On Eagles' Wings Pt 135 — Don Courville

Waiting on the Lord's Strength

Isaiah said, But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Father, I pray that You would minister to us today.

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word would go out in power. Father, we're looking unto You to work. If You don't work, then all we'll see and all we'll have will be the work of men and the flesh. And we don't want that.

Father, I pray that You would work in hearts. I pray, Heavenly Father, that You would teach us about waiting on You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, I'm really glad to be back with you again today on Eagle's Wings.

Spiritual Warfare Against the Revival Ministry

This is our anniversary month. We started broadcasting on this program three years ago. You don't know how many times I almost gave up. Even now it's not easy. We still need some good equipment. It seems like I've recorded in several different states as I've been traveling around.

And when I'm home, my equipment's all broke down. And the church's is broke down. And we've got one of the men's. He's got a pretty expensive piece of taping equipment here in the church, and we're using his.

But it seems like there's such an intense spiritual warfare in the revival ministry that electronic equipment is really easily susceptible to breaking down. Now we know that we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.

And we know that Satan is the prince of the air. And so we pray the blood over the equipment. We cover things as best we can, but there's needs. And in the ministry, God has graciously allowed me to get these programs out.

I remember the first program I did, I had so much opposition it took me eight hours. Three years ago. And I think I started on September 12th, if I remember correctly. I don't have my notebook here. September 12th was the first Sunday.

It took me three hours to get that message prepared that week. Struggle hard, and later on I talked to the owner of the station about this, and he understood. You know, if there's going to be blessing from God to you, don't you think that Satan's just going to stand by and watch it come?

He's going to try to stop you from receiving it, if he can. So you have to pray through, like Daniel. You may have to pray for 23 days to get your prayers answered. Well, we've been so grateful for God's blessing.

Contentment and God's Direction in Ministry

It's been good to get to know many of you last the first part of the year. We spent about four days trying to see as many of you as we could. And God knows my heart. I have a heart that aches to meet with you folks.

I want to set up a meeting somewhere with you. And who knows, maybe we could do it this month. But I have to watch the king. He's my travel agent. And I'm watching him real close right now, because something's developed down in Louisiana, where we could be down there later in September.

And if God would open up for that, or open up something here in this area, then we might make a trip. I'm planning on a later fall trip, making a swing through the southern states. But God may arrange it different.

I don't know where I'll be tomorrow. I'm learning, like Paul, to be content wherever I'm at. I remember one time we were traveling in 1985 after the revival, and traveling around different states. Ended up out in west Texas, midland Texas, and just stopped to see some friends.

Big ol' huge church. Ended up speaking, I think, six times. Two times on TV. And I told God, I got into that place and I said, God, I'm just content to go get in a closet and pray and be with you. You know, God, He'll put up one.

Promotion doesn't come from the east or the west, north or south. Promotion comes from the Lord. He puts up one, He puts down the other. So many of what we see going on around today is men and programs, they're wanting to promote themselves and wanting to promote what they have, promote their church.

My friend, I'm not interested in promoting a church, I'm not interested in promoting a program, not even a radio program. I'm only interested in pushing Jesus. He's the solution solver. He's the answer.

Bringing Troubled People to Jesus

I shared with, before I started to record here at the church today, just as I got down on my knees, hadn't been here probably a couple minutes, some traveling folks come by. I call them traveling folks.

Didn't have a home, they had hopped a train and got into town here. And you can tell them when they come in, they're dirty and they haven't slept and it's been raining up here. And they wanted some food, they wanted some help.

And, you know, when you have something like that come up, what do you do? Well, I started talking to Jesus, looking at this fellow, looking in his eyes, seeing how many demons I could count in there and stuff like that.

And boy, he was pretty dark. And she was a little bit off too. And I said, Lord, they need you. So we go to buying in Satan and praying for wisdom. How far do we go, Lord? What do you want us to do with them?

How far do you want us to go with these folks? And we shared Jesus with them. And that's what life is. Trying to get as many people as you can to Jesus. Some of them you get. Some of them, somebody down the road may be able to pick the fruit.

