what are you waiting for?
Many of us, (or maybe it’s just me and I’m hoping someone can relate), have been in a self-made waiting season. Maybe you keep putting things off and have all types of excuses. Sometimes you may even go as far as saying that you’re ‘waiting on God to move’.
Making up excuses for what God has already called you to do is the enemies greatest tool to delay you. Why? Because when God calls you to do something He will always empower you. Your excuse is subtly denying that God’s power is available to you right now. God will never call you to just say ‘Good luck!’ and leave you. He himself said He would never leave you nor forsake you, and that He would equip you.
Who else in the Bible had a tough time accepting the call and what was God’s response?
- Jeremiah gave the excuse that he was only a youth, but God said He already put the words in his mouth to speak. (Jeremiah 1:6-7)
- Gideon said he was the least of his tribe, but God said that He would be with him and even called him a mighty warrior. (Judges 6:12-16)
- Moses said he wasn’t eloquent, but God said He would help him to speak and would teach him what to say. (even yet, Moses still said nah) (Exodus 4:10-13)
I believe that all of these excuses have an underlying theme: Fear of failure
Fear of Failure: the persistent and irrational anxiety about failing to measure up to the standards and goals set by oneself or others
Having a fear of failure is an irony in a Christian’s life. Why? Because those are two things that do not and will never belong to God, or to you as a believer!
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
For with God nothing will be impossible.
Luke 1:37 NKJV
When you understand that God can never fail you, and that your hope in Him will never be put to shame, you will walk confidently in what He called you to do. No matter what it may look like, He will always see you through!
Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
John 5:3-7
When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
Last week I heard the story of the man at the pool about 3 times in a span of 7 days and after the 3rd time I was like oh no, hold on, is God is calling ME the man at the pool? The reality is, yes. I’ve been laying on my comfortable mat for years, giving excuses and watching people go ahead of me, when God has been called me to stand up!
8Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
John 5:8-9, 14
9Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking!
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14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”
Laying down for 38 years would normally cause your knees to be weak, but the man had an understanding to listen and obey. Stand knowing that God got you!
Picking and rolling up your mat could represent your old life, old habits, procrastination, or laziness, that keeps you bound to the floor and in a state of complacency.
Walking is stepping into all that God has for you in faith. This man hadn’t taken a step in 38 years, but he knew he was made well. It takes faith to know that every step is ordered by God.
Lastly, what I love is that Jesus found him in the Temple (John 5:14). Never forget where your healing or restoration came from, and who is sustaining you!
I hope this encourages you. If you are standing up, mat rolled, doing what God called you to do, keep trusting in Him and keep walking by faith! If you are like me, and you’re feeling convicted: stand up!!!
joy-full 