Kathryn Kuhlman- Refreshed as We Wait On the Lord
“Though youth grow weary and tired, and the vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”
Isaiah 40: 30-31
As we look around we may see some that look like they are bundles of energy and nothing can defeat them. But as Isaiah was prophesying there will come a day when the strength of all flesh will fail. During the season of divine delays, our human strength may fail and we need to know how to come and be refreshed by the Lord. Kathryn Kuhlman said-
“We realized as never before that we enter into the Presence of God, after we have accepted Christ as our Savior in the forgiveness of our sins, with the certainty that we have an Advocate.”
What a powerful thought to know that Jesus pleads our case before the Father! We know the enemy always comes to kill, steal and destroy. He wants believers to be earthly-focused. But we must begin to be fixed on our Advocate and Heavenly focused. Every time we sin, we need to return to Him and repent. The season of waiting for the promise can be extremely challenging to our flesh and it is easy to get discouraged if you don’t know how to wait on Him in His Presence.
Peter said-
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the Presence of the Lord.”
Acts 3: 19
I used to travel a lot, and after a long day of being in airports and airplanes, it was truly wonderful to wipe your face with a warm towel or shower and refresh yourself. The drain the day had on you seems to be wiped away and you feel wonderfully refreshed. We also need to know that is this crazy world of chaos, He has a perfect plan for our lives. If we will simply trust Him, He knows the perfect solution.
Kathryn said-
“Consider some things that are vitally important. As our Heavenly Father, He knows what is good for us for He is perfect wisdom. He is perfect knowledge”
Life teaches us quickly that we can’t trust anyone and often people think the same of the Lord. This is because they have never really waited on Him to know Him and His will for their lives. He desires that we would come daily and wait on Him so that He might refresh us and strengthen us for each day-
“O Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of distress.”
Isaiah 33: 2
The word for “distress,’ here is “tsarah,” and it mean in a difficult strait, trouble, distress or facing a vexer. As we wait, the Lord wants to lift us up off the earth, into the Heavenlies that we might know Him. And discover His salvation.
Kathryn said-
“Now when Jesus spoke the words, ‘which art in Heaven,’… He used them to remind us of the perfection of this One, that Heaven is a place of purity and that we must therefore lift up pure hands. We must sanctify the Name of the Holy One who dwells in that holy place where sin cannot enter.”
As we wait, He seeks to reveal to us His higher ways and His higher thoughts. He is all-knowing, past, present, and future and His plans are complete and perfect. When we declare as Kathryn quoted, “which art in Heaven,” we must begin to allow Him to lift us and show us things from Heaven’s perspective.
But although He is in heaven, He comes to abide in and with us. He invites us as we wait to draw nigh to Him.
There is power in purity! Through purity, we can draw close to Him. Through purity, we have the confidence to ask and the confidence that we will receive. Most importantly we have the confidence to come closer to Him and know Him.
“No sin can enter Heaven. It is a place of purity. God is a holy God greatly to be praised. Thus, all of our prayers should correspondence with that which is our great aim as Christians: to be with God in Heaven.”
Remember what Paul said-
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly places in Christ.”
Ephesians 1:2
David understood that in waiting patiently in faith the Lord would hear his cry and lift him-
“I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. And He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”
Psalm 40: 1-3
As we wait, He wants to change the song that we sing and give us a new song. Our new song honors and praises the Lord while lifting others. Kathryn explained-
“If you and I could understand the absolute perfection of our Heavenly Father, we would never again ask the reason ‘why’ regarding His guidance. His wisdom of His dealings with us.”
It is usually during the waiting time that we begin to question His plan and His ways. As a result, we often abort the vision just before it comes forth because of unbelief. Remember, the truths for which we stand, we will be tested for during the waiting season. Kathryn said-
“If we are completely surrendered unto Him, body and soul and spirit; if we are living up to all the light that we have regarding spiritual things and abiding in His perfect will, then absolutely nothing can come into our lives and nothing can touch us but that which He allows and permits. It is impossible for our Heavenly Father to make a mistake.”
Listen to what Daniel prayed-
“And I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, ‘Alas, O Lord the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments…”
Daniel 9: 4
The word Daniel used for “great” is “gawdole” and it means, great in magnitude, number, intensity, and loudness. As we wait the Lord our God must become bigger, greater, and louder in us. On the day of trial, we begin to see what is largest in us. Kathryn said-
“Years ago there were instances when I questioned God’s guidance and I thought perhaps He ‘got off the track’ a bit in His dealings with me. I wondered if He might have made a mistake.”
We might not dare admit this publicly, but in reality, many of us believe this. We see from our limited perspective and knowledge and think we know better. As we wait such wrong mindsets are exposed and He calls on us to pull them down using His mighty weapons. Such wrong mindsets have created so many problems for us in the past and if we are open and honest before Him as we wait, He will reveal the truth to us.
The waiting time exposes all areas that have not been surrendered. Kathryn said-
“There is a portion of the Word of God that is glorious but it is not always understood and is abused in many ways…”And we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8: 28).’ That promise is glorious but that promise is not for everyone! It was given for only those who are living in God’s perfect will, for those who have surrendered everything to Him, who are ‘the called according to His purpose.”
The Lord has a perfect plan for our lives but we must chose to surrender to it.
“I am still a free moral agent, free to d as I please. I can take myself out of the will of God. I am free to live contrary to that which I know spiritually. But should I deliberately take myself out of God’s will and go against His plan, living according to my own will and following my own selfish desires, I could no longer claim that promise that ‘all things will work together for my good.”
The waiting season is one of the decisions. If we could just see how during this season He waits on us and longs to be gracious to us if we will simply wait on Him. Our ways always fall short and our plans are always selfish and being in the flesh always produces death. He is a Good Father and longs to lift us and bring us in life and that abundant. But there is only one way to enter and enjoy the Promised Land and it is His way. All other ways will fail. We must trust Him and as we wait if we will keep our eyes on Him, He will lead us and bring us in.
“We are human beings, we live in bodies of flesh and I have learned that to surrender our will wholly to the Father’s will is one of the hardest things in the world to do. Have you made that complete surrender? Has your all been laid on the altar of sacrifice? Have you come to that place where you can say, ‘None of self; let self be crucified’?”
