WHEN THE MASTER WAITS

I was reading the Book of Luke and I landed on the story of Mary and Martha when JESUS had visited them. Martha asked JESUS to tell Mary to help her with the household chores that she was handling for the guests. The reply JESUS gave her… Beautiful.

 
Mary sat down attentively before The MASTER, absorbing every Revelation HE shared.
“Martha, MY Beloved Martha. Why are you upset and troubled, pulled away by all these many distractions? Mary has discovered the one thing most important by choosing to sit at MY Feet. She is undistracted, and I won’t take this privilege from her.”

Luke 10:39‭-‬42 TPT

JESUS wanted to wait on Martha too, but she was too preoccupied looking for ways to wait on HIM, yet it’s HIS waiting on her that would have taught her how to wait on HIM. That would have also changed her perspective on Mary’s “Unfairness.” But Mary… Mary knew the secret and JESUS wanted her to keep experiencing it because HE knew that her sitting at HIS Feet was way more important than what Martha was doing. Martha was doing the right thing, even so. But at the expense of an experience with The MESSIAH?

The Revelation I got from this portion of Scripture is that GOD can serve me!! Oh did I have questions running through my head at this point… How can GOD serve me? Shouldn’t I be the one serving HIM? Does this mean that HE is my Servant? Like how? I was quite confused and I thank GOD I landed on a Devotional by John Piper. A Verse in there really stood out for me… 

For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived, nor has the eye seen a GOD besides YOU, WHO works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for HIM. 

Isaiah 64:4 AMP

There is a part in the Devotional he writes…

At first it may sound arrogant of us, and belittling to GOD, to say that HE works for us. But that’s only because of the connotation that I am an employer and GOD needs a job. The proper connotation of saying GOD works for me is that I am bankrupt and need a bailout. I am weak and need someone strong. I am endangered and need a Protector. I am foolish and need someone wise. I am lost and need a Rescuer. GOD works for me means I can’t do the work. And this Glorifies HIM not me. The Giver gets the Glory. The Powerful ONE gets the Praise.

This completely blew my mind and I started digging some more, just to be sure I didn’t have it twisted!

Then I landed on Verses about Sheep and Shepherd.
There are a number of Bible Verses that refer to us Christians as Sheep and JESUS our Shepherd.
I have never seen nor heard sheep attend to their Shepherd. They follow his call and go wherever he leads them.
Then I realised that I have been that Sheep that wants to lead the Shepherd by my service to HIM, while all the while, HE wanted me to follow HIS lead by HIS Service to me.

… for HE is our GOD. We are the people HE watches over, the flock under HIS care. If only you would listen to HIS Voice today!

Psalms 95:7 NLT

Know that The LORD is GOD. It is HE WHO made us, and we are HIS; we are HIS People, the Sheep of HIS Pasture. 

Psalms 100:3 NIV

HE made us… So HE knows us way better than we know ourselves. No Creation ever led its Creator. The Creator knows best how his Creation functions, how it can serve him, how best to improve its performance and how best to take care of it.

This has made me take a closer look at my life, and I have realised how wrong I am going at certain things… I am leading The Shepherd and I need to lay down my staff and allow The True Shepherd to lead me home.
The need in me to lead HIM, I never noticed it, until recently. It comes in hidden noble detail like, “This is the right thing to do, it must please HIM.” “I have to do Devotion at a specific time for whatever reason, I mean I have to do Devotion anyway.” “How impressed with me HE will be for setting aside time for HIM. For the sacrifice, in HIS Service.” “If I do this for HIM, then HE will answer my prayers, no doubt.” “This is going to grow someone out here, so I must post it!” “If I find a Church to serve at, then I will please HIM…” And yet so so much more, like taking on an assignment and doing it my own way because it must be done nonetheless!
All the desires of my heart, very noble, but now I see well that I do them with my own strength, urge and leading. I hardly look out and listen to GOD to see if, in as much as they sound right and obvious to me, this is actually what HE wants me to do.
I am out here, breaking back to serve HIM “right”, yet, HE longs to pour HIMSELF into my heart rather than it being the other way around; me pouring into HIS Heart. HE wants me to experience the Revelation and the Message in the Ministry that I passionately share. HE wants me to understand that there is no amount or quality of service that I will give HIM that will ever outdo what HE can do for me or pay back what HE has done for me. When I do all this, yes, HE is pleased with me, but HE would be even more delighted if I took off my service gloves and sat at HIS Feet. It is such a Beautiful Place to learn from, and I am glad I am learning to sit as HE waits on me.

