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; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Memory Verse: For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. James 1:3.
Recently I have found myself doing a lot of thinking about the promises of God and how they come to manifestation. In yesterday’s devotional, we studied how to experience the blessing of God and while you may think you are currently doing everything towards the fulfillment of that promise, sometimes things are not just as straightforward because they just don’t happen immediately. Even though God may have made you a promise of the blessing, and continue to bless you along the way like we see He did with Abraham and Ishmael, there still seem to be delays to getting to the fulfillment of God’s promised in our lives.
If you just received a promise from God, you are in a good place because first you have communicated with God and He has responded back to you. In light of that, consider yourself as part of His privileged children but also remember you are only still hovering at the initial phase. Just before you begin to get discouraged, let’s look at three people in the bible who were promised really great things, people like Abraham, Joseph and King David whose stories are very familiar.
Abraham was promised descendants as numerous as the starts in the sky Genesis 15:4-5, it’s important to note that at this time, Abraham had no child yet but he believed God and that minute God counted him as righteous Genesis 15:6. Joseph the son of Jacob had a dream when he was just a little boy and in that dream, the Lord showed him his future Genesis 37, King David was anointed by prophet Samuel as instructed by God when David was just a boy and while King Saul was actively on the throne, 1Samuel 16:1-13.
There is one thing all these people had in common; God spoke to them one way or another but from that initial conversation or promise, they had a long way to go through fulfillment.
That journey from God’s promises to fulfillment is not intended to destroy your faith in God but to strengthen your physical, spiritual and mental state of mind whiles learning a lot of skills needed when you hit fulfillment phase.
Few days ago I shared a status on my mobile the minute it dropped on my mind “Your waiting phase is your learning phase”. Yes, you are in phase 3 of a 5 phase journey towards receiving and sustaining the blessing of God. This phase is necessary because it builds your faith. This is your one-time opportunity to learn and grow before you get to fulfillment and your reaction and behavior in this phase will determine if you will be able to maintain and live with the blessing of God or loose it completely.
STAGES
1. Communication
2. Response
3. Waiting
4. Fulfillment
5. Maintenance or Loss
Whiles some people don’t have to wait at all, they may be just where God wants them to be for the blessing but if you are one of the few waiting on God, see it as a blessing and before you say you don’t know how I feel about how long you have been waiting, remember the more we focus on the wait itself, the longer it looks and becomes. This is because instead of learning that which God is trying to teach us, we are focusing on why he’s taking us through what we assume is suffering.
The way Abraham, Joseph and David handled their waiting phase did not only impact them but the blessing impacted their generation. Would you rather rush and enjoy a blessing for just you or wait for fulfillment of the blessing for your generation?
There is a set time for your waiting phase(delay), are you learning and growing or are you whiling away time? Once you pass this phase into fulfillment, do you think you will be able to maintain the blessing of God or you will loose it? King Solomon lost it for His generation 1Kings 11:11, Samson lost it Judges 16:20 and Moses lost it too Numbers 20:12.
Jesus promised His disciples the Holyspirit before His death according to John 14:15-17 but before ascending, He commanded them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holyspirit to empower them for the journey ahead Acts 1:4-8. God has always been known to fulfil all his promises and yours will not be an exception, Ezekiel 12:38 but are you truly ready for fulfillment phase?
PRAYERS:
- Father I am grateful for your grace and endless promises
- I receive the grace to trust in your promises totally and wait patiently until my fulfillment comes
- Forgive all my ingratitude Lord, let me from today be absolutely appreciative and bless others from what you have blessed me with
- Forgive me all my sins O Lord and let your mercy prevail over judgement
- Thank you Lord for answers to prayers, in Jesus name I pray, Amen.
