Summer 2004
Waiting FOR the Lord
Excerpts from articles by
Wade Taylor and Walter Beuttler

“Deep calls to deep.” Psalm 42:7

“Deep calling to deep,” speaks of the “Deep” (longing for fellowship) that is within our Lord, seeking the “deep” (the created capacity to respond and commune with the Lord) that is within us. The Lord is a seeking God, and He is actively calling to us, to come apart and respond to His call.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20

The Lord desires to commune and fellowship with us, that He may speak into our lives. He is not looking for those who seek information about Him, but rather He is seeking those who desire to personally and intimately know Him. We can only come to personally know Him, by spending time with Him - in His Presence, as we wait upon Him.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” Exodus 33:11

Only as we seek to personally know the Lord by spending time in His presence, will we be able to recognize His presence and respond.

“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.” Psalm 103:7

As we spend quality time in His presence, we will receive understanding concerning His ways.

“Who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Matthew 13:9

“If any man hears My voice.” This is “conditional,” and tells us that the ability to “hear” the voice of the Lord must be cultivated. We cannot develop this ability to “hear,” unless we first learn to “wait” upon the Lord.

“Blessed is the man that hears Me, watching daily at My gates, waiting at the posts of My doors. For whoso finds Me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.” Proverbs 8:34-35

It is a fact that the Lord is standing at the door. He is there, knocking upon the “door” that leads into our spirit, awaiting our response. When we truly believe this, and daily come apart to wait, “at the posts of My door,” in active worship, expecting the door to open, the Lord will walk into our life to “sup” with us, and we with Him. This is waiting “for” the Lord.

The Lord is calling to the “deep” within us, seeking to draw us apart to commune with Him, as He stands at the door of our “daily activities,” knocking, in order to attract our attention. Therefore, blessed is the one that hears His “knock” (voice) and turns aside in response. This can only happen when we are actively “watching and listening” daily at His gates.

“And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.” Isaiah 6:4

As we wait “for” Him, before the “door” that separates us from Him, and He responds, we can then begin to wait “upon” Him. Waiting “upon” the Lord is a time of worshipful quietness before Him in which we become receptive to the Spirit of God. As we wait “upon” the Lord, He takes the lead and we follow.

“Come, My beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish.” Song of Solomon 7:11-12a

While our outer man (soul) is still, our inner man (spirit) will come alive to the things of God. This is not a time in which we make our requests known, or become passive; but one of expectation in which we actively wait to be filled with His manifest presence. Once we begin to hear, He will lead us according to His purpose to accomplish His will in and through us. The outworking of this can take place in many different ways.

"It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." I Corinthians 15:44a

As we continue to wait, there will be a progressive dying of our flesh to all the voices of our natural mind, and a subsequent birthing of “the mind of Christ” with His thought and His purpose.

We should cultivate this practice of waiting upon Him, until we are no longer governed or controlled by the demands of the natural realm. As we do this, we will become more spiritually sensitive, and our “ear” will become more and more tuned to the voice of the Lord.

The important thing is not the length of time that we “wait,” but the “quality” (we wait in worshipful anticipation) of the time that we are in His presence. Five minutes of quality time is worth more than an hour of struggle. Time becomes “quality” time, where we are relaxed and not aware of the clock, or struggling to wait for an hour, thinking we have earned something. It is the outworking of a love “relationship,” a deep inner desire to be with the Lord.

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear (reverence) Him” (Psalm 25:14). The Lord will reveal His secrets to those who come to Him in an attitude of worship, as they express their love for Him.

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, beside You, what He has prepared for him that waits for Him.” Isaiah 64:4

The Scripture says, “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12b). As we make a commitment of our lives to the Lord, and begin to seek the higher realms of God, a two-fold opposition will rise against us. The desires of our “self-life” will intensify and a warfare of the enemy will attack us, seeking to divert us. We must at this point, take an active stand against our flesh, and against the enemy, until we can again seek the Lord in anticipation with a single eye.

The enemy knows the power that can flow through the life of the one who has been alone with the Lord in His chambers. He knows the heart cry of those who will eagerly respond when they witness the beauty of Jesus being expressed through the life of the one who truly knows “Him.”

We must be willing to set apart time to wait upon Him in His presence, whenever He calls to us for this purpose. We wait “for” the Lord (anticipation). Then, when He comes (manifest presence), we wait “on” Him. As we wait “for” Him, a gradual unfolding of what we are to do will form within us, so we can enter into a “cooperative” relationship with Him, as we wait “upon” Him.

This experience of “waiting before the Lord” is simply to linger in His presence, with no other agenda than to be with Him. This time of waiting should focus on “intimacy” rather than goals, on “being” rather than “doing.” Once we have “tasted” the fruit of time spent waiting in the presence of the Lord, we will never again be satisfied with less. The “witness” of divine favor resting upon our lives, as a result of our times of intimate communion with the Lord, will stir others to seek this deeper knowledge of knowing the Lord.

“Waiting upon the Lord” will cause a spiritual renewal to take place in our lives, connecting us with the Lord through faith, and then leading us into a conscious revelation of Him. This experience will grow gradually, and become our delight.

Those who have learned the secret of entering into His presence have found a pearl of great price.