The minute we jump in with our own strength, GOD watches until we are tired of our own way and involve HIM.
Oh did I get weary and gave up at some point. Obedience to GOD should never make our hearts grow weary. But how many “right things” are we doing that are getting us weary?
We have served in Church late into the night, every Afternoon on Saturday, very early Sunday Morning. We have woken up early for Devotion and Morning Services, we have Prayed and Fasted, we have Ministered to so many, but we are still feeling empty. We have shared with them that lack, we have recited the Bible and read it over and over again, sometimes looking for answers in vain, we have lived right, well, according to us, but what is wrong?
We go to pray and we have so much running through our minds. So many distractions of how we need to fulfil our tasks to GOD. Distractions of what HE has hasn’t done for us. Distractions of how quickly we need what HE hasn’t given us yet, because we can’t keep working for HIM without it.
We end up expecting everyone else to “work as hard” as we are, and when they don’t, then they aren’t doing enough for the Kingdom of GOD. We expect them to be like us and when they aren’t, we judge them harshly as people not serving GOD in our way, “the right way,” so we think. We want them to Labour as hard as we are, not understanding that there are them that have discovered the secret of “floating” and free moving in GOD’s SPIRIT, Strength and Grace and depending on HIS Wings to fly. 
We find ourselves deep in Religion. We find ourselves doing things that are close to occultic to get the blessings of GOD. Instead of understanding that everything we need is in GOD’s Presence, we go looking for it all over else but the Presence of GOD, because we do not understand that GOD wants to serve us right there; to bless us right where HE is.

We are using our own strength, urge and leading in the interpretation of GOD’s Word and HIS Calling, assuming that it is from HIM and so we end up with the wrong interpretations. We are eager to be and so we think that all of it is from GOD, and so we end up giving wrong Prophecies and wrong Word Revelations. We are so desperate and we end up seeing things as if they were and yet they are not.
We stop walking in certain Callings because we are exhausted and we can’t keep going. And sometimes we refuse to do, leave alone attempt, what GOD has asked us to do because we perceive ourselves weak; not realising that the mistake we are making is going in with our own strengthen, and with our own strength, we cannot do anything GOD-Ordained! We find ourselves so so tired and at the end of our wits, and yet we have been doing the “right” thing.
There comes a point when the weariness gets the best of us. We complain about how unfairly tasked we are and when no one makes sense of our argument, the turmoil gets worse.
We give up, leave our Churches and blame our Pastors for overburdening us. We stop praying because nothing is coming through. We get so frustrated with and angry at GOD and yet when HE was gently nudging at us to allow HIM to serve and give us rest, we were too busy “working” for HIM.
This definitely spills over to so many aspects of our lives. We loose out on great relationships and friendships because we want to maintain them on our own. We are so used to relying on our strength for it all and so we use that notion to keep people in our lives. We go overboard and when the same is not reciprocated, we assume that we are no longer of value to them. And the spiralling downwards does not stop.

See, when you fly on GOD’s Wings no amount of turbulence will grow you weary or get you running helter-skelter. When you walk and work with HIS Strength and Grace, you never run out of strength to keep fulfilling HIS Calling in your life. And the only way to discover this secret is if you are continuously at HIS Feet, seated, surrendered, carefully listening and learning, with no hurry or need to go somewhere. And the most amazing thing is that you can be at JESUS’ Feet right where you are. Every breathing moment is an opportunity for you to learn from HIM.

Yes, GOD is pleased with our service to HIM and HE rewards it for sure, but HE is more concerned about HIM serving us. JESUS is much more concerned about us sitting at HIS Feet learning from HIM, as HE waits on us, than HE is concerned about us serving HIM. HE knows that HIS Service to us is way more meaningful than our service to HIM. 
Just thinking about it… It’s like going to a hotel, with a date, and you start running around serving people instead of sitting down to eat and enjoying the food with the company you came in with. Sure the management will wonder what you’re about and may even kick you out. 
But GOD won’t kick you out! Amazing! HE will just wait until you’re ready to eat. And what’s more when you’re ready? When you finally yield to The HOLY SPIRIT’s Conviction? HE will serve you and sit down as your Date! Beautiful!! Anything you will need, HE will bring it to you, at the right time. HE will never bring you dessert before you have the main meal, you get the drift… Sitting with HIM like this, as HE waits on you, can be the rest of your life.
The more HE waits on you, the more your heart is broken and made contrite to make you a proper Living Sacrifice to HIM, that will not, for any moment escape GOD’s notice. Now, you can go ahead to serve HIM right, after knowing how good it is to be served and when you have something to give. You then give back to HIM by passionately living out the Great Commission. Our service to GOD is a response to HIS Service to us.

