WAITING ON GOD 3: JOY WHILE WAITING

Joy While Waiting

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33 KJV

We must first not assume that we've been promised a life without troubles

So your waiting seasons should not be filled with;

 "God why me?"

"God why do you hate me so much?"

"God you've forgotten me" etc 

I mentioned in an earlier part of this series that we need to see waiting seasons as hallways leading to new seasons/doors of our lives.

You know when you are about to board a plane and you wait in the boarding area after check-in, you don't see it as suffering. You understand it to be a standard procedure as the plane is packed properly at your boarding gate. So first, see waiting seasons especially the difficult ones as standard procedures.

You cannot escape life's difficulties. If any preacher tells you there is a way to live without it, they lie. Being a believer doesn't shield you from the difficulties of life too.

Look at what the man with the red ink said: In this world, you would have many troubles

Not may. It will happen, whether you like it or not.

But what did He say again? Be of good cheer!

Rejoice!

Don't squeeze your face!

Do you know why? Joy is a keeper in the waiting seasons.

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. James 1:2 AMPC

I love this translation. Consider it wholly Joyful

Not forced or partial joy. Or Joy because your pastor said it is Joy that will help you get out of this difficult season.

Consider it wholly Joyful!

Every part of the trouble,

Every part of the wait,

Count it all Joy!

Troubled times,

Waiting periods,

They are occasions for Joy. Not a time to sulk or be bitter about waiting. Not a time to get impatient or complain about what you are facing. It is a call for Joy!

We were meant to have covered this particular teaching a while back but I also got into a waiting period that I totally understood o, but I did not count it Joy one bit.

I was literally in a God I see what you are doing, I totally get it, I have now accepted it, but I'm not smiling about it too. If you give me the chance to have my way, I will choose differently. So I somehow delayed the teaching (circumstances worked together for "my good" too 😂). I mean, how will I be teaching what I'm not accepting in a present situation. I should be subbing myself with teaching 😭

The funny part is, these words are not alien to us, it is not today we've heard this scripture. In fact, I've been in many count it all Joy situations where I counted the Joy very well. However, I learned something in this season, that every time the enemy comes, he is trying to prove the same thing (in greater measures and different perspectives). But if you just pause and look deep, you will see that you've been here before. It is not your first life trouble and it won't be the last. The enemy is just banking on you to magnify this particular situation and tell yourself you are suffering.

One of the things I got in this period was: Your case is not special.

In my head, I was like na wa o. There is really nothing you are going through or have gone through that heaven has not seen before.

That urge to magnify the problem is not from God. The enemy wants you to stay in a "This is suffering" outlook. Note this, I am not denying that waiting seasons are painful, I am saying instead that our focus is not on the pain.

Every time we step into a waiting room,  we do a happy dance for that waiting season. The happy dance is not to get out of the waiting season o, it is for that waiting period.

Rejoice in it.

There is a translation of that verse that says Consider it pure Joy

“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.” James 1:2 NLT

Consider it a great opportunity for Joy!

Consider your waiting a great opportunity for Joy.

Consider your painful wait a great opportunity for Joy.

I'm putting this in perspective so you know that the Joy is not for the days when you are not feeling the pain of waiting, it is while you feel the pain.

Your response to the pain is that you are a great opportunity for me to rejoice.

God's design is that Joy is there in the process, in the waiting and not just the fulfilled promise or what we are waiting for.

You know why? Joy is strength in waiting seasons. It is also a waiting quickener.

When you have strength, you walk faster, you move faster.

The enemy is banking on you not trading Joy as a currency so you can be delayed in waiting seasons.

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 NKJV

Do not sorrow, for the Joy of the Lord, is your strength. For every time we trade in anything other than Joy, we are losing our strength battery.

Again, you need that battery full to enter the season ahead, and the charger for that battery is Joy.

So now we know that Joy is an important part of the waiting seasons and it determines how long we wait.

This moves us to Joy Busters.

What are the things that actively fight against our Joy in waiting seasons? It is important you recognize them and see them as the enemy they are.

1. Worry and Anxiety 

The Holy Spirit had to point this out to me. Like it's okay, drop it. I will watch my word to perform myself. Stop worrying and being anxious.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Philippians 4:6 NKJV

Be anxious for nothing

Don't worry about it. Stop overthinking it. That overthinking is stealing your joy.

2. Resentment

You can't resent a waiting season and expect to be joyous in it still. Stop hating that season you are in and the process.

Pray about it if you are here.

Ask God to take out the resentment and give you a new perspective.

3. Control and wanting to have every detail

These things are here to steal your joy. You are not in control.

Leave the rein for God. You won't have every detail too. Pray for grace to be fine with whatever God has shown and to move with it in Joy.

4. Comparison

Stop looking at other people's process and using it to judge yours. You are reducing your battery doing this and you need all the strength you can get to move forward. One thing I'll advise to do in waiting seasons is to never lose sight of the promise/word of God, stay rejoicing in it.

For those that fly often, your boarding gate leads to where the plane is packed. You are advised to go somewhere around the boarding gate to wait.

Do you know why? So you don't miss your flight.

Don't lose sight of God's promise.

Keep it close even in waiting seasons.

And most importantly, rejoice in them.

 

Personal tip:

Spend time just dancing daily;

With or without a beat,

Just dance to God  and watch the weight of waiting removed.

Also, see how clarity comes and things begin to shape up.