WAIT WAIT WAIT

I went to sleep last night praying in the Spirit. I woke up this morning hearing the Lord saying WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! Then this Scripture came to me:

“Then the Lord answered me and said: ‘Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.’” Habakkuk 2: 2 & 3 NKJV

So often when we get a Prophetic Word we have a tendency to run off immediately with it thinking it is for right now. As I look back over my life I can look at many Prophetic Words that I received that took years to even begin to come to pass and some I am still waiting for. Don't get in a hurry trying to make what God told you come to pass! Many have almost shipwrecked their life, me included, not understanding or knowing the timing of God.

I remember in 1982, right after I got married, my wife and I were on our way to Tulsa, OK for me to attend Rhema Bible Training Center (now Rhema Bible Training College). We made a slight detour on our way from NJ to OK via MI where my sister Bonnie and her family lived at the time for a visit.

During that visit we went to church with them and her Pastor, Robert Doorn (known to many the world over as Papa Doorn) called me out and prophesied to me on the Sunday night we were there. Here is an excerpt of what he prophesied to me that night, August 29, 1982:

“The Lord would say to you tonight Brother Mike, The Spirit of God would say, that while your Mother and Father are going to the mission field, they’re only going to blaze a trail before you. For surely, the trail they will blaze, shall even be a trail that you yourself will walk and minister under the anointing of My Spirit. You shall see multitudes healed and delivered and set free by My power, for behold, I’ll put the Word of Faith within you...”

Now here is what we need to learn about the Prophetic. THERE IS TIMING TO THE PROPHETIC! I didn’t take my first missionary trip to Africa until 1987, right after I graduated from Rhema, five years later. I didn’t really see multitudes get healed through my ministry until 1993 on a missions trip to Uganda during a crusade where the Gift of Faith fell on me, six years after my first missionary trip, and eleven years after I received the Prophetic Word.

The true legitimate Prophetic Word of God will always come to pass, but not on our time, on God’s time, and more times than not, they are not the same! What I think we fail to realize is that the language of the Prophetic can confuse us. For example, many times in Prophetic Words we will here God say “Soon”. Well, we immediately run off trying in our strength and ability to cause that word to come to pass because God said “Soon”.

We must remember that “Soon” to God and “Soon” to us mean two different things. God lives outside of time and we live in time. God measures time totally different than we do. Peter gives us a clue:

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.” 2 Peter 3:8 NASB

So if we take this formula that Peter gives and apply it to Bible Prophecy it helps us in interpreting the Scriptures.

“He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.” Hosea 6:2 & 3 NASB

I want you to pay attention to the underlined words in this text…two days & third day. In this portion of Scripture the Prophet is declaring that some things will take place after two days and on the third day. My question to you is this…was this Scripture fulfilled after two days from when it was written?

Most of you who understand where we are in God’s timetable understand that these promises that the Prophet declared are things that we are walking in today. Using Peter’s time calculation formula, it has been 2 days, or 2000 years since Christ was here and we are now in the beginning of the third day, or the third 1000 year period. (I have a whole message I preach from this text titled: “Where Are We Now”, but that is not the focus of this article, understanding God’s timing is)

If God has given you a promise…it will come to pass! Just don’t be in a hurry trying to make it come to pass. There is Timing to every Prophetic Word. Remember it is for an Appointed Time. Though it tarries…WAIT for it…for it will surely come!