BOTTLENECK - Learning to WAIT

Who likes traffic? Not me! I've found when you hit traffic on the freeway, you've got 3 options. 

1. Road Rage - At any cost, don't let anyone get in front of you, even if you're only moving 2 mph.
2. Detour - You can search out a alternative route, which almost always takes the same time or longer!
3. Wait - Sit back, relax and rest before things get busy again.

I'll say it - "Waiting can really suck!" It can hurt, be frustrating, annoying, just painful at times. The irony of waiting with God is that it's not Him who's withholding. God never withholds. The pain of waiting comes from our impatience, our expectations, our unwillingness to rest. And God will let us wait until we're ready to receive, which is when we've surrendered to waiting. 

Often we get frustrated with God. We've waited long enough (so we think), we've paid our dues, and now we're ready (again, so we think) for what's next! Why isn't God doing His part? Why isn't God moving on our behalf. TRUTH IS - HE IS! 

The moment we choose to wait with God, He goes to work. The thing we forget is that work always begins inside us. We're often so busy looking for what God is going to do in the world around us, we forget that God already has all that worked out. He's waiting on us. Let me say that again - He's waiting on YOU and ME.

God is waiting on us to LET GO and LET GOD. 

As cheesy as that may sound, it's still true. Jesus shares the secret of his supernatural lifestyle - "It is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10)." I want the supernatural lifestyle, but I'm not always excited about what it takes to have this - GOD LIVING INSIDE ME. God wants to be inside us, so He can accomplish His work through us!

God lives inside those who make space for Him. Waiting with God is learning to make space for Him; the Holy Spirit of God is jealously seeking our attention (James 4:5). We just don't know how busy we really are...on the inside. We're so busy seeking an alternative route - scheming, planning, solving, that we forget JESUS IS THE HEAD! He makes all the decisions, makes all the plans, and solves every problem. Holy Spirit communicates these things to us when we can get quiet enough to hear His voice. And Holy Spirit doesn't shout.

Life feels like a bottleneck these days. Holy Spirit keeps saying to me - "Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you...Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up (James 4:7-10)."  In other words, wait with God, resist the temptations to road-rage or seek alternative routes, and let His life begin to well up within you. The only way to do God's work is to make space for Holy Spirit to live inside us. We can't cram Him into a corner of our soul, or lock him up in a bedroom. We give Him total authority over every affair in our lives, waiting for Him to rise up within us, giving us supernatural direction and supernatural strength to do what He wants to do.

This is how Jesus lived on earth. He invites YOU and ME to live this same way. It doesn't matter whether you are the CEO of a company or a mother of three, a student or seeking work; God wants to do His work through you, but FIRST, we need to learn to make space for Him inside us. We need to learn to wait with Him. It's not fancy, but it will change your life. It's changing mine.