Faithfully waiting

“If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace (from God's gracious favor and unmerited blessing). For we, [not relying on the Law but] through the [Holy] Spirit's [help], by faith anticipate and wait for the blessing and good for which our righteousness and right standing with God [our conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action, causes us] to hope. For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love. You were running the race nobly. Who has interfered in (hindered and stopped you from) your heeding and following the Truth?” Galatians 5:4-7 AMP

We all, going through life’s multiplicities of challenges and faced often enough with the dilemma of our faith under attack, quickly address Isaiah’s proclamation, “31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.”  Isaiah 40:31 AMP.  We recite this and many other familiar Scriptures with great fervency in the ‘hope’ that if we say it loud enough, or hard enough, or around enough people, or even if we recite it enough times, somehow it would ‘of itself’ miraculously change our situation.    I am in no way mocking the WORD of LORD GOD, nor am I denying the eternal and infinite power of our LORD GOD Almighty.  What I want to address, and even challenge us as believers today is that we would recognize that LORD Father GOD, throughout the Bible has shown us that there is a ‘positional’ response of faith that tells LORD God that we are serious and that we count on no one or nothing else to deliver us from our calamity. 
‘Wait’ is defined as: Verb. “1. To stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens.    2. used to indicate that one is eagerly impatient to do something or for something to happen; "I can't wait for tomorrow" synonyms:  hold on, hold back, bide one's time, hang fire, mark time, stand by, sit tight, hold one's horses
Noun.     1. a period of waiting; "we had a long wait" synonyms:  delay, holdup, interval, interlude, intermission, pause, break, stay, cessation, suspension, stoppage, halt, interruption, lull, respite, recess, moratorium, hiatus, gap, rest. "a long wait"
‘Wait’ in Galatians 5:5, in Greek, is defined as ‘apekdechomai’  ‘ap-ek-dekh'-om-ahee’
Meaning to expect fully: - look (wait) for.”  If we were to ask Isaiah (Isaiah 40:31) what he meant by wait, he would encourage us that “The word rendered ‘wait upon’ here (from קוה  qâvâh), denotes properly to wait, in the sense of expecting. The phrase, ‘to wait on Yahweh,’ means to wait for his help; that is, to trust in him, to put our hope or confidence in him.”
So, the idea of ‘to wait’ challenges the believer to give over or deny our own confidence in making a thing happen.  I am not saying we should have no confidence, realize that our confidence exists only because of the Spirit of the Living LORD God and the grace given through Jesus our Christ.  The Apostle Paul explains it like this, “4 Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God.  5 Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God.  6 [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.”  2 Corinthians 3:4-6 AMP.
And with that confidence Paul further encourages us; “6 And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you.”  Philippians 1:6 AMP.
As we can see from these two verses, the idea and position of ‘waiting’ on LORD GOD is very evident.  Waiting does not say that we are to become stagnant or unresponsive or even reclusive, but I would liken the waiting to that of a subordinate Soldier in response to his/her superior leader.  There is a trust, a reliance upon and a confidence given unto the superior by the subordinate, that even in the absence of orders the subordinate will yet trust in his/her leader and not lean to their ‘own’ understanding, but in every way; until they receive new marching orders; acknowledge the will and purpose of their leader, until told by their leader different. 
I have found that this is often the point in which we encounter that proverbial ‘fork in the road’ in which we must make a decisive decision, as Joshua would challenge Israel, “14 Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”      Joshua 24:14-15 AMP.
It’s in this place of faithful decision that we are required to ‘wait’ upon the LORD GOD, who is Faithful to deliver us. When we see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing and know nothing, would we say and do as Job prescribes, “14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare and service I will wait, till my change and release shall come.  15 [Then] You would call and I would answer You; You would yearn for [me] the work of Your hands.” Job 14:14-15 AMP.
Paul, here in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Galatians begins in verse one by immediately commanding them to “stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free…”.  This after Paul reminds us at the end of chapter four (verse 31) that we “are not children of the bondwoman (a female slave or servant), but of the free.”  Stand fast therefore!!  Be stationary, not so much in physical form as that noble sentry at his guard post, but Paul would have us to take such militaristic principles as it pertains to our mind, our soul and our spirit.  This same Greek word, ‘stēkō’ stay'-ko, also means for one to persevere: - stand (fast).  So, there is yet a moving forward in the will and purpose of LORD Father GOD that defies the obstacles and distractions that may come.  Paul would later in this fifth chapter (verse 7) inquire of the Galatians, “You ran well, who hindered you…”   Who distracted you from waiting on LORD GOD?
Let’s look at the ‘three-point’ stance of waiting in faith:

1. Waiting eagerly in faith:
      Gal. 5:4-6 AMP., “4 If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace (from God’s gracious favor and unmerited blessing).  5 For we, [not relying on the Law but] through the [Holy] Spirit’s [help], by faith anticipate and wait for the blessing and good for which our righteousness and right standing with God [our [b]conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action, causes us] to hope.  6 For [if we are] in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love.”

2. Waiting courageously in faith: 
     Psalm 27:13-14 AMP., “13 [What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!  14 Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.”


3. Waiting with great expectation for LORD GOD’s promised revealing, in faith:
     Rom. 8:18-19 AMP., “18 [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and [g]for us and [h]conferred on us!  19 For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].”

Abraham waited 25 years
Moses waited 40 years
Caleb waited 40 years
Joseph waited 13 years
Jesus waited 30 years
If God is making you wait, you’re in good company.

W - Watch God work in HIS ways
A - Ask God about HIS purposes
I -   Invite GOD to work in your heart
T -  Trust GOD to fulfill HIS plans