5 Things to Remember While Trusting God and Waiting on His Promises

Waiting on God is one of the most difficult parts of living out our faith. This is because we often ask God to fulfill a desire that we think is good for us, and, when the wait stretches for weeks, months, or years, it can be discouraging. The truth is that it’s hard for us to be patient when we’re facing uncomfortable circumstances and it seems as if God will never answer our prayers.

Below are five things to remember while waiting on God to fulfill His promises. Hopefully, these five things will help you as you trust God to answer your prayers.

#1: Remember God’s Promises

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

Waiting on God’s promises can be particularly difficult because it requires us to humbly allow God to take control of our lives, including our future. The truth is that one of the reasons we struggle in the wait is because we don’t want to relinquish control of the situation. Instead, we want to be the ones to decide how and when God acts.

If you are finding it difficult to let God work in your situation, it may help to remember God’s promises to you. God’s promises can often act as a map in our waiting journey as they help us remember that God has a good plan for our lives. It’s easy to forget that God sees our situation and desires to bless us as His children when we feel forgotten or disgruntled while waiting. Remembering God’s promises helps us to stay grounded in the fact that He cares about us and ultimately knows what’s best.

#2: Remember His Character

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

If you’ve ever had to wait a long time for God to fulfill a promise then you know that doubt has the opportunity to sneak into your waiting journey. When we doubt, we question God’s character and reliability, which can be damaging to our faith. Doubting God can even bring about devastating consequences in our lives if we decide to abandon waiting on Him and try to resolve things ourselves. 

When waiting on God, it’s important to learn how to combat doubt. One way to battle against doubt is to immerse ourselves in scripture. Reading the Bible or memorizing scripture will help us to meditate on God’s character. For example, verses such as Hebrews 13:8 remind us to trust God because He is faithful and consistent. 

The truth is that, when we doubt, we indirectly accuse God of being uncaring, inept, or helpless. Instead, we need to focus on remembering that we serve a loving and all powerful God. This will help us to wait and put our trust in God’s plan.

#3: Remember Past Blessings

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. (Psalm 77:11)

Looking back on past answered prayers can re-energize our faith while we’re waiting on God for a future blessing. Whether through the testimonies of other believers or our own experiences, remembering God’s past faithfulness will help us to hold to the truth that we can trust God to be faithful to us. 

Keeping a prayer journal can help to remind you of God’s faithfulness in your life. In your prayer journal, you can record your prayers, encouraging scriptures, God’s promises in response to your prayers, and His answers to prayers. If you’re not the kind of person to keep a prayer journal, that’s ok. You can meditate to remind yourself of how God has been faithful to you in the past. 

Remembering God’s faithfulness will help us to feel inspired and hopeful as we continue to trust God for future blessings.

#4: Remember to Practice Gratitude

Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Waiting on God can become unbearable when we are laser focused on our circumstance or the thing we desire. Overtime, we may forget about all the other blessings we have from God. If we’re not careful, we may even open ourselves up to doubting God’s character or timing. 

This is why it’s important to practice gratitude while waiting on God. When we take time to thank God for small blessings, it helps us to remember His goodness and shifts our perspective. Instead of being anxious for God to answer our prayer, we are reminded of His faithfulness. These little reminders help us to trust God to not only provide for us in small ways but in big ways, too.

#5: Remember the Wait has a Purpose

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

God often has a purpose for our wait. This can be difficult to understand, especially when we want God to answer our prayer quickly. However, God often uses our waiting period as preparation. This means that we can use our time of waiting as an opportunity to grow in faith, deepen our relationship with God, and prepare for God’s future blessings. 

Instead of obsessing over God answering our prayer, we can choose to focus on finding purpose in our wait. In fact, one of the most powerful prayers that we can pray while waiting on God is this: “God, what can I do right now?” Often we are so focused on our situation being resolved that we don’t think about how God can use us while we wait. 

If we loosen our grip on our circumstances and truly trust God to resolve it, then we can refocus our energy to find purpose during our waiting journey. We may even find ourselves feeling less anxious and even excited about what God can do while we wait on Him.

Key Takeaways for Trusting God and Waiting on His Promises:

• Trust in God’s promises – His plan is good, even when the wait is long
• Remember His character – He is faithful and unchanging
• Reflect on past blessings – He has been faithful before and will be again
• Practice gratitude – Focusing on daily blessings shifts our perspective
• Find purpose in the waiting – God uses our waiting season as preparation

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Have you experienced a long waiting season? How did you stay faithful? Share your testimony in the comments!