I recall one of my most embarrassing moments at Cornerstone CC when Dutch Sheets was teaching. It was in the year 2015, and I was in a season of waiting/between assignments. Out of his mouth Dutch Sheets shared God gave him five words - Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait, Wait. At those words, out of my eyes came tears uncontrollable. I cried so much that the youths in the row in front of where I was sitting kept turning back to look at me. I was with friends who love the front seats near the speaker. I ran out of tissue papers. My friends passed me theirs. The youths turned around and passed me more tissues. Haha. I just kept crying throughout his teaching. It was quite hilarious, on hindsight.
I wrote in Precious Moments in the Wilderness that I wait so that I can be restructured from running in my own strength to resting in His Love. In waiting, my soul is purged of self-fulfillment. I think I have learnt to accept disappointments as my trust in God deepens. Hope in God does not disappoint. Those who know Him trust in Him. There has been much teaching about waiting on God. We know that waiting is not passive. Waiting on the Lord is service.
They also serve who only stand and wait. ~ John Milton
In waiting, I waited, for the Lord. Ps 40:1
As I wait, my faith and expectancy in God increase. God encourages me that He inspires delays to accomplish something for His purposes which can be achieved only in the delay. He says not to faint as God places me in what seems to be a holding pattern. He says the delays are for His greater glory. He says to remain faithful, that others may see and abandon themselves to Him too. So my expectancy arises.
When God says Wait, He’s also waiting for me. I learn to romance Him in waiting. It’s fun, because of the element of expectancy. Intimacy deepens and eventually we look to the Giver, not His gifts.
So what did Dutch Sheets teach that day?
Some of us probably don't catch it as we read the Scriptures. Moses and his servant, Joshua, waited on Mount Sinai for six days before the Lord called to Moses and invited him into the cloud of God's glory. Have you ever wondered what these two men did during those six days, while God remained silent?
We often don't realize either, that after Moses had disappeared into the cloud, young Joshua remained on the mountain – alone, amidst the cloud of thunderous lightning – for another 34 days. It was possibly this season that caused him to be such a lover of God's presence. Once they had come down from the mountain, even after Moses would leave the tent of meeting, Joshua would remain inside as the cloud of the Lord's glory hovered over it.
Scripture does not tell us exactly what Joshua did during these times in or near God's presence, but it was in the context of studying these fascinating passages from the book of Exodus that the Lord spoke these five words to me: "Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait." There are several words and definitions of the Hebrew words for wait. As I heard each "wait," I knew in my spirit which meaning He was emphasizing.
Five "Waits"
1. The first "wait" the Lord spoke to me means to wait with quiet trust. It is a form of waiting that is built upon deep relational trust. When we have come to know the Lord well enough, our hearts can be still and trust in Him in the midst of life's worst storms. Papa Moses may have influenced young Joshua in this area, but Joshua knew enough about the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord for himself, that he didn't need for God to speak to Him or show Him any wonders in order for Him to be at peace within the cloud that terrified others.
2. The second "wait" is the more commonly thought of, waiting patiently. It is from the place of trust developed through intimate relationship that we come to know, without a doubt, that God will eventually come through, and we are content in the waiting. When I had my first vision of awakening about 25 years ago, had I known that it would take this long to see the beginnings of it, I might not have been very patient to wait for it. But if He were to tell me right now that I have to wait another 25 years to see the fullness of this next great move of God, I can wait for it patiently. I have walked with the Lord long enough to know that He is always faithful to His promises, and He is always right.
3. The third "wait" implies an active faith. We may possess a deep relational trust in God, but that faith requires action. We must wait on the Lord with action while being full of expectancy for what He has promised, rather than just sitting back and hoping or wondering if He will come through. Your assurance that God will move compels you to live a life of radical obedience, make bold declarations, and take risky steps of faith without losing heart if there is a prolonged season before seeing any fruit. You rest assured in God's promise that you and your generations will reap of what you sow.
4. The fourth "wait" means to be braided together with something or someone. This is the kind of waiting referred to in Isaiah 40:31, "Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength." Wait here is translated from qavah in Hebrew, which means "to bind together by twisting; to become braided together." Through this waiting we become one with the Lord. In the waiting process that occurs from a relational position, the Lord draws us close to Him in such a way that our hearts become one. Bound together like the strands of a cord, we feel the same emotions and think the same thoughts, resulting in a multiplication of strength for accomplishing His will.
It is the fulfillment of Proverbs 16:3, "Roll your works on the Lord, commit and trust them completely to Him, and He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable with His will. And so shall your plans be established and succeed." (Amplified Version)
5. The last "wait" the Lord spoke to me, I heard loudly in my spirit. But then the Lord actually spelled it out for me. It wasn't "wait," it was: W-E-I-G-H-T. This refers to the heavy, substantive, weighty presence of God's glory. The Hebrew word for glory actually means heavy or weighty.
"My 'Weighty' Presence on My 'Heavyweights'"
The Lord is saying, "If you will learn to wait on Me in these days – trusting, patiently, expectantly and becoming one with Me – I will come with the weight of My glory. I am coming to awaken cities and regions, and I will cause My weighty, shekinah, abiding glory to dwell among you and within you. Just as Adam was crowned with My glory and saturated in My presence, bearing My image and likeness, so too, will I crown you with My glory.
I will put My weighty presence on you, and you shall be My government in the earth. You will walk in great authority and power with signs, wonders and miracles following. As in the days of the book of Acts Church, people will recognize Me through you and you will say, such as I have, I give to you (Acts 3:6.) Now is the time for the sons of God to be made manifest in the earth and the whole earth filled with My glory! Now is the time; the masses are coming!"
For too long, we have lived far below the revelation God wants us to walk in. He's now summoning us into a higher place of understanding, where we are fully aware that the God of glory lives inside of us, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the same power that was in Jesus resides within us to perform and exceed His supernatural works. The Lord desires to raise up many "heavyweight" men and women, who carry the cloud of God's glory into every room and into every sphere of society, to deliver and transform entire nations!
He is waiting on you. Are you willing to wait, wait, wait, wait on Him until the glorious weight of His presence and power intensifies within you? You may need to turn your TV or social media off for a season, or clear some things off your calendar so you can have more of Him, but I promise you, He is definitely worth waiting for.