Taking Time to Wait on God - Part 1 — Derek Prince

The Holy Spirit Sends Apostolic Ministry

Take one other pattern from the book of Acts. Acts chapter 13 verses 1, 2 and 3. Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manian who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul.

Five men went in. They were all prophets and teachers. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them. The NIV says as they worshiped Lord and fasted.

The Greek says as they conducted their priestly ministry to the Lord. Could be worship, could be something else. But while they were waiting on the Lord they hadn't got any agenda of their own. The Holy Spirit said this is my agenda.

How many times does the church come to God with its own agenda. And never once ask God what is your agenda. God is not a rubber stamp. You can't make your decisions, write them out in the minutes and then get the name of God as a rubber stamp.

Because God is not a rubber stamp. He's God. It says again then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So where did the decision come from? Came from God. By whom? By the Holy Spirit, that's right.

Now before they were sent out by the Holy Spirit, they were prophets and teachers. What were they after they were sent out? Apostles, that's right. They're called apostles twice. In Acts 14 verse 4 the multitude of the city was divided.

Part side with the Jews and part with the Apostles. And verse 14, but when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this. So there is a way for apostolic ministry to emerge. If we can acknowledge that there are prophets and teachers.

An apostle is one who is sent forth. Anybody who has not been sent forth, cannot be an apostle. Interestingly, although the initiative proceeded from God the Father, by Jesus Christ the Son, through the Holy Spirit.

They were not called apostles before the church had sent them out. God does not bypass the church in appointing ministries. I'd like to read just the final statement about this ministry. In Acts 14 26.

This is the end of the ministry. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God, for the work which they had completed. They came together, called the church together and reported.

It's very right normally for people who are sent out to do something, to report that to the people who sent them out. That is to be answerable, to be responsible. But what really blessed me years ago, when I read this, was that they'd been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed or fulfilled.

I said to myself, how many of us in the church today can say we have completed the work that we were assigned to. Not just done part of it, but done the whole job. And my explanation is, because the initiative proceeded from God.

Anything else will not produce the same result. Now let me turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 2. I don't suppose anybody here has a Phillips New Testament. Do you by any chance? I have one, but I haven't been at home.

I don't want to misquote it. But 1st Corinthians 2 16 says, for who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him. That's a quotation from the Old Testament. How many of us are in a position to instruct the Lord, to give him advice, to tell him how to do things.

The answer I think is nobody. It's what they call a rhetorical question. We know the answer. Then it says, but we have the mind of Christ. Now why I wanted to quote Phillips was, because I think he says, amazing though it may seem, we have the mind of Christ.

Now that's typical Phillips. He's just expanded something. But I think it's a very worthwhile rendering. Amazing though it may seem, we have the mind of Christ. What I want to say is, it's we, it's not I.

The mind of Christ is not given to one single individual. It's given to the body, by the head. And until the body learns to find the mind of Christ. It will go largely undiscovered. Can we say, can you say in your particular fellowship or church, we have the mind of Christ.

Would you even contemplate that question? Does it occur to you, that we should be able to say that? If we can't say it, who can? Aren't we the charismatics? Aren't we the people that are filled with the Holy Spirit, with a few leaks?

Where are the people who have the mind of Christ? How can we become that people? I believe there's a very simple answer. And I've begun to see it work. I can't say I've seen it work totally. But I've seen enough to feel that I'm on my way to the answer.

Waiting on God Rather Than Working in Our Own Strength

And I'll say there's one key word, very unpopular word amongst American Christians. The word we least like to hear. Some of you can guess what it is. Wait. Not work, but wait. We are so work-oriented, we work ourselves to death.

But that's only half of the gospel. Let me give you just two scriptures. 1st Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. Paul is writing to these, who are some of the earliest Christians. Probably one of the first letters he wrote.

And he's speaking about the impact that the gospel had made in Thessalonica. And he says, they themselves declare concerning us, what manner of entry we had to you in Thessalonica. And how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God.

And to wait for His Son from heaven. Notice they did, they turned to do two things. To serve and to wait. That's the totality of the Christian life. Serving is not all of it. In fact it's very incomplete, if it's not accompanied by waiting.

