you would think,
00:39:39.835 --> 00:39:42.537
"well, whatever god had in store for me, forget it.
00:39:42.537 --> 00:39:45.006
It's not going to happen.”
00:39:45.006 --> 00:39:46.708
He's tricked by pharaoh's wife and ends up in prison.
00:39:46.708 --> 00:39:50.912
And then, he even interprets a dream for one of the guys
00:39:50.912 --> 00:39:54.149
And says, "listen, when you get out,
00:39:54.149 --> 00:39:55.550
Would you at least tell pharaoh about me?”
00:39:55.550 --> 00:39:58.153
And the man forgets because it's not god's timing.
00:39:58.153 --> 00:40:01.523
But at the moment when it was god's timing, god said, "now.”
00:40:01.523 --> 00:40:06.294
And here's what i love.
00:40:06.294 --> 00:40:07.996
I love that every single twist in that story,
00:40:07.996 --> 00:40:10.899
Like when he's thrown into the well or
00:40:10.899 --> 00:40:12.701
When he's sent off to egypt or to prison,
00:40:12.701 --> 00:40:15.437
It says just these little words, "and god was with him.”
00:40:15.437 --> 00:40:19.107
That just blows me away.
00:40:19.674 --> 00:40:20.775
And god was with him.
00:40:20.775 --> 00:40:23.278
And i think who joseph was becoming in the process.
00:40:24.346 --> 00:40:27.716
He was learning.
00:40:27.716 --> 00:40:29.184
He learned to speak egyptian language so that when the time come
00:40:29.184 --> 00:40:31.720
When pharaoh says, "you're going to be my prime minister,”
00:40:31.720 --> 00:40:34.389
He was ready.
00:40:34.389 --> 00:40:35.724
I just think for anybody who's in a waiting season right now,
00:40:35.724 --> 00:40:39.394
Ask god for help.
00:40:39.394 --> 00:40:40.428
I want to learn everything you want me
00:40:40.428 --> 00:40:42.130
To learn so that when you say now, i'm ready.
00:40:42.130 --> 00:40:44.766
- well, look at jesus.
00:40:44.766 --> 00:40:46.167
So, we hear about him, you know, until he's about two.
00:40:46.167 --> 00:40:49.037
Then, we see him at 12 for a minute when he leaves his parents
00:40:49.037 --> 00:40:53.108
And stays in jerusalem at the temple.
00:40:53.108 --> 00:40:54.843
Then, we don't see him until he's 30.
00:40:54.843 --> 00:40:57.979
So, he was growing in favor with god
00:40:57.979 --> 00:41:00.649
And man all through that time.
00:41:00.649 --> 00:41:02.250
- if everything that you're doing is coming down to a halt,
00:41:02.250 --> 00:41:07.122
It doesn't mean that you're doing something wrong.
00:41:07.122 --> 00:41:09.824
I think sometimes we feel that god's favor means
00:41:09.824 --> 00:41:13.328
That everything will go well for us,
00:41:13.328 --> 00:41:15.697
When actually the favor of god sometimes looked like
00:41:15.697 --> 00:41:20.068
Joseph being in the pit and being in the prison.
00:41:20.068 --> 00:41:24.005
Sometimes a favor of god was mary living under the scrutiny
00:41:24.005 --> 00:41:28.877
Of having this miraculous conception, right?
00:41:28.877 --> 00:41:32.981
The favor of the lord can look like many different things.
00:41:32.981 --> 00:41:36.017
And so, if you wonder is god really for me
00:41:36.017 --> 00:41:39.888
When things are not being fruitful as you've tried
00:41:39.888 --> 00:41:43.658
To be faithful?
00:41:43.658 --> 00:41:44.960
I hope you rest assured that god's favor could look different
00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:48.697
In every season.
00:41:48.697 --> 00:41:50.732
- and as you were talking about the story with joseph,
00:41:50.832 --> 00:41:52.400
Sheila, a question popped into my mind.
00:41:52.400 --> 00:41:54.002
It's like, man, what if he became bitter?
