Summer 2004
Waiting UPON the Lord
Wade E Taylor

The Lord is looking for those who “know” His presence, and have “understanding” concerning His ways. If these qualities are to become a reality in our lives, we must first learn to “wait upon the Lord.”

When the Lord responds to our "Waiting FOR Him", and comes into our midst, we then begin to "Wait UPON Him", acknowledging His presence as being with us, and then cooperating with Him in whatever way that He may lead or direct.

If there was ever a day, a time, when we needed to hear – being in the right place, at the right time, because we heard, it is today. We are to be good stewards of that which the Lord desires – to keep ourselves as unto the Lord to hear, become receptive and responsive and to become the vessel through whom the Lord can speak.

Unless we become sensitive to hear His voice, we are going to miss. Today, at the end of the Church age, as never before, the Lord is knocking upon the hearts of our lives. He is beginning to move – saying the same thing to all, bringing unity and harmony to His voice, as the voice of many waters – that will be like a “mighty Niagara.” – a powerful last day word that is going to rise up in the earth.

“The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakens morning by morning, He wakens my ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.” Isaiah 50:4-5

Isaiah 50:4, is the very heart of the “preparation” of Jesus for His ministry. It is also the preparation of our place in the end-time purposes of the Lord.

“The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned,” speaks of the “spirit of prophecy” - that which goes beyond the gifting, where the Lord has worked something within my life.

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10b

This testimony that the Lord desires to express is “imparted” within us through our times of communion with Him. As he quickens us, His “testimony” becomes the spirit of prophecy within us, then it can be expressed through us to whom He wills.

The spirit of prophecy comes out of relationship. This abiding prophetic anointing is the result of time spent in the presence of the Lord. As we spend time with Him, we become increasingly more like Him and begin to understand His thoughts and desires – my life becoming the expression of His life. We will then have the right word, at the right time, to be given in the right place, or, to the right person.

“He wakens morning by morning.” To be “awakened,” means that I am lifted above the limitation of my natural sense perception and understanding, into the realm of the supernatural.

When He wakens - my inner being is alerted – becoming sensitive – I am going to hear something. Today, it may be a wind strong enough to knock me off my feet, but tomorrow, I will be a little more sensitive and it won’t take quite so much. And finally, it will take “just a little” breeze and I will hear, because I have cultivated, I have developed, the ability to hear.

David had within him a sensitivity, an ability to yield. In spite of his problems, David listened – he had a heart for the Lord. The Lord had to speak to some of the prophets through a donkey, but to David He could say,

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go; I will guide you with my eye.” Psalm 32:8

David had such a relationship with the Lord that he sensed the very presence of the Lord. The Lord did not have to speak words to David for him to hear Him or know the desire of His heart. David knew the heart and the mind of the Lord, because this relationship was “cultivated” and developed through the years, while he was in the fields at night tending the sheep.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that we may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.” I Corinthians 2:16

Our mind will be renewed as we “wait upon Him,” so that our mind is progressively brought closer to His mind. “Be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This transformation is worked out within us as we take time to “wait in His presence.” Through this, we come to know the thoughts of God toward us and are enabled to walk in His will and His ways.

Our taking time to wait upon the Lord enables the Lord to enlarge our spiritual capacity and to grant us that “tone” of authority, which comes only by hearing from Him. This ability to hear will develop within us as we learn to wait upon Him. Thus, our times of waiting upon the Lord becomes “the wheel within the wheel” which enables us to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and to move in His will (Ezekiel 10:1-7). It is the impetus that empowers us to move “with” Him.

"And He goes up into a mountain, and CALLS to Him whom He would: and they came to Him. And He ordained twelve, that they should be with Him, and that He might SEND them forth to preach, and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils." Mark 3:13-15

"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, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you My loves." Song of Solomon 7:11-12

It is essential to our spiritual health that we spend quality time in His presence, waiting upon Him. Only then, will we have the spiritual energy to face the challenges, testings, and problems of life.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

“The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19b

During these times of intimate fellowship, we are brought into a closer union with Him. In the closeness of this communion, we will receive of His life and strength, and along with this, we will come into a deeper understanding of spiritual principles and an unfolding of His word, which will draw us, yet closer.

"Waiting upon the Lord" is key to a victorious, overcoming life. Throughout the Psalms, whenever David found himself in difficult circumstances, he constantly reminded himself to “wait upon the Lord.”

"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." Psalm 27:14

It is here, in His presence, that we will begin to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom. There will be a realignment of our lives. Our priorities will change from the natural to the spiritual. Our spiritual senses will be energized by His presence and restored to respond to His purposes.

We are to be changed from one level of glory to a higher level of glory. We may be birthed from a certain ministry and even flow in the same anointing, and echo the same teachings, but unless we “personally” have cultivated the presence of God by spending time “waiting upon the Lord,” we will simply be reflecting reflected light, a dimmed reflection of the pure glory of the Lord.

As we wait upon the Lord, we will experience a genuine encounter with the Lord. Then wherever we go, the result of this "manifest presence" that we have experienced, will cut through every bondage and every fear in those who are witnessing the result of our life in His. This will bring others to a knowledge of Jesus Christ.

During these prolonged times spent in His presence, we are “sowing” to the Spirit – enlarging our capacity to flow with the Holy Spirit. It is always costly to the natural man, and seems inefficient.

Many early morning risings may seemingly bear no fruit at all, but the continued lifting up of our desire for Him, along with our worship and the obedience of seeking after Him, rather than things, will in time, bring forth within us an accumulative effect that will surprisingly produce a profound spiritual result. We will have “become” a prophetic vessel that is available to Him.

These times of “waiting upon the Lord,” in His presence, do not produce quick results, but rather, lasting ones. Jesus commanded us to abide in Him, adding that it will cause us to bear “fruit that remains.” But, the abiding life - a life that “waits” in God's presence, will produce fruit that will stand in eternity.

“I love them that love Me; and those who seek Me early shall find me that I may cause those who love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.” Proverbs 8:17,21

Indeed, the Lord is knocking on the door of our hearts and our lives. He is seeking to enter in. He is seeking a people that will respond to His knock and that will open the door and invite Him in, that they might “wait upon Him.”

“Let my Beloved come into His garden, and eat His pleasant fruits.” Song of Solomon 4:16b