You cannot serve men if GOD has not served you! You cannot wait on men, if GOD hasn’t waited on you! You cannot feed men if GOD hasn’t fed you! You cannot show men good friendships and relationships if GOD has not shown you a Good Friendship and Relationship! You cannot be a blessing if GOD has not blessed you! You will not show kindness if GOD hasn’t shown you Kindness! Yet so much more…
When serving GOD, many aspects may seem obvious to us, and in need of the use of common sense. We may think that it’s okay to go ahead and make a logical decision on our own. But GOD wants to be involved in every detail of our lives. If we had allowed HIM in every situation and not gone with the obvious common sense, then maybe some of the messes we found ourselves in would have been avoided in the first place. But GOD is so good, that even in the mess we caused ourselves, HE has a beautiful plan with it and HE will get us out if we call on HIM sincerely. 
We have grown up being told that some things we do not need to bother GOD about, but that is one of the biggest lies I have come to hear. Involve GOD, even in the most petty of details. It is in the detail that we mess up. It is the detail that builds up and leaves us spiralling downwards. It’s in the detail of the obvious, “But it’s a good church I must serve like Dad and Mum did.” “They are good people, they cannot hurt me.” “They seem nice, they footed that bill and we have dated for long, we’ll get married.” “We planned it this way, it will definitely go this way.” “I am making some good income from it, it’s a business/job worth keeping.” “It’s a quiet neighbourhood, let’s move there.” “I like it here, let me stay…”
I have come to understand that my common sense and obvious thought will fail me… Every.Single.Time!! What’s your obvious?
Where your Calling is involved, it’s never obvious! You need GOD in every detail! Dear GOD help us!

Don’t be pulled in different directions or worried about a thing. Be saturated in prayer throughout each day, offering your Faith-Filled requests before GOD with Overflowing Gratitude. Tell HIM every detail of your life, then GOD’s Wonderful Peace that transcends Human Understanding, will guard your heart and mind through JESUS CHRIST.

Philippians 4:6‭-‬7 TPT

As weird and as odd as it may sound, sit down and allow GOD to wait on you! Allow HIM to lead you, to help you, to teach you, to listen to you, to speak to you, to answer you, to fill you, to mould you, to bless you, to forgive you, to heal you, to strengthen you, to deliver you, to redeem you, to restore you, to honour you, to feed you, to clothe you, to shelter you, to provide for you, to satisfy you, to favour you, to protect you, to guard you, to watch over you, to fight for you, to save you, to rescue you, to make your paths straight, to guide you, to lift your head, to console you… Allow GOD to be of service to you before you can be of service to HIM and to men.

The LORD your GOD in your midst, The Mighty ONE, will save; HE will rejoice over you with gladness, HE will quiet you with HIS Love, HE will rejoice over you with singing.

Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV

“Because he loves ME,” says The LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges MY Name. He will call on ME, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him MY Salvation.”

Psalms 91:14‭-‬16 NIV

When you walk into a Lecture Room, you won’t enter and ask the Lecturer to take a seat as you serve and teach him and his students. You join the rest of the class and wait your turn to answer a question or to elaborate something to the class or to leave after you have been dismissed from the class with an assignment. Till then, you sit, listen and learn. 
In the same way, don’t start teaching in GOD’s Class. Sit, listen and learn from HIM, then do the assignment as instructed. With a Lecturer, he leaves you after the class and he may not be available to walk you through the assignment. But the Beautiful Thing is, with GOD, HE walks us through it, if we choose to remain with HIM.
When JESUS Commissioned HIS Disciples, HE Promised to be with them to the end of the age. This is part of the age and HE is still with us. Being with us not only means that HE will see us through the Commission, but HE will also teach us how to do it as we surrender to HIM, sit with HIM, listen to HIM and learn from HIM.
Something else from this scenario… GOD never dismisses HIS Class and no one will ever take your seat in case you leave or arrive later than everyone else. Your seat with GOD is always reserved for you. That should make you stay with such a Loving FATHER. That should make you want to join HIS Class, before it’s too late.