You might have to do a little watering and whatever. But getting folks to Jesus, that's what we're after. I'm not after your money. I don't need your money. All I need is Jesus. And I may have $100 ,000 or $2 and it doesn't matter.

Now, I don't have $100 ,000 and I've got a little bit more than $2. But all I need is Jesus. And folks that come to begging, show me one thing. If they're begging me, if they're begging off me and want me to supply their needs, then they don't know the King very well.

They need to learn to know Jesus. You go to Him. And I've been in situations. I was trained to be a professional preacher beggar. And it's taken me several years. In the last few years, I feel like God's been making more progress in teaching me not to beg off of people.

Revival, Repentance, and Spiritual Housecleaning

You know, I've been struggling with this thing. And I'm just going over, Lord, do you want me to do this? I've been wanting to get some material into your hands. But I'm not going to sell it. I'm not going to offer it for money.

But I've got all kinds of access to good material. But that stuff costs. But I'd like to offer you this month. Since this is our anniversary month, third year anniversary month, I'd like to offer you a revival book by James Stewart.

And I'll have to call my friend Bob Doom out there in Asheville and see if I can get someone coming in. There's more than I have. But I'd like to offer this to you. And there are several different books.

One's Open Windows. Tremendous book. Another one I think is called God's New Thing. The first of this year, the Spirit of God showed me that He's doing a new thing in the church. Been trying to go around in revival, revive churches.

And this is tough. Because people don't want to be revived. We like to hear about revival. We like to hear about what God's doing. But when it comes down to our doorstep and the Spirit of God parks there and says, Okay, let's do some house cleaning right here in this house.

All of a sudden, the door slams. Curtains come down. Nobody home. Too busy. You know, you don't really want to walk with God if you're not willing to do business with God. On the area of your life. And getting cleaned up.

Getting rid of sin. Dealing with that lust. Dealing with that anger. Dealing with that fear. Many of you are content. Like me. Just sort of to play a game. To have a form of godliness. Get along like me.

I got along for years with my bitterness, but I didn't get along very well. Because there wasn't any power in my life. And sure, I might see some people get saved here and there and now and then. But the fruit wasn't very deep.

And there wasn't a consistent joy in my heart. What do you want in life? I tell you, all I want is Jesus. He's all I need. And He's bringing me to the point to where I'm getting to where He's all I want.

I'm beginning to learn to pray more. And enjoy it more. Being with Jesus. Wouldn't you rather be with Him than anywhere else? Think about it. You plan on spending all eternity with Jesus. But yet you don't want to spend much time with Him now.

Woo! Man! God needs to get a hold of us. What do we think we're going to do? All of a sudden we're going to switch into heaven gear? And we're going to have to have a revival before we'll be fit for heaven.

Let's have it! And that's what we're talking about. Revival. This program, God told me if I was going to be on the air, I had to talk about Jesus. We had to be geared for revival. And revival is Jesus.

That's what it means. The term re means again. And vive means life. It just means Jesus again. We need Him again. And we need it. We need to just admit that we're prone to wander. And God's been teaching us how to have continuous revival.

To where we live with Him continually. We deal with Him immediately if we get into sin. We have a thought or whatever. We deal with it immediately. Have continuous victory in our life. Now, God's been talking to me about waiting on Him.

Learning to Wait on God

And He's allowed me and told me to share with you what He's been teaching me about. Waiting on God. As we go into our anniversary month, I think this is very appropriate. As I'm believing God to work this month.

I'm believing God to work. I don't know how long He's going to leave me here. But I know in my spirit that I'm ready to go. And He's been opening up to my heart in the area of faith that it may be time to move on to the next assignment.

This has been tough. But boy, it's sure been good for learning. And being in a place where there's continuous revival is not a fun place. Because it's not always fun to see what happens to people that reject.

There was a girl in the church that has been rebelling against her folks. They came back from a trip being out of town. They came back early and found out that she was partying. And they've been dealing with her for years.

So they threw her out. Said, you can't live here anymore. Threw her out. She had to go walk the streets or something. They just couldn't put up with it anymore. She wouldn't do what they said, whatever.

And she's getting old enough. Girls in church Sunday. Sunday afternoon she had some kind of a strange attack on her body. Last I heard she was in the hospital. And I don't know what's going on. But let me tell you.

