Encouragement While You Wait

In today's episode,I shared about Joseph and how his waiting season taught him some lessons that I believe benefitted him as he moved into his next season.

While you wait, what lessons are you being taught, and how can you use them in your next season? 

Don't stay in the place murmuring and complaining, instead seek God for the lessons in the storm. 

Transcript

Hi, my friend. Welcome to today's episode. Today, I want to encourage you to keep holding on. I know the times that we're living in are hard and challenging. You're also going through your level of difficulties. It seems as if God is far away. It seems as if he's not hearing you.

It seems as if he's not seeing you. You and I know that's not true. That's what the enemy wants us to think when we're in these challenging times: that God is not there and that he's unconcerned about us. As I look at Joseph's life and what he had to go through and endure, I want to share with you that our lives are no less different.

We have been through to the pit. And then we've been to the palace. Then we went into prison. And then we're back in the palace again. And you want to know that along these different pathways that our lives have taken us, God has been by our side every step of the way. I know it's hard to see him when life is, as they say, life is "lifeing".

Where is God in the midst of all of this? all of this chaos and turmoil that's not only taking place on the external but also on the internal inside of you. As I thought about Joseph and the fact that he had to wait, when I read that this morning, the fact is that in his waiting, he was being taught a lesson.

He was learning something from God that would later help him, though at the moment, he would not know, he wouldn't even have understood. And that's where you may be today, waiting on God. You may be in the pit. But if you look at where you are in the pit, you're learning to do something.

You are learning patience. Your character is being built, and that's if you're open to learning and if you're open to building yourself while you go through all of that. Because when we look at it, right, his life was hard, and you would want to say, God, where were you?

Where are you in this? Where are you, and where have you been? But as we look at his journey, everything that led him to the palace, when he became the governor and had to acquire all the food, when he interpreted the Pharaoh's dream, all of what he did as governor, he learned from the prison.

Into the palace. That's where he learned it and back and back again. He learned it right there. He learned what took him to the palace and caused him to be so successful. He learned it in the pit. He learned it in the prison. He also learned it in the palace as well. And so sometimes it's easy to want to ignore where we have been and think there's no lesson for us.

There is, but we have to be in a place to want to learn it. And I'm going to be the first one to tell you. It's not easy. We would want to say, why would I need to learn any lesson there? Can I tell you why? It's because where God is taking you and me, we have to have some things under our belts that's going to help us in that season.

So, we can't disregard or discard the hard places we've been and the lessons we have learned along the way. No, we can't do that. Cause as you thought about it, and if you've thought about it, right, he was given charge over some of the prisoners in the prison. And so he would have learned some things as he was there.

What are you learning, and how did that benefit him when he came out of prison? How did it benefit him? It benefited him because he would have used what he learned, and in using that, he was able to fill those vats so much more that he could not number how much they had in storage because he learned a system and perfected it.

I don't know what you are learning in this season. And if you say you aren't learning anything, can I ask you to go to your father and say, "Lord, what's the lesson you want me to learn?" I want to learn it because I don't know where you are taking me, but I know that wherever I'm going, whatever I have learned in the past is going to benefit me in the future.

Teach me, Father, I pray. You and I should not be going through seasons where we are not learning anything from our Heavenly Father. The situations don't come to take us out; they come to purify, teach us, and give us wisdom. But we have to be in a place to want to receive that. Again, I know because I have experienced it that when we are going through challenges, we don't want to learn any lesson.

We don't want to learn any lesson. We are only interested in learning a lesson when we have seen it, when we've reflected on it, and see how it helped us in a current season. And when we are in that other season again of learning, although it is not easy, we're asking our Heavenly Father to teach us because there is something there for us to learn.

I am learning that it benefits not only us but also the persons whom God has called us to impact and serve. When he stored up all those goods for the Egyptians, it didn't only benefit them. It benefited the Israelites and, I want to say, some of the surrounding nations. Who are you called to serve?

Who are you called to serve? And how will your life—your life of waiting, your life of being in the pit, the prison, the palace, everything—benefit you? And how will it benefit the others whom you've called to impact? My prayer is that you are taking stock. I pray that as you are in the waiting, you're asking the Lord to reveal himself while you wait.

Can I tell you, it's easy for us to murmur and complain? Yes. Have you found that to be so for you? Yes, I've found it to be so for me. I murmur, and I complain. I'm wondering, God, when, when are you coming? When are you taking me out of it? But then, as you become more mature in Christ,  you realize that asking when and when isn't important is what will you teach me?

What will I learn in this season that will propel me into my next season? What will help someone else in the years ahead? I can walk alongside them on the journey and say, "I've been there." My sister, my friend, I understand what you're going through. And might I tell you that your father is walking along that journey with you.

He is there with you, opening doors, making ways for you where there seems to be no way. But if we are not learning anything, we can't have an impact on others. We can be of impact to others. And I know that waiting is not easy. Not by any stretch of the imagination. Is it easy? It's not at all. But can I tell you something?

The Word of God tells us that those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. And that's what the Word is to us as I encourage you and those who wait. We wait patiently, and the Lord helps us to be patient in this time.

Help us trust you. Even though I don't understand what is happening, help me be patient. I know you're teaching me something while I wait—while I wait for the breakthrough, while I wait for the next—and I want to learn it. Confess to him that.

Listen, wanting to learn is not even a top priority, but I know that there is a reason why you are allowing all of this to happen. There is a reason why he allowed Joseph to have the journey that he had. There is a reason. And we saw it at the end of the day: He became their deliverer in a time that they needed. The Israelites needed him. 

So, let us be patient and run this race. Let us be patient and say, "God, whatever you have in store for me, and for whatever reason, I have to go through this. Teach me how to wait." You know my heart and the challenges and difficulties that I'm faced with.

Please teach me how to wait. May I pray with you today? Father, I thank you for my sister, who is listening to this podcast today. You know what she needs and the challenges she's faced with. I'm asking you to encourage her and strengthen her as she goes through this difficult season.

Lord, show her what you want her to know in this season, Lord God because this time is not wasted. Almighty God, I pray that you will strengthen her. Undergird her so that your presence will guard and keep her. Lord God, your word reminds us, O Lord God, that your strength is made perfect in our times of weakness.

Strengthen her, God, in the name of Jesus. I pray, Lord God, that you will walk aside her. You'll send destiny helpers, O Lord God, motivators, and encouragers, O Lord God. To be with her Lord as she goes through this season. I thank you, daddy, that you are not, she's not alone, that you are right there with her.

I thank you, Lord God, for your blessings that make rich and add no sorrow. Lord God, may it be her portion today as she leans into you during her waiting season. Daddy, you are the lover of her soul, the lift up of her head, and the Lord of her life. Be with her daddy, I pray. In Jesus's name, I pray with thanksgiving and amen and amen.

As I pray that prayer over you, I pray that you will receive it and continue to trust God as you wait. May I also encourage you to find a community that will motivate you and fill you up with what the word of God says about you in this waiting season? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you need to know in this time.

I look forward to hearing from you. Have an amazing day. Blessings.