What is the hardest, most needful thing to do?—waiting upon the Lord. Many people have been defeated because they didn’t know how to wait nor understand waiting upon God. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psalm 37:7). In your patience possess ye your souls (Luke 21:19). To wait patiently is to wait without complaint. As long as you complain, you are not really waiting upon the Lord; in fact, you’re not even in a place you can wait on Him. You may fool yourself, convince others you are waiting upon the Lord; but the Lord knows differently.

God’s waiting ground is comprised of total obedience. Some people, thinking they have been waiting upon the Lord for years, were never on true waiting ground. It has been very discouraging for them. With hearts deceived, spirits discouraged, down and out, they have not waited the way the Lord instructed. The Lord said to wait patiently, wait in obedience. Until you have the ability and the will to wait upon God without complaining, you are not on waiting or receiving ground.

Waiting is a two-way street: the Lord waits upon you, and you wait upon the Lord. How does God wait upon you?—patiently. Never does God ask more from you than what He will enable you to do. His miracles and care for you go far beyond your duties. He only requires an obedient spirit; He has sought it from man down through the years. In the Garden of Eden, He gave His best to man and woman so long as the spirit of complete obedience was manifested. Outside the Garden, He has done everything for totally obedient men, women, boys and girls that He could possibly do.

Wait in His Word

I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning (Psalm 130:5,6). The Psalmist is saying that he waits for the Lord in His Word, in His promises.

How do you wait? Do you wait upon the Lord in His promises? He has given you all the promises you need. Reach out, use those promises, live in those promises, breathe through those promises, look to God daily through those promises. View whatever God wants done only through His promises. Never look at your need through anything but the promises of God because if you look at only the need, you will not be in a condition to do all that God said for you to do in waiting upon Him.

Be calm in your waiting. The promises of God bring calm when you look through those promises. The task will seem too gigantic, the mountain too high, the ocean too deep, the wind too blustery, unless you see them through the promises of God.

I learned that I had to look at my need and the need of the ministry through His promises, keeping those promises ever before me. If I let God’s promises fade I sank, worry flooded in. “Oh my God, how is it going to work out?” I would cry. Then I would reach out again for the promises of God, lift them up, look through them. Through God’s promises I could see God’s answers.

Live by God’s promises and by God’s promises only. Living any other way than through the promises of God means God is not responsible for you. God is not accountable for anyone neglecting or refusing to accept His promises; but if you claim the promises of God, He takes responsibility for you. Only through holy living can you claim the promises of God, through obedient living, through humility before God and meekness in His presence.

Wait in His Courage

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord (Psalm 27:14). How will you wait?—in good courage. Where does good courage come from?—God. If you will take on the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Word, the Spirit of God’s promises of good courage, you will receive strength from the promises of God flowing into you. True strength and courage cannot be created within self; they must come from God.

Daily spend time in His presence. Rise up each morning to enter your prayer closet. Seek the presence of God as you prepare for the day ahead. A new day takes a new anointing to get self ready, new preparations. Just as you must care for the body daily you must care for the soul each day, too. The soul needs nourishment, care; it needs the anointing of God that comes from spending time in His presence to make the promises of God become fresh. If, however, you don’t use those promises through the anointing, even the wonderful promises of God seem stale, unusable. Spend time with the Lord, time to nourish the inner man, time to get the anointing of God.

It takes the anointing of God to enable you to dip out the promises of God from His Word and really use them with all the life, love, and faith that God placed in them for you to use. Only through the anointing can you use God’s promises.

How many times have you been guilty of taking a promise, trying to act on it before you were ready to use it? You didn’t really accept it; you didn’t make the most of it, for that promise seemed weak to you. It was not. You were the weak one. The promises of God are always strong. Take God’s promises with the great courage that comes from living in His presence. He furnishes you that courage each day, each night. It’s courage to walk ever onward, courage to trample devils underfoot, courage to go beyond human limitations, courage to know that the Lord is with you, courage to not let your heart be troubled nor afraid. Jesus saw the weaknesses of the disciples; He realized they didn’t have courage in time of trouble, in time of need, sorrow, and storm. He did His best to stand them upright and give them all the courage He possibly could; but it was in the Upper Room that the Comforter came, the anointing to continue the work of Jesus after He ascended back to Heaven.

Wait in His Power for Service: The Holy Ghost

The Holy Ghost took those in the Upper Room and began to speak through them in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. The power for service they needed was provided at Pentecost. They yielded totally, were filled with the precious Holy Ghost, and He began to use the promises of God through them, in their spirits, in their lives.

The Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell in hearts today just as He lived in the hearts of those in the Early Church. He is the One who knows how to use the promises of God, how to get everything needed from God through God’s promises. The Holy Ghost will help you when you give yourself to Him, but you must take time with the Spirit to let Him teach you daily.

God’s promises are so deep, so great, so fantastic that we need help just to claim each promise, help to allow the Holy Spirit to drop that claim into our hearts. Depend upon the Holy Spirit for that help. It isn’t enough to just open the Bible and read a promise; the Holy Spirit must turn that promise over and over again in your life, in your spirit until it becomes your strength, your hope, your courage, absorbed into heart and soul the way food is absorbed into your body. Through the Holy Spirit, the promises of God become a part of you, a reality.

Wait in Unwavering Faith

To wait upon God is to get ready for that which you need. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (Hebrews 10:23). How can you hold to the promises in the Bible if you don’t hold onto the faith of Jesus Christ? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6). Jesus brought faith to live and die by. Hold fast to that faith and don’t let go.

How many times have you let a promise of God slip away from you? How many times did you permit the devil to tell you that promise was not going to be fulfilled?

Because she didn’t wait upon the Lord, Sarah created much trouble, great problems that continue even today after thousands of years. God told her she would have a son, but as time passed she decided it wouldn’t happen. Sarah couldn’t believe God’s promise because her body had passed the childbearing years. She lost sight of the promise. “Abraham, why not have a son by my handmaiden, Hagar?” she suggested. It wasn’t what God had promised.

Abraham was different. Abraham waxed strong by looking at the promises of God. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform (Romans 4:20,21). Abraham looked at the promise, not at the age of Sarah and himself. You, too, must look at the promise if you expect God to move for you.

God views us through His promises. He promised salvation to us; He promised the blood to save us, the Crucifixion, the Atonement. He sees what we are and what we can be through His promises. God, seeing the sinner through the Atonement, knows that that sinner can be set free, can be made upright, holy, pure and clean.

Since God looks at us through His promises, we ought to look at whatever is needed through His promises, also. His promises cannot be destroyed—they are like God Himself, just as strong, just as faithful—and the Lord will strengthen with His promises all who wait upon Him. God has promised.

Through Jesus Christ you have come into the family and the great faith of God. Let not your faith waver at any time, but…ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord (James 1:6,7). Unwavering faith tells you that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is in your life, for you are born of the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost baptism is a promise from the Lord; when you are baptized in Him, you have power from On High that brings with it the faith of Jesus Christ, the faith of His blood, His atonement, His resurrection, His ascension back to Heaven. You have all of His faith held out to you.

Deliverance from sin and sickness is in His faith, strength to defeat the power of the devil in all ways. Hold unwaveringly to that which He promised.

How often have you wavered? You will find where your trouble lies in accepting God’s promises if you check the times and places you have wavered. God is not to blame when His promises go unfulfilled in your life; you are the one to blame; you let your faith waver.

Wait: The Vision Will Speak

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 (Habakkuk 2:3). God here is telling you about a waiting period. Whatever He has promised by vision, by Word has a waiting period. When God tells you something, it may not happen for some time. Wait upon the Lord. The vision is yet for an appointed time. Though it tarry, wait for it because it will surely come. As long as you are moving in God’s direction, as long as you are stepping on the promises of God daily, you need not worry. When you fail, however, when you do not live the way He told you to live, you are in trouble. But as long as you walk with Him you have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. It isn’t for you to bring about the time of the vision; God will bring it about. It isn’t for you to do everything; God is your partner, and God will take care of the impossibilities. You are to do the possible. It is your duty to accept what God has told you, to believe that what God has said He will bring to pass. The vision will speak and not lie. Wait for it.

Every time God has told man to wait, He meant wait patiently. Wait with great calm in the promises of God. Never wait upon God without waiting in His promises. It will surely come to pass when you wait in faith believing, if you wait God’s way.

Many have simply not waited for the promise to be fulfilled. They thought it would be fulfilled the next day, the next week; but preparation was required, and they had not prepared. Instead, they grumbled, complained, doubted, feared and thought they had misunderstood God. They gave up.

You will never get anywhere with God by giving up. When God tells you something, whether through His Word or in a vision talking to you, hold on to it because it is life. Wait upon that Word, that vision, that promise to be fulfilled. You know that if God gave it, it will be fulfilled. Settle the question in your mind once and for all at the start. God either said it or He didn’t. Establish the fact in your heart that God’s promises cannot be changed. God’s promises are like Him, infallible. The devil knows that since he cannot destroy God’s promises he must work on destroying your faith in those promises and your obedience to them. If he can destroy your faith, he has won.

