Waiting FOR the Lord
Wade Taylor

“Deep calls to deep.”  Psalm 42:7a

“Deep calling to deep” speaks of a “Deep” desire for fellowship that is within our Lord.  When God formed man, and then “breathed” into him, He created within Adam (us) a capacity (deep) for fellowship, which could satisfy His desire (Deep).  The Lord, through the creation of all the universe, had searched but could not find, the satisfaction He desired, but now He seeks this satisfaction through fellowship with us.

Our Lord is a “seeking” God; therefore, He is “calling” to us - “knocking” on the door of entrance into our spirit, “desiring” us to enter into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him.

“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 primarily desires to commune with us that He may find the satisfaction He desires, through our fellowship with Him.  And secondly, that He may speak into our lives concerning His purposes.  He is not knocking on the heart door of those who are satisfied with simply knowing “about” Him, but rather, He ever seeks (Deep calls) those who desire to personally and intimately know Him.

We can only know Him in this way (intimacy), by spending time with Him, in His Presence.

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

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

“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”  Deuteronomy 34:10

The Lord greatly desires those who desire to experience His manifest presence, and receive understanding concerning His ways (Deep calls to deep).

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but to all them also that love His appearing.”  II Timothy 4:8

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

“If any man hears my voice.”  The “if” tells us that the ability to “hear” the voice of the Lord must be cultivated.  We cannot develop our ability to hear from the Lord (our spiritual ear), unless we first learn to wait upon the Lord, and then spend quality time in His presence.  As He “sups with us,” and “we with Him,” we will come to recognize His voice.

“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

The Lord is standing at the door.  We are to “watch daily,” waiting at the posts of the door, in worshipful anticipation and expectancy, believing that the “door” will open, and that the Lord will come and reveal Himself to us (His manifest presence).  This is “waiting for” the Lord.

The Lord is drawing us.  The fact that He is standing at the door of our spirit knocking, is an absolute certainty.  Therefore - blessed is the “one” (you and I) who has been watching and listening “daily” at His gates, and then responds to the voice of His knock.

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

“Waiting for the Lord” has to do with expectancy.  This is not a time in which we make our requests known, or “passively” wait - but one of expectation, in which we “actively” wait (worshipful anticipation) to be filled with His presence, and t0 fellowship with Him.

“Waiting upon the Lord” is a time of worshipful quietness before Him, in which we become increasingly receptive and sensitive to the presence of the Lord, as we “wait” to commune with Him.  While our outer man is still, our inner man will come alive and be lifted into the realm of the Spirit.  Once we begin to hear, He will lead us to “sup with Him,” and in turn, “He with us.”  And, as we continue to fellowship with Him, He may impart within us a revelation, or the understanding of a purpose, which He desires to accomplish through us.

“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 purpose becoming a reality within us.

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

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world to our glory.  But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.”  I Corinthians 2:7, 10

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”  Romans 8:14

The important thing is not the “I” of time, but the “quality” of the time that we are in His presence.  Five minutes of quality time is worth more than an hour of struggle.  “Quality” time is when we are “relaxed” and not aware of the clock, and no longer feel like we have to spend time waiting, so we will earn something.  Rather, it involves the pleasures of “relationship.”

“The secret of the Lord is with them that reverence Him” (Psalm 25:14a).  Or, “with those who come to Him in an attitude of worship and anticipation.”

“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).  When we make a total commitment of our lives to the Lord, and begin to seek the higher realms of God (“being” rather than “doing”), and ask Him to move within us in anyway that He may desire, and then patiently “wait upon Him” for His response - there will be an intense opposition from the enemy to this commitment and our “waiting.”

A warfare - an attack of the enemy, will come against us to divert us, whenever we begin to seek the Lord in earnest.  All kinds of thoughts, or things to do will suddenly come into our minds.  We must rise up in “violence” and both renounce and resist this attack.

The enemy knows the power that can flow through the life of the “one” who has been alone with the Lord, and the effect it can have on those who “witness” the resultant “glow” upon their face.  Therefore, he ever seeks to keep us from entering this place of intimacy with our Lord.

“Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.  And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”  Isaiah 60:1, 3

The “result” of the “manifest presence” which we have experienced in our times of intimate communion with the Lord will be seen by others.  This will stir them to also seek a personal knowledge of Jesus.

We must be willing to set apart time to wait upon the Lord in His presence, whenever He calls to us (knocks upon the door of our spirit) for this purpose.  Then we must “overcome” every hindrance that seeks to keep us from spending time quality time with the Lord.

We begin by waiting “for” the Lord in anticipation, and then, when He comes, we begin to wait “on” Him - in His manifested presence.

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

The only way to enter this relationship of His abiding presence is to begin waiting “for” the Lord on a regular basis, with a determination to not stop, until we have met with Him, and supped with Him.

Our times of “waiting” should be a time of simply lingering in His presence, with no other agenda than to be with Him.  Our spirit should be focused on “intimacy,” rather than on goals - on “being” rather than “doing.”  The necessity and value of our spending “time” to wait in His presence is either unknown, or not valued, by many Christians.

Yet, when one has “tasted” the fruit of time spent waiting in the presence of the Lord, he can be satisfied with nothing less.

Our setting apart a place, and then spending time to “wait for the Lord” will cause a spiritual renewing process to take place in our lives.  It will connect us with God through faith (our waiting for the Lord), and then lead us into a conscious revelation of Him (waiting on the Lord).  We will gradually come to recognize the value of these experiences of being in His presence, which will become our delight.

Those who have learned the secret of entering into His presence have found a pearl of great price, which they will value above all else.