Feb 10, 20228 min read

God's Timing is Not Ours. Learning to Wait Patiently on the Lord

Have you been asking God for something and you feel like He's not listening?

Are you getting frustrated and wanting to just do things on your own?

Have you been searching for clarity and you haven't received it?

Trust me... I've been there.

This episode is about God's perfect timing and how it's different from ours. I pair this with prayer, scripture, and 3 things to implement to listen to the Lord and wait patiently for him.

First I want to say a quick prayer... Lord, I pray that you lift up every single person listening to this right now. I pray that whatever it is that they're supposed to receive out of this episode, they receive it and implement it in their daily lives. Lord, I pray that you just open up their hearts, their eyes, their ears, and their minds to you Lord and that you help them to be patient and trust in you no matter what. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's go into some scriptures about God's timing:

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." -2 Peter 3:8-9

He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority." -Acts 1:7

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

-Ecclesiastes 3:11

So in these verses here we see that God's time is not our time, his timing is perfect, we can't question his timing, and we can't begin to fathom all of the things that he does or try to understand anything about God's time and what God does because he is the Almighty, he is our Creator, and we as mere humans could not fathom his perfect timing and all of the things that he's done from beginning to end.

I know in this busy world that we live in, it can become almost second nature to be impatient and want things on your time and want to do things the way you want to do it and when you want to do it. As a believer of Jesus Christ, and when we're having a relationship with Christ, it's important for us to make sure that every decision that we make is what the Lord wants us to do and that we're staying fully submitted to the will of God the Father. Whenever we pray to God and we ask him for things, or we ask him for clarity on certain things, or to do something, or before we make any decision we ask him for something and we don't get an immediate response, it can be frustrating but we have to understand that God's timing is not the same as our timing. His timing is perfect and we as mere humans are impatient and have our own timetable of how we think things are supposed to go when in reality that's not what God intends for us. God will always fulfill his promises to us in His perfect timing, not our timing.

I know someone listening to this right now has been praying and asking God for something and they haven't gotten a response. Maybe you're getting frustrated and you're starting to want to just do things the way you want to do it and you're wondering why God's not listening to you. Maybe you're wondering if you did something wrong or why you can't get clarity on the thing that you have so badly been praying for, and I just want to let you know that you have to put all of your trust in the Lord. Sometimes when you don't hear an answer to your prayers, the answer is no. And maybe you did hear that no, or maybe you know that that's not what you're supposed to do, but it's something that you want to do so badly and your judgment is being clouded. I can't tell you how many times I've done that in my life when I've prayed for something, I wanted it so badly, I kept getting a clear no, like I knew every reason in the book why I shouldn't do that thing, but because I wanted it so badly I just kept thinking "Oh, I didn't get clarity" or "He didn't answer me" because I didn't directly hear "No," but there were so many signs pointing to "No, that's not what you're supposed to do." Then sometimes when you don't get an answer, the answer is just not yet. He doesn't answer us in our timing but in His perfect timing and maybe the thing that you want so badly just isn't in the cards right now. Maybe it's not the right move right now, but it doesn't mean that it won't be the right move later on.

Oh hey friend, sorry to interrupt this blog post, but I just wanted to remind you guys that "Christ Transforms Me," my 90-day journal is available for purchase on Amazon. Until further notice, all of the money that I receive from the purchases of that journal will be donated for the disaster relief of the people that were affected by the tornadoes that hit my hometown in Kentucky. To learn more about the journal or to purchase one, go to www.faithfuelsmyfire.com/journal

Here are 3 takeaways that I want you guys to write down and always remember:

1. Stay in constant prayer and listen to the Lord

- Prayer is a crucial part of having a relationship with Christ and we have to constantly pray throughout the day, not just in the morning or at night, but all throughout the day stay in prayer and listen to what the Lord is telling us.

- A lot of people think that praying is just talking to the Lord and presenting our request to him, but a big part of prayer is listening to what the Lord is putting on your heart.

- The Lord knows our thoughts, he knows our hearts, he knows everything, and we don't even have to tell him anything because he already knows it, but it's important for us to take uninterrupted time throughout the day to focus on the Lord, to be still, and listen to what he's trying to tell us.

- Sometimes we do have the answer already, but we're just so distracted by other things and we haven't taken the time to really listen to what the Lord is telling us, and sometimes what he's trying to tell us is to just be still and to take it one day at a time.

- Just the other day I was writing in my journal because I've just kind of felt stagnant lately, I had already published my 90-day journal for you guys, we just completed our Bible study, and I'm like, "What's next? I need to do something next, I need to do something next." I actually got a clear answer from the Lord to just take it one step at a time, because he already told me my next step and I was already trying to figure out the next one before I finished the one he already told me. So it's so important for us to just be still let go of all the distractions, take uninterrupted time to not only talk to the Lord but listen to what he's trying to tell us.

2. Don't try to do things on your own time

- I don't know about you guys, but this one is a hard one for me.

- In this busy world, we can be so impatient because that's just how it is. You want things right away the way you want them. I mean we have so many fast food places with drive-throughs and next-day delivery and so many ways to get things quicker and more efficient and all of those things that we can become very impatient whenever things aren't on our time.

- If we haven't gotten a clear answer from the Lord about something that we want or something that we want to do, we just have to be still. Like I said before, maybe the answer is no or maybe it's not yet, and that's why it's so important to do number 1, be in constant prayer and listen to the Lord, but we also just have to be still and trust in him and not just try to do things on our own because we're not getting the answers that we want from the Lord.

- Trying to go ahead and do the thing on our own will only cause more stress and confusion. Trust me when I tell you I know this firsthand, there have been several occasions where I didn't get the answers right away from the Lord and I wanted to do something so bad so I went ahead and did it and I wondered why nothing was going my way. I wondered why I was just more stressed out and more confused and it was because that's not what I was supposed to be doing. I didn't wait patiently on the Lord and that's what we have to do.

- We have to put our trust in him and wait patiently on him no matter what.

- If we miss an opportunity because we're waiting on the Lord, then that opportunity wasn't for us, and he was saving us from a lot of stress, confusion, heartache, and things that just weren't in alignment with our purpose.

3. Always remember that God has our best interests at heart

- God is for us and he's not against us.

- When he says "No" or "Not yet," it's for our own good.

- Maybe the thing that we want or that we want to do is not good for us, or maybe it's just not the right time.

- It can get really hard to accept that something that you really want to do is not the right thing for you or it's not the right time for you to do that, but we have to make sure that we're putting our trust in the Lord and in His perfect timing.

- Whenever we let go of everything else, the materialistic things, love of the world, love of money, and all of that and we really just put our focus on the Lord, trusting in him, seeking his kingdom and his righteousness first, we will have a full and abundant life. But it's not going to look like the way that we think it's going to look like and it's not going to be in the timing that we think that it should be.

- God will fulfill everything that we need in His perfect timing, so we just have to always remember that he has our best interests at heart and we just have to trust in him completely.

So I hope this episode helped you guys to know that God's timing is different than ours. His timing is perfect and he will always fulfill his promises to us in His perfect timing, and we just have to pray to him, listen to him, focus on what he is telling us, not try to do things on our own, and know that he always has our best interests at heart.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, spiritual growth, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

For more info on the "Christ Transforms Me" journal or to purchase it click here

You can also follow me on Instagram (_lorenacamille_) I'll be posting frequently and doing daily stories.

For past Bible Studies on the books of Jeremiah, John, & Acts join our Facebook Community