If you're a Christian and you're going to fool around with sin. And you're going to be in an area where God is working. And where there's holiness and purity and a desire to serve Him. Then you're on dangerous ground.

And what happens here? People are going to get right with God. Or they're going to go someplace else where they'll feel more comfortable with their sin. And that's what revival is. It's being in the will of God.

Living in the joy of God. Having the power of God present. Now Father I ask that you teach us about waiting on you. Last week I've just got the introduction to you. And so today I'm going to take off and get you into the passage of learning to wait on God a little bit.

There's some things here we need to learn about. Now I want to start off by telling you this. That waiting on God is not a characteristic of the flesh. You know how much fun we have at red lights? Boy we try to beat it and get it through.

Get through the caution if we can. You know we just hate to wait. You know how much fun it is when you get in a grocery store or a checkout counter or Walmart or some place. And you've got to stand in line and wait.

We don't enjoy waiting. Unless we're filled with the Spirit. You won't enjoy waiting on God unless you're filled with the Spirit. Now the Bible is just full of all kinds of illustrations and pictures for us to study.

Lazarus and the Call to Sit Still

Think about this one. Let me start you off with this one in John chapter 11. Here's John. Recording the story about Lazarus. He's died. Lazarus of Bethany. Remember John 11? The town of Mary and her sister Martha.

He's died. Jesus waits a couple of days so he can be good and dead when he shows up for what he wants to do. And so he shows up and Martha goes running out. As soon as she hears that Jesus is coming she goes running out to find Jesus.

You know the scripture says in verse 20. It says,. And Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary sat still in the house. That's what I want to talk to you about. Sitting still in the presence of God.

But Mary sat still. And the scripture says in verse 28 of that chapter. And when she had so said, she went her way. This is Martha. She said all she needed to say. And she called Mary, her sister, secretly saying.

Now get this. The Master is come and calleth for thee. The Master is come and calleth for thee. And then the next verse says,. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came unto Him. Waiting on God is the ability to stay still until the Master calls for you.

It's the ability to stay still until he gives specific direction for you. It's the ability to stay still until he provides for your need. I have found out that I've gotten into more trouble with God by getting ahead of Him.

Than I have by waiting. I've found that if I wait long enough, God will answer. Specifically, provide perfectly, take care of it exactly as it needs to be done. But I've made more mistakes by trying to get ahead of God.

Because if I drag long enough and wait, I'll get my prayer answered. I've found out this too. God has never been late. Has He for you? He has never been late. I mean, He's cut it awful close. A lot of the times.

But He's never been late. Now, the Bible says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth, God says. But you be still and know that I am God. Do you know that He is God?

Four Aspects of Waiting on God

Now, I'm going to take you into four aspects of waiting on God. First of all, today we'll cover on why should we learn to wait. Then we'll get into how to wait. And then what are the benefits of waiting.

And then what are the dangers of waiting. And we'll probably do these things this anniversary month. As we go into September in our third year of broadcasting. And as we've waited on God over the years.

I've found that God now, as He's taken me deeper into the area of the cross. He's making me wait years. For what used to, when I started off, He'd make me wait days for things. Now it's years. But the longer I wait, the deeper the blessing.

The deeper the work of God. And those that won't wait on God are going to get second best. And a lot of times they'll get what the devil is going to give them. Now, why should we learn to wait on God?

Good question, isn't it? Why should we learn to wait on God? I'll tell you why. First of all, we should learn to wait on God so that we can experience His best for us. Isaiah 30 .18 has a very interesting verse for us.

Listen to what Isaiah said. And therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you. And therefore will He be exalted that He may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait for Him.

Desperation and Trusting God's Timing

You have a situation? That's really tough? Job? Family? Personal? And you've been waiting on God and you're just about ready to give up? Don't! Don't! It may be that God is waiting for you to get completely desperate.

And you know how you can tell when you're completely desperate? You're completely desperate when you come and your prayer is to such an extent that it's God, you must work. There's no other option. I believe you to work.

In 85, when I was praying for revival up in my area, when I was pastoring, I got to the point where I said, God, it's revival or there was nothing else I had to say. It was just revival. God, you have to work.