We serve, we wait. The Bible in more than 50 places, speaks about the need, or the necessity of waiting on God, or for God. Is anybody on an NIV here? Can I, anybody in the back? Can I borrow it for a moment?

Thank you so much. The reason I've chosen this. I'll give it back in a minute. Is that it's translation of Isaiah 64 verse 4 is so vivid. This is Isaiah 64 verse 4, since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.

So this is a picture of the one true God. And what is His distinctive characteristic? He acts on behalf of those who wait for Him. And if you want Him to act on your behalf, you know what you have to do?

You have to wait. Thank you so much. May the Lord bless this Bible. See I have a passionate conviction, that the church is never going to get beyond where it is. In America today, and I'm talking to Americans, that's why I say America.

I've just been in Britain. But my conviction is, the church will never get beyond where it is, until it learns to wait on God. I was in, in a small city in England called Hull. We were there and I think four years ago.

And at the end of my series of meetings, I called the leaders up on the platform and prayed for them. And apparently God released something through that. So they've been urging us to go back. And we were back there this past weekend.

And for four years a group of leaders, numbering, representing perhaps 15 churches now, have been meeting together and waiting on God. Almost unbelievable. And these meetings that we were in, in a way were different from almost any meeting I've ministered in.

Not because I was different, but because something had changed in the atmosphere. And I preached some very straight messages, that only those sins we confess, are forgiven. If we don't confess our sins, they are not forgiven.

God is fully well ready and waiting to forgive. But he's laid down a condition. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just. And at the end we had about ten couples, without any emotion or hype. I said now if you need to confess sins, you can confess them to God.

But the Bible also says, confess your sins one to another, that you may be healed. And there's one major barrier to healing, is unconfessed sin. You're free to come down. Well they came down for about two hours.

Just coming forward, one by one, to confess their sins. And some of them were quite well-known leaders in that area. Now to me that's significant. And I see it as the fruit of people waiting on God. I hear a lot of prophecies about revival.

And I may have given some myself. But tell you one thing, we don't have revival until we have it. And we don't have it until we've met the conditions. You can prophesy as much as you like. But the real barrier to revival is unconfessed sin.

And until that's dealt with, you can do as much as you like. You can do all the singing and all the publicity. But the results will be disappointing. You say well I don't think I have any sins. Well wonderful.

But how close have you come to God? You spend a little while waiting in the presence of God. And you may have a different view. See I'm sharing out a personal experience. I've never been a backslider, as it's called, quote backslider.

I've served the Lord more than 50 years. And by the grace of God I have seen uncounted numbers of people helped. But when Ruth and I got alone with God, without any premeditated plan or agenda. It took God six months to clear up the debris in my life.

And God showed me things that I had done 30 years previously. He said you never confessed it. And just to help us humble ourselves Ruth and I confessed to one another. You don't have to do that, always.

But the Bible does say confess your sins one to another. Doesn't it? You know that? James 5 verse 16. How would you feel about that? Years and years ago I read the journals of John Wesley. And I discovered in his journals, somewhere in Yorkshire, just about fairly close to where we were preaching.

He said one of the strongest Methodist societies that he knew, had grown out of ten people who committed themselves to meet together weekly to confess their faults to one another. That's not the modern plan for starting a church is it?

And after all the Methodist movement did impact the whole of Britain and most of the United States for one century. So maybe there's something to be said for it. I feel that I'm, I didn't intend this, but I'm feeling impressed to read Isaiah 59 verses 1 2.

We're so used to referring these words to the Jews, that we sometimes forget they apply to Gentiles also. Isaiah 59, 1 2. Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear.

God has still got good hearing and his arm still is powerful. But your iniquities have separated you from your God and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Now God is no respecter of persons.

Confession, Cleansing, and Walking in the Light

It's wonderful to know that we have the right of access to God through the blood of Jesus. When the blood of Jesus cleanses us. But the blood doesn't cleanse those who don't confess. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. There are three continuing present tenses. If we continually walk in the light, we continually have fellowship with one another, and the blood continually cleanses.

