WAIT FOR IT - PART 3

SATURDAY 11 MARCH 2023

I'm still led to expound this topic with regard to how it affects or influences our personal lives, from the perspective of empowering our minds effectively for various personalized desires or plans we intend to actualise and accomplish.

Reference: Romans 8:25 New Living Translation (NLT) "But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently."

The message translation helps to make the concept of waiting simpler to grasp by bringing it to our personal level of understanding. Think of your expectation as though you are a pregnant woman, as we consider the details of the Scriptures below.

Romans chapter 8 verses 22-25 (MSG) reads: All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Verses 26-28: Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Beloved, I believe that this translation is self-explanatory. However, if you must wait for that expectation, you must wait for it confidently. This brings us to today's focus, which is to "wait confidently." To wait confidently is to exercise assured conviction about the expectation, followed by Spirit-given inspiration, which in turn, endues us with courage, especially when we are constantly filled with the Holy Spirit - in the waiting process.

Showing confidence during a waiting period is a proof of certainty and audacity. It shows that firstly, you know how much you expect from God and you can't afford to settle for less. Secondly, you know that God is more than able (see Ephesians 3:20). Thirdly you know that all your expectations are available in the Father's house. Fourthly, you know that God's hand is in it because the author of the book of Hebrews says: "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with CONFIDENCE, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16 NIV).

By waiting confidently, we widen the application of God's will, which is an added advantage, in relation to our progress in faith. To that effect, Hebrews 10:35-36 (AMP) says, "Do not, therefore, fling away your [fearless] confidence, for it has a glorious and great reward. For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised." Got it?

Carrying out the will of God under waiting circumstances without compromising is priceless. This implies that even when you come across others who are doing things the wrong way, yet they easily have the expectation you are waiting for, you must remain faithful, bearing in mind that your fearless confidence and trustworthy approach have a great reward (see Psalm 37:7 ESV).

In summary, I'll leave you with this Scripture, "So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up" (Galatians 6:9 NLT). Therefore refuse to faint or give in, but rather, remain fearlessly confident as you wait patiently, living right. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Isaiah 40:31; Psalm 33:20-22; Isaiah 64:4; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Hebrews 11:1.

Exuberant Declaration: I'm fully confident and convinced that my godly expectations in Christ Jesus can never be cut off because the Lord is my exceeding great reward. So I fix my eyes, not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Hallelujah!