Waiting on God. It’s what we do sometimes when we have laid our requests before him and we are waiting on an answer. Waiting on God signifies his sovereignty. We recognize it is He that holds all things together and it is he that Lord over my life. So, when we find ourselves in a season of waiting, how can we pray?
Many years ago, our family was faced with a desperate situation. My prayers for deliverance were becoming desperate. I felt as if God had just set us aside and no longer heard my prayers. I knew this wasn’t true, but my emotions often ruled over my prayers. We, as a family, were facing the impossible, the unthinkable, the unimaginable. So, I had to learn how to pray in a way that protected my heart and mind from allowing self-pity to set in.
Here are some passages that helped me learn to pray as I was waiting on God to move.
Fill your mind with truth
Philippians 4:6-7, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
This passage reminded me of what not to do and of what to do. Instead of getting anxious, I should pray. And not just pray, but pray with thanksgiving. In spite of our trials, I still had so much to be thankful for. So I learned to begin each day by praising God for all he has and will do for our family. Some days all I thanked him for was giving me another day to glorify & honor him, because the days were hard. When I did this, the peace of God guarded my heart and mind and I was able to function and thrive rather than just survive and endure.
Pray in faith!
James 1:6, But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
I learned to pray, believing God would answer. I prayed knowing he would do what he said he would do. He would provide for us, protect us, keep us, love us, lavish us with his grace & mercy. I knew this because scripture said he would. I did not claim promises that were not mine to claim. We must be careful as we pray, that we do not tell God to do things for us that he never promised he would do. It is easy, especially during a difficult season to find scripture we would like to apply to our own lives. Praying in faith is strengthening and powerful for our souls. It draws us closer to God and more in line with his spirit.
Dare to pray big things!
James 5:17-18, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.
Who would ever think to pray that it wouldn’t rain? Elijah did because he knew his God and he knew God was at work in the people around him. Do you know the story? Read it in 1 Kings 17 and 18. But the point to this passage here is that Elijah prayed for something that would ultimately bring all the honor and glory to God. Elijah’s longings and desires were only to be faithful and to please his God and from that came this prayer. When our hearts fully belong to God, our prayers will be big and sometimes daring because we know our God can do big and daring things in our lives.
I remember once, when my husband was working nights at the local grocery store. It was terrible work, long hours and very painful for my husband. But this is how God was providing for us and as thankful as we were for it, I wanted better for my husband. He had always owned his own business, but the Lord had us in a very difficult season. I asked God how to pray for my husband. I began the typical prayer of help him endure, strengthen him and ease his pain and then I ended my prayers with, I thank you for the day when he won’t have to work nights anymore. One year later the Lord put in our laps a new business. Eight years later, this is our family business that provides not just for us, but for 3 of our sons as well (they work for us). I felt it was a daring prayer to thank God for something he had not done yet. But my ultimate desire is that our lives would bring glory to him and this business is doing that.
Seek Him with all your heart
Jeremiah 29:12-13, Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
In the book of James he reminds us that often we don’t have because we are asking with sinful motives. This verse in Jeremiah tells us what happens when we pray with godly motives. When we are waiting on God to move, we have to guard our hearts from self-pity and stay focused on what really matters…seeking God with all our heart in all things. In our prayers, in our thoughts, in our motives and actions. We do this by staying in the Word and praying God’s words back to him.
Waiting on God can be a very difficult season to be in, but don’t waste the waiting. Grow! Learn to pray more fervently and earnestly. Learn to guard your heart and mind from anxiety and fear by seeking him in all you do. Immerse yourself in God’s Word more than you ever have before. Such sweet blessings await you.
Dana Bailey 