I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.
—Psalm 130:5
Waiting! It’s a big part of our everyday lives, and most of us don’t particularly enjoy it…or have time for it. Especially busy people who usually have way more to do in a day than they can possibly accomplish! But I can tell you from experience that our attitude about waiting can make all the difference in the world.
Like the Israelites who spent forty years making an eleven-day trip, I was stuck in a modern-day wilderness of my own. I had many wrong attitudes that contributed to the prevention of my progress, but one of the major roadblocks for me was an impatient attitude that made me want to scream: “Please don’t make me wait for anything. I deserve everything immediately!” I had a long and interesting journey before I learned that waiting is part of our walk with God. We will wait—that is a given—but it is how we wait that determines how difficult the wait will be.
When you arrive for an appointment with your doctor or dentist, you have to wait your turn. The first thing the receptionist tells you is, “Please have a seat while you’re waiting.” Being seated indicates that a person is resting, and that’s exactly what we should do, both in the doctor’s office and in the wilderness experiences of our lives. While we’re waiting for God to do the things that we asked for Him to do, we should rest in Him.
Another attitude that prevented me from making progress was “I will do it my way or not at all.” This stubborn attitude is one that many people have to deal with. If it is not dealt with, the Promised-Land living becomes a blurry image and never a reality—something we see off in the future but never experience.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. When we are serious about making some changes in our attitudes and allow the Holy Spirit to help us, we can take a shortcut through the wilderness instead of going the long way around!
Trust in Him: Having a good attitude in a trying situation is at least 90 percent of the battle. There will always be trials in life, but as we trust God and continue to do what He is showing us to do, we will always come out victorious.
Playing with the Boxes
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16–18
I think almost all of us who are parents or grandparents know the painful truth—sometimes the kids like playing with the box the toy came in more than playing with the toy. No matter how long we looked for the perfect gift, how carefully we planned the order in which the packages would be opened to lead up to the big moment, no matter how popular the toy is supposed to be, the child looks at it for a moment, and then picks up the box and goes to town. The child may be having a great time, but it just doesn’t feel right to us when we wanted the focus to be on the gift we provided.
Christmas is the celebration of the greatest gift in all of human history—God Himself coming to earth. But too many times we lose sight of that gift with all of the other things taking place around us. Trees and lights and traditions and gatherings are all wonderful, unless they take our focus off what is truly important. Peter warned of the danger of forgetting what matters most. “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). Make sure your Christmas this year is filled with more than just the boxes—keep your eyes on the great gift of God’s Son, our Saviour.
2 Corinthians 4:16–18
I think almost all of us who are parents or grandparents know the painful truth—sometimes the kids like playing with the box the toy came in more than playing with the toy. No matter how long we looked for the perfect gift, how carefully we planned the order in which the packages would be opened to lead up to the big moment, no matter how popular the toy is supposed to be, the child looks at it for a moment, and then picks up the box and goes to town. The child may be having a great time, but it just doesn’t feel right to us when we wanted the focus to be on the gift we provided.
Christmas is the celebration of the greatest gift in all of human history—God Himself coming to earth. But too many times we lose sight of that gift with all of the other things taking place around us. Trees and lights and traditions and gatherings are all wonderful, unless they take our focus off what is truly important. Peter warned of the danger of forgetting what matters most. “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Peter 1:9). Make sure your Christmas this year is filled with more than just the boxes—keep your eyes on the great gift of God’s Son, our Saviour.
Today’s Growth Principle:
If our hearts are set on what matters eternally, our Christmas will be focused on the things of God.
Please Don’t Make Me Wait!
by Joyce Meyer - posted December 02, 2016I wait for the Lord, I expectantly wait, and in His word do I hope.
—Psalm 130:5
Waiting! It’s a big part of our everyday lives, and most of us don’t particularly enjoy it…or have time for it. Especially busy people who usually have way more to do in a day than they can possibly accomplish! But I can tell you from experience that our attitude about waiting can make all the difference in the world.
Like the Israelites who spent forty years making an eleven-day trip, I was stuck in a modern-day wilderness of my own. I had many wrong attitudes that contributed to the prevention of my progress, but one of the major roadblocks for me was an impatient attitude that made me want to scream: “Please don’t make me wait for anything. I deserve everything immediately!” I had a long and interesting journey before I learned that waiting is part of our walk with God. We will wait—that is a given—but it is how we wait that determines how difficult the wait will be.
When you arrive for an appointment with your doctor or dentist, you have to wait your turn. The first thing the receptionist tells you is, “Please have a seat while you’re waiting.” Being seated indicates that a person is resting, and that’s exactly what we should do, both in the doctor’s office and in the wilderness experiences of our lives. While we’re waiting for God to do the things that we asked for Him to do, we should rest in Him.
Another attitude that prevented me from making progress was “I will do it my way or not at all.” This stubborn attitude is one that many people have to deal with. If it is not dealt with, the Promised-Land living becomes a blurry image and never a reality—something we see off in the future but never experience.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. When we are serious about making some changes in our attitudes and allow the Holy Spirit to help us, we can take a shortcut through the wilderness instead of going the long way around!
Trust in Him: Having a good attitude in a trying situation is at least 90 percent of the battle. There will always be trials in life, but as we trust God and continue to do what He is showing us to do, we will always come out victorious.
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