1479 God’s Not Cheap

How long after you order something on Amazon do you wait to begin tracking your package? Have you ever been tracking your package, and on the day of it’s scheduled delivery it shows “Order Is Delayed”. Then, for days there’s zero progress. No movement. No further updates. Just “package in transit” for over a week. […]

How long after you order something on Amazon do you wait to begin tracking your package? Have you ever been tracking your package, and on the day of it’s scheduled delivery it shows “Order Is Delayed”. Then, for days there’s zero progress. No movement. No further updates. Just “package in transit” for over a week. And you know … it’s stuck. It’s lost. Once you pass that week, the odds of you receiving it are minimal. But you still come back and check for updates, don’t you?

Does anyone use Door Dash for your dinner, then you watch the progress of your order? Ohhhh, they’re preparing your order now! Oh, the delivery is on it’s way. You watch the little car make progress on the map and you get so excited when you see they’ve entered your neighborhood. It’s almost here!

Well, where’s the Heaven app? I need something that shows the progress on the prayers I’ve been praying. I need to know Heaven is working on this. I need to know it will be here this week! Ohhhh, 37 more minutes! And ding dong, there it is! Really, why hasn’t God thought of the Heaven App? I would pay good money to know what’s going on up there in the Heavenlies and when my prayers are going to be delivered.

Maybe you too have something you’ve been praying for, and it’s been a long time. You’ve been waiting with absolutely zero signs of progress, and you wonder how much longer you’re going to be left waiting. I’ve been praying over a very specific situation for more than 4 years. Daily, praying. And let me tell you, there hasn’t been a whole lot of movement. It seems Heaven has lost my order. My angel got lost along the way.

But my faith tells me there’s progress even when I can’t see it. This isn’t lost. It’s not hopeless. And I’m not cancelling my order!

Amazon told me I had the option of cancelling my order because delivery was taking too long. Doesn’t the enemy of our soul do the same thing to us? Doesn’t Satan tempt us with cancelling all we have been praying for? Girl, it’s not happening, just give up! God’s not answering, just stop asking. Shhhhhh, Satan, you’re a liar from Hell. I’m no longer accepting your input on the situation.

Isn’t it funny how Heaven may not give you regular updates, but Hell is always available to deliver something negative.

I’ve shared with you before God told me to take him off a timeline. Do you remember that story?

I have a beautiful prodigal daughter. She’s been away from our family for many years. Every Christmas I would get my hopes up that this was the year she would come back. I would tell God all my plans that this Christmas was THE Christmas. And another Christmas would pass, most without even a phone call. The disappointment while waiting for delivery of your prayers is real. I kept checking progress, and there was none. I kept extending the timeline, and once again, the timeline was blown. I would make deals with God that sounded like this, “God, fix this by Easter and we will give you all the glory.” Easter would come, and Easter would go. Still no progress. So I would pick the next holiday and offer God an extension. This continued for years, and finally God asked me for 30.

Yes, 30. I grew excited with an updated delivery date of my miracle. I’ve been waiting all this time, I can wait for 30 more days. Then he made it clear, no, 30 years. Will I continue to trust him for 30 years? Will I continue to love her and pray blessings, healing, provision and protection over her for 30 years? Will I continue to get up every morning and choose joy, even in the absence of my greatest prayer, for 30 years?

God, really? 30 years? 30 years when I KNOW you could make it happen in an instant? 30 years when I know you have the power to change it all today?

And let me tell you, something miraculous has happened since I agreed to 30 … I have peace. Choosing joy is easier and easier. Once I took God off my timeline, I stopped obsessing over the progress of my prayer, and I trust it will be delivered precisely when God has done his greatest and most complete work. Why would I want to cheapen that?

God is doing his greatest work in your wait. Stop trying to cheapen that. God’s not cheap. He doesn’t take short cuts. He’s not willing to bargain on his answer to your prayers. So stop trying to cut deals. You’re trying to force this, and all your forcing is forfeiting your peace.

Colossians 4: 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

Being watchful doesn’t mean obsessing over tracking the delivery. Being watchful means staying aware of how God is aligning your heart with his. Being watchful is noticing the peace you receive when you once again turn it over to your mighty and capable God. We’re not to save up our gratitude for when it’s all fixed. Faith calls us to be grateful in the process, even when we see no progress. Faith calls us to trust God is already working, it’s already happening, and greater eternal purposes are at play.

Do I expect today to be the day everything changes for our family? Did I wake up anticipating major breakthroughs and restoration? No, and here’s why … I surrendered the timeline. Hell wants me to obsess over that timeline again so I can grow disappointed. Hell wants me to cheapen the deal and settle for something less than God’s greatest work. I’m learning to tell Hell, NO!

God is asking you to surrender your timeline. Take your prayer list and lay it in your open palms. Release your grip over when and how God is supposed to do this. With an open palm full of prayers, God works in his divine timing to do more than you could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Stay watchful, Sis. Watch what God is showing you while you wait. See how he provides peace that passes all understanding and provides in ways that make absolutely no sense. Watch God invade the space of waiting with supernatural strength. See how he changes your heart and your perspective. One day, the package will arrive and you’ll be able to look back and see why God allowed it to take so long. You will see how you grew, you changed, and you’re better because of it. And that’s just what you will see. Imagine all that you won’t see. You won’t see how God used this wait to work in lives you don’t even know about. He used this time for eternal impacts.

And here’s what I’m beginning to understand … If I could see all God is doing in this wait, I would have chosen it. I would have chosen the wait! But I can’t see it now and I can’t understand it, so God has chosen it for me. And he’s chosen it for you. For you, because it’s better. For you, because it’s bigger. For you, because it’s greater than you.

If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you’ve likely noticed a theme. God seems to wake me up and prompt me to often talk about waiting. I believe that’s because he wants his girls to wait better. Girl, suck less at waiting. Release your timelines and receive your peace.

When will it happen? When God wills for it to happen after his greatest work has unfolded in the process.

What’s your job? Keep praying with open palms, open your eyes to what God is doing in the wait, and thank him for all he is doing that you can’t see or understand.

Would I love this Christmas to be THE Christmas? Absolutely! Do I want this year to be the year of healing and complete restoration? No doubt. But I’m not on Heaven’s app obsessing over tracking the delivery truck. I’m sitting here in complete peace with a commitment to choose joy every day for 30 years if that’s what it takes. And while I wait, I’m seeing God do the sweetest and most beautiful things. I don’t have to be miserable because I know he is working and he will reveal his greatest works to me in his divine timing.

May your wait be filled with peace.
May your timeline be fully surrendered.
May your prayers be a continual source of renewal.
May your eyes be opened to all God is already doing.
May your palms remain open in faith, believing if you knew the fullness of what God was doing in this delay, you would have chosen it yourself.

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