What is it like to wait on faith? You've prayed for something, and it has yet to deliver. For some of my fellow young Christians, I know those things include praying for financial stability, maybe a career, health, and let's not forget the never-ending search for a spouse. Yet we pray and we are faithful, yet we sometimes find ourselves in the same spot as when we first originally prayed ~ anywhere from 1 month to 10 years+. Does this mean God doesn't want us to have what we are praying for? Even moreso, our prayers may be authentic and just, and we still don't receive what we are praying for... does this mean we have lost favor with God?

For me, the prayer that I have been waiting for now for over 4 years is the ability to walk again. I personally have found myself faced with these thoughts and have constantly talked with God as to why. For those who may not know me, God saved my life from a terrible motorcycle accident in 2020 that left me with a spinal cord injury. From the moment I woke from the hospital bed, I gave thanks to God and gained a word that physical imprisonment was a temporary ailment. I had felt very strongly that God said 2 years. I prayed daily, spoke life, and claimed healing like we see with the bleeding woman in Matthew 5:25-34, or when the blind man begs for mercy: Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” (Luke 18:42). Yet, I remember sitting there at midnight, 2 years after my accident, wondering where I went wrong. Had I misinterpreted what I heard from God? Worse, had I done something to upset God to cause Him to revoke my blessings? It wasn't until years later when I got really comfortable with God's word that I found my peace.

James 2:14-17 (NIV) "...faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

The first biblical example that comes to mind is Abraham and God's promise to bear him a son. Abraham was 75 years old when he was given this promise ~ Genesis 15:5-6 (ESV): And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. We now know that God fulfilled his promise, and Abraham was the father of many nations and was direct bloodline with our savior, Jesus Christ. However, we see that even though Abraham and Sarah had faith in God, there were times of wavering, such as when Sarah suggested that Abraham have a child with their maidservant Hagar (Genesis 16:1-2). This suggests to me that even a man of great faith, Abraham, also struggled with waiting in faith. Sometimes I think that we get impatient and forget that God's timeline is much different from God's. It took 25 years for God's promise to Abraham to be fulfilled, Isaac being born to Sarah when she was 90 years old. It then took many generations past Abraham's life to truly see his descendants numbering the earth as countless as the stars. Our time on Earth is just a blink to The Everlasting God "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" Romans 8:28 (NIV). This encourages me, although God's promise may not have come to fruition yet, to hold on to the faith that He will deliver as he has said.

The second biblical example that I wanted to touch on is again with Abraham. However, in this example, Isaac is a young man, and God has instructed Abraham to sacrifice him. We see in unwavering faith as Abraham goes forth and prepares to sacrifice Isaac, all the way to raising the knife to kill him until God tells him to sacrifice a ram instead. This radical display of faith is absolutely admirable, as Abraham was willing to give up his only son, whom he waited 25 years for, just because he had faith in God's goodness. I believe this greatly speaks to waiting for faith. James 2:14-17 (NIV) says, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James continues to reference this act of faith in James 2:20-26. It makes me think: how often are we waiting ON faith rather than waiting IN faith? What James is asking is: how can you truly have faith if you do not walk as if you believe? Are we simply praying and hoping that God miraculously blesses us, or are we trusting the Father, walking in His path, truly surrendering our burdens to Him, and demonstrating our faith? I think like Abraham, God is continually testing the faith in all of us, knowing our hearts and our capabilities, and seeing if we are ready to take on the next hurdle.

...how often are we waiting ON faith rather than waiting IN faith?

So whether you are stuck in a rut waiting for something that hasn't happened for years on end or if you are at the beginning of your wait, just know that God has not abandoned you and He will work the situation for the greater good. Whether or not God wants you to have what you are praying for is a conversation that needs to happen between you and Him, but if you feel like you are receiving a promise, hold on to it until God fulfills it. I know that personally my faith will not waver; I will continue to trust in God's timing, and shortly I will be shouting my testimony from the top of the nearest hiking trail.