00:41:54.002 --> 00:41:57.138
What if he would have had a chip on his shoulder?
00:41:57.138 --> 00:41:59.374
So, he becomes prime minister, and now he's just angry.
00:41:59.374 --> 00:42:04.012
But the thing, as i was silently praying,
00:42:04.012 --> 00:42:06.448
Like, lord, why didn't that happen?
00:42:06.448 --> 00:42:09.217
And what the lord showed me is because
00:42:09.217 --> 00:42:11.219
God had already given him a vision.
00:42:11.219 --> 00:42:13.054
It was that vision that sustained him through all of that.
00:42:13.054 --> 00:42:16.524
It's like, ok, lord, you showed me that my brothers,
00:42:16.524 --> 00:42:20.428
The very ones who betrayed me, they're going
00:42:20.428 --> 00:42:22.631
To be bowing down to me.
00:42:22.631 --> 00:42:23.765
I don't know how this is going to happen.
00:42:23.765 --> 00:42:25.634
I don't know when it's going to happen.
00:42:25.634 --> 00:42:28.269
But the vision that you gave me, it's going to happen.
00:42:28.269 --> 00:42:32.273
And i feel like that's encouragement for anyone
00:42:32.273 --> 00:42:34.876
Who's maybe in that place where it just feels like
00:42:34.876 --> 00:42:38.246
Nothing's working out, everything's working against you.
00:42:38.246 --> 00:42:41.316
The encouragement i want to offer is ask god to open the eyes
00:42:41.316 --> 00:42:45.086
Of your heart and give you a vision
00:42:45.086 --> 00:42:48.323
Because the bible says without vision, the people perish, right?
00:42:48.323 --> 00:42:51.693
Ask god to give you a vision that can sustain you
00:42:52.794 --> 00:42:56.498
In the waiting, a vision of what he's calling you
00:42:56.498 --> 00:43:00.535
To, because i do believe that that's what made the difference
00:43:00.535 --> 00:43:04.539
For him, because that was traumatic at every turn.
00:43:04.539 --> 00:43:10.178
You take one step--
00:43:10.178 --> 00:43:11.546
Two steps forward, ten steps back, you know?
00:43:11.546 --> 00:43:14.716
But the vision, he knew it was gonna come to pass.
00:43:14.716 --> 00:43:17.619
So, i would just encourage people as a prayer point,
00:43:17.619 --> 00:43:19.954
God, open the eyes of my heart.
00:43:19.954 --> 00:43:21.356
Give me a vision that i can hang on to.
00:43:21.356 --> 00:43:23.758
- and also, i realize that how you wait
00:43:23.758 --> 00:43:27.462
And what you wait for is, a lot of the times,
00:43:27.462 --> 00:43:30.598
Dependent on the timeline by which is real to you.
00:43:30.598 --> 00:43:34.536
So, for example, when my kids were really little,
00:43:34.536 --> 00:43:38.707
I'd be like, "oh, what are you excited for?”
00:43:38.707 --> 00:43:40.575
And they're like, "friday."
00:43:40.575 --> 00:43:41.943
- right, right, right, right, right.
00:43:41.943 --> 00:43:44.112
- because for them, that's the timeline.
00:43:44.112 --> 00:43:47.348
It's just the week, right?
00:43:47.348 --> 00:43:48.950
And then, eventually, they say things like,
00:43:48.950 --> 00:43:51.019
"i can't wait to drive.”
00:43:51.019 --> 00:43:52.620
Eventually, it's like, "i can't wait for college,”
00:43:52.620 --> 00:43:54.289
Because the timeline gets bigger.
00:43:54.289 --> 00:43:56.024
And that reminds me of hebrews 11, when it talks about abraham.
00:43:56.024 --> 00:44:01.596
And from verse eight, it says, "by faith, abraham,
00:44:01.596 --> 00:44:03.998
When he was called, obeyed and set out for a place
00:44:03.998 --> 00:44:06.868
That he was going to receive as an inheritance.
