Wade E Taylor
“Deep calls to deep….” Psalm 42:7
“Deep calling to deep” is descriptive of a deep desire for fellowship that is within our Lord and by divine design, within each of us. The Lord had searched both the universe and all that He had created, but could not find the satisfaction He desired.
Therefore, He formed man with a capacity that could respond to and satisfy His deep desire for fellowship. Our Lord is a seeking God; therefore, He is calling to us – knocking on the door of entrance into our spirit, seeking a response to His desire for a personal relationship with us.
“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
This is a conditional promise, as He will not knock on the heart door of those who are satisfied with simply knowing “about” Him. Rather, He ever seeks (deep calls) those who desire to personally and intimately know Him. Thus, Paul’s prayer, “That I may know Him….” (Philippians 3:10)
We can only know the Lord 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
“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like to Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” Deuteronomy 34:10
The Lord seeks those who desire to experience His manifest presence, and receive understanding concerning His ways (I will sup with him and he with Me).
“If any man hear 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 for the Lord,” and then in response to His knocking on the door of our spirit, “wait with Him,” spending quality time in His presence.
As the Lord comes to “sup with us,” and then, “we with Him,” we will increasingly be able 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 (the point at which we move from the earthly realm into the heavenly) in worshipful anticipation and expectancy, believing that the “door” will open (a portal into the heavens), and that the Lord will come and reveal Himself to us (His manifest presence). This is “waiting for” the Lord.
Jesus standing at the door of our spirit – knocking, is our reward for desiring to personally know Him. Therefore, blessed is the “one” (you and I) who has been watching and listening “daily” at His gates and then responding 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 the time in which we are to make our requests known, or to “passively” wait. Rather, it is a time in which we “actively” wait (worshipful anticipation) to be filled with His presence, and t0 fellowship with Him.
Our “waiting for the Lord” should be a time of worshipful quietness before the Lord, in which we become increasingly receptive and sensitive to His presence, 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, Jesus will lead us to “sup with Him,” and in turn, “He with us.” As we continue to fellowship with Him, He may impart within us a revelation, or the understanding of that which He desires to accomplish through us. Now, we are waiting on the Lord.
“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body….” I Corinthians 15:44
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” – His thought and purpose becoming a reality within us.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14
We should cultivate this practice of “waiting” for the Lord, that we might “wait 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 gradually 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
The important thing is the “quality” of the time that we “wait” 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, nor feeling that we have to spend time waiting, so we will be rewarded for the time we spent waiting. Rather, it involves the pleasures of “relationship.”
“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him….” Psalm 25:14
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
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), asking Him to move within us in any way that He may desire, there will be an intense opposition from the enemy to our “waiting.”
A warfare, or 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 experience 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.
“His mouth is most sweet: yea, He is altogether lovely. This is my Beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. Whither is your Beloved gone, O you fairest among women? whither is your Beloved turned aside? that we may seek Him with you.” Song of Solomon 5:16-6:1
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 quality time with Him. 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 daily, 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.”
Our setting apart a place, and then spending time to “wait for the Lord” will cause a spiritual renewing process to take place within us. 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.
Once we have “tasted” the fruit of time spent waiting in the presence of the Lord, we will be satisfied with nothing less.
The necessity and value of spending “time” to wait in His presence is either unknown, or not valued by many Christians.
Those who have learned the secret of entering into His presence have found the “pearl of great price,” which they will value above all else.