In your spirit of humility, of yielding, of giving over to God, God can perform. But unless your spirit yields to these requirements, God cannot bring His promises to pass.

God expects complete faith; God expects man to be obedient without demanding a blueprint of God’s schedule. The fulfillment of the promise will transpire in God’s time; and you must wait for it, in tune with His timetable through the Holy Spirit. Don’t think God’s answers are coming by your time unless God definitely tells you so. If God says He is coming to you at 12:00 on Tuesday, He will be there at the appointed time and place. Unless He gives you that specific appointment, however, you wait by faith, by His love-time, His wisdom-time, by His knowledge-time, His caring-time. The promise will come in His time, and you must wait upon Him.

By Faith Noah Prepared an Ark While God Waited

Noah could have had a nervous breakdown waiting for the flood while he was working on the ark, but he knew God would give him time to finish his work before God destroyed the people of the earth. Noah had all the preparation time needed. God always gives all the time needed to prepare for His promise.

In specifying exactly how the ark was to be built, God was aware that it would take an obedient people to follow His instructions; and the obedient of that day were very scarce indeed. God waited on obedient Noah, and Noah waited on God. Had Noah looked at the disobedient, at those failing God, he would have become discouraged; but with faith, his eyes were fixed on the promises of God. Without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house (Hebrews 11:6,7).

To believe that God is really God you must accept everything the Bible says. God has told you what He is like, who He is. We would have no concept whatsoever of God had He not given it. Accept what God has said about Himself; accept this Book to be all truth.

The Lord tells us in Jeremiah 32:27, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me? In verse 17 Jeremiah says, Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Again and again in the Bible we read of God’s great strength, His mighty power to edify or to destroy, to build up or tear down. God showed His power, manifested it again and again. Now you have the opportunity to make up your own mind: Is He the God of the heavens, is He the God of the whole universe, did He speak this universe into existence? Job saw Him as Almighty God, and he wrote, He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them (Job 26:7,8).

Israel Couldn’t Wait

When Moses returned to Egypt to bring out the Hebrews, it seems they would have been eager to come with him. Not so. Instead of waiting in the presence and promises of God, they had turned to other gods. A few of the people still believed the promises of God, but the nation as a whole did not wait. God had problems getting them ready to walk away from slavery. Then after Moses guided them out of Egypt, they would not wait upon the Lord to take them into the Promised Land. Even that fantastic miracle at the Red Sea failed to convince the Israelites to wait forty days and nights for Moses while he was receiving the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai.

There are those who claim they would believe God if they could see somebody grow an arm or a leg. I doubt it. People who refuse to believe God’s Word usually refuse to believe God when He reveals Himself in signs, wonders, miracles and healings. The Israelites saw the amazing wonders and greatness of God all around them, but they would not accept God. They refused to wait, to go God’s way, to move as God wanted; they would not wait for the Ten Commandments, for God. God had waited over four hundred years on them, but they couldn’t wait forty days and nights for God. Unless you want to yield to God, no matter what God does, God cannot help you. You must yield to God. The Israelites proved that.

Fruits of the Spirit: Our Waiting Room

What kind of patience do you have? Jesus came, making it possible for us to be fully equipped to wait upon the Lord in the fruits of the Spirit. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22,23). These fruits are our waiting room. In the midst of the nine fruits of the Spirit you have everything you need to fully equip you, to seek and receive from God all things needed. In this waiting room of the fruits of the Spirit, you have everything to condition you for waiting; but if you don’t use what God has provided, God cannot help you. Like a ship without a sail, you have no direction without the fruits of the Spirit. No child of God has direction without the Holy Spirit. Why try to be a child of God if you are not willing to be led by the Spirit of God? Refusing to be led and directed by the Spirit is refusing to walk with God.

What people call waiting upon God is not waiting at all if they are not waiting in love, in joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, in the gentleness of the Spirit of God, in goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. When they won’t yield to the fruits of the Spirit, the promises again and again are not fulfilled. Then, instead of doubting themselves and placing the blame where it rightfully should be—on self and the devil—they blame God. Like children claiming they had done everything they were supposed to, they in reality had left much undone.

The Vision We Have Waited for Is Speaking Now

Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield (Psalm 33:20). This is where the calm comes from—knowing that God is your help, your shield, instead of letting fear take you over. God told me to come to Akron and establish a work for Him; He even told me the site on which to build the Cathedral. Establish a work for Him in Akron, He said, and then He would send me to the nations. I didn’t know it would take so many years to develop a work strong enough to help take the Gospel to the whole world in this final hour. I thought I would just raise up a work in Akron for a short while and then go on. But that wasn’t God’s plan. Some of my workers weren’t even born when the Lord told me about this work; some were just children. They had to be trained, made ready. It wasn’t easy to wait; I had to look at the promises of God again and again. But the vision is now talking.