00:44:06.868 --> 00:44:10.171
He went out, even though he did not know where he was going.
00:44:10.171 --> 00:44:14.175
By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise,
00:44:14.175 --> 00:44:17.612
Living in tents as did isaac and jacob,
00:44:17.612 --> 00:44:20.915
Coheirs of the same promise.
00:44:20.915 --> 00:44:23.585
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations,
00:44:23.585 --> 00:44:27.889
Whose architect and builder is god.”
00:44:27.889 --> 00:44:31.359
You know, and so many of those in hebrews 11,
00:44:31.359 --> 00:44:34.195
Which is the hall of faith, they didn't really get
00:44:34.195 --> 00:44:36.831
To taste what they were--
00:44:36.831 --> 00:44:38.266
Like the dreams, you know?
00:44:38.266 --> 00:44:40.301
- generations went by.
00:44:40.301 --> 00:44:41.236
- but they stayed faithful.
00:44:41.236 --> 00:44:42.737
- right.
00:44:42.737 --> 00:44:44.139
And, you know, we talk a lot about dreams in christian spaces.
00:44:44.139 --> 00:44:48.276
But if your ultimate dream isn't eternity with god,
00:44:48.376 --> 00:44:51.813
Then you're living by the wrong timeline.
00:44:51.813 --> 00:44:55.116
I think our timeline is just so limited to this life on earth,
00:44:55.116 --> 00:44:59.187
So that's why our dreams are the new house, the new job,
00:44:59.187 --> 00:45:02.457
The bigger platform, or whatever that we are going for.
00:45:02.457 --> 00:45:06.795
But your timeline always has to include eternity.
00:45:06.795 --> 00:45:10.398
And that's why the apostles that wrote the epistles,
00:45:10.498 --> 00:45:13.668
They kept talking about eternity.
00:45:13.668 --> 00:45:16.004
You have to include eternity in your timeline,
00:45:16.104 --> 00:45:19.574
Or you're going to be waiting for the wrong thing.
00:45:19.574 --> 00:45:21.242
- god's bigger story.
00:45:21.242 --> 00:45:22.811
- this is also--
00:45:22.811 --> 00:45:24.179
What came to me as you were saying
00:45:24.179 --> 00:45:25.380
That is that we're actually not waiting on eternity
00:45:25.380 --> 00:45:28.216
Because eternity dwells with us now in the form of god.
00:45:28.216 --> 00:45:32.120
And so, that's why it's so important for us
00:45:32.120 --> 00:45:34.422
To have that relationship, have that fellowship,
00:45:34.422 --> 00:45:36.357
Have that intimacy.
00:45:36.357 --> 00:45:37.692
And that's what jesus did, is he actually restored an awareness
00:45:37.692 --> 00:45:42.931
Of god and eternity.
00:45:42.931 --> 00:45:44.599
It's like we can experience that even now
00:45:44.599 --> 00:45:48.369
Through the work of the cross.
00:45:48.369 --> 00:45:49.671
- so, let's just say that you've been praying
00:45:50.638 --> 00:45:52.574
And you've been asking god for a thing.
00:45:52.574 --> 00:45:55.944
You might assume that the wait is over when you get the thing,
00:45:55.944 --> 00:46:00.348
But i would challenge you.
00:46:00.348 --> 00:46:01.716
I would challenge you to imagine
00:46:01.716 --> 00:46:03.318
That maybe the wait isn't over when you get the thing.
00:46:03.318 --> 00:46:07.655
Maybe the wait is over when you get to the place
00:46:07.755 --> 00:46:11.192
That you trust god, whether you get the thing or not.
00:46:11.192 --> 00:46:13.862
That's actually a very different approach to thinking
00:46:14.996 --> 00:46:17.765
About your waiting season, is what
00:46:17.765 --> 00:46:20.602
If the wait ends not when you get the blessing,
00:46:20.602 --> 00:46:24.639
But the wait ends when you trust god
00:46:24.639 --> 00:46:27.342
Whether you get the blessing or not.
