How to Pray: Learn to Wait

by David Chadwick

How do we pray? So far we have learned about praying through journaling and about persistent prayer.

I finished yesterday’s teaching on how to pray by saying this: I believe persistence allows your heart to keep believing as you learn to wait upon the Lord. 

What’s today’s tip? We learn to wait. 

Waiting. It’s not easy, but it strengthens the core of a person. It tests us. It challenges us. It strengthens us. Isaiah 40:31 actually says, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” So waiting renews us! 

In God’s economy, I believe waiting is a synonym for faith. Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God without faith. And Mark 11:22-25 says that when we pray, we are to pray with great faith! It’s often in the waiting that this kind of faith will rise up! And move our hearts to persist in prayer.

All great faith includes waiting upon the Lord. Becoming staunchly aware that he is sovereign and provident over ALL things. 

Sovereign – having the ultimate power without limitation. Providence – God’s protective care and guardianship over his creation. His will will be done!

Galatians 6 says that after we have planted our seeds, there is a “due season” to reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 4:4a says, “when the fullness of time had come.” Words like “due season” and “fullness of time” show me that God must have a time! An appointed time! Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 says God has a time and a season and a purpose for everything that happens under heaven. 

Yes, hope deferred truly does make the heart sick. But a fulfilled desire is a tree of life (Proverbs 13:12). And oftentimes those fulfilled desires only come through a long wait of faith.

But when you are willing to be patient, you are proactively practicing faith. And we serve a God who loves to see his children rise up in faith!