“And Abraham’s faith did not weaken… In fact, his faith grew stronger…” (Rom. 4:19a, 20b, NLT).
Today, I want to do something a little different. I sense a prompting from Holy Spirit to share an excerpt with you from one of my journals from a few years ago. Perhaps His intent is to inspire you to do some journaling of your own. Or perhaps He just wants to convey to you the truths He was downloading to me in a more raw, personal form. This is what flowed, in prayer format to God, from my heart on September 4, 2014:
“This morning, as I was dealing with thoughts about this waiting process taking such a very long time, You flashed in my heart a whisper about Abraham: ‘He was not weakened in faith… He was strengthened in faith.’ You showed me that this is about the long-term process, the long years of waiting that he went through.
“Two things can happen with faith – it can be, once conceived, either weakened and the promise aborted, or strengthened, through the prolonged process of waiting on God. It will be either one or the other. If we wait Your way, the Isaiah 40 way, an active wait of hope, interacting with Your Word and promises, then strengthening happens. I receive new strength. My faith receives new strength till I can run and not grow weary.
“(But a passive wait with the doublemindedness of an unwilling heart causes the opposite to happen – the weakening and eventual death of faith, like the second and third types of soil in the Parable of the Sower.)
“So, as Abraham yielded to your process, You were the One who strengthened His faith. It’s not something he did for himself. If we’re talking about his own ability to believe, that’s what produced Ishmael. No, it was You, perfecting his faith as he held onto You and waited, yielding to Your strengthening process, the testing of his faith producing perseverance, character, hope!
“You gave strength to him who grew weary. His weakness of faith, shown by engendering Ishmael, was turned to strength of faith. As this process climaxed in the birth of Isaac, laughter and joy, he became the father of faith. He had truly ‘obtained what was promised.’ He had become mighty in battle. He had risen on eagles’ wings.”
So there you have it. It was probably a good thing at the time that I didn’t know how much longer God’s waiting process was going to take. The fulfillment of promise was not just around the corner for me. The strengthening of my faith was to continue for quite a long time after that… and still continues into the present. I am even now still waiting on the fulfillment of His word to me. So, if you are still waiting too, you are in good company. Be encouraged, my fellow wait-er on God! You and I are going to obtain what is promised. Meanwhile, we are getting mightier by the day.
Our destiny includes a soaring set of eagles’ wings!
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Do you enjoy journaling? If so, what is a typical journal entry like for you?
Feeding On Jesus 
Amen Jennifer. Still waiting here too but we have seen His goodness in the land of the living and will continue with patient endurance.
Instead of waiting on His promises we are trusting in His character. Big difference. We will not know when His promises arrive until they are on our doorstep. This is like waiting for Christmas gifts except you never know when Christmas will arrive. However trusting in His character for us means we know who the giver is and can wait patiently knowing the fulfillment will be perfect. Because we know Him we know His promises to be good and will be fulfilled. We now use this time of waiting to lean more into the Beloved and see how He is the reward we seek. The promises are just icing on the cake.
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Hmmmm, what a beautiful posture of surrender 🙌🏽
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Once again, wonderfully put, Homer, thank you! The journey towards what He has promised is most certainly, above all else, a journey deeper and deeper into His heart. What freedom true trust in His heart brings!
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It’s so nice to know I’m in the company of friends who continue to wait for His Word to come to pass 🙌🏽
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Like I tell my kids pretty often, life has a LOT of waiting in it! I like Joyce Meyer’s book on the subject, “Enjoying Where You Are on the Way to Where You Are Going.” She gives an illustration about the different ways we could experience God’s Waiting Room. Either get comfy and enjoy the wait, or drive yourself crazy! 😀
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I think for far too often, I’ve been doing the latter. Ugh! I’m learning to slowly get comfy…take the shoes off and sit in my socks being still 🙂
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I’m pretty sure it takes all of us a long learning process! So worth it though huh!
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Definitely! It pays to wait on ABBA 🙌🏽❤️
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BOY does it!! 😀 ❤
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Jen….nif…..fer….You already know! I love the Lord for stirring your heart to pen this powerful message!!!
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Hehe, a joyful chuckle. Thank you so much, my dear brother! You are so wonderfully encouraging!
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Likewise My Sister! Likewise!!
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😀
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I’ve kept a journal going, off and on, for maybe 25 years. My notes would reflect events of that time and my reactions, personal reflections, that sort of stuff. It’s been especially useful in getting under-developed thoughts onto paper so I can see them and finish “cooking” them. I look back on them now and then and smile, as they show (sometimes glaringly) my personal development in His hands 🙂 — – Mike
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That’s a great way to explain it, Mike, finish “cooking” our under-developed thoughts. Writing in a journal is such a wonderful way to process the goings-on in our lives. What riches, to have 25 years worth of your journey on paper! There’s absolutely nothing that can replace our own personal history with God 🙂
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With God I agree.:)
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There’s something SO powerful about putting ourselves in agreement with Him, isn’t there?
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Amen. He is All in All.:)
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Thanks for your journal example entry. I will be honest and say I love the idea behind this concept, but after an incident of my prior personal written thoughts getting into unfriendly hands, I have had a mental block about writing down personal things. I wish I could be certain that my private thoughts would remain private, but the reality is, the chances are they would not. In light of this unfortunate reality, it may be awhile before I feel I will be ready to try this again. It is a wonderful idea though!
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I am so sorry to hear that happened to you, my sister. That is a serious violation of your heart, and you didn’t deserve such treatment. That hurts Jesus too! I’ll share with you, I’ve developed a kind of code in which I write down things that I want to keep between Jesus and me. I have friends that journal on their laptops too, of course with a password to keep it private. Thank you so much for sharing your heart here. I highly value you doing so!
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I too journal Jennifer. Thoughts, ideas, insights from my time in the Word and in prayer. All kinds of things but mostly about God and his ways instead of about me. Sometimes a blog or speaking event comes from seeds of insight found in my journal.
Journaling is a worthwhile discipline for me.
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That’s truly wonderful, my brother! Thank you so much for sharing that. It sounds like your entries are similar to the kind I enjoy writing. And the same thing is true — what I write down from Him often is the seed of a teaching later on. “Worthwhile” is definitely right!
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Thank you for sharing an inspiring example of your journalizing. I maintain a journal inspired by some of the comments I write in other blogs. It is a great way to share with other readers who visit.
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What a neat idea! There are so many ways to journal. I have one that I kept as a record of the development of my early relationship with the man who would become my husband, and another one of kind things people have said to me. Really, the possibilities are endless. Thanks so much for sharing yours!
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thank you sincerely. The journals I have from the past bring to me such inspiration to keep on journaling in the now. In His Presence is when the most powerful thoughts and understandings come. He is LORD. His Spirit when sent ‘free’ in all our lives makes the pen flow reverberate down the years. I have a website which is only accessible to those who will use it as a platform for encouragement and comment but not for argument or dispute. http://www.sacred-musings.com is the only place where my journaling has taken public forum.
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My spirit resonates joyfully with what you share, Faye! Yes! In His presence is fullness of joy, and fullness of inspiration and revelation! That you share what He shares with you on your site is wonderfully generous ❤ ❤
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