When we are waiting for the Lord to answer our prayers, we are to be doing so – patiently, but persistently.
Like an eagle that is waiting patiently for the new feathers to reappear, as they are growing stronger on the wings, so as to be able to mount up into the skies again; a waiting Christian is to be waiting also before the Lord.
Waiting patiently, but persistently on the Lord will take you into new heights, that you have never been before.
The time of waiting for an eagle allows the healing and restoration to take place for the new beak, the new claws and the new feathers. An eagle that has waited for the fullness of time to come, gets smarter than before in his hunting adventures and in the ability to do exploits in the skies.
David said about his own moment of waiting in the wilderness:
“I wait [patiently] for the Lord, my soul [expectantly] waits, And in His word do, I hope. My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; More than the watchmen for the morning.”
Psalms 130:5-6 AMP
David had said his prayers to the Lord here already. He now has to wait for the answer to come from God’s presence. But he had to wait patiently and expectantly.
The Prophet Habakkuk said as he also waited to hear from the Lord:
“I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.”
Habakkuk 2:1 NKJV
There was no need to rush out of the presence of the Lord for these two great men of God. They knew that they had everything to gain by waiting on the Lord right in His presence.
Every time we are waiting for the Lord to answer our prayers, He will often answer us with corrections, instructions or directions which are meant to discipline us, into following His ways of doing things for His Kingdom.
Everything that God does in our lives are meant for the expansion of His Kingdom here on the earth. No matter what it may be, He does it for the glorification of His name.
And He won’t answer without looking carefully at the intents and motives of every heart. He will never respond as human beings will often respond to our pleadings before them. He will first probe the heart that has cried out to Him. He will test the intentions of your heart before answering you.
That’s why we must be open at heart to become discipled by Him. Those who are rebellious to taking His corrections, will suffer in their rebellion.
They are not different from an eagle that refuses to wait, for the cycle of his healing, restoration and renewal of strength to be completed, before relaunching out into the skies.
A heart that is prepared and full of faith and expectancy while waiting, is what the Lord is looking for. God’s promises to us in His written word is what gives us the faith, that is patient and expectant in waiting. Anyone who is hoping in the word of God waits patiently for its fulfillment.
Jesus said:
“By your [patient] endurance [empowered by the Holy Spirit] you will gain your souls.”
Luke 21:19 AMP
An attitude of patient endurance that is empowered by the Holy Spirit, comes as we yield to be praying in the spirit (other tongues).
Praying in the spirit helps us to gain our souls, as we are standing before the Lord by faith. We of course are praying in the spirit and in the understanding; but our attitude must be with patient endurance (1 Corinthians 14:15).
We wait patiently with endurance, so that our renewed strength can fully be empowered by the Holy Spirit, as we are praying and waiting.
An eagle receives his strength back, by waiting for the right time to relaunch back into the skies. So also, does he receive the ability, to be able to do more than he had been doing before, by waiting to the end.
An expectant Christian who is waiting on the Lord, has to do what the watchman does by waiting on the top of a tower for the morning light to come.
A watchman waits patiently through the dark hours of the night, while expecting the darkness of the night to disappear by the morning.
Darkness flees when the morning comes.
The dark hours of the night are the most difficult times for the watchman to watch. Apart from not being able to have reliable visuals to be watching, the watchman struggles to keep alert and awake as he is waiting through the darkness of the night hours.
He can’t really do a lot in the darkness of the night, except to be looking out and listening for every sign of movements. He knows how to discern every sound and movement in the dark. He has trained to be a skillful watchman in the night.
A skillful prayer intercessor is like the watchman in the night. He has become skillful in prayer and intercession to recognize and discern, every sound and move of the evil one and the spiritual darkness around him.
He is skillful in dealing with every manipulation and trick of the devil through the darkness, especially when it’s difficult for others around him to easily detect the enemy.
He (as a prayer intercessor) is however aware through his past experiences in prayer and intercession, while waiting for the response of the Lord with thanksgiving that:
“ .. His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Psalms 30:5 NKJV
An effective prayer warrior has the attitude of the watchman through the night, who is waiting patiently for joy to come with the dawn of a new day.
