This article is about waiting something that most people don’t like to do. Whether waiting on the fast food to come to the window, waiting on their paycheck, or waiting on a husband or wife to come into their lives, we want it all, and we want it now.
I will be discussing how to wait and how to increase in faith and love, especially for yourself and others. Waiting is part of life; it’s necessary for growth.
In the city that’s 20.9 miles long, this morning, looking at the cloudy sky on all the hills and beautiful green trees, death is heavy in the air. The buildings are not high but knowing that there’s life in those buildings, yet you cannot tell.
My husband and I are sitting in a hotel on the 10th floor of the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Waterbury, Connecticut. This city was an assignment that God gave me in 2001.
I didn’t have any family there; in fact, I never even heard of the city. I lived in New York City at the time, the city I was born and raised in. So when God told me he would buy me a house, but I would have to move to Waterbury to get that house, I was in both shock and awe.
Waterbury CT – A City In Decay
On May 1st, 2001, my team, kids, and I moved to Waterbury, CT, 20 years ago.
When I first arrived in the city, I saw decay, big New England homes which looked like they once were beautiful and charming but we in disrepair. There were houses that people had kept up and looked nice, but those houses were run down side by side.
There are 20 drug rehab centers filled in a city that is only 20 miles long. That’s one rehab center per square mile.
God told me: “this is a city without trees”. There was barely any growth in the city; it had 105,000 people at that time, and today, 20 years later, there are only 107,000. Wow, there’s no real growth, yet there is a lot of decay and dying. Not only of businesses because there are no jobs, but young people are dying too.
At 18, my daughter moved back here because she had friends, and every time you turn around, she’s telling me that there is a young person who was shot and killed or they were in a car accident.
When I came here in 2001, the Lord told me there was a curse on the city and you can see it. It was coined the brass city at one time, it was a thriving place. Timex was here, and other companies all left. There were a lot of factories in this city, and they all closed up and left.
Waterbury And The Fountain
For all these years, the residents of Waterbury have been waiting for their city to be delivered and restored. It is a town with its beauty hidden in the background as though GOD left enough of their original beauty to reveal that they can be that again. If you ever visit Waterbury downtown and see the green horse statue with the water fountain, the architecture is lovely. The core of the city, which they called the green, has a certain level of preservation.
They say that if you drink water from the “green horse fountain,” you will return or not be able to leave Waterbury, or if you go, you will return.
While people think that’s cute, it is not; it’s demonic because anything that keeps you from progressing and leaving is a stronghold.
We all need to move forward, and what if it is GOD’S will for you to leave and move to another place for ministry or a career. Perhaps you want to move closer to your grandkids in another state, but you feel you can’t leave because people believe they cannot go if you drink from the water fountain. Suppose you feel like you are stuck here or have been pulled back.
Don’t Receive Everything You Hear
Please break that spell off your mind, reject that belief, and don’t speak it over your life. It has been spoken over the city of Waterbury releasing demonic influence into the lives of those who accept it and spread it along the way. Demons use whatever they can to start or keep strongholds (bondage) in your life.
Since I moved away from the city in 2006, I have come here a handful of times to pray for the town, see my daughter and previous members of my church who still love me, and I love them. How I wish I could see all of them, but they’re all scattered and are living their lives.
I know one ex-member who lives in the city who desperately wants to move out of Waterbury. She doesn’t like living here and has lived in this city all of her life.
She wants to be freed, yet she says she doesn’t know what is keeping her here for her life. There are no real emotional ties to the city, yet they are demonic strongholds affecting her, messing with her mind, depression, and loss of spirits.
And when I say loss, I mean things that she should’ve had and wanted but never got because the enemy stole it.
You may be like her, saying when will I arise. I have been waiting for my prayers to be answered.
There is a waiting period when we approach the Lord and ask God for something nine times out of 10. I’ll refer to it as a season, so waiting for your season to come when God will release whatever that is that you have been promised by him, which you’ve believed him for.
But there is a way to wait on things; you can’t stay in anger, disappointment, or unbelief. Remember this: if the enemy can’t stop you from serving God because he anchors you, and you believe God, then he will eventually send spirits like faithlessness, distrust, and other things.
Trusting GOD Is The Answer
He will slowly inject things like depression and stealthily gain more territory until one day you wake up, and you have started to not trust GOD. Distrust of his ways has crept unbeknownst to you.
That is one of the reasons why it is essential to read GOD’S word consistently and diligently, praying every day, praying for others, and yourself. Extremely important and urgent go hand in hand, praying for others and yourself.
It’s necessary because that’s what God said to do. That’s part of his holy formula.
Since the waiting game is a significant portion of our lives, we need to learn how to wait. We wait through preparing ourselves for whatever it is that God wants to do in our lives.
And how do we prepare by praying and asking God what is your will, teach me, Lord, train me in your word. Help me to be obedient and deliver me from all those things you know I need deliverance from.
You know the things that you battle with daily. Gossip, anger, excessive drinking (I’m talking about liquor, beer), abusing others, and yourself.
While you’re waiting on that career, get a job. Work, show God that you can sustain a job and that you are committed to working. Don’t expect God to give you something while you sit and do nothing because God hires people who work, read the Bible. There is proof of what I’m saying.
