Hurry Up and Wait
This week on For Real Radio Broadcast, Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn began the message with these words, "Hurry Up and Wait." This call is a profound message for the ages. As the word teaches us: Many are called, but few are chosen. The fact is you can't know what to do if you can't hear what God is saying. I truly believe that if you put into practice the gems that are to come in this message that it will change your life forever. Not just any kind of change, but the change we all need so desperately as children of God.
As Chief Apostle began to minister, he spoke of his time in the military where he was taught to follow orders. He was taught to be swift (Hurry Up) in action, and deliberate in getting into place along with his fellow soldiers. As he and his fellow soldiers answered the call, they didn't just get into place ... they waited for the orders to follow. This is what God is saying to us as his children. He is calling us to get in a hurry to actively seek his will in waiting on him so that he can guide our daily lives.
In a short snippet of his testimony during this radio broadcast, Chief Apostle said "all my hope is found, all of it is found in the Lord. I'm not hoping in people and I'm not hoping in income, but I'm hoping in Jesus and in his salvation. (I'm hoping) in his shed blood...in the one that said come onto me and I'll give you rest."
This is clearly a man that has faith and knows what he believes. What about you? How are you believing? Do you know what's being said to you by our Lord and Saviour? Do you have rest?
All of these are important questions to consider, if you want to live a truly productive life for Christ.
These lifestyle testament's that Chief has shared give rise to the necessity to prioritize one's daily life. This is so important in today's society, in a fallen world, as the focus has shifted from being Christ-centered to just what one can get from God, from the size of ones bank account, down to the car, etc. In order to receive the call, "Hurry Up and Wait," your hope and focus has to be in Jesus. You have to know who you are calling on and his purpose for you.
The problem is, as Christians, we lose our identity because we don't believe Jesus is worth waiting on. We want what's instant because we see the world with instant results, and we want to emulate that lifestyle. That lie, that the devil sells, gives people false hope of achieving success, but success is not found in things, worldly gains, or the chasing of a lie. As Chief has already shown through his own life, success is found in waiting on Jesus.
As the message progressed, the messenger spoke on the revelation that God gave him during his wait. He said he heard: "I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and he heard my cry." Thus the radio broadcast "Hurry Up and Wait" message. This awesome fruit is product of that wait, and leads us to Psalms 40:1, where David said exactly what God told Chief Apostle:
1. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Chief then said, "get in a hurry not just to pray, but pray, wait, watch, and be diligent so you can know" what God is saying. He said that God gave him his word personally that "if you would seek him and then wait, he will answer you in your circumstance no matter how dire the situation." We have such an awesome Saviour that he has promised to be there, and to answer when we keep his word. Jesus not only died for us and rose, he still went a step further to send Apostles, Ministers and the like to encourage us in his promise, in his love for humanity. Glory be to God.
The example that followed next was concerning the story of Ruth, where she went from a life of hell, to choosing God, to gleaning fields to being married. Ruth had some steps to take and, as Chief Apostle put it, Ruth was instructed: "wait and let's see how the matter will fall." She wasn't told to go dress up, try to dazzle him with your wit, your lipstick or go do the best you can to get his attention. The truth is, like many of us, we often don't know what to do, and our attempts at doing something often end in failure. Seems to me we ought to try Jesus. Try things his way and not another self-help book. He gave his word the Holy Scriptures for that.
As Chief Apostle continued to minister, he said: "the word of God said they that wait on the Lord. Hurry Up, Hurry Up you are moving too slow." Here is the call once more. If you want to get married, if you want God's answer, the house, job, car or what truly Jesus wants for you ... then wait. No matter what, wait (because not everyone is called to have those things or the same thing in their walk with Jesus). If you want what God is saying concerning you "Hurry Up and Wait."
The messenger also said that "it's not a fifteen-minute prayer, then guessing the rest of the day" that's gonna get you the answer. He's not saying you can't have short meaningful prayers, but he is saying that there is an earnest action in redeeming the time, taken on your part, that God requires of you.
He outlined the answer to waiting as such:
1. Using the time you have available to get with God and be still (Literally waiting)
2. Prayer (communication with God), telling God your mind
3. Reading and studying the word of God to see what the principles are that he has outlined for our daily living
4. Shutting everything else out
5. Laying before God and watching while meditating on the word of God.
If there is any sin, Chief said get in a hurry and clean house. Even if things are in your life and in your mind that you don't want, you can rebuke those things. He said that if they come back, rebuke them again and they will have to go. Like the word said, resist the devil and he will have to flee. It's not about instant answers and instantly experiencing what you feel your life is to be. You have to be steadfast in waiting on God.
Chief Apostle gave a testimony that when he first got saved and was much younger in the Lord, he would go to the woods and listen for God's voice, as God called him there. He said he would study the word, and wait while out in the woods on a blanket listening for God to speak. One day he heard the voice of God saying, "you are my Apostle" while reading the book of Luke. Not being sure that it was God he heard, as he had only been saved for about three or four months, he asked God a question.
He asked God as some birds were flying over his head to let them drop an acorn and hit his thigh. This miracle occurred with such speed that Chief Apostle said he believed the acorn might have been on its way before he even asked. The key thing here was, as he put it, "I was waiting." Right after the first acorn, he inquired of the Lord again like David, saying "Lord the devil tricks people, and I don't want to be tricked, have the birds drop an acorn on my ankle. Almost immediately the acorn hit Chief Apostle's ankle as he waited.
This was such a powerful moment in Chief Apostle's walk with God that he said he "knew." He knew it was God. He shared this with others who became envious. As he put it, not envious with him being in the woods, and not envious in his waiting (the time it took) on God. Now, If you have found yourself in that boat -- envious of the answer God has given to someone else -- repent! Everyone's calling is different and the hardships another person might be called to can often go unobserved, while that person is busy seeking God to give an account to him and receive the answers we often want ourselves ( but were not in place to receive).
This great miracle Chief Apostle Gunn has experienced coupled with the revelation God gave concerning David in Psalm 40:1 says that you too can know. Hurry Up and Wait on Jesus. He's waiting and has waited for you.
