New Zion Christian Center - Valdosta,Georgia





I want to personally welcome you to our Internet site. The miracle of technology allows us to present the gospel of Jesus Christ to you our Brothers, and Sisters across the nation and around the world. This website helps us to accomplish our mission of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, fulfilling the Great Commission. Welcome and God Bless you as you browse through our site.
Because of His Commission,
Pastor: Lenford Johnston

Wating on the Lord


Isaiah 40: 31 There are three degrees of power here and several expositors have liken them to the three stages of Christian growth that you have in 1 John 2:12-14. The three stages of growth are (1) the young Christian shall mount up as an young eagle; (2) the adult Christian shall run; and (3) and the mature Christian shall walk.
This reminds me of a black preacher in the south who preached a wonderful sermon, in which he said, “Brethren, this church needs to walk.” And one of the Deacons said, “Hallelujah.” Then he said,” Brethren, this church needs to run,” and the deacon said “amen” then he said “brethren this church needs to fly.” And this deacon said, “Amen and hallelujah.” Then the minister said, “Well it’s going to coast money to make this church fly.” To this the deacon replied, “let her walk, brother, let her walk.”

First, waiting upon the Lord does not mean doing nothing. Waiting upon the Lord simply means pausing until you receive further instructions. You should think of waiting as a determined stillness, during which time you decide not to do anything until the Lord gives you clear direction.
However, because this is an “instant generation,” people want to do things now, get things now, and move ahead. Yet, there are many, many verses in Scripture about waiting upon the Lord. This does not mean that sometimes when you step ahead of Him that God will not bless you to some degree; however, it certainly is not going to be God’s best. Furthermore, it often means that you will make a big mistake for which you could be very sorry.
God has a plan for your life. That plan is clearly directed from the outset. That is, God does not leave you to guess. God works this way because all of His plans for life are connected, and He knows that what you do will affect other people as well as yourself, both now and in the future. Thus, it is essential that you listen to Him and wait.
Second, it is important to see how often in Scripture God instructs His people to wait. For example, read Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” Sometimes it takes a great deal of courage to wait and wait, as you start to think, “If I don’t take advantage of this opportunity now, I’m going to miss it.” Yet God says, “let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”
Also, notices Psalm 37:4-7: “Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgement as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” The only way to wait patiently is to rest in Him, and that means that you must trust Him to the point that you are no longer anxious about anything. Clearly then, you cannot separate waiting upon the Lord and trusting in the Lord; these two things go hand in hand.
Third, your waiting should be marked by silence. Psalm 62 says, “My soul waits in silence for God only . . . . My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold;
I shall not be shaken” ( vv. 1, 5-6). How often do you find yourself waiting, and yet not being very silent about it? Oftentimes, you may wait but complain about it; other times, you may wait but tell God why you think He ought to get a move on. Would you agree that most of the time, God is a little late for your schedule? Yet, “my soul waits for God only.” Remember, waiting and trusting are inseparable. You must trust enough to wait in silence.
Fourth, God will strengthen you through your waiting. See the promise in Isaiah 40:31, which you may know by heart, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.” Isaiah could not have used anything more picturesque for the people of his day to express soaring strength. The mighty eagle seems to float on wind currents, soaring over problems, gliding over difficulties.
God wants you to learn how to do that. The wind current of your life is your trust in God. If you are trusting in Him, then you will not feel the weight of your burdens. Does that mean that you will never get tired? No, of course not. It is one thing to be tired in your labors; it is something else to be tired of your labors, which is to become weary on the inside. You can go a long way even though you may be weary on the outside. However, your getting weary on the inside says something about where your trust is.
No matter what you face in life, you will be able to soar in, through, and over it, and you will become victorious no matter what. That is His promise. When you wait upon the Lord, He shall renew your strength. You will mount up with wings like an eagle and soar over it all. Not only that, but He says you will run and not grow weary, walk and not lose heart. God has provided all the strength, power, and energy that you need.
Fifth, waiting does not involve looking around to see what others are doing. Sometimes, eyesight is bad business. How often have you been sure of what the Lord has said to do, and then been affected by what you see others doing around you? Or, how often have you been sure of what the Lord has said, but then have mixed that message up with all of the negative voices around you?
When it comes down to your personal, private walk with God, the bottom line is this: are you going to listen to God personally? Are you going to do what He says? Are you going to wait upon Him when everything around you is pushing you to move, move, move even though He said to wait?
Waiting demands patience, and it certainly demands trust. As you wait upon the Lord, you will have to stand strong against the pressure of other people who want to goad you into making a decision because it fits their own schedules and timing. Maybe you are in a pressured relationship, or a job, or something else entirely. What is going on in your life about which God says, “Don’t do that? This is not the right time.”
Yes, waiting is hard. It is difficult to just stand still when everything in you wants to move. However, wise men and women wait upon the Lord until they have heard from Him. Then, when they finally move, it is with boldness, confidence, courage, strength, and absolute assurance that God will keep His word.
Why is it Wise to Wait?
1. To receive God’s clear direction for your life. Can you name anything about which you should not talk to God? Talking to Him, listening to Him, waiting upon Him . . . there is nothing that does not deserve His attention. The Lord desires you to sift everything through the will, purpose, plan, and Word of God.
2. To keep in step with God’s timing. Often, what you want for yourself is also, what God wants for you. However, your timing may not be God’s timing. Therefore, even though God intends for you to have something, He may withhold it for a time and say, “No, this is not the right time to do it.”
3. To allow God the proper time to prepare you for His answer. Very often, you may know exactly what God wants for you. However, He may tell you to wait. You may cry, “But, if this is what I’m supposed to have, why can’t I have it now?” The answer is that sometimes God has to prepare you for the gift, for the blessing, for the next move. What would be a delight for you tomorrow might be an absolute disaster today.
4. To strengthen your faith in Him. Think about how Abraham felt. God had promised a son, but decades passed without a child. Did that mean that Abraham had heard God wrong? No, because we know that Abraham became the father of the entire Hebrew race. Abraham was not perfect, but he learned through the years of waiting to trust the Lord.
5. To allow God to sift through your motives to reveal your desires. Even if what you want meshes with what God wants, your motives may be poorly aligned. What is your motive? Is it something selfish? Is it really, what you believe God wants for your life? God often makes His people wait so that He may take time to clean their hearts of poor motives.
My friend, regardless of who you are, if you are going to move with God through this earth, it will coast you something. Nevertheless, God will furnish you the strength whatever the condition. May you be filled with His grace as you WAIT IN His service.

His love and mine
Pastor Lenford Johnston









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