Waiting Upon the Lord – Part 2
Dr. Pradeep Stephen

Glory be to God! Thank you for joining us for part 2 of the series, Waiting upon the Lord! May the Lord bless you, as you listen!

            When we transcend the human material experience by being alone with God; and that could mean sitting like David before the Lord, kneeling before Him, looking at Him with our spiritual eyes and saying Lord, “I gaze upon your beauty. Who is like unto You? Lord, if You are like this, then what is there that You cannot do for me, if You are the Creator?” And we then just worship Him and we commit that thing into his hands that we need. As I said it could be, it could very well be spiritual transformation. We might say to the Lord, “Lord, I want to be more committed to You. I am waiting on You for that. Lord, I want to be more zealous for You. Lord, I don’t want to have a weakened faith. I want to exercise my faith and I am trusting You to help it grow as I do my part. But I am depending upon You.” That’s what waiting on the Lord means. Depending upon Him.
Like the eagle almost being oblivious to time and space. We don’t regard time. We don’t regard the material properties, like Abraham. He didn’t regard the time period chronologically that he was beyond the age of bearing. The eagle transcends beyond the usual altitudes in experience. The Christian, who believes in God, who waits upon Him; transcends and mounts up with wings like eagles, high above his problems, high above all of his limitations because he is trusting in God with Whom all things are possible. So, we triumph also in the end, because like the eagle, once the vigor is renewed, the youth is revitalized; it’s able to see sharper, fly higher and look down, and see the prey and with a renewed vigor get the prey.
For us, when we are seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus, as we are waiting upon Him in the spiritual realm - we are praying, we are trusting, we are not looking to ourselves, we are not looking at the things that are blocking the vision; we are looking straight at the Lord. And like David we are sitting there before Him, we are waiting upon Him. We will get the answer from God. We will obtain the prize. We will obtain the deliverance. But it takes for us to know God is doing something in us also. Amen! It is not only I am doing this so I can get this from God, some blessing, but through the process God is helping me to die to myself. He is changing me.
It’s only when I die to myself that the renewal takes place. That God gives the new victory, new talents, everything that only He can give in His presence. So, like the eagle; when I triumph, then I will know that waiting on the Lord is something that has brought me to the state that I am in now. It’s only waiting upon the Lord. And so, it is in existence that is saying to God and to the world, “I believe God, I believe Him. Regardless of what people may say or what my flesh may feel, what the world may declare; I believe God and that’s it.” And even if like Abraham, it took 25 years for the promise to come; he held on strong in faith. We too when we wait upon the Lord like that, the promise will come. That which is in the supernatural realm is going to come and materialize in the physical realm; where I am in the body.
Job said something like that. He said, “In my flesh, I will see God, with these eyes.” And Job will see the Redeemer because he believed. Even though, it’s the oldest book in the Bible, some say, story of Job; nonetheless, even though, some over 3 millennia have passed; still we know because he trusted in the Lord, he waited on God and he still believes; he is going to see the Lord Jesus on the earth when He comes back. So everything that we hold and commit to the Lord and we hold God responsible for our blessing, and we say, “Lord, I am coming near you to trust in you;” God will perform it.
“They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles.” The believer is going to begin to soar because he is shut in the secret place. God is imparting spiritual renewal all the time. It’s not a period of dead activity, there is a spiritual activity going on; on the person's part and also on God’s part. On the person’s part, they are actually actively trusting in the Lord. They are trusting in God and they are saying to God, “Lord, You are worthy to be trusted.” And they are saying, “God, my strength is no means to obtain this blessing. I can’t do it; this is impossible in the human realm.” And God comes through. Or it may be something that we don't know how it’s going to play out. It's something that is normal. It may be that you are looking for a job, it may be that you are looking for a spouse, it may be that you are looking for your education, you are looking for a lot of things, deliverance from a disease; you are committing it to God. And what you are doing is for your part, you are faithfully seeking God; which means pouring over the scriptures, putting full weight into the word of God. As you heard in the worship, using the faith that you have, because you do have faith. Every person has the measure of faith, you use that. That’s what it means to wait on God.
