Waiting for the Lord

Short Talk (SHT034) Waiting for the Lord © Jane Hulme 2015 Aim of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Props: Note: SHORT TALK: “WAITING FOR THE LORD” (SHT034) To encourage people to “wait for God’s timing” for the things that they pray about. Waiting, prayer Psalm 27:14, 130:5-6, Isaiah 30:18, 64:4, Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2 Peter 3:8, Romans 8:28, Jeremiah 33:3 A table, three plates and three really delicious home baked cup cakes with chocolate icing and other decorations, three egg timers. You will be choosing three volunteers for this short talk. Ensure that your third volunteer is an adult, who is able to wait! The other two volunteers can be children. ........................................................................................................................ Good morning.....  How many of you like waiting for things?  How many of you are good at waiting for things? OK I need three of you to help me with my waiting challenge.  You need to like cake, especially chocolate icing! (Three volunteers come forward) Would you like to come and sit down at this table? (If possible seat all three people behind a table with them all facing the congregation)  I have a really delicious treat for you to eat,  A home baked chocolate cup-cake......  That sounds good doesn’t it? However you are only allowed to eat this cup-cake once your egg timer has gone off.  OK? (Place a cupcake on a plate in front of each one of the volunteers) So person 1.....I am setting your egg timer now (set the timer for 30 seconds without any of your volunteers seeing how long you have set it for)  and I am giving it to N1 (Hand egg timer to a member of the congregation to hold) for safe keeping.  They will tell us when it goes off. So person 2.....I am setting your egg timer now (set the timer for one minute without any of your volunteers seeing how long you have set it for)  and I am giving it to N2 (Hand egg timer to another member of the congregation to hold) for safe keeping.  They will tell us when it goes off. And finally person 3.....I am setting your egg timer now (set the timer to go off a few minutes before the service ends, without any of your volunteers seeing how long you have set it for)  and I am giving it to N3 (Hand egg timer to another member of the congregation to hold) for safe keeping.  They will tell us when it goes off. © Jane Hulme 2015 2 (By this time egg timer one should have gone off) OK person 1.......you can eat your cake now as your timer has gone off?  Is it delicious? Good  Keep waiting Person 2 and 3 – it sounds like the cake is worth waiting for. Sometimes when we pray, the Lord answers our prayers immediately,  and graciously gives us what we have asked Him for. Other times we have to wait a little longer for the Lord to answer our prayers.  It isn’t easy waiting is it.....  especially when we don’t know how long we are going to have to wait for? (By this time egg timer two should have gone off) OK person 2.......you can eat your cake now as your timer has gone off.  Was it worth waiting for?  So hang on in there person 3.....you have something worth waiting for. There are other times when it seems like we have to wait a very long time for the Lord to answer our prayers.  Maybe we have asked Him for healing,  for a new job,  for a new friend,  or some other kind of change that we really desperately need,  and it seems like nothing is happening.......  We wait and we wait and we wait. We might start to wonder if the Lord is actually hearing our prayers,  or if He has abandoned us,  or if it is worth continually asking Him for help. Let me encourage you this morning that as you wait for the Lord to answer your prayers,  so he is at work in your life......even if it doesn’t feel like it!  The Lord often grows our faith in Him during the times of waiting.... As we wait for Him to act let’s remember three things: 1) The Lord hears our prayers. Prayer is a mystery but the Lord has promised to answer us. o Keep trusting Him. 2) The Lord’s timing is not the same as our timing...... o We want everything to happen now.....the Lord isn’t in such a hurry as we are! 3) The Lord is good and wants to bless us with good things. o If He is asking us to wait, it is for our good and for His glory. Now our third egg timer hasn’t gone off yet.....  It will do at some point in the service.  When it does, person 3, please come forward to claim your cake.....  It is definitely worth waiting for! Thank you volunteers.....would you like to sit down. © Jane Hulme 2015 3