The microwave says 37 seconds. Even when I found this picture I thought, that feels too long.
We hate waiting. Even the smallest delay feels like something is wrong.
The disciples felt that tension too. Jesus had risen. He had spoken. Everything was building toward something. And then He told them to wait for a promise.
Not go. Not start. Not figure it out. Just… wait.
But this wasn’t empty waiting. It was loaded. Jesus knew something they didn’t fully grasp yet.
You can’t do what I’ve called you to do without My Spirit.
Too often, we try anyway. We move fast. We build plans. We make decisions. And then we ask God to come bless what we already started.
The Christian life isn’t powered by effort. It’s sustained by presence.
Waiting slows us down enough to ask a better question. Not “What do I want to do?” But “God, what are You doing?”
It’s there that you start to notice. You’re not as rushed. Not as loud inside. You begin to hear Him more clearly.
Because that promise was never just power for ministry. It was God Himself. The Holy Spirit living in you. Leading you. Speaking through you.
Maybe the delay you’re frustrated with is an invitation to stop moving ahead without Him. And start moving with Him.
Read: Acts 1:4-8
4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So, when they had come together, they began asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 But He said to them, “It is not for you to know periods of time or appointed times which the Father has set by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”
Reflect: Where might you be moving ahead of God instead of waiting on Him?
Based on the sermon, “The Promised One” by Pastor James Marano