00:46:27.342 --> 00:46:29.577
Because in that moment, you actually receive the gift of peace.
00:46:29.577 --> 00:46:33.581
The truth is, god can do anything at any time.
00:46:33.581 --> 00:46:37.452
But for those of us who maybe are dealing with anxiety,
00:46:37.452 --> 00:46:40.922
I believe that the most important gift
00:46:40.922 --> 00:46:43.191
That we can receive is the gift of peace.
00:46:43.191 --> 00:46:46.127
And in that way, i think the waiting season is over when
00:46:46.127 --> 00:46:50.031
The peace of god defines your heart condition.
00:46:50.031 --> 00:46:53.201
- that's why i go back to andrew murray's statement,
00:46:54.302 --> 00:46:56.504
"all our waiting depends on the state of the heart.”
00:46:56.504 --> 00:46:59.107
Because if you go back to joseph,
00:46:59.107 --> 00:47:02.010
When finally his brothers are in front of him and it happens,
00:47:02.010 --> 00:47:05.647
They're bowing down, and they don't recognize him at first.
00:47:05.647 --> 00:47:08.116
They don't know who he is, but he knows who they are.
00:47:08.116 --> 00:47:10.718
When you realize that god's in control of time,
00:47:10.718 --> 00:47:13.655
You stop blaming other people for what happened
00:47:13.655 --> 00:47:15.556
In your life because--
00:47:15.556 --> 00:47:17.959
- that was really good.
00:47:17.959 --> 00:47:22.063
- when you realize that god is the one who's in control,
00:47:22.063 --> 00:47:24.399
You stop holding other people responsible for the things
00:47:24.399 --> 00:47:26.801
That didn't make sense.
00:47:26.801 --> 00:47:28.102
He was able to say to his brothers,
00:47:28.102 --> 00:47:30.071
"i know you meant this for evil.
00:47:30.071 --> 00:47:31.506
I am not deaf.
00:47:31.506 --> 00:47:32.941
But god meant it for good, for the redeeming of many.”
00:47:32.941 --> 00:47:35.410
And so, i think that's going to be my prayer
00:47:35.410 --> 00:47:38.780
For all of us today, that for those who feel they're
00:47:38.780 --> 00:47:41.716
In a waiting season, and maybe they're blaming somebody else.
00:47:41.716 --> 00:47:44.352
I didn't get this job because of that person,
00:47:44.352 --> 00:47:47.588
Or this guy wasn't interested in me because he chose my friend.
00:47:47.588 --> 00:47:50.525
God is good, and god is in control, and god is bigger.
00:47:50.525 --> 00:47:54.395
You look to him because what god is doing is so much bigger
00:47:54.395 --> 00:47:58.900
Than what we can see with our own human eyes.
00:47:58.900 --> 00:48:01.202
And then, we're able to say, "yeah,
00:48:01.202 --> 00:48:02.603
I know you maybe meant this for evil,
00:48:02.603 --> 00:48:04.472
But god meant it for good.”
00:48:04.472 --> 00:48:07.709
Let's pray.
00:48:07.709 --> 00:48:09.077
Lord, we're so grateful to you.
00:48:09.077 --> 00:48:11.379
Lord, sometimes we just forget how amazing you are, that there's
00:48:11.379 --> 00:48:15.917
Not a second of our life that isn't important to you.
00:48:15.917 --> 00:48:20.521
You miss nothing.
00:48:20.521 --> 00:48:22.657
So, lord, just as five sisters right here,
00:48:22.657 --> 00:48:25.159
We just want to pray right now for anyone who's joining us,
00:48:25.159 --> 00:48:28.162
Who's in the season of waiting, but
00:48:28.162 --> 00:48:31.165
It feels like life has stopped.
00:48:31.165 --> 00:48:33.634
It feels like suddenly they've been put on the back burner,
00:48:33.634 --> 00:48:36.371
Or they've been in a corridor and the doors are closed
00:48:36.371 --> 00:48:39.340
On both ends, and they're just there.
