Waiting for God

Learning to wait upon God.

People generally think 'waiting' is sitting around doing nothing. Thats not what the Bible says about waiting. Waiting upon the Lord is a positive active decision.

Psalm 62:1 - My soul waits in silence for God only;

Psalm 62:5 - My soul, wait in silence for God only,

Waiting for God means to 'pause' and wait for further instruction. You don't make a decision until you receive word from God.

The wisest thing to learn is to learn when to act, when to stop, when to be quiet. when to wait, until God gives us direction. Most people in life get into trouble when they refuse to wait upon God. This is because it is one of lifes most difficult lessons to learn, waiting upon someone i cannot see, waiting when i cannot hear anything or cannot see what is going on, especially when everybody is shoving you along and telling you to "do something" and "move on, get something started"

When God doesn't tell you to move, you better not move. You have to stay in your present position and wait for God. You need to learn to
listen to God. if i dont know how to listen to God or how to hear Him, how can i know when to move and when to wait. Learning to wait and learning to listen go hand in hand.

You need to know how to hear Him.

Wait, just wait, be silent and wait. Don't move until God gives you directions.

Psalm 62:8 - Trust in Him at all times O people;
Pour out your hearts before Him;
God is a refuge for us.

The power belongs to God, He says in times of storms, don't try to manipulate your circumstances, don't rush out, just wait. He says He is our salvation, our rock, our stronghold, our refuge, our hope, everything we need. Trust in Him always as He will act on our behalf and when He does, we will see a demonstration of His power.

Wait on Him.

Gossip

Our words should be healing words, not words that hurt or destroy. You and I don't have the right to gossip about someone, using our God given speech to discourage or divide someone else, it is evil on the throne. We need to be careful what we say, as it might be received in a different way to which it was intended. Control your mouth.

 

One of the greatest gifts we have received from God is speech. We are able to communicate many things with people, but especially God. We can sing praises to our Lord and spread His word. It can be a great tool for good, however like most things in this world, it can be a damaging weapon used for no good. We can cause all kinds of difficulty and hardship with our words. It is just a matter of how we wish to use the words of our mouth.

 

Gossip is malicious talk about someone with the intention or desire to hurt them in some form or fashion. When you think about Gossip and its nature, you need to see what its travelling companions are. What goes along with Gossip.

 

Romans 1:18

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,"

 

God describes mankind, the wrath of God has been revealed against all unrighteousness. God describes the fallen nature of man.

 

Romans 1:24-29 

"Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,"

 

This is what people do, they move in a certain direction sinning against God and they keep doing it over and over. Long enough, time comes when no body knows whats going on anymore. These people give themselves over to a certain lifestyle not caring about the consequences.

 

Look at the company Gossipers are in! They are placed in a category where none of us would like to be in.

 

2 Timothy 1:5

"But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these."

 

There you go! Gossip is right in the middle of these terrible lists. In the eyes of God, Gossip is a sin He detests, we have no right to bring anyone down.

 

9th commandment: thou shalt not bear false witnesses. Most Gossip is lies that have been disguised to sound better and look better to make people feel better.

 

So why do people Gossip?

 

1. Pride - there are some people who like to be 'in the know' so that they can feel good about themselves, make them feel important. If they can pass on some information that you dont know, it lifts them up.

2. Bitterness, hostility and anger in their hearts - they cant keep anything in their hearts. They can't hide bitterness, hostility or anger towards someone. Their motivation is to vent something that is on the inside of them. When someone doesn't like themselves, they are very prone to being a Gossip because you cannot stop at tearing yourself down, you have to find something else to shoot at even though the truth is you are shooting yourself in the foot. Life has just done them dirty, they feel mistreated by life and they question God as to why others are happy when they are not.

3. Low self esteem - some people are not happy until they have pulled others down to their level. "if i cant be up where you are, im going to do something to pull you down to where i am because i dont want you feeling better than me" If thats the only way you can increase your self esteem, you are only hurting yourself. Their motivation could be jealousy, a jealousy of the other persons realtionships, possessions, opportunities or positions in life. This jealousy fuels their mouths to speak out in lies and become a Gossip.

4. Influence - lets say you are talking to someone and a third person steps in and says "let me tell you what I heard". You bring in other people to the story.

 

Have a pure heart!

 

Satan has you exactly where he wants you. His purpose is to divide, discourage and destroy us. So when we act in that form of dividing, discouraging and destroying, we are doing Satan's work for him. Gossip is the devil's language.

 

Gossip is a cowardly act. God condemns it. Not willing to face a person and share your heart, instead you go behind their back and fire an arrow at their character. It does not fit who we are and its a shameful testimony to the Kingdom of God.

 

Cautions:

 

Prov 20:19 - He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,
         Therefore do not associate with a gossip

 

Prov 11:13 - He who goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets,
         But he who is trustworthy conceals a matter

 

Eph 4:29 - Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.

 

--