My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him (Psalm 62:5). Do you wait only on the Lord, or do you ignore Him in looking for a human hand to take care of you? Do you seek only human help rather than seeking God for the answer? Do you look upon Him as your expectation? Do you recognize Him as the great One, the mighty One, your sufficiency, the One with all your help?

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Keep your eyes on the One who will supply all your need; wait upon Him. He is your expectation.

More Than Conquerors, Partakers of Christ Wait upon the Lord

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end (Hebrews 3:14). How are you made a partaker of Christ?—by holding to the faith that you received in the beginning when you were saved, the faith that brought you into this greatness of the Lord. Hold on to your confidence in the Atonement, the Resurrection, the baptism in the Holy Ghost, in the faith of Jesus. If you hold that faith you have received, if you have confidence in your Lord and are steadfast in the Word unto the end, you are made a partaker of Christ. To partake of Him means partaking of all His love, faith, joy, peace, strength, gentleness, goodness—all of Him. He gave Himself completely for the human race; and you can be a partaker of Him, child of God, of all He has made available to you.

Partake of Him daily; reach out and serve yourself of Him. Then you have that joy, that courage, that strength, that determination to be the overcoming child of God that He wants you to be. There is no defeat in Jesus Christ. You are a winner when you are in Him.

Jesus is there to serve you all of Him. Some of you are depressed because you never allow Jesus to serve Himself to you. Perhaps you believed those who said you could have only a tiny part of Jesus, just enough to get you into Heaven. You didn’t learn you could have enough of Him to make you more than a conqueror every day. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us (Romans 8:37). To be more than a conqueror means you conquer every devil that comes your way with plenty of power left over. Partaking of all of Jesus, you possess even more victory, more strength, more power to defeat the devil than is required. Do you feel you don’t have enough of the power of God? Are you full of doubt and fear? You’re not waiting in the promises of God. Jesus offers you enough power to bury any fear, any misgiving, any tormenting problem so deep in the promises of God that they will never be heard from again.

Jesus has given Himself for you and to you. His giving didn’t end on Calvary; He completely gives Himself daily for you, the whole Jesus for you every day, every hour, every moment. Jesus proved to man and the devil who and what He was and what He was able to do. Jesus not only defeated the devil, He gave you power to keep him defeated. Through Jesus you are served what you need to conquer the devil daily.

You won’t overcome the enemy by grumbling and complaining. The Israelites grumbled themselves right out of the land of Canaan, out of the blessings of God. Their actions proved they weren’t waiting on the Lord. If you are waiting upon the Lord, it is evident daily. That smile, that happiness, that strength shines out. But if you are not waiting upon the Lord, His promises have become dead to you, buried beneath doubt, fear, frustration. You are not looking to the promises of God. Dig down through everything that would stand between you and Jesus. He is your foundation. Build on that solid foundation of God’s promises. Some of you have built on the sand without digging down to the solid foundation which is Christ Jesus, forming a basic weakness that has caused you much distress. Every little storm that blows in makes you wonder if your house is going to stand. Build on the true foundation, Jesus; partake of all of Him and have the assurance that your house will weather any storm.

Wait; Let Him Establish Your Goings

You have a work to do. If you expect to be happy while waiting to go to Heaven, keep busy with His work. Are you content doing the will of the Lord? Is it a joyful walk that you have? Do you rejoice that the Lord is ready to serve all of Himself daily to you, every bit necessary? There is no lack on His part to serve you; if there seems to be, know that the lack is in you. Your strength, your faith, love, understanding, your ability to reach out to God are weak.

I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings (Psalm 40:1,2). Let the Lord mold and make you into a vessel He can use, one that will endure trouble, sufferings, persecutions and still wait calmly on the Lord, saying, “All is well!” But “All is well” won’t work for you when it’s only lip service, when fear is stronger than faith. Only when you can say “All is well” in the faith of God will it establish your goings, calm your sea. You’re steadfast, unmovable in that promise; nothing can turn you around.

When you partake of all of Jesus, the devil has no more chance of defeating you than he has of defeating Jesus. In fact, he would have to destroy Jesus before he could destroy you. Know who you are; take your place in the Lord.