And we all may have had moments like that in our lives, when we had to be waiting like the watchman through the night.
Dark moments in life when it seems as if nothing is happening after praying. These are the times when the Lord really expects us to be waiting.
He is working for you in the background. He may give you a glimpse into what is ahead of you, but He will not allow you to understand the whole picture of His doings, until the fullness of the time that He has set for you to inherit the promise comes.
Persistency in prayer as we are waiting causes God’s light, to begin to shine through our hearts in overcoming the darkness around us. Persistency in prayer at the moment of waiting gives your angels, something to keep working on while you are waiting.
If you are not being persistent in prayer while waiting, you are probably waiting for nothing. Your angels don’t have something to keep them engaged in the spiritual warfare on your behalf.
That’s why we don’t give in to complacency in prayer. The hosts of heaven can’t really do anything for you, if you are no more praying persistently. Without your spiritual engagement with them on the earth, they can’t do anything for you in the spiritual realm.
They do need your word of command, so as to be effective in working for you. It’s what you are saying with your mouth that empowers the angels on your behalf.
That’s why it’s better to not open your mouth to be speaking the things that may hurt you. The angels are watching your mouth and every one of your moves, as you are waiting.
They can only act on the basis of the words of the promise from the Lord to you, that’s coming out of your mouth. They want to hear you confessing them, because they are empowered to be engaged in the spiritual warfare with you, when you are confessing them.
They want to be in harmony with you as you are praying. But if your mouth keeps pulling you down, you will have yourself to blame.
Angels can’t go beyond what you are saying with your mouth (Hebrews 1:14).
That’s why it’s important to be speaking words, that are in harmony with the promises of God for your situation, as they are written in the holy scriptures.
Prayers that are based on the word of God, will therefore cause His light to shine through our hearts. We need to have faith in God’s Covenant promises to be able to pray in this way.
Faith in God’s Covenant promises is what gives substance to our prayers, for the things that we do hope for, to come to pass. Persistency in prayer is therefore a requirement for waiting for an answer before the Lord.
Jesus taught us to be persistent in prayer. And oftentimes the waiting time for the darkness to disappear, can be the most challenging for many people. It’s not everyone who has the patience to wait.
Many are often looking for a quick way out of the darkness. Of course no one wants to be in the darkness at all.
But the Lord wants His own children to go through those dark moments of their lives, with the faith which works through love; so that they will never have to be afraid of going through it again.
You will become so strong in your faith to the extent that, nothing which the devil throws at you will ever bother you again.
You will know exactly what to do in dealing with him at every moment. And in most cases, he will be in fear or dread of who you are in Christ Jesus.
The valley of the shadow of death.
The Psalmist said:
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Psalms 23:4 NKJV
The valley of the shadow of death is a place where no one wants to be in life. It is the place where the devil has some hold of that situation in your life.
But he can’t really stop you, for as long as you are not stopping yourself, as you are passing through it.
The valley of the shadow of death is meant to slow you down, and not necessarily to stop you.
The devil can’t stop you, but he will do everything possible to slow you down from advancing towards your goal in Christ Jesus.
The enemy is the one who always creates the valley of the shadow of death, to make people to become fearful of him.
And the moment anyone cave in to the fear of the shadow of death, the thoughts of death will attack his mind. Many do often commit suicide as a result of this.
That’s why you will often hear people say that they are afraid to die.
The devil has obviously projected the fear of death into their lives, which has produced the thoughts of death in their minds.
And as long as they are entertaining such thoughts about dying, they will eventually get what they are entertaining in their minds (Matthew 12:33-37).
Those who are stopping as they are passing through the valley of the shadow of death, are often faced with all kinds of temptation as they are passing through it.
The scripture says that we are to walk through it, and not be hanging out in it.
The children of light may be in the valley of the shadow of death for a moment, but they do know that the light will eventually shine through the valley, in showing them the way out of it.
God is there with you in the valley. Don’t stop! Keep on moving, because He will protect you as you are passing through it.
A shadow is a form of darkness, but it can’t do you any harm. And shadows are really the reflection of light on an object upon another surface.
