As women we have to realize we carry generations in our care. We protect the promise the LORD has established in our lives through our actions and our daily decisions and also in the way we respond to distractions. As women in waiting, it is important to keep true to the promise the LORD has given to you-to remember the Word He spoke to you as He spoke to Hannah:
1 Samuel 1:20 (NIV):
20 So
in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named
him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”
The importance
of this passage is that it was in the
course of time and the LORD makes everything beautiful in His perfect time:
Ecclesiastes 3:11New International
Version (NIV)
11 He
has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the
human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
It is not for us
to question the plans of the LORD but to
trust in Him:
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV):
5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on
your own understanding;
6
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make
your paths straight.[a]
When you trust
in Him, men and women of God, He will make your paths straight. Listen, you cannot make your paths straight; He does when you trust Him with all your
heart. This is why it is so important to guard your heart in Christ:
Philippians 4:7 (NIV):
7 And
the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I have laid this
foundation down because I want you to understand that He is faithful to keep
His promise; so in the place of waiting on
the LORD allow Him to renew your strength. Do not fall into the temptations
of the enemy because there will always be Hagar’s
around:
Genesis 16:1-2 (NIV):
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Now
Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave
named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from
having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through
her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Don’t connect
with Egypt when you are from Israel.
Abram agreed with Sarai because they still kept in
the mindset that was outside the promise of God. Abram did not respond to the
promise-Abraham did. If you notice, the name change signifies the shift in identity. Abram and Hagar bore Ishmael but
Abraham and Sarah bore Isaac. What is your name?
Have you
accepted your inheritance or are you still linking yourself to Hagar because if
so, you are not ready for the blessings of the LORD that come to His sons not to slaves.
Notice that Hagar is a slave. So men and women of God, are you still slaves to your
flesh? If you are, you will be like Abram
or Sarai and miss the promise of God by connecting yourself outside the
covenant the LORD has given you.
And we are not slaves, we are sons:
Galatians 4:7 (NIV):
7 So
you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God
has made you also an heir.
Hence if you connect yourself to the
slaves, you have stepped outside the promise of God; which is why the LORD said
to Abraham the promise was for Isaac not
Ishmael:
Genesis 17:18-19 (NIV):
18 And
Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then
God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him
Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his
descendants after him.
In other words, His Word does not return to Him void:
Isaiah 55:11 (NIV):
11
so is my word that goes out from my
mouth:
It will not
return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the
purpose for which I sent it.
Hence the
promise is legitimate but have you responded
to it? You respond to it by recognizing your identity-a son and daughter of
God.
Listen, you walk
in your identity as a child of God when you are led by His Spirit:
Romans 8:14 (NIV):
14 For
those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
So in the place
of waiting for a spouse, or whatever else the LORD has promised you, stay in the promise; do not be distracted by
Hagar’s around you-they are not of the promise and you know it. This is why
it is key to allow the Spirit to lead you.
Like Hannah, the
promise will manifest in time, and it
will be to the glory of the LORD.
The danger of
stepping outside the covenant and promise we have in God is we leave ourselves exposed to the attacks of the enemy. And
it is so subtle because the more we walk apart
from the Spirit the less we are aware of His presence:
Judges 16:20 (NIV):
20 Then
she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awoke from his sleep and thought,
“I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the
Lord had left him.
And the thing
is, you cannot walk in your identity
without the presence of the Spirit. You cannot practice waiting on the LORD without His Spirit-so practice
relationship in the LORD through Christ and build yourself in the place of
meditation and prayer:
Joshua 1:8 (NIV):
8 Keep
this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that
you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous
and successful.
That way you
will be able to test and approve what the will of God is because you have
accepted your identity. And hence you know when it is not of God:
John 10:5 (NIV):
5 But
they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because
they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”
Because you know
His voice:
John 10:27 (NIV):
27 My
sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.