' Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.' Isa 40:28-31
If the determinate length of our waiting actually predetermines the size and passion of His answer, then perhaps that explains why true revival has evaded most of the church. We know that passion will cause the heart of the Father to do things that otherwise He wouldn't do, but holy desperation may even move Him more!
Why did God use the word wait? If you think about it, the closest thing we have to a "god in a hurry" is the prideful angel who pretended to be God and was ushered out of heaven "in a hurry." The true God is never in a hurry and He is never late. If anything, time bends to match His pace and not the other way around.
The closest thing to "rushing" we should experience is the rush to kneel before Him when He manifests His glory among us and the rush to obey His commands. In these situations, tardiness may indicate a weakness of love or a lack of wisdom. Any other hurrying may indicate our schedule is out of control or even under the subtle influence or driving pressure of the "would-be god in a hurry" known as the Adversary.
What is the pace of your prayer and worship life? Do you rush through your worship and prayer times and then anxiously await an immediate reply? Why is it important to wait on God when seeking His face for a long-term visitation?
If our waiting upon divinity has value in God's eyes, perhaps our passion for Him has ab even greater impact on His heart. Look at the children of Israel suffering under Egyptian bondage in the Old Testament and noted:
Yet the day came when things got so bad that the people uttered a different kind of cry. This cry had a cutting edge of desperation that possessed the power to cut through the brassy heavens over Egypt and capture the heart of God! That was when He allowed Moses to "catch" Him at the burning bush, and announced, "I heard their cry, so I came down to deliver them out and bring them up."
Have you ever stumbled across the secret key of desperate prayer from the heart, only to be surprised by the swiftness and power of God's reply? Was it manipulation on your part or anticipation of Divinity to answer your cry and meet your need?
Persistence is one of the legitimate forms of "waiting" on God. Many believers in previous generations called it "praying through." Isaiah the prophet called it "waiting on God." Most of us today who have experienced it call it a combination of pure desperation, dogged determination, and holy perspiration. This is the tool the widow used to unlock the hardened will of the heartless judge in Jesus' parable to the disciples. It is the bombshell of a broken heart that Hannah unleashed on heaven from the dim chambers of the tabernacle where Eli the priest presided. It is the essence of the high priestly prayer Jesus poured out to heaven as a drink offering of desperation, sacrifice, and obedience to the Father in the face of death. It is the cry God cannot deny.
Have you ever persevered in prayer until heaven came down to earth? Are you prepared to pray until the foundations of your prison shake and every chain encircling your neighborhood just drop away? Will you become a persistent Hannah on behalf of a nation in need of deliverance? (You may have to pray until the unexpected fires of revival are ignited-and then give it all back to God without taking the credit.)
I believe there are unused keys of power and divine access lying on the dusty shelves of the church that we have forgotten about. Desperate passion of worship or the painful cries of crisis are going to unlock the heavens for somebody …
Frankly it is uncommon for the modern church to press through to this level of divine access. Perhaps it is because a good number of us can barely stomach a seventy-minute prayer meeting, much less a seven- or ten-day interval of intense prayer, worship, or fasting
What Do You Think?
I believe there are unused keys of power and divine access lying on the dusty shelves of the church that we have forgotten about. Desperate passion of worship or the painful cries of crisis are going to unlock the heavens for somebody. Most of the time, we just say, "Wonder where those keys are?" It is time for us to perceive and seize the secret keys to the heart of God
1. What do you think? If God gave someone the keys long ago, why would they misplace or discard them?
2. What are you going to do now that you've rediscovered some of those keys of privileged access to the heart of God?
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