What Are We Waiting For?
Speaker: Pastor Caleb Chiu
-
Biblical waiting is not passive. It is not sitting back and seeing when God does the thing He said He’d do.
When God asks us to wait, He is inviting us to “remain around” - to perimeno (the Greek word for “wait” used in Acts 1:4). Such a posture of waiting is steady, it is attentive, it is actively engaged.
Waiting happens in tension, in the in-between place between promise and fulfillment. When Jesus commanded His disciples to GO and make disciples and to WAIT for the promised Holy Spirit, He was asking them to wait with purpose and direction - waiting to go. This waiting has a release point - this release happens when the promised Holy Spirit comes.
The moment the Holy Spirit comes, the moment the one we are waiting for arrives, our attention and our posture of waiting shifts. We shift from waiting for Him to waiting on Him. Waiting on Him to speak, to move, to initiate. Zion Family, this is the shift we are in. Our waiting does not stop, but our posture of waiting changes. Instead of waiting expectantly, our waiting deepens to a continually fixed attentiveness. Like a skilled waiter at a restaurant who gives enough space but is watching, attentive, present. We stay engaged with what the Holy Spirit is doing and what the Father is speaking, just like Jesus did.
Just as Pentecost shifted the disciples of the early church into a new daily rhythm, when the Holy Spirit comes He empowers us with a new devotion:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.” (Acts 2:42-44, ESV, emphasis added)
Our participation through our devotion - to teaching and learning from fathers and mothers, to fellowship and accountability in community, to remembering Christ’s body and blood given for us, and to faithful prayer and intercession - our devoted response to the Spirit’s coming and power releases signs and wonders.
Lord, we are not just going to wait - we are waiting to go. Help us to wait with the humility of wisdom (James 3:13-17). We don’t just want appearance, we want substance. In tension, we choose to wait in trust and stay engaged.
And awe will come upon every soul.
