Waiting On The Lord

  Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. ~ Revelation 3:20

When Miss Phee, our little Yorky, was a puppy, she would sit up on the edge of our bed every morning the minute she heard my
husband Mark in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
She loved to eat breakfast with him. Mark would feed Miss Phee bits of his oatmeal while he ate his breakfast. Our dog loved this special treat and the time they shared together.

Most of the time, Miss Phee would sit quietly on the edge of our bed and wait patiently, trusting that any minute Mark would come for her. Every so often if he didn’t show up soon enough, she would start whining ever so softly.

My little dog was not worried about annoying me, mind you. No, Miss Phee’s chief concern was that I might wake up and horn in on her private breakfast with her daddy. Ha! 🙂

Sooner or later Mark always came to reward her faith in him by gathering her up in his arms and carrying her to the kitchen for their special meal together.

Sometimes though, Mark would be running late and had to rush off to work without his breakfast. That meant no special Breakfast time with Phee. Somehow it was just not the same when I fed her breakfast, so whenever she couldn’t have her special breakfast time with Mark she would pout for the rest of the day and refuse to eat. 😦

I think of the parallels between Miss Phee’s morning meals with Mark and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus said that we must abide in him and spend time with God each day
in worship and prayer.

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Abiding in Christ is the same as eating at our Lord’s table, feeding on His word and allowing his Holy Spirit to teach us His wisdom and truth.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ~Matthew 4:4

Even as Miss Phee wanted Mark all to herself in her morning quiet time with him, the Lord wants us to come to Him without any distractions. He wants us all to Himself, coming into His Presence without our cell phones, IPads, IPods, or video games, novels, or our work on our minds or whatever distracts us from His heart.

Anything that takes God’s place in our hearts is a rival for God for our affections and is an idol.

That thing might be something that seems so innocent and even good, like our job, a hobby, or even our ministry. But if it takes our time and attention away from God, and replaces our affection for God in our hearts, it is an idol.

Examine me, God! Look at my heart!
    Put me to the test! Know my anxious thoughts!
 Look to see if there is any idolatrous way in me,
    Then lead me on the eternal path! ~ Psalm 139:23-24 (CEB)

 

 We draw closer to Christ and abide in Him through regular times of worship, prayer, and bible study. Often in those times, we must wait on God as Miss Phee waited for Mark to come get her each morning. We must learn to wait in faith on God by abiding steadfastly in prayer and worship.

There may be seasons in our journey with the Lord when God seems distant. We may feel as if He is ignoring us when things we’ve prayed over for months or years go unanswered without the slightest ray of hope that things will ever change.

At all times God asks that we trust Him and wait and walk by faith, just as little Miss Phee always waited in eager expectation for Mark to come for her, so certain that he would come. Even though he was sometimes delayed, she never stopped believing and hoping the next day that he would come for her. She was absolutely confident that he would not forget about her, would not disappoint her faith in him. And eventually he did show up again~just like she hoped and believed!
I always thought, if only I had the faith and trust of my little Yorkie!

Psalm 130:5-6 “I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

We must be still before the Lord, contemplating His mercy and majesty, as we come to Him in faith, believing that we will receive what we need from Him in prayer.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (NIV)

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (NIV)

God is our creator, He is omnipotent, meaning He is all-powerful. He is in control
of all things.
God is omniscient: He knows all things, He knows all about us, He knows all our
needs before we even ask.
God is omnipresent: He is everywhere present. Wherever we are, God is there.
And by His spirit, God lives and dwells within us.

God cherishes us, He cares very much about us. God feels all of our pain, since He
indwells us through His Holy Spirit.
God wants to share life with us. He says in the book of Revelation, “Behold
I stand at the door and knock; if any one will open the door I will come in and I will
share a meal with him. “

Just as Miss Phee and Mark would share a meal and have their special time
together, God wants to have a special time with us every day, He wants us to be
excited about it just as Miss Phee was excited about her time alone with her daddy.

God will never fail us. He

delights in our fellowship. It is sacred to Him. May it be as sacred to us.

For it is a great honor to worship and serve the Sovereign Lord of the Universe.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” John 14:23

Prayer
Heavenly Father, please give us hearts that delight in worshiping and serving You.
May You give us hearts that will wait on You in faith and that will love You with all of our being, thank you, Lord, in Jesus name, amen.

Angelsong © 2017 SD Harden All Rights Reserved. Original Photos of Miss Phee & Mark from Suzanne Harden’s Photos/ Illustration of Jesus Knocking via Google/ Scripture Quotations: King James Version (Public Domain), Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible, New King James Version (NKJV) Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.