Recommended Posts v4

Prayers For Christ's increase And Our decrease - Bloom - 2/4/2016

Fifteen Prayers For God's Power - Piper - 2/1/2016

Group Prayer Participants You Don't Want To Be - Burchett - 1/22/2016

When Abortion Suddenly Stopped Making Sense - Mathewes-Green - 1/22/2016

A Prayer For God's Blessing On Our Corporate Worship - S Smith - 1/10/2016

Three Questions To Ask Before Listening To Any Sermon - Reinke - 1/9/2016

What Are You Waiting For?

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing (Ezra 1:1)

It struck me as I read Ezra 1 that the exiles had been waiting a long time for the declaration that had just been uttered by Cyrus. Jeremiah's prophecy was that the exile would last 70 years. 70 years? There is nothing that I have waited for that has been delayed for 70 years. What was their mindset? What was the state of their faith?

But the question that is pressing on my heart and mind today is this: "What am I waiting for?" So much of life, so much of Bible study, so much of prayer is focused on here and now things. My perspective is rarely, if ever, focused on long range, big picture things. Thus my longing and expectation for what God's going to do is often muted, limited and perhaps short sighted.

Thankfully, the testimony of the Bible continually lifts my gaze, my hopes and my prayers toward what God has promised to accomplish through the work of his Spirit. What better to have goal for the new year than to look forward to what God will bring about and lean into that hope through devoted prayer and earnest expectation.