But they are conditional. The first word is if. If we walk in the light. My comment on that is this. Out of fellowship, out of the light. If you're not in fellowship, you're not in the light. Because if we walk in the light, we have fellowship one with another.

And if we're out of fellowship, the blood is not cleansing us. The blood does not cleanse in the dark. It only cleanses in the light. And if we've been in the dark and we want to be cleansed, we have to come to the light.

For the blood cleanses in the light, but not in the dark. I personally believe, this is entirely a personal opinion. That God will never have his way with the church in America. Until the leaders of the church take time to wait on God.

And I say specifically the leaders. I'm going to end by reading an account from a friend of mine. A well-known minister, Johannes Fascius, who's the head of International Intercessors. A Dane who lives in Germany and speaks English.

And he just wrote this newsletter, of which I received a copy, about something that has just happened in Australia. How many of you have been to Australia? Well the Aussies are a pretty tough crowd. I think you'll agree.

And a breakthrough in Australia, a spiritual breakthrough, would be a remarkable event. And I believe it's coming. But I want to read this account. I hope it'll help you. It's dated September 1992. A couple of days ago I returned from the ends of the earth, Australia.

Leaders Looking Unto Jesus

And the most unique gathering of spiritual leaders, I have ever attended. After this experience, I will never be the same again. And he's a man of mature ministry and experience. Noel Bell, Intercessors for Australia.

And Tom Hallis, leader of YWAM in Australia. And I know them both. Had felt the need to call together pastors, elders and leaders of ministries from all over Australia. To come together to seek the face of the Lord.

The conference was called, Leaders Looking Unto Jesus. And the time frame was three weeks. This in itself was a daring step. How could anyone imagine it being possible for busy spiritual leaders to set aside three whole weeks.

When I realized that more than 100 had responded to this call. And saw that most of them stayed for the whole period. I was convinced that it had to be one of the seven wonders of this world. Had anyone proposed to me to do something like this in Europe or in the States.

I would have laughed at the thought. If we can get leaders together here for a whole day, we ought to be grateful. Apparently God must have something special in mind with Australia. And I would not be surprised if a very powerful spiritual awakening would come out of Australia.

And touch the worldwide body of Christ. Possibly it is the isolation that our Australian friends feel out there at the edge of the globe. Coupled with a realization of the hardness and roughness of the Australian heart.

That have been the main factors moving our friends to cast themselves down before the Lord. At any rate no matter how far I go back in living memory. I have not been a part of anything like this before in my years in the ministry.

Sitting at Jesus' Feet and Entering His Rest

So let me enlighten you with some of the extraordinary things that took place. Then there are a few headings. Sitting at his feet. This was the way God laid out in picture the purpose of this gathering.

To sit at his feet like Mary. And not like Martha tried to please him and serve him at our own initiative. To enter into his rest, which is a rest from our own works. Just as God having created heaven and earth in six days.

Rested from his works on the seventh. This proved to be very difficult for all of us. Whenever we tried to sit silently in his presence. Only five minutes would pass. And someone would not be able to wait any longer.

But had to break in with a prophecy or a song or a scripture reading. All proving how hard it is for us to wait and let the Spirit take the initiative. Praise God we had lots of time before us. Three whole weeks.

And slowly but surely we learned to just wait. Until the Spirit would begin to blow with his gentle wind among us. How difficult it is for us to just enjoy God's presence. Without exercising any kind of activity.

Beholding the Glory of the Lord

The next heading is beholding his glory. 2nd Corinthians 318 became very much alive to us. But we all with unveiled face. Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. Are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.

Just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Coming under the entire lordship of the Holy Spirit. Is equal to coming face to face with Jesus. That's exactly what I was trying to say. In the light of his glory and perfection.

We can measure ourselves in all our shortcomings. And be exposed to the transforming power of his Spirit. Changing us into the image of his dear son. How different this way is to our own attempts at looking at ourselves.

And despair over all that is lacking of Christ likeness in our character. God had called us together. Not as we had expected. To load on us new knowledge and information. But to change us into the likeness of his dear son.

