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Waiting on God and Letting It Be
Episode # 564
September 24, 2017
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Which is harder, letting go of something we’re invested in, or waiting on God to speak or move? How about both! But to refuse either is to miss God’s move.
(John) Well, today we’re coming to you, and we’re having to practice what we preach. I’m coming to you with a word about living in our thoughts rather than the mind of Christ. And I’m having to completely let go of my thoughts and come with His mind about that. And so, Martha and I are sitting here, and we’re wanting to do a podcast for you, and we’re having to release, literally our thoughts about it and come to you wide open, so that He can bring us, you know, His mind and speak His words about whatever He’s wanting to speak today. So, Martha, what is the mind of Christ coming through you to say?
(Martha) Letting go of your mind – same thing. I was reading yesterday something by T. Austin-Sparks. And it sparked a lot of memories and some insights that I had never, never heard before. He said that Abraham being the father of faith, he went through all of the episodes of Abraham’s life, and the key note was that he was always having to let go.
(John) Ummm. Ummm.
(Martha) And I remember many years ago we were taking care of an elderly relative, and she could not be trusted to drive anymore. And so, all the children told her that, but she wouldn’t quit. She’d sneak out and drive. And so, they said, ok, Meemaw, we’re going to have to take the spark plug out of the car. Is that what you do? OK. They didn’t tell her what they were going to do, but somehow she found out. So, then she hired a teenage boy to come in and put the spark plug in, and we would be out driving, and we’d pass her (chuckles), who wasn’t supposed to be on the road. And other things happened.
(John) Did she wave?
(Martha) (chuckles) No, I think she looked a little guilty. But there were other things that she did while we had her care that would make life so complicated for us. And I realized that she simply would not let go of being young enough to do these things. And the reality was she could have endangered people. And also we were left with this enormous responsibility that made it much harder for us to do, because she would not let go.
(John) Umhmm.
(Martha) And I thought, “That’s what it is to die,” in the Christian walk. It’s not being willing to let go. And I’ve said this phrase for years, “You won’t let go of what God has already taken or what He’s asking you to give.” So, the key, actually the key of faith is letting go, John. And when you follow this through, when I get through the end of it, and you share, then you’ll see very clearly that letting go is faith.
(John) Umhmm. Umm.
(Martha) I never heard that about Abraham, but that was the through line. He had to let go of his home. He had to let go of his father, who died. He let go of the best land and gave it to Lot. Then he had to let go of Lot, and on and on he had to let go until in the end it was his own son of promise, Isaac, to let him go. And at every point he was willing to let go.
(John) Amazingly, you know, we both went away, and we were listening to God and saying, “What are we going to talk about?” We kind of had a direction, but we were waiting to hear what He wanted to say. And that’s the end of where I come with this too. It’s faith.
(Martha) Really?
(John) Yeah. This is really cool. Yeah. Yeah
(Martha) That is cool, because we didn’t plan it. And so, then we go back and I’m going to tell a few things in my life. The first time I learned to let go I was being slandered very, very badly and blamed about something that I was not guilty of. And I went to the Lord to what to do? And He took me to Psalm 37. And it says, “Do not fret because of evil doers. Be not envious toward wrong doers, for they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green earth. Trust in the Lord and do good. Dwell in the land. Delight yourself in the Lord. Commit your waiting and trust in Him, but wait on the Lord and He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noon day.” And at the time I couldn’t imagine how that was going to be, but I just let it be. I let it go. There wasn’t anything I could do anyway. My husband always said, “You can’t defend yourself from a liar.” And what do you say? “It’s not true?”
(John) Umhmm, umhmm.
(Martha) So, what happened was… And not very long time passed, and the person who accused me had people coming forward to accuse that person. This says in Psalm 37, “They will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green earth,” and that person did. Plus on further in here, it says, “You’ll look for them and they won’t be there.” And that happened. That person was gone. And in it, somehow without my doing a thing, I was completely vindicated, I guess you’d say.
(John) Umhmm, umhmm.