Learn the great, wonderful benefits that come from waiting upon the Lord. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him (Psalm 37:7) How can you rest in the Lord? You rest in His promises, of course. Is your life a living nightmare? Does the devil torture and torment you until you think your boat is sinking? Does your mind have room for nothing but troubles? Are you so burdened you feel like a walking zombie? Be a real partaker of Jesus; let Him establish your goings. Stop saying, “I’m in trouble.” Say, “Jesus, you took full responsibility for me and my troubles. I turned myself, my life, my everything over to you. I’m depending upon you, Jesus, completely on you, not on self or others, but only you, Lord. You said to cast my cares on you, and casting I am. I’m throwing them all upon you, Lord, because I know you’re more than able to take care of them.”

They That Wait Shall Mount Up Like the Eagle

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). You can believe with this verse, hope with it, walk, live, dine with it. This verse is worth more than a mountain of silver and gold; it is priceless. How do you wait upon the Lord?—without grumbling, without complaining. With your whole will, your whole being turned over to God, you wait. Not my will, but thine be done, oh Lord!

The Lord will renew your strength when you wait upon Him, helping you to mount up with wings as the eagles, soaring from mountain to mountain. You will run and not be weary, walk and not faint.

The Lord is your help; the Lord is your high tower. Wait upon the Lord; He listens to your every word and tells you to delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass (Psalm 37:4,5). The eye of the Lord is upon you to do you good. He will never leave you nor forsake you; He is with you all the way. Wait for the Lord; your soul doth wait and in His Word you do hope. In His Word put your trust, in His Word. Rest your case in His Word because you are willing to embrace His will for your life. Be willing to accept any paths He wants you to travel, to do anything He wants you to do, to spend and be spent, to present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him daily. Rest your case in His promises.

Do you have any mountains you want to tunnel through? Partake of Jesus and you can. Are there any rivers in your life you think are impassable? Partake of Jesus—all of Him—and you can cross. No matter how gigantic the problem or the projects might be, no matter what God has called on you to do, you can overcome by being a partaker of your Lord, your Savior. You are complete in Jesus. In Him you have everything you need; there is no lack in Jesus. If something is complete, there is nothing to be added or taken away. Paul said we are complete in Him, complete in Jesus.

They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up. They that wait upon the Lord will have their strength renewed. They that wait upon the Lord will have all things needed daily. They that wait upon the Lord will be victorious. They that wait upon the Lord in His Word will not grumble nor complain; they will find no fault in Him. They that wait upon the Lord will renew their courage and strength because they know He keeps His promises; He keeps His Word. He is God and there is none other. He is the beginning, the end and all in between. He is our Lord.

I waited upon the Lord. Again and again He renewed my strength. I waited upon Him and He made my paths plain, made impossibilities possible. I waited upon Him and He brought sunshine at midnight, restored health and strength to my sick body, and brought joy to my darkest valley and peace to my stormy heart. He brought it. I waited upon the Lord.

Have you waited? Waiting is the hardest and the most needed thing to do. Have you failed to wait in His promises, in His love, in His humility? How have you waited? In despair, frustration, looking at the turmoil around you? Have you waited caught up with the deceit of your enemies and what they were doing to you? The Lord told us to not fret because of evil doers and deceivers. Don’t even look at them. Look at the promises. When you look at God’s promises you always see Him. You cannot separate God from His promises.

Have you waited without results? Why not ask God to help you today? God helped me to know what it meant to really wait, to prepare myself each day for the waiting, to rise up early and talk to the Lord, to be anointed by the Lord, to have my mind pure and clean, my ears open only to the Holy Spirit and closed to anything that would hinder and make me weak or prone to doubt God and His Word.

Have you been sick or afflicted for a long time? The Lord can end that waiting period now as you yield to Him. Give yourself into the hands of God and wait upon Him. You can only wait upon God when you are in His hands.

You who are sick and afflicted, why not let the Lord heal you today? Perhaps you thought you were waiting on Him when you really were waiting on a theory of man that says God doesn’t heal today, or that it isn’t God’s will to heal you. Step into His waiting room, into all of His promises. He is saying, “I am the Lord that healeth thee!” Lord, I bring the sick and afflicted to you, those who will accept your will for them. It is your will for them to be healthy; it is your will for them to be delivered from sickness as well as from sin. From your gift of miracles, from your gifts of healing it comes in the name of your Son Jesus. Heal, heal, heal in the name of the Lord!

God wants you to wait upon Him in His faith, love, wisdom and knowledge, and most of all His promises. Learn to wait upon the Lord for all the promises to be fulfilled for you. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint (Isaiah 40:31).

The hardest, most needful thing to do is waiting on the Lord.