Joseph Prince - What Ruth Teaches Us About Waiting on God

TOPICS: Ruth, Waiting on God, God’s Timing

You know, when we were believing God for this place, I actually heard the Lord tell me this. This is the very first time ever he said this to me, years ago. We moved in in 2012, end of 2012, and those years before that, you know, there was a lot of… let me just tell you this, it’s not easy, all right? It could kill an average person just with stress alone at what we were supposed to even raise, and all the different hiccups that happened along the way, and how one thing led to another, unforeseen things and all that. But all the while, God gave me a word. Two words, actually. Number one, while we are going through the process, he says, «Sit still. Sit still until you know how the matter will recover. For the man, the Lord Jesus at the Father’s right hand, will not be at rest until he has finished it».

And that is a word from the book of Ruth. When Naomi, the mother-in-law, turned to the daughter-in-law, the Gentile girl from Moab, Jordan, because she believed in the God of Naomi. She says, «Your God will be my God. Your people will be my people. Where you die, I will die». Imagine a daughter-in-law saying that to the mother-in-law. And she became one of the ancestors of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus came from her line, from her lineage. And that’s what Naomi, her mother-in-law, advised her about the man who owned the field, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, the wealthy man called Boaz. She says, «Sit still, my daughter. Don’t run about, don’t be stressed, don’t worry. Don’t worry about even competition with other ladies and all that. Sit still until you know how the matter will fall because the man will not be at rest until he has finished».

So if you sit still, if you rest, he will not be at rest concerning your affairs. That means he will be working, amen? That’s when God began to show me even clearer that when you rest, God works. Now if you are working, no point in God saying, «No point in both of us working, okay? Because even if I help you, you will think it’s you. You’ll give part of the glory to me and part of the glory to you». No, God must have all the glory, amen? So I always say, if God wants to have all the glory, let God do all the work, amen, and that’s our true posture. Our life is to bring glory to God. But we are so proud, aren’t we? We creatures are so proud. We always want to have something. We always want to do something. So when we rest, it is not laziness. It’s not passivity. It is actually acknowledging God is the only one who can bring an end to this affair, who can finish this thing, amen, who can bring a successful outcome.

So, that was the word God gave me, there’s one word, and it brought me through the whole thing. All the while, when things were difficult, I said, «Until he has finished, he will finish it. He will finish it». And if you think that we have so many, what we call, fundraising in terms of love offering in the church, you are wrong. There’s another testimony altogether. One year, we only have once. Another year, none. And the money came in because he finished it, amen? Praise the Lord, and then the other word was this, and I want to share this with you, all right, the other word is this. He says to me, and I remember standing here when all the works were still being done, and the people walking around with hard hats, and with their boots and all that, and I was wearing also and with Wendy, and we were walking through this place and all that, and I said, «Wow, this floor here is very