(Martha) And He said, “I will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.” And He did it. And there was seemingly no possible way He could do that. And the gist of Psalm 37 is, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” So, I didn’t fight. I didn’t defend. I didn’t talk to anybody. I did fret, I did do that. But I didn’t know at that time so many years ago that I was learning a principle of faith. When you let go of something that is injustice… I can’t say I had the faith. I had the faith to obey what God was telling me. But He did exactly, phenomenally what He said He would do. And then later on my father passed away and my stepmother made a will and she didn’t… My sister and I were heirs of my father, and she inherited his estate, and she didn’t put my sister and me in her will. My sister was real hurt over that, and I was too, but I let it go. I just said, “That’s how it is.” And the strangest thing happened. My stepmother had a friend who was a lawyer, and this man drew up the will, and he knew that Mary and I had not been given anything, and he knew a little bit about the family. So, he drove all the way from Atlanta to meet my husband when he was on the bench as a judge and sat down with him and asked him about the family situation, and my husband told him. He went back. He went to her and said, “This is not fair.” He had her re-make her will and give Mary and me an inheritance. The interesting thing, John, is I used that inheritance to buy our cabin in Suches that eventually brought other people up to have cabins, and then eventually brought us there to live that became Shulamite Ministries.
(John) Umm, umm, umm.
(Martha) But it wasn’t right to oppose the will or even say anything. It just wasn’t. But I could let that go fairly easy, but God defended us in the most unexpected way.
(John) Well, the amazing thing is the fruit that came out of that whole deal has been, you know, exponential.
(Martha) Yeah, it really has. And never would I have dreamed that that inheritance would, you know, work out like that.
(John) Read that scripture you were saying in Psalm 37. Read that scripture again.
(Martha) “Do not fret because of evil doers or be envious toward wrong doers, for they will wither quickly like grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord. Do good. Dwell in the land. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday.”
(John) Well, you know what I hear on that and what I can apply to that is waiting. And what you did was you waited until the noxious weed, so to speak, withered. You waited. And I think that that’s one of the most painful things that we go through…
(Martha) Yes.
(John) …in letting is the fact that we’re unwilling to wait.
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) And you and I are currently waiting for Him to write some stuff through us. And we waited, and it was literally painful for us to wait.
(Martha) Umhmm.
(John) It was literally a grand struggle. I mean I was feeling it in my chest. I was going, “I need to be doing something,” and just to sit there and wait with Him was actually aggravating the inside of my body, you know? And I think that the whole basis of letting also ties you completely to the waiting on Him.
(Martha) Absolutely. That’s always in it. Even it says in here in Psalm 37, “Wait for the Lord.”
(John) Ok, that’s where I was getting it, because I heard that, and I was like going, “Oh, my gosh, that’s all about waiting.”
(Martha) “Those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land,” meaning promised land of prosperity, and everything is blessed.
(John) Well, I mean, we had to wait, and we’re having to wait. We had to wait. You had to wait. I think He lets us wait. I think He purposes for us to wait, because then it’s utter dependence on Him. Then we know it’s Him.
(Martha) And waiting is dying.
(John) It is a death. Absolutely.
(Martha) I just read recently Art Katz said, “The mark of a priest is the willingness to wait.” “The mark of a priest unto God is the willingness to wait.”
(John) And you say that the mark of an addict is someone who’s unwilling to wait.
(Martha) Right. Who can’t wait. Yeah. Unwilling is the word. And what you’re fighting is your own flesh.
(John) Umhmm.
(Martha) You want to think something. You want to do something. You want to make something happen, and that waiting is the surrender to the Lordship of Christ. It’s surrender to His will. And I realize so many episodes in my life that the answer was let go. Let it be. I believe it’s Psalm 46:10 in the Amplified says, “Let be and be still and know that I am God.”
(John) Ummm, umhmmm.
(Martha) We’re big on that particular verse. To let go is to let something be without control or hopefully without fretting.