Learning the Waiting Game
Like young David, who was 17 years old, people were tending to his fathers’ sheep, watching over and protecting them from a bear.
God promoted David, true promotion comes from the Lord.
So you need to be working even if it is in McDonald’s as long as it is GOD’S will for you to work inside Mc Donald’s, do it. An honest day of work… I don’t know the rest of that line, but if you know it, finish it for me. Amen.
I know that there’s a lot you in need, but while we are waiting for the blessing, know that to wake up every morning means that God called your name. If he did not, you would never open your eyes, you wouldn’t have woke up, and then your loved ones and your friends would be crying and sad because they would’ve lost you.
So you are already blessed to wake up every morning, to have food available, to have a roof over your head – even if you are on welfare, food stamps, or in the White House, you are blessed.
While you’re waiting, learn how to wait. Pray while thanking God for whatever you’re waiting on. The Bible says that if you ask God anything in prayer and believe it unwavering faith, which means not doubting, he will give it to you. It will come to pass. My husband chimed in – as long as it was according to his word.
We shouldn’t be praying for things that are out of the will of God, and we can’t be making up things because we want them. First, find it in God’s word, and when you see it in there, that means you can legally have it because God already promised it.
Now all you have to do is tell God, I believe you for a house or a better job or career. Lord, I want my child to go to a private school, if I don’t have the resources, Lord, please make way for it to happen. God said you are blessed in the city and the field; there’s no good thing that he will withhold from you. That’s what the Scripture says. But trust and waiting on God is the precursor to the blessing.
Even A Baby Has To Wait To Be Born
When you have to wait on something, it shows whether you trust and believe God and often want it because if you let it go real quick and forget about it, you don’t like it.
It wasn’t that important to you; it was just one of those impulses like an impulse buy.
Oh, but when something is significant to you, and you know it’s out of your reach and you couldn’t have it unless God made a way, then you will stand on Christ, the solid rock, and you will not move. Be an immovable friend.
Now when I say be immovable, I don’t mean to be stubborn, and God is saying one thing, and you say something different. No, it will not materialize. You will wait and keep waiting, and eventually, that will turn into disappointment and anger, and possibly bitterness.
If you ever get God, you will be saved. Did I hear somebody say, “saved from what”? Saved from yourself and the foolish things that you did.
Especially when you were younger, all the mistakes you made that could’ve been detrimental to your life – you reached out to God and asked him to come into your life, gave him your heart, household, kids, and then you watched God deliver your from mistakes.
HE saved you from the severe repercussions of errors in judgment and terrible relationships that you are afraid to get out. People often stay in bad relationships because they need financial support or for sexual gratification.
You think it’s love, but it’s not love; it’s just sex.
Wait……
If you are a woman or a man and you want someone to love you like you love them, go to God and ask him for your mate.
And keep reminding him, believing and thanking him for the person that he has selected for you. Don’t try to find them yourself because we have on rose-colored glasses; you’re going to see the outer core of that individual.
Typically you are attracted to something you saw, maybe his physicality and kindness, but you don’t know that person really, and you don’t know what’s going to happen five or ten years down the line. You don’t know who they are going to be.
So you make sure you let God pick the right person because he created that person for you and you for them, but you have to wait, my friend.
Marriage is much more than those things. It’s a serious commitment and will require flexibility on both of your parts; it supports you emotionally and financially.
The Best Friend You Can Have- A Prayer Partner
A prayer partner is someone worth their weight in gold.
I say this because generally, you would choose someone to be your prayer partner who you know has a serious relationship with God and walks according to his word.
They may not be perfect; no one is, but you know they are sold out for God and are not living according to the worlds standards.
When you reveal personal information that you want prayer for, look for someone who loves prayer. Someone who knows that prayer is our mandate and enjoys praying for people. You need someone who loves God more than anything and who loves to talk to him about everything.
Where Are The Prayer Warriors?
You also want somebody who can keep a secret. A seasoned Christian is a person who has been through something,yet still praises and glorifies God just like they haven’t been through anything.
More than anything, you need someone who can keep their mouth shut about your problems. If they keep their mouth shut about other people and their personal indescretions, then they will do that for you.
There is a saying that my mother used to say, “the person who brings a bone will carry a bone.” That means that if they bring gossip about somebody else, they will also carry gossip about you to someone else.
You don’t want your stuff sprawled all over the church or in your circle of friends, so choose wisely and make sure you can trust the person.
Waiting on God is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. I say that because he will bless us tremendously, especially for those who wait upon the Lord; he said: “he’s going to renew your strength”. So for all the stress and bother that you went through waiting on him, he’s going to reward you for it.
No one else can reward you for waiting like God can for waiting on him.
Would you please pray for Waterbury, Connecticut?
Even though GOD said, he was going to restore it after all these years.
I’m sure that the people will have to wait until the restoration process is well underway.
The young men and women need your prayer in that city; please ask God to save their souls and deliver them from drug addiction, mental illness, and depression.
And thank you for your prayers.
Success,
In the Masters’ Service,
Diana