I believe all this is what it means when JESUS is at the Centre, guiding everything pertaining our lives and pulling together or apart every string. That we shall not move until The HOLY SPIRIT says so. That we shall never move faster or slower than HIM or in a direction that HE is not in; fully surrendering to The HOLY SPIRIT.
The HOLY SPIRIT for me, is The Wind and I am a leaf. If The Wind doesn’t blow, I stay still, and when it blows, I move in HIS direction and speed. Allowing The Wind to move me other than me moving on my own or thinking that I can move HIM in my favour. To allow The Wind carry me up and letting go of doing anything with my own strength, urge or leading. Letting go of my stubbornness. Letting go of myself, the death of self. Understanding that my service to GOD is not from a place of ordering HIM around and leading HIM to do what I want HIM to, but from a place of Obedience and Revelation from HIS HOLY SPIRIT.
What many have called manipulation and brainwashing, “puppeteering” and “marionetting.” And that’s okay. Everyone has their opinion, but I alone know how far my own strength got me; nowhere. And it left me unnecessarily tired, overwhelmed and weary and took up time that I should have been using doing something meaningful. 
The only way you can learn obedience is if you sit at the Feet of CHRIST, understand how HE lived in obedience to HIS FATHER and then you can follow a Great Example.

There is a Verse that JESUS used to teach HIS Disciples about HIS Second Coming. 

Be like Servants anticipating their Master’s return from a Wedding Celebration. They are ready at a moment’s notice to unlock and open the door for him. What Great Joy is ahead for those who stay awake and wait for their Master’s return! He himself will become their Servant and wait on them. He may appear at midnight or even later, but what great joy for the awakened ones whenever he comes! 

Luke 12:36‭-‬38 TPT 

If HE will wait on us when we get to Heaven, then also here on Earth HE will. HIS waiting on us here on Earth will prepare us for HIS Second Coming and for an Eternity with HIM.

I say this again… We are most concerned about serving and working for GOD, but we forget that JESUS is more concerned about serving us. HE wants to help us know more about the Kingdom of GOD. There is no amount of work or service that we can give to GOD, that will ever match up to WHO HE is and what HE has done, is doing and is yet to do. HE sees, honours and rewards our service to HIM, yes, but it pleases HIM more when we are attentive and obedient to HIS Voice and Leading. When we yearn to learn more from HIM and get the secrets of Heaven revealed to us at HIS Feet. 
Our physical needs too are important to HIM, just as Martha was making sure they were met. But our greatest need is for the void in our hearts to be filled in with HIM. That void longs to be filled with something. If we keep away from CHRIST, the need for its filling will make us fill it with things that are not of GOD. But it will never be satisfied with what is not of GOD, even that which we think is from GOD, yet it’s not.
Leave behind the distractions and sit at the feet of CHRIST and learn. From there, you will also learn how best to serve HIM other than doing what you feel is obvious service to GOD. Like Peter, remember when he wanted to wash JESUS’ Feet instead? Obvious, right?

Peter said to HIM, “YOU shall never wash my feet!” JESUS answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with ME.”

John 13:8 NKJV

For even The SON Of Man did not come expecting to be served but to serve and give HIS Life in exchange for the Salvation of many.

Matthew 20:28

And I am certain that GOD, WHO began the Good Work within us, will continue HIS Work until it is finally finished on the day when CHRIST JESUS returns.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

PRAYER

I can hear YOU LORD, particularly speaking to me, about not going at anything with my own strength, urge and leading. It could be the right thing, but if I go at it without YOU, I will get exhausted and weary, however noble my intentions are.
YOU want me to choose to be like Mary and sit at YOUR Feet. YOU want to wait on me and YOU can’t wait on me if I am on the move. If I am moving up, down and around, instead of being seated at YOUR Feet, I labour in vain. Help me surrender to YOU, settle down, cut off the distractions and listen to and learn from YOU. I give up my need to lead YOU. I desperately need you, I am lost without YOU, wait on me, act on my behalf.
In JESUS’ Name,
Amen.

If you haven’t given your life to CHRIST, I pray that today you will yield to the conviction of The HOLY SPIRIT and accept JESUS as your Personal SAVIOUR. HE is a Wonderful SAVIOUR and your life will never be the same again in HIM. If this is you I speak to, please feel free to contact me or approach a JESUS Worshipping Believer or Church for Further Guidance.

More of GOD’s Grace, Love and Light,
Lydia Ndwiga.