Three Essentials of Wait-Training

Folks of all ages are on-board with the latest Be Your Best fad–weight- or strength-training. The trend contributes to improved health for young and old alike. Interestingly, the three essentials of wait-training are the same, contributing to improved spiritual health.

Focus

The first step in physical change centers on narrowing one’s target and focusing the work in that area. If reducing weight is the end-game, one examines the input of nutrition, making adjustments.

If increasing strength and energy is the goal, one focuses on improving the overall muscle strength. In addition, the trainer identifies the area that needs more work, narrowing the focus to the weakest muscle group.

If you want to learn how to wait on the Lord, you also begin with narrowing your focus. It’s not enough to just decide you want God to answer your generic prayer for a better life. As with wanting to drop some weight, or acquiring a stronger body, you need to hammer out measurable goals. What does a better life look like for you?

Be specific. Select one item on the list and focus on that one. First, do what you can to stir yourself towards the goal. Then direct your prayers with that focus in mind. Be prepared for the Lord’s orders as to what you can do to be revealed before any needed miracle is released.

In my early days as a missionary, I struggled to pay back my long-standing student loan. I made only a minimal payment each month, just to keep the account active. I longed to be free of the debt, feeling conflicted every time I returned to the mission field. Then, one night I had a dream.

In the dream, I stared up at a man dangling from the minute hand located on the face of a large clock tower. It appeared his efforts kept the clock from striking twelve.

My mission colleague entered the dream and glanced up. “Who’s that?” she said.

“It’s Bill,” I said and immediately woke from the dream.

At that time, I knew only one Bill, and he’d not likely be the one holding back time. When I asked the Lord who it was, He said that bill wasn’t just a proper noun.

Instantly the thought of my student loan came to mind. I reminded the Lord that I was still praying about how to re-pay the large loan. The mental telegram to the Lord had no sooner left my thought than the remembrance of another bill popped in to replace it.

The year before, I’d borrowed $50 from another missionary to pay for vaccines. I’d completely forgotten the debt. Before the end of the day, I repaid the loan.

More than ever, I wanted to become debt-free. In fact, when my parents picked me up for my next home assignment, I sat in the back seat of their car praying about a decision I’d made on the long flight home. I planned to get a nursing job, and wouldn’t be returning to the mission field until the balance on that student loan registered zero.

That evening, before I had worked up the courage to share my decision with my parents, my father presented me with the final statement from the government loan. It read: Balance $0.00. On the very day I repaid the $50 from my location thousands of miles from Dad, the Lord impressed my father to transfer money from his own savings account to repay the debt.

Of course, I’d prayed for other things in my prayer time, but I concentrated on that debt that hung so heavily over my head. The experience served to reinforce that focus is the first of the three essentials of wait-training.

Accountability

For weight- and strength-training, people often choose a dietitian or trainer to hold them accountable for the prescribed program. Even without appointments and meetings, the internet makes it possible for us to find a workable plan. Programs like SparkPeople and Weight Watchers even offer online accountability partners to keep us on track.

Wait-training is no different. We can easily fall off the wagon without an accountability partner.

Share your need and specific focus with a friend who will be willing to help you with your attitude. It’s not calories or neglecting the fitness center that trips up your wait-training program; it’s most often a slip in your attitude.

Impatience is fanned into roaring flame if our attitude catches that prevailing immediate gratification breeze. Waiting on the Lord can frustrate us, leading to disappointment and mistrust, if we live in an attitude of impatience.

Fortunately, engaging a wait-training accountability partner is much easier than finding someone to help you count calories or accompany you to the gym. Every Christian will encounter times of prolonged waiting on the Lord. It’s an inescapable part of the Christian life. In fact, your entire small group or Bible Study could serve one another in this challenge.

Your accountability partner must be willing to help you back away from complaining that the Lord’s taking too long to answer. Remind each other of passages such as:

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord.” (Ps. 27:14 NIV)

Encourage one another with the passage that contains God’s rewards for waiting:

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Is. 40:31 KJV)

Studying the Scripture stories that target the perfect planning and timing of the Lord helps get our minds going in the right direction; normally, our attitude will follow. Accountability partners can use text messaging to pass along such encouragement.

If at all possible, select an accountability partner who wants to practice the three essentials of wait

Discipline

Discipline is all about making choices. When that alarm jerks me out of a deep sleep at five o’clock in the morning, every cell in my body screams, not now. Though I often want to listen to my complaining, aging shell, I know if I do, I’ll feel defeated for the rest of the day.

Throwing off the blankets, I order my body, “Get up. Get dressed. Get yourself on that treadmill—right now!”

Once finished, I feel a lot better for the physical exercise that gets the blood coursing through those vessels. I also feel great because, once again, I had the victory over my lazy, complaining attitude.

I discovered it’s the same in wait-training. I need to make a choice to trust God. I’ll do my part, including refusing to allow anxiety and stress to enter my day when I think God’s taking too long. I push those thoughts to the curb by filling my space with praise choruses or reciting memorized verses. I make a choice to flood that dark space with light.

I believe that the last of the three essentials of wait-training is the most important. If you narrow your target and focus on making the goal measurable, you’ve made a great start. If you share the challenge with friends and lock-in at least one accountability partner, you have a much better chance of succeeding. Even so, without discipline you’re not likely to stay the course.

Take a minute today and ask the Lord to help you:

• find your focus
• identify a good accountability partner
• daily strengthen you to choose discipline.

Remember: God wants you to succeed.