00:48:39.340 --> 00:48:41.743
Lord, will you reveal the riches of your presence
00:48:41.743 --> 00:48:45.013
In those places that we would become the women,
00:48:45.013 --> 00:48:48.016
The men that you have called us to be, realizing
00:48:48.016 --> 00:48:52.053
That we don't have to keep our eyes on what makes sense to us?
00:48:52.053 --> 00:48:55.590
We keep our eyes on you because you are good, and you are god,
00:48:55.590 --> 00:49:00.361
And you are in control, and we wait in your presence.
00:49:00.361 --> 00:49:05.266
In jesus' name.
00:49:05.266 --> 00:49:09.203
- connect with us on social media
00:49:10.004 --> 00:49:11.539
And let us know how our team can pray for you.
00:49:11.539 --> 00:49:19.781
- hi, this is sheila.
00:49:20.348 --> 00:49:21.682
I'm here with jenny, and we're answering some of your viewer
00:49:21.682 --> 00:49:23.484
Questions behind the scenes here at better together.
00:49:23.484 --> 00:49:26.220
So, let me start with this one.
00:49:26.220 --> 00:49:28.156
This is from michaela, who watches us on youtube.
00:49:28.156 --> 00:49:32.126
And she asks, "what are some promises of god we can hold
00:49:32.126 --> 00:49:35.496
On to while in a waiting season?”
00:49:35.496 --> 00:49:38.366
-well, you know, there's over 6,000 promises in scripture,
00:49:38.366 --> 00:49:41.169
Which is pretty amazing.
00:49:41.169 --> 00:49:42.470
So, whatever you're struggling with, find one
00:49:42.470 --> 00:49:44.372
Or two that really relate to that.
00:49:44.372 --> 00:49:46.107
Like i love where paul says, "i can do all things through christ
00:49:46.107 --> 00:49:49.043
Who gives me strength.”
00:49:49.043 --> 00:49:50.578
But you can also translate that word, things, seasons.
00:49:50.578 --> 00:49:54.048
I can do all seasons through christ who gives me strength.
00:49:54.048 --> 00:49:56.851
When i was in a psychiatric hospital in a really bad place,
00:49:56.851 --> 00:49:59.887
I would read from psalm 27, which said,
00:49:59.887 --> 00:50:02.523
"i believe i will live to see the goodness
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Of the lord in the land of the living.”
00:50:04.892 --> 00:50:07.261
Proverbs 3:5-6, "trust in the lord with all your heart
00:50:07.261 --> 00:50:11.365
And lean not on your own understanding
00:50:11.365 --> 00:50:13.067
And all your ways acknowledge him, and he'll direct your path.”
00:50:13.067 --> 00:50:16.237
So, i think find a couple that really apply to you and hit home,
00:50:16.237 --> 00:50:20.007
And write them down so that you see them everywhere you go.
00:50:20.007 --> 00:50:22.743
- yeah, i also write things down in a gratitude journal.
00:50:22.743 --> 00:50:26.280
Also, not just like gratitude, but also
00:50:26.280 --> 00:50:29.183
When i have a prayer request, because then i date it
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And i can go back when it's been answered.
00:50:31.486 --> 00:50:33.554
And so, i think we have short memories,
00:50:33.554 --> 00:50:35.923
And we can remember as we're reading, oh,
00:50:35.923 --> 00:50:38.025
He answered this, he answered this.
00:50:38.025 --> 00:50:39.026
And it reminds you the longevity of god.
00:50:39.026 --> 00:50:41.562
- stream full episodes of better together on demand.
00:50:42.663 --> 00:50:46.434
Go to bettertogether.tv to stream
00:50:46.434 --> 00:50:48.870
All of our latest conversations.
00:50:48.870 --> 00:50:51.038
[music]
00:50:51.372 --> 00:50:51.372

Waiting on God | Better Together Episode 1153

April 1, 2026 | S8 E1153 | 50:59

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