Waiting

"I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high" Luke 24:49

We have a big problem in the world today; we do not know how to wait. This has been going on for a long time, it is not a new problem, and it just seems to get worse instead of better. If we want something we want it now, not tomorrow or the next day we want it now. There are times though we have to wait.

When Jesus was on the earth, he had told his disciples that God would send the Holy Spirit to them after Jesus was gone. After Jesus rose from the dead on Easter morning, he had several meeting with his disciples over the next 50 days. During these meeting with the disciples after the resurrection the Scripture says that the disciples were to stay in Jerusalem until as Luke says, ".....you have been clothed with power from on high." In other words wait. Wait for God's timing of this power to come to you.

The disciples did as Jesus told them and they waited until God sent the Holy Spirit to them and empowered them to be the witnesses of Jesus Christ. The waiting could not have been easy on them, but they trusted Jesus knew what was best for them, and so they waited. The result of this waiting was the Holy Spirit filling them and empowering them to start the church on the day of Pentecost.

What would have happened if the disciples would not have waited in Jerusalem and left instead? Would the church have been started then? Would God have used different people to start it? We do not have to even explore these questions since the disciples did stay and waited.

At the same time, I think that we need to reflect on our own lives and ask the question have we waited when God has spoken to our hearts and tells to wait ".....until you have been clothed with power from on high."

In looking at my own life there are a few times that I have not waited for the Lord to move and I got out in front of the Lord. I was not clothed with the power from on high and had to fight my way thought some things instead of doing things in God's timing.

I think that waiting takes practice and we don't want to practice waiting. The disciples as they waited for the power from on high were not just doing nothing; they were meeting together and praying, studying and fellowshipping with one another. They were building one another up for the task to come of going and changing the world.

May our prayer be that we can wait like the disciples for the world needs a change in it today just as it did when the disciples waited.

Blessings,

Barron Willer