OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - SUNDAY - 1/06/2014 - BE DETERMINED TO WAIT BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

BE DETERMINED TO WAIT

MEMORISE

If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

Job 14:14

READ

Habakkuk 2:1-3

1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

MESSAGE

There is a waiting period that precedes the manifestation of great expectations. The gestation period of an African elephant is the longest of all mammals. It lasts for about 22 months, which is almost two calendar years. Contrast this with that of a rat which is just about 20 days. If your expectation is very great, your waiting period may be longer than that of another man with smaller expectations. Expectation for a great miracle warrants great patience. It is premature for an elephant to deliver nine months after pregnancy, whereas it is the joy of any woman to deliver her baby during that same period. You need to wait for your own appointed time as designed by God.

To wait for God’s time requires your determination (Job 14:14). God will come to your aid, but when He does, will He find you still waiting for Him? Jesus promised to return the second time but He wondered if He would find faith on earth at His return (Luke 18:8). There is a reader of this devotional, who like Job, has suffered untold losses. You have no idea of why you are in that situation, neither do you have any idea of how to survive your present predicament. I am speaking to your life by the word of the Lord that there will be clarity for all your confusion.

The example of Job teaches a great lesson on patience in tribulation. Our waiting period in God’s design does not mean that God is dodging His responsibility towards us as men do. When some people tell you to wait, it is an indirect way of telling you to forget about your expectation from them. But when God tells you to wait, He will attend to you. God has a timetable for each and every one of His children. Wait for His time. The mystery of God’s appointed time is that it is often not known. All we need to do is wait for Him; trusting His love for us, His faithfulness to His promises and His unlimited power to do anything he wants to do at any time He wants to do it. This is how God wants you to handle your waiting period. Believe Him for His promise, and while waiting, begin to testify of what He is about to do. This is why I keep telling myself “it is well with me” because I know He has said “it shall be well with the righteous”. You may not be privileged to know the times and the seasons when He will manifest His power in your life; one thing is however certain: He will work in your life at His own time. The waiting period may be full of tears, but joy will still come in the morning. Some of those who waited for God in the past did so with tears in their eyes, but they never stopped waiting for Him, and they got their expectations.

PRAYER POINT

Father, teach me patience in the place of waiting for my change, and deliver my expectations from failure in Jesus’ Name.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

Exodus 20:1-22:15;

Psalm 117