Zechariah 4:6

Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.

Psalm 91:1-3

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!” For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.

Learning to wait for God brings you peace where there is no peace!

Who is the person who can say to God, “My refuge and my fortress”? The one who “dwells in the shelter of the Most High”!

God wants you to learn to live near to Him. He wants you to turn to Him in every situation in life. He wants you to be so involved in His purposes in this world that you know in your heart with great confidence that He will guard His purposes in your life.

When you bring everything to God, “the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Do you want to grow spiritually? Then allow God to take you through difficult times and wait for Him to do His work in you!

What could possibly enable you to face trials with joy? The confidence that those trials are actually opportunities to mature spiritually.

There are some aspects of the Christian life that come instantaneously, like being born again, or the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, or God anointing you for ministry in a specific situation. But there are also aspects of the Christian life for which there is no shortcut. Spiritual maturity is one of those.

There is no quick maturity in the Christian life. We want to just have a spectacular experience of the Holy Spirit and suddenly be mature, but it doesn’t work like that. Even being filled with the Spirit as a way of life is not the same as maturity. Maturity only comes from walking through the valleys, trusting in God’s purposes even when you can’t see them, and honouring Him all the way.

Is God asking you today to find joy in your present trial, because you know He can grow you through it if you will trust Him.

Psalm 37:7-9

Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.

When you are being unjustly treated, “wait for the Lord”!

There are two things happening in this passage that seem like things that don’t work together.

On the one hand I am being treated unjustly by “the man who carries out wicked schemes”. This would naturally cause “anger” and “wrath” and make me “fret”. But on the other hand I am “resting in the Lord” and “waiting patiently for the Lord”.

The ability to respond to injustice in this way makes the Christian totally different from those around him or her. How natural it is to fret in this kind of situation, and how supernatural to be at rest in your heart even though people are treating you unjustly!

Fretting and anxiety and anger don’t solve the situation at all, do they? Rather, they only hurt you and drag you down. But if you acknowledge that God is in control and you submit your life to following His will for you, then you know that He is involved in this situation, and so you can rest within.

Psalm 40:1-3

I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.

If you are in a desperate situation, turn your whole life over to God and wait for Him!

Sometimes God brings us into desperate situations so that we will finally realise that we cannot control our own lives and that we need to turn to Him for help. If you ignore God in those situations, they only get worse.

But if you turn to Him and acknowledge that you have been going your own way instead of His way—if you put your trust completely in Him and say, “God, I know that You have put me in a situation that I cannot get out of. I want to recognise You as Lord of my life again. I need your help! Only You can help me, so I am waiting for You”—then He will bring you up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set your feet upon a rock, making your footsteps firm.

In this month’s podcast, John North interviews Rob, a website designer who grew up in a Christian family, to see how God has developed him into someone who shares Christ in natural conversation with the people in his life.