Stairway to Heaven - 13

Who is waiting on whom?

Part 13 of the series “Stairway to Heaven”

Previous posts are published on this blog.

Certainly your patience and perseverance are not needed because God is slow. Remember that He created the universe and all that is in it in six days,⁸⁰ and He “formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being.”⁸¹ You must be patient because He is waiting for you. Why you ponder, is He waiting for me when I am ready? Through God’s eyes, you are not ready. You do not see as God sees. You may know so little of His plan for you, and He has so much to reveal to you that it requires patience and perseverance on your part.⁸² 

           

But the LORD still waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for him to help them. ⁸³

“My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD.  “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” ⁸⁴

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”⁸⁵

Recall watching a child learn to walk or the training and conditioning that an athlete diligently pursues to reach his objective. Just when he thinks he has done “good enough,” his parent or coach pushes him further, refining his walk or performance, enhancing his ability to correctly respond to any situation he may encounter. The same is true of your Father, your Heavenly Coach, whose desire and joy is for you to persevere through every test, trial, and tribulation.⁸⁶ His desire is that you would put into action all the knowledge He has given you, the wisdom He granted when you asked,⁸⁷ and then…to wait patiently on Him.⁸⁸ His timing is perfect.⁸⁹ This is why He says, “Be still and know that I am God.”⁹⁰ 

            Would you rather have the All-Knowing God tell you when to jump, or yourself, feeling ready, but unbeknownst to you, you have yet to reach your destination; you are not on top of your target; your journey on this mission is not yet complete? Patience is a fruit of God’s Spirit, both a requirement for you to be and a reward for following the Spirit, climbing upwards on His Stairway to Heaven.   

But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us:  love, joy, peace, and patience… If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.⁹¹

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Praise to Our Father for the words He has given me. ~Jeff Cambridge

Written June 10, 2004

Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2016 by Jeff Cambridge, Stellar Rhema Ministry

Footnotes

All Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Verses marked NLT are Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version^®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of International Bible Society.  “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark office by International Bible Society. 

Stairway to Heaven - 13

81.   Genesis 2:7

82.   Ephesians 1:15-23, 3:1-13 NLT; 2 Timothy 2:7; James 1:4-5

83.   Isaiah 30:18 NLT

84.   Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT

85.   Jeremiah 29:11 NLT

86.   James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-8

87.   James 1:5, 22

88.   Psalm 27:14

89.   Isaiah 55:8-9

90.   Psalm 46:10

91.   Galatians 5:22, 25 NLT