We were desperate for God to work. I was desperate for my own life. I was tired of the up and down spiritual experience. Tired of my church being like that. I wanted God and there was no other option.

And God answered. And that's when you'll find that God will work. When you are completely cast on Him. And therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you. The reason He waits, He's waiting for you to get to the point to where you're ready for the blessing.

Blessed are all they that wait on Him. Isn't that good? You know, I waited for my wife until I was almost 26 years of age. I got up in the latter years up there where I didn't even hardly look at other girls.

I wasn't looking for a wife. I didn't date very much hardly at all. Because I had my eyes on God instead of the girls. How about that for a different dating concept? Matter of fact, dating isn't even biblical.

It's pagan, heathen, devilish, demonic, dangerous. Dating isn't from God. Courtship is. You better watch your young folks. You turn them loose to the devil if you're letting them date. And they're playing his game.

That's his game. We need to learn to watch God for our needs. And so I waited for God. And I remember I was in Bible college and she came into music class. And man, I need music. She became my private tutor.

I didn't learn much music. I was always watching her. But man, when she walked in, the Spirit of God said, Eyes right. And I looked and there she was. And I knew there was something special about her.

I didn't know she'd be my wife, but I knew there was something special about that woman. A godly woman. My eyes were on God. Look to God first. Then you'll see what He wants you to see. Listen to what Lamentations says.

Lamentations 3 .25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him. That wait means to be confident, to have expectant trust. To the soul that seeketh Him. You know, my wife was talking to another preacher's wife this morning.

Waiting to Enter God's Perfect Will

Her husband, they're friends of ours. And he's had many health problems. Been out of the ministry for many years. And I believe God wants him in the ministry. He's had one thing after another happening to him.

And I can't help but wonder how much it's going to take before he will put his eyes on God. He's a man that needs to be in the ministry. Man, I'd recommend him to your church in a minute. He's an evangelist, a people person, a godly man.

But there's something in his life that he's not willing to surrender to God. And so God's knocking on his door. And God knows how to knock on my door. And God knows how to knock on your door. You know what to do when God knocks on the door?

Answer it. Say, God, come on in. You know why we won't answer a lot of times? Because we're afraid. What are we afraid of? Well, we're afraid we're going to have to do something. We're going to have to do something that might help us.

And so the Bible says, The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. And listen to something else. Here's another reason why we need to learn to wait on God. So that we can have the pleasure of knowing that we are in God's perfect will.

You know, Luke 2 .49, Jesus said, Wish ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And the Scripture says in verse 51,. And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.

He was subject unto them. Subject means He was under them. He was under their authority. He was under His Heavenly Father's authority, under His parents' authority. And so He stayed there. With His mother Joseph, with His mother Mary, and with Joseph.

Under their authority. Until. Eighteen more years waiting on God. Until His hour came. How are you doing at your Nazareth? God's told you to wait. How are you doing there? Are you pasting the floor? Can somebody come in and see a path across your rug and say, What's that?

Got a flaw in your rug? No, that's where I've been pasting back and forth, worrying about my Nazareth. Don't do it. Enjoy your God. Get into the presence of Him, and pour out your heart to Him. You don't have to enjoy the problem.

I'm not saying you have to enjoy that, but enjoy your God that's going to solve the problem. He is the solution. I know some preachers, they come in, they get into a church, Man, it's God's will for me to be here.

One or two years later, it's God's will for me to be going. Man, I wonder, God's sure changing His mind a lot, isn't He? And it's going on all over the country. God's changed His mind. He's all mixed up.

We've got so many people saying, It's God's will for me to go here, and to get there, it's God's will for me to leave. Now, no, God isn't confused. You're confused. And the reason you're confused is the devil's running your life, because he's the author of confusion.

Waiting for God's Peace and Unity

When you're waiting on God, there's no confusion. There's no division. There's unity, and there's peace, and there's purpose, and there's harmony. That's God's program. And the reason we're getting into gyms and things, and we're getting men into our churches that we shouldn't have in, and preachers are getting into churches that they shouldn't be in, is because we're not waiting on God and moving when He says move.

