“And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, which, He said, you have heard from Me.”
Ready, Set, Stop. Some of the finals word we have from Christ He gives the great Commission and simultaneously a verse of waiting and listening. How appropriate. We see in this verse that they are clearly given something to do, but it is not in the form of an action or sending out. It is in the form of standing still. Sometimes I think standing still means that I am not in the center of His will. I have realized now it is quite the contrary. When we let ourselves get in the missionary mind, literally eat, sleep, and breath missionary work it is easy to forget about the well-being of the self. Being up here in the long winter nights(in which I have yet to truly experience) you can get stir crazy, restless, or often feel that you are not being used to your full potential. That God may have put you on the bench and you feel simply ineffective. That is a device of the devil that takes so many Christians captive. The initial, absolute, most important task we are given in our lives is the responsibility of taking care of our personal relationship with Him. From there, all things blossom and come to fruition. From there we can learn, and from there we can serve. This all comes back to the Promise of waiting. In hours, days, weeks, months, even years of waiting we can stand on rooftops and waste our time staring into the sky, or we can embrace them and use them for the time of preparation. The battle of souls is at hand and prevalent and being fought all around us. I for one do not want to be the Christian running to the field naked and without weapon. If I spent all my time anticipating the battle I would be cheating myself out of all the armor I could be reinforcing and sharpening. Battles are prepared and won in the days of training, armies enter ready to go. Often times because I didn't prepare myself, my deploy was even set back or canceled. I was eager and ready to go but because I sat around before hand my opportunity was taken from me, or when I tried to fight I was destroyed. It is foolish to think days spent in long winter nights are less effective than the summer days of roaring war. We can see these quiet long days as a gift to sharpen our sword, to solidify our prayer life, and simply fall deeper in love with Him. A.W. Tozer a very respected, and revered man amongst our group was entirely self-taught. He spent his long days in books, prayer, and diligent seeking after the Lord. Now we see the abounding fruits from his diligence. He didn't have the internet a button away, he didn't have electronic gadgets that bring up literally anything we wish to find. We have no excuse. Blessed are the days of waiting. The bugle horns will blow one day, and we will have the opportunity to see our Lord face to face and on that day He will not ask us what we did for Him, He will only ask, did you know Me?
