Wait Patiently

We have all been called by God. Some of us respond positively and when we do He takes what we have and starts to work with us. Jeremiah 29:11 says that we all have a hope and a future, an expected end. God has a plan for each or our lives, He has created us for the good works that He has already planned. We have all received the great commission to go and make disciples, to heal the sick, raise the dead and preach the good news. But what do we do when those things seem to be so far away from us and we are seemingly stuck in a rut and nothing appears to be working (I am choosing my words carefully)?

I am learning that these things take time, but not really that those things are taking time but God is taking time with us, to establish us, train us and equip us; learning to think as He thinks, do as He does and speak as He speaks. I have just watched all of the Star Wars films and in them the character called Anakin Skywalker is "the chosen one" but he is a real hot head, impatient, emotionally unstable and arrogant and, if you have watched the movies, you will know he tries to make things happen too quickly, too rashly and ends up going completely away from that which he was called to.

This is a real danger for the believer too, as I know for myself, but over the last few years God has shown me that to be content in Him in all things first is important. Waiting patiently for the Lord to establish His heart in us, transform us by the renewal of our mind, and seeking Him with all our heart so that His ways become our ways, His thoughts become our thoughts. Jeremiah 29:13,14 says we find Him when we seek Him with all our heart. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to reveal things that are to come but when He does it is not our responsibility to make those things happen. When God reveals our future to us, our vision, our "ministry" we need to take the attitude that Mary did and ponder these things in our heart, but keep the main thing the main thing, that is to seek first God's Kingdom and wait patiently for the Lord. I know that he will reveal the timing of all these things and when we walk with Him, those things will happen quickly.

We need to be ready, established, fixed and secure in Him and we need that time beforehand to spend with Him, seek Him, read the Word and let that become our guide and then we will be ready for the next thing. There is always time between the sowing and the reaping. If God has revealed your life to you, take a step at a time, seek Him with all your heart, wait patiently and allow Him to move you towards it. He equips the called. He doesn't call the equipped.

At the end of the films Anakin does fulfill His destiny but he takes a very long, hard route and is actually responsible for the suffering of a lot of other people on the way. I don't want to go that way and I am sure God doesn't want me to go that way either.