Waiting for a promise from God doesn’t seem fun and it is not appealing to think of it as enjoying the journey or counting it all joy while we wait— if we don’t have understanding. Without the wisdom of God, knowing His way of doing and that we will mature from the journey (James 1:2-4), we won’t be prepared to enjoy the journey. But instead, we will want to avoid it at all costs— exactly the enemies plan I might add.
Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
If we make the decision to wait for God, wait for (trust Him) His promise to manifest, without making them happen ourselves it is well worth the journey and the prize of the manifested promises. Waiting, its prizes— are endless and outrageously wonderful for those who will trust God. The major prize, our intimacy we acquire with God—His mysteries revealed to us to strengthen us to run, to be excited and not faint!
If you have ever asked God for a favor and ended up giving up instead of wait, you compromised and you didn’t get enjoyment out of the journey nor the prizes. If that is you and you gave up, you didn’t give God a chance to be God in your life, and I want to encourage you to step out and trust Him again, by asking Him to help you to.
I never liked that phrase much before I understood it — enjoy the journey or count it all joy. Because I didn’t want to wait, and I didn’t want to go through the attacks from the enemy.
But now that I have understanding of what is meant by enjoying the journey, I see it is well worth counting it all joy. I know now it doesn’t have to be a miserable journey but it can be fun! Just this morning I was able to laugh at my not so attractive circumstance because I knew it was a phase in my journey of learning how to mature to that place of no lack!
Understanding makes everything so much easier than not understanding, which not understanding is what not only makes the journey dreaded, miserable, and way too long!
Learning how to receive from God is a journey and one you can enjoy if you are determined to wait, to learn, and to trust God! Once you make that decision you can be sure the enemy will come and try to move you from expectancy to fainting. He will try his best to talk you into giving up on believing God (waiting for God) and make what you want to happen, happen yourself.
I love James 1:5, if you lack wisdom in any stance, you can ask God and He will give to you liberally and without fault finding the wisdom you need to win. Just today as I have been believing God for something I had been standing in faith for, I had attacks of compromise, suggestions to faint, and even to get offended and quit. But instead I asked God, “What would You do in my situation?” He said, “Wait.” So of course if God would wait, then wait is the right answer and so I decided to wait!
I know from past experiences that waiting without compromise is what the journey is about and how the manifested answer comes into existence. The reason I ask God questions even though I think I know the answers, is because the enemy is pretty good at deceiving, and has some pretty good angels he uses to get us tripped up.
On the journey it is exciting to clearly know how God is working on our behalf. When we don’t get in the way, when we recognize the enemies ploys against us and don’t compromise we get to witness first hand our promise manifested!
It’s the most fun journey when you know what is going to happen from the time you ask to the time you receive. When you know the wait is temporary and a matter of you resisting the enemies ploys to get you to quit, you know it is a W H E N wait, not an— I f wait. When you know all you have to do is wait for the Lord to do His thing, expect, look for and hope in Him and the answer will manifest it is an exciting wait! It’s an insightful and exciting journey—an experience that will bring you to the place where you won’t lack anything (James 1:4).
When you get up everyday and get filled to overflowing with God the enemy doesn’t have a chance to mess things up for you. When you can hear the Most High talk to you, encourage, and instruct you, you can’t lose!
I once heard a preacher say that waiting on the Lord isn’t sitting on the couch waiting for Him to do for you, but it’s serving Him. That so made sense to me, because if you can carry on, if you can still serve on the journey, even during the attack— you are counting it all joy and that is faith. You are enjoying your journey, not letting the attacks of the enemy devastate you to idleness!
When you serve, and when you can carry on, you’re in faith—not wavering in fear that God might not! But, if you wait idly, you’re not in faith, and you’re expecting something to happen that won’t without faith.
I used to do that—I would be devastated when I couldn’t stand something that happened to me to the point where I couldn’t do anything else until that problem was resolved. I became numb in fear, and sat in extreme depression. But now that I know, now that I know that is how my enemy tries to control me—I won’t go there.
God has revealed His mysteries to me and I now know I have a choice, I don’t have to be devastated, oppressed and harassed— but I can believe!