In this case, the valley of the shadow of death is created by the devil to put fear in people.
The light of Christ is shining around you, but the evil one keeps projecting his shadows to prevent you from seeing that light.
Fear is the weapon of the devil which he uses, in attacking your faith in God’s Covenant promises; even while you are being comforted by the Holy Spirit, as you are passing through the valley.
The valley in the scripture text above symbolizes a form of abasement or degradation in life.
Have you ever been in a situation like this in your life, when people are degrading, abasing or belittling you as a child of God?
The experience is humiliating, especially when you have stopped walking through the valley.
If you are in the valley of life at the moment, you will need the right attitude for the Lord to be able to get you out of it.
The Bible says:
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,”
I Peter 5:6 NKJV
And again, the scriptures say:
“But He (God) gives more grace. Therefore, He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
James 4:6-8 NKJV
You surely will need to stay humbled, and never entertain pride as you’re passing through the valley. Pride is the direct opposite of humility.
Pride in the valley of the shadow of death leads always to self-destruction. Many people are being destroyed daily, because they have cultivated the wrong attitude in their spiritual valley.
You will also note in the second scripture texts above, that submission to God comes after we have humbled ourselves before Him.
It’s only after you have done these two things, that you can be effective in resisting the devil.
There are many who just like to resist the devil, without full and total submission to God’s word.
And if you are not in submission to the will of God (or His word) in your life, you can’t really be humbled.
It’s a sign of rebellion in many Christians. And that’s why they will often say that they had resisted the devil, but he is not fleeing away from them.
Well, the devil knows those who are in total submission to the word of God, and those who are not fully submissive; but who are just playing lip service to what the scriptures say.
And oftentimes it’s the pride of life that is preventing them from being submissive, and subsequently being humbled.
These are the ones who are often falling into temptations to do evil by the enemy.
When a Christian is submissive to the word of God and also humbled, in most cases the devil will flee away, before that Christian can even say anything to bind him.
The child of God who is submissive and humbled before the Lord is waiting on Him with expectancy. He knows that his time for the lifting up comes from the Lord alone.
And if you are patiently waiting for the Lord to lift you up, no one will ever be able to pull you down again.
An eagle on the mountain top that’s waiting for his healing, restoration and renewal process to be completed goes through this situation also.
Every day he looks at the skies. He knows that he belongs there, and not on top of the mountain.
But he has to wait for his time to come. And when the fullness of time comes for that eagle to start soaring again, he will do greater than he used to do before.
We however need to know that the light that is being projected comes from the Lord, to create life and not death while going through the valley.
The projection of light gives us life, if we will choose to abide in it. The light of His word gives us faith, and not fear.
The devil is the one who goes in between the projection of light to create shadows, in other to make people fearful with the shadow, which is a fake projection of the light.
The shadow is therefore a corruption of the light by the devil, to create fear in people as they are walking through the valley.
The shadow itself seems like darkness, but in reality, it’s only a shadow.
We can see here that, for everything that the devil projects, there is always a contradiction to it from the Lord.
When the enemy is creating fear, God has His opposite of it in His word to give us faith.
When the enemy is projecting the thoughts of death in the dark moments through your mind; God has His offer of life available to you through His Light:
“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”
John 8:12 NKJV
If you are following Jesus, you can’t be in the darkness. You will not be hanging out around the works of darkness at all.
Jesus said again:
“The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. People who do evil hate the light and won’t come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.”
John 3:19-21 CEV
The Lord actually expects us to pass through the shadow of the valley of death, and not to be living or fellowshipping with the works of darkness in it.
He doesn’t expect us to be in fear of the darkness, because He is right in the midst of it with us.
Neither does He expects you to just be sitting in the dark, without doing anything to get out of it.
Don’t just sit there doing nothing in the valley of the shadow of death.
Pray persistently, while being submissive to the authority of God’s word with humility of heart.
Then you can resist the devil effectively, while you wait for the Lord to lift you up.
Jesus said again:
“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
John 9:4-5 NKJV
Don’t just be waiting for the Lord while it is dark without doing something.
Persistency in prayer is what is important for you as you are passing through the valley.
Keep on praying without ceasing!
