Prayer to Wait on the Lord

Are you having to wait on the Lord right now, whether you want to or not? If so, I want to encourage you today in your waiting.

Psalm 27 contains several of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. One of those is this passage:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13-14 NKJV).

What does it mean to wait on the Lord?

I like to think of it in two ways:

1. Literally “waiting” on the Lord–waiting for Him to move, to help, to deliver, to rescue, to lead, or to provide. Time passes while you pray and pray, fast and pray, confess the Word and pray, cry out to God and pray. This verse definitely applies to literal waiting!
2. But also, you can think of “waiting” on the Lord in the sense of being part of His literal waitstaff. You wait on Him like a server–or “waiter”–at a fine restaurant. You humble yourself by putting on your server’s apron, and you ask Him if there is anything you can do for Him. You attend to Him and obey His every instruction, pouring yourself out to Him in obedience, worship, time in the Word, and prayer. That’s another kind of waiting.

But friend, both kinds of waiting:

1. Being patient and keeping your eyes on Him while time passes, and
2. Attending to His every desire …

… require major self-discipline.

Waiting on the Lord can be hard.

And waiting on the Lord isn’t a natural, fleshly tendency. No! Instead, when we’re forced to wait, our flesh screams out, “I shouldn’t have to wait! I should get whatever I want immediately!” Nobody likes to wait, and no person or thing likes to be kept waiting either.

However, beloved, waiting is still necessary sometimes.

Hey, I’m with you and everyone else in the world; I don’t want to wait either. My flesh wants everything immediately, just like yours probably does.

But the decision to “Wait on the Lord” and “Be of good courage” is just that: it’s a choice, and it’s a choice that we have to make.

If we want to please God, that is. 🙂

Let’s look at our key Scripture verse again:

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!” (Psalm 27:13-14 NKJV).

Friend, when times are hard, it’s easy to lose heart.

I’ve been through plenty of difficult times lately; I’m sure you have too. In these tough situations, it’s easy to get discouraged. It’s the simplest thing in the world to go down into self-pity, taking our eyes off Jesus and going into all the “poor me” complaints you can think of.

But taking our eyes off Jesus is sin.

Going down into self-pity is sin. (It’s idolatry; self-pity is putting our own desire to feel sorry for ourselves above God’s command to keep our eyes on Jesus. We create an idol for ourselves and of ourselves by following our own desires instead of God’s commands. That’s idolatry.)

Getting discouraged even happens as a result of sin. Getting discouraged happens when we take our eyes off Jesus, and off of the truth of His Word, and we cease to cling to His promises and instead believe that circumstances are stronger. That equals sin.

Hey, I’m as guilty as the next person.

I wish I weren’t, but I still get discouraged sometimes. (Not nearly as often as I used to, but I still do sometimes, unfortunately.) Sometimes I feel sorry for myself too, and sometimes I take my eyes off Jesus.

We’re all on a journey toward Christlikeness, aren’t we? At least we can say, “I’m not where the Bible says I should be yet, but THANK GOD I’m not where I used to be, either!” 🙂

But despite our fleshly desires to receive everything immediately, we have to decide to wait on the Lord.

And that’s waiting on the Lord in both capacities–letting time pass patiently, AND attending to His every desire.

Waiting on the Lord is a decision:

• Even when things look dark and dismal, we have to wait on the Lord and DECIDE to be of good courage.
• We have to wait on the Lord and believe that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living–not just in Heaven someday.
• We have to actively decide to wait on the Lord, and to do the work it takes to not lose heart.

And the Lord will help us with these things, for without Him we can do nothing. Remember these powerful Scripture verses:

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NKJV).

And also:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13 NKJV).

Friend, the word “wait” is a four-letter word. (In American English, that is a euphemism for a ‘curse word.’) And it also feels like a not-so-good “four-letter word” to most of us.

BUT GOD. Despite our flesh’s reluctance to wait on anything, the Lord actually prescribes that we should wait for Him, and that we must be of good courage and not lose heart while we do.

The good news is that the Lord will strengthen your heart if you will wait on Him.

If you will just keep your eyes on Jesus, He will help you while you wait. He will help you to not lose heart. He will strengthen your heart, so that you do not become weary in well-doing:

“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9 NKJV).

Wait on the Lord, and He will strengthen your heart.

The command is not without a reward. If we wait on the Lord, He will move–and He will help us keep our eyes on Him and maintain a godly attitude while we wait.

Do you need help to wait on the Lord and be of good courage today?

If so, pray this short, sample prayer to wait on the Lord:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus’ name.

Abba Father, thank You for loving me and taking care of me. I praise You, for You are faithful. You are marvelous and good and kind, and Your goodness toward me is unparalleled and unprecedented. Thank You.

Holy Father in Heaven, Your Word says that I should wait on You with good courage.

You don’t want me to lose heart, nor to cast away my confidence in You, which has great reward. You don’t want me to be weary in well-doing, for in due season Your Word says I shall reap if I do not lose heart.

But Lord, I need Your help to wait on You with good courage today.

Would You please help me? I need You in so many ways:

• Circumstances in the world tempt me to look down, but I need You to help me keep my eyes on You, Jesus.
• I also need Your help to believe that I will see Your goodness in the land of the living.
• And when it takes time for Your answers and provision to show up in person, I need Your help to be of good courage and not get discouraged.

Abba Father and Lord Jesus, I need Your help to wait on You as is pleasing to You:

• Please help me not to lose heart.
• Please help me believe that I will see Your goodness in the land of the living.
• Please help me to attend humbly, and with love, to Your every desire, command, and instruction.

And as I wait on You with Your help, please strengthen my heart:

• Please strengthen my heart for the waiting.
• Strengthen my faith with Your Word.
• Speak to me in the night seasons through visions, dreams, and even with Your audible voice.
• Help me to maintain my confidence in You.
• Let Your words of love, comfort, HOPE, and reassurance LEAP off the pages of my Bible into my spirit, by Your Holy Spirit, as I read.
• Speak to me prophetically. Help me to discern accurately what You are doing and saying.
• Fill me with the anointing of the sons of Issachar, that I would know the times and the seasons, to know what Israel (and myself) ought to do.

Lord, I need Your help to wait on You. I am asking for Your help today.

Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Please help me to set my eyes and keep them set on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Help me to love You and honor You with all of my ways–even while I wait on You.

Thank You, Abba Father. Thank You, Lord Jesus. And thank You, precious Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ holy and precious name I pray, amen and amen.”

Friend, is this word about waiting on the Lord and being of good courage speaking to your heart today? Did you pray the prayer to wait on the Lord? If so, leave a comment below!