Waiting

Most of us do not like to wait.  We live in an age where most everything is instant.  No more waiting on meals, we can pop it in the microwave or pop down to a fast food restaurant.  Most of us grow very impatient when we have to wait.  We don't like it, we want it now.

However, in many ways, the whole of the Christian life is about waiting.  We are waiting for Jesus to come again in all his fullness.  Yet, it is funny that most of us unless we are suffering really don't mind the wait.  We have so much in this world to entertain us that we do not grow impatient for the second coming of Christ.

As a church, we often wait between moves of the Holy Spirit.  Most churches do not live in a perpetual state of revival.  And so we wait for the next move of God within our church.  So what do we do while we wait.

In Acts 1, Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the promised Holy Spirit would come.  And so the disciples waited.  As you read the text you will see that waiting is not a time of inaction.  The Disciples did five things while they waited.  They built their fellowship for all gathered together in one accord.  This was important, for the disciples had to learn to trust one another again.  They had abandoned the Lord, they doubted, even Peter denied Christ.  I am sure some wondered, would it happen again.  They had to learn to love and trust one another again.  They gathered together in prayer.  Jesus had given them a commission to take the gospel to the world.  That task was more than their own strength to accomplish.  They prayed for the power of the Holy Spirit to come.  They were obedient to what Jesus told them to do, to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit come.  It would be easy to get ahead of the game and go out and witness to the risen Christ, but they needed power so they needed to wait.  They studied Scripture.  Peter stood up and proclaimed what the Old Testament said in order to give them direction for what to do.  Finally, they prepared for the future as they replaced Judas so they could have their 12.

When we are in times of waiting, we should do the same things.  We need to build our fellowship, pray, be obedient, study scripture and prepare for what God would have us to do.  Think about it.