Discerning Through the Face of Jesus

Next heading the vertical way. For me personally a change took place in my whole thinking. As one who's been active in the prayer movement for more than 20 years. I had developed a way of discerning problems and places.

By help of the information available and using my analytical mind. By looking unto Jesus and waiting to come face to face with him. I discovered that any true discernment of any situation. Only comes when we look at it through his face.

If we want a true picture of ourselves. We need to see ourselves the way he looks upon us. If we want to know where the church is standing. And how the situation is in our very own nation. We can look at it at the horizontal level and measure it by the outward appearances.

But we would end with a wrong and untrue picture. Only as we behold the face of the Lord and come to understand his burdens for his church and his world. We can apply our prayers or ministries with great effect.

Falling in Love With Jesus

The last heading is falling in love with Jesus. When people give themselves to seeking the Lord over a three-week period. One would expect that they would end up by being drawn into intimacy with him.

And so it was. The overall discovery of this time. Was a deep realization of how far away from our first love. And from the centrality of Christ. We had been used to living our lives. Even as his servants.

Therefore the calling was to enter into the bridal chamber. And to fall in love with our heavenly bridegroom. To return to our first love. And make Jesus the center and focus of everything we were doing.

And so it happened. As he went on exposing his great and strong love to us. We yielded more and more to him. And the joy and the worship increased in quality and strength. At the end whole sessions were spent just reveling in his love.

We had lost any ambition of being effective. And wanted only to be with him more and more. The song of Solomon with its many rich pictures of the developing love relationship between the bride and the bridegroom.

Became a guideline for us all the way through. I know that I am using big words. When I say that nothing so far in my life can compare with these weeks. But I'm convinced that no matter how big such a statement might sound.

It is the truth. And as I'm writing this newsletter. I have a strong desire in my heart. To be allowed to continue in this direction. Looking unto Jesus. This is also what I wish for all of God's people.

That they would have the great joy of being a part of such a gathering in the nearest future. Now I read that simply because I wanted to move out of the realm of theory. And into the realm of practical experience.

That's an up-to-date account of what happens when people take time to wait on God. Dear brothers and sisters, I'm convinced that the greatest need in the life of most of you. Is to take time with God.

And I'm persuaded, if I'm sorry to say it, that most of you don't give God much time. And I think that's the thing of which many of us need to repent. Ruth and I have learned, and this is very very miniature.

We've learned to take one day a week to wait upon God. It's Wednesday. And we have no idea what will happen. We don't have an agenda. We don't have a prayer list. Sometimes we start by reading the Bible, sometimes we don't.

But at the end of the day, we tend to say to ourselves, how did we ever get here? We had no plan or thought of being involved in what we're in at the end of the day. It's time for me to stop. I think I've said all I need to say.

Responding to Barriers Between Believers and God

Now I was asked if there was to be ministry at the end. And there are a team somewhere, who will come forward and be available for prayer and counseling. Not too much counseling. But I want to invite those of you, who really feel that there's a barrier between you and God.

That you're not hearing from God the way you would wish. That says things come in your life between the Lord and you. And you would like to confess them and be free from them today. So if the team would come forward.

Can we do that? You just come forward and stand at the front. Now these are mature men and women of God. They're discreet and trustworthy. They have proven ministry in lives. If you need to get clear in your relationship with God.

I know a lot of you think about physical healing. But let me tell you that is not God's number one priority. There were some people in these meetings in Yorkshire, who were instantly healed. When they forgot about healing and determined to get right with God.

So there we are. If you want now to come and lay your life before the Lord. Just come down. I'm not going to make any special appeal. Don't be embarrassed from wherever you are. You feel there's a burden on your heart.

David said my sins have mounted up over my head. They are a burden to me. Many of you would like to be healed. But you'll never be healed until you've dealt with the sin problem in your life. So those of you that want to come.

By all means come. For further teaching on this theme we recommend the following cassettes. Holiness the Jesus Way number I 4246. To get the most out of your life set your affections above number I 4062.

And if you want to hear from God number I 4341. For further information and a complete list of cassettes and books contact Derrick Prince Ministries Box 300 Department T Fort Lauderdale Florida 33302 telephone 305 -763 -5202.