While I say, “Father, I need this. I am depending upon You. I am doing this; I am praying, I am reading the Word of God, and I am believing, Lord, You are going to come through.” And I am also knowing in my heart; as I am waiting, God is changing me. There are more changes to be done in me, until I see Jesus face to face. Amen!” Even the Apostle Paul needed to be renewed day by day. But he waited upon the Lord, he trusted God. His life was over to the Lord. He trusted in the Lord. Everything that God wanted for him to be; he said, “Yes” to the Lord. And the Lord was faithful to the apostle Paul. He will be faithful to you. God says, He will what? Renew the strength! He will cause us to mount up with wings as eagles. We will go above and transcend the problem or the limitation, or the challenge. We are waiting in secret, under his wings, and we are trusting. He is going to make sure that we are going to soar. We are going to get stronger in faith; more hope is going to shine through. And we are going to be victorious, we will triumph. This is what God does when we wait upon Him.
Going back to the verse, it says, “They shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.” Four things here, if you wait on the Lord. What does that mean? Sitting in His presence; praying to Him worshipping Him; setting aside time for the Lord specifically, “Lord, I am going to shut everything off.” It’s more than just the casual devotional time. It’s actually believing God, coming to Him, worshipping Him and being glad in Him that He will do it. He will change me and He will give the blessing. So the four things are: mounting up with wings as eagles, and then there is renewing the strength. Mounting up with wings as eagles; running, and not being weary; walking, and not growing faint. Like the eagle that the Lord used in the verse, on purpose; the Holy Spirit used that. Like the eagle renews its vitality, at that stage when the feathers fall off and all those things happen, so we renew our strength.
Like the youth, the eagle gets the strength restored in midlife; to the youthfulness, to the strength it had when it was a youth. And it becomes sharper like before and stronger. That happens for the believer who sits at the feet of the Lord, who trusts in the Lord and believes the Lord. They also mount up, they are going past the limitation, to see what normally we can’t see. God gives us vision from a vantage point of the heavenlies. We literally get strengthened in our spirit so that we get transcended above the problems. Only then can we can see. God can’t get us to see until we make a decision to wait upon Him. But He says, “If you do wait upon me, I will show you that you can mount up with wings as eagle.”
Thirdly, He says, “You will run, and not be weary; you will walk, and not faint. “The things that you need to run for, exerting great effort” the Lord says, “When you reach your limitation humanly; I will take you beyond the limitation, beyond the material existence. I am going to go and take you beyond what you are capable of.” That’s supernatural. Then it says, “They will walk and not faint.” Why did he include that? The running is a big challenge. It takes great effort. It’s a sudden burst of energy. It’s a big thing, but then there is the endurance. They will walk and not faint. They keep walking, they keep walking; step by step. Run the race; walk the walk. Running the race is a bigger picture of that thrust that, “I am going to go, and do the great things for God.” “But can I pray daily, consistently? Can I fight the good fight of faith every time I get attack from the enemy? Can I hold the intercessory prayer for someone without failing?” That’s walking and not fainting; continuing, enduring. So in one verse, in one picture of the eagle, the Lord says, “They that wait upon Me, like the eagle; they will renew their strength, they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run, and not be weary; they will walk, and they won’t faint.”
The question is tonight as we close; “Do you wait on the Lord? Are you waiting on the Lord for something today, tonight? Or are you not waiting on the Lord? Are you taking your Christian experience casually, sort of taking it as it comes?” “I read a little, I pray a little, but I don’t gather myself together and say, I will choose a set time to wait upon the Lord Jehovah, who has promised that as I do trusting in Him for transformation; I will be transformed. For some blessing I will transcend. He is going to develop me and make me to sit with Him and to know what that means; rising above my problems tonight. And the Lord is going to cause me finally to triumph. I will obtain the prize. I will obtain the blessing. I will not be defeated because the Lord is with me. I waited upon the Lord.” It says, in many instances in the Bible, those that wait upon the Lord they won’t be put to shame. (Psalm 25:3a) When they look to the Lord, their faces would be radiant (Psalm 34:5). God says, “All of My blessings, all of My victory is yours, if you wait upon Me.  I will invigorate you and I will establish you. I will fortify you and I will give you the victory.” All of this for us!
Do you wait upon the Lord? If you don’t have the habit of waiting upon the Lord, if you still trust yourself; your intellect, your physical stamina, your ability, your achievements; then wait upon the Lord and not upon yourselves. Waiting on the Master, it says in the Psalms, are those who look unto Him for the reward. (Psalm 123:2a) We not only look unto the Lord out of obedience to please Him. But also for the reward as a servant to the master, as a servant waits upon the Lord. Blessed is the servant that waits on his Master, on the Lord. When we are waiting upon Him, we are looking to see what He is doing. While we are dying to our self; we are saying, “Lord, You know, I don’t know. You can, even if I can’t. With You, all things are possible.” My impossibility becomes God’s possibility. Or as someone said man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. With God all things are possible.

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