Waiting on God and Letting It Be – Episode #563 – ShulamitePodcast.com
Which is harder for us to do, letting go of something we’re invested in, or waiting on God to speak or move? How about both! God asks that we “Let be and be still,” and that’s an agony to our flesh. But what we miss out on when we refuse to let go and wait!
Thank you for this message! It is a confirmation of what I believed God was saying two days ago to me in a particular situation. It is killing and comforting all at the same time!
Bless you Rachel, for sure, waiting is a death few are willing to embrace. I wonder if often the waiting isn’t more for faith than timing. Bless you and thank you for following!
Dear Pauline,
As usual, your question is crucial and I can give a simple answer. The Holy Spirit guides in this. In the podcast I told about getting Psalm 37 as my answer and so I knew to wait. I waited a long time for the promise but it came fully.
At other times the Holy Spirit will give you great passion in prayer. The key is looking to the Spirit for God’s will. Wait or fight. Let go or hold on. My booklet Secret to Answered Prayer goes into this. The secret in prayer is the power of the Holy Spirit. HE is the origin and the energy of prayer! Romans 8:26-28. Bless you for pursuing the subject, you are dear.
What a necessary lesson for me, Martha–it’s always easier to ride on the coat tails of someone else’s hard work of listening and expect a quick, easy answer rather than go to, listen for and wait on the Holy Spirit for direction regarding specific, personal guidance myself. There is no excuse . . . I remember hearing you on “The Wind and the Spirit” say that the Holy Spirit is really all we need. You all at Shulamite have wonderful insights and the living impartations are precious and valuable; just need to be mindful that the Holy Spirit was sent, among other reasons, to be my Teacher.
Your reply is received with thanksgiving.
Listening to these podcasts, I’m usually confronted with how little I really know. At the same time, I am encouraged when I hear that you, both, are still learning His ways!
Anyway, it seems, from this ‘hearing,’ that there is a way to wait: letting go.
I can say that I am waiting on God for such and such — as I keep reminding Him: “Um, Lord, I’m still here waiting; it’s been three years now and even though You haven’t answered, I just want You to know: I’m still waiting.”
But I’m hearing you speak of letting go, in faith, as you wait. So that, to me, would sound more like: “Thank You, Lord. You spoke it and I believe You because You are faithful. So whether or not I even see Your answer in my lifetime, I give You thanks and praise.” (Unfortunately, not the route I usually take in waiting.)
There’s a bit of a conflict, on my part, though, because I’m reminded of the parable of the Persistent Friend in Luke, who kept on asking and, finally, it was given him – not because he was his friend, but simply because the ‘friend’ was getting annoyed with his persistence. (Rough interpretation) On the other hand, I’ve heard it preached that if you ask for something more than once, it’s because you don’t have faith that it was heard the first time.
If I could ask: when one is waiting – for direction or the outward manifestation of healing or family salvation, reconciliation etc.,
does that mean that we ask once then wait (letting go)? Couldn’t help noticing in the verse that you read, Martha, the phrase: “delight yourself in the Lord.” I can see how that would make waiting a lot less anxious because the focus is on the Lord and not the desire or answer. Can there be expectation, or would that be presumptuous?
Also, if “waiting is dying,” is it possible for peace to come in that waiting?
Thank you for hearing my questions—can you help me get His mind on this?
Love
thank you for these thoughts …. it is the letting go, the letting be, but it is also a matter of the heart I believe … letting go and letting be with a worshipful heart ….and that comes from knowing, intimately knowing and thus believing and living out of the knowing and believing that we are loved, we are God’s beloved ….this is closely related to forgiving is it not? everything seems to boil down to whether or not we KNOW we are loved by Love …..I deeply appreciate you folks!
Thank you for commenting Andrea. Great points! You are appreciated as well! Family for sure.
It was Love’s perfect timing that I got to hear this message this morning. Thank you! It was life to me and a very big answer. “You will make known to me the way of life …!” Gosh, Thank you!
Of course! . And simple, once again beautifully simple – not easy, as I’ve heard one say : ) but Simple and Perfect. Let.
Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham … : )
And I am one of them and so are you! Bless you LeAnn!