I’ve been waiting for something important. And it hasn’t come yet. Everyday I wake up thinking when will it arrive, will it come today. I go to sleep wondering will tomorrow be the day. And I wake up, wondering and waiting. It hasn’t come yet. The anticipation and the anxiety that the wait brings has become heightened by the fact that I have a timeline for this something important to arrive by.

I am realizing that the wait is occupying my thoughts constantly and fueling the worry I have attached to it.

Ever been there? Ever wanted something so much that you attached yourself to it…and waiting for it was taking over your life?

Praying for answers or interventions or things from God create an expectation of receiving. We hoist up our petitions to the Lord and mentally set up timelines in our hearts for delivery. And then we wait. And sometimes wait more.

What do we do in the wait time? Your answer to this will determine if you get what you prayed for.

Colossians 3:2 says to “set your mind on things above and not on earthly things.” This is what is needed to avoid worrying yourself right out of the faith it takes to believe God for your prayer requests.

But keeping our minds on “things above” doesn’t come naturally to us. What is natural is to worry about when we will see the answers while we contend with the issues we have prayed for.

Did you know that having anxiety about what we have prayed for hinders the answers from coming to us? Luke 12:25, 26 asks, “And which of you by being anxious is able to add an hour to his life span? If then you are not even able to do a very little thing, why are you anxious about the rest?”

We need to understand, as verse 30 says, that “your Father knows that you need these things.” God is absolutely not oblivious to what we need and have prayed for. He not only knows…He cares.

But here’s the secret to the question of what we do in the wait time. It’s found in the same chapter of Luke. It simply but powerfully says, “But seek his kingdom and these things will be added to you.” (Luke 12:31)

Seeking the Kingdom of God is putting your mind on the “things above.” As believers, we occupy two realms, the earthly or physical one, where we live out our daily lives; and the heavenly or spiritual one, where we live with God.

When we worry we are focused on the things that we see, feel, touch and imagine. Those things in the physical realm that we deal with as people living on earth.

When we seek answers from God in prayer, we in essence, release those earthly cares to Him for guidance and resolution. This prayer time with Him should bring us peace and closure. We should be able to move forward trusting that God has control over all we have released to Him…and that understanding should comfort us. But not only that, we are released from those cares and free to focus on “things above,” namely the things of God, “righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) which IS the Kingdom of God.

If that is not our experience after we earnestly pray and we are still easily tempted by the devil to cling to the anxiousness and worry of those prayed over concerns, then we are still focused on our situations and have not released those things to God…and are certainly not thinking on heavenly things.

So how do we think on “things above”?

We can live focused on “things above” when we consciously decide to keep our minds on Jesus our Savior. Actively doing this will cause us to walk in peace, confidence and contentment in the midst of troubles, temptations, and trials.

Be encouraged by the Word of God to live with our focus on heavenly things and walk in the peace that only comes from God. Let’s pray this scripture over our minds to surrender our thoughts to God:

“You (God) will keep us in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because we trust in You.” Isaiah 26:3

Be at peace. Give it over to God. And think on things above by focusing on Jesus. Until next post,

Blessings…vw1