In the Waiting

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:2-4

Waiting, waiting is a huge part of one’s ministry. Waiting proves who you are working for. If you were to say within yourself, “I can’t continue to wait on God because he is putting me in a hard place.” That proves who you are working for yourself. The beauty of patience is that it will show this original position, but also shows the heart of a person. When you find yourself in a waiting room, understand God is testing and trying you. First, we take Noah, for example. He is waiting between the building of the ark and the flood. When Noah was five hundred years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Genesis 5:32). And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. (Genesis 7:6). It may not have taken Noah the full hundred years to build the ark, but it did however take the one hundred years for the word to come to fruition. While it may feel like it has taken a hundred years for God’s word in your life to come to fruition, I assure your that’s not the case. Second, we take David. In 1st Samuel chapter sixteen verse eleven it says, “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.” David at the time was anywhere from ten years to twelve years old at the time of the anointing. It was approximately 32 years from anointing to fruition or from the field to the palace. Understand again, if God has putting you in a waiting list it doesn’t mean your aren’t called it just means he has something great for you. Take the waiting period as a complement, but make for sure your heart stays pure throughout the waiting. Third, we inspect Job’s life. Job is marked as “perfect and upright.” (Job 1:1). It was for the very reason that he was a perfect and upright man that God allowed for Satan to test him. (Job 1:8). What if God trusted us in such a way he knew we would not turn our back on him if hardships are placed upon our lives? Like Job, in the waiting, in the trial, and in the loss we must understand he knows the way that we take. (Job 23:10). Job even says, “I shall come forth as gold.” Let this be the same mentality that we hold. Even in the waiting and hurt we know we will come out more valuable than we went in. Lastly, understand Jesus, the messiah and Christ, was literally formed as the perfect lamb for slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7). When Jesus was twelve years old, he went to Jerusalem with his family but stayed after they left, without them knowing. The find him in the temple sitting and asking questions, scripture even says, “All that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” (Luke 2:47). Following this passage, it says, “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:51). We then fast forward from Jesus being a twelve-year-old in the temple to a third-year-old at a wedding, which is where he turns water into wine. (Luke 3:23). It took Jesus, God manifested in flesh, thirty years to perform for a three-year ministry. Often today we prepare three years for a third-year ministry. Understand, the waiting room is an essential waiting period for your ministry. Don’t become bitter in the wait, but strengthen yourself in the Lord. Stop looking for a way out but look for the one to whom will bring you through.