By Godfrey Miranda
“Go ye therefore . . .” The great commission entrusted to the first disciples atop the Galilean mountaintop still rings with urgency today. More than ever, there are disciples to be made of all the nations! But if in the twenty-first century we hope to have as significant an impact as the early church of the first century did, we must remember that Jesus’ call to “go” was coupled with the command to “stay” and “wait” for the promised Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4).
How well do you wait? Waiting is hardly considered a pleasure in our 4G, LTE society where productivity is measured in nanoseconds. In the economics of the kingdom of heaven, however, waiting is of extreme value. Consider the experience of those huddled in united prayer leading up to the Day of Pentecost. Their faithfulness to wait for the “Promise of the Father” ensured that they fulfilled the call to “go” in God’s power, in God’s timing, and in God’s wisdom.
I have personally felt the tension between going and waiting as I have recently accepted the call to plant a new church in Castle Rock, Colorado. Coming most recently from pastoring a very active and established congregation, the absence of the constant rhythm of meetings, ministries, and program-based evangelism has been an adjustment for me, to say the least.
In this new context, waiting has become my watchword. Waiting on the Lord is making me realize anew that the goal of ministry is not just to be busy, but to be about my Father’s business. The goal is not just to work, but to work in God’s power, timing, and wisdom. When we focus solely on “going” to the neglect of waiting, it is all too easy to let our ministry activity be driven by the expectations of others rather than clear directives from God. We may be using our time busily, but waiting leads us to use our time wisely.
The apostle Paul counsels believers to walk wisely, “redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians. 5:15). Paul knows that our time tends toward being bound and shackled, whether by needless things or by relatively good things that are still not God’s will for us. Could it be that the best way to redeem time is to wait on God, to wait for God’s Spirit?
Let’s be real. Waiting is counterintuitive because it can feel very unproductive and ineffective. Waiting requires a redefinition of productivity for the follower of Christ—it’s not just about achieving goals, but achieving God’s goals. How then do we know what God’s goals are? We wait, we watch, we listen. To wait is not the opposite of to work; waiting is the first work. Read that again. You may need some convincing, but God’s promise is that when we wait, we obtain His power to go.
Nehemiah waited four months before sharing his burden with the Persian king and going on to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls. Moses waited forty years before acting upon his passion for Israel’s freedom. David, aware of his kingly anointing, waited as a shepherd boy, royal musician, and then fugitive, before realizing his divine calling. In the humble town of Nazareth, Jesus saw nearly two decades pass between His first Passover visit as a young boy and His last Passover visit as the Lamb of God.
When we wait, God works. When I arrived at my previous pastorate, I felt a tremendous burden for Fred’s conversion. He was an extrovert with influence, culturally Adventist but far from God. After several visits and attempts to connect spiritually proved futile, I invested in interceding for Fred night and day, both on my own and with others. Almost nine months later, Fred attended our mid-week prayer meeting for the first time on a night when we were prayer-walking our church facilities in preparation for an evangelistic series. Little did any of us realize that as Fred prayed for future guests to hear the Word of God, he was actually praying for himself.
At the conclusion of the series, Fred was re-baptized and now joyfully serves the Lord in spiritual leadership roles in the church. When we wait, God works. In all our going for God, let us cultivate the discipline of waiting.
Godfrey Miranda is pastor of a new church plant in Castle Rock, Colorado.