The ability to stay until God says go. That's what it is to wait on God. I know of a church, several years ago, they got the burn to ordain their pastor. They had a new pastor, and I don't want to judge him, but I knew him.

He was a friend of mine. I was a pastor nearby, and we have our preacher meetings, and he always seemed like if everything was red wood, he'd be a different color. And he wasn't sure on a major doctrine, even where he stands.

There he was, a pastor in a pretty good-sized church, and he didn't know if he believed in eternal security or not. In other words, he didn't know if he was saved or not, is what it would be coming out to be.

He didn't know if he believed that God could keep you saved, or if you could lose it. Confusion. Well, they got the burn into him that they wanted to ordain this man to the ministry. And so they ramrodded an ordination service through him.

They got a hold of a couple other pastors farther away that didn't know them so much what was going on. They got them in. And the two pastors, I knew these men, godly men, good fundamental preachers. They saw what was going on and they saw this was a joke.

These guys were wanting just to ramrod this thing through and get this preacher ordained. And they were insulted, offended, angered. And so they shut down. Well, they went ahead and ordained him anyway.

Even though the two men shut down and said, this man's not qualified to be ordained. He's confused. We can't approve of him. Well, the church went ahead and the men that were trying to do it, they ramrodded that thing on through.

It just stunk. The Spirit of God was grieved. The man, later on, went out of the church, out of the ministry. He hasn't been back in since. Why do we get ourselves into situations like that? I'll tell you why.

It's because we're not following the Holy Spirit. If you'll wait on God and you'll learn to wait on Him, you'll have the pleasure of knowing that we're in His perfect will, that you're in His perfect will.

Joseph's Faithfulness Through Trials

And I'll tell you something else. We'll develop the ability to remain joyful through the deepest of trials. You look back over there at Joseph. My, I am impressed with Joseph. There he is. He's gone through all of these things.

He's gone through all the trials. And the Scripture says in Genesis 39 that the Lord was with Joseph. In 39 too. And the Lord was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man. And verse 3, And his master saw that the Lord was with him.

And you go on down and Joseph was a goodly person and well favored in verse 6. Verse 21, But the Lord was with Joseph. And you go on over in verse 23, The Lord was with him. Why was the Lord with him?

I'll tell you why. And you can write this down in your book for profound statements. The Lord was with Joseph because Joseph was with the Lord. He learned to wait on God. He didn't like his pit. He didn't like being taken away from his home.

He didn't like that 13 years of being a prisoner. He didn't like not being loved. He didn't like not being forgotten. He didn't like being falsely accused any more than you and I did. But he didn't complain because he knew that his God was sovereign and was in control.

And he didn't act like some kind of a crybaby. He carried his burden to God. And he stayed there. He learned to wait on God. And when he came out, he came out on top. And if you'll wait on God, you'll come out on top.

If you won't wait, you'll come out down somewhere below the top and sometimes down on the bottom. Waiting on God isn't an option for a Spirit-filled believer. It is an essential criteria. You must wait on God for Him to lead and direct you into what He wants you to do.

Waiting on God Rather Than Self-Direction

So, is Jesus Christ all you want? He's all you need. But is He all you want? Have you come to the point to where you're willing and desiring to wait on God for your needs? Waiting on God is not an option if you're going to walk with God.

He that walks with God walks with God alone. And he that waits on God finds that he can walk with God alone. Our time's gone. I trust that God will use this to challenge you to wait on God. If you haven't received Jesus as your Savior, let me encourage you to get to Jesus.

He's what you need. If we can help you, write us. Call the station. Till next time, God bless you, my friend. And when He had sent them away, He departed into a mountain to pray. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea and He alone on the land waiting on God.

Waiting on God. And great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. And He withdrew Himself into the wilderness and prayed. If you're so busy, Pastor, if you're so busy, Mister, if you're so busy, Ma 'am, that you don't have time to pray, you're too busy.

And you're not busy about the things of God. You're busy about the things of yourself. And you'll burn out. And He came to pass as He was alone praying. His disciples were with Him. And He asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?

As He was alone praying. When's the last time that He found you alone praying? Waiting on God. Now, get this. It's not passive inactivity. But it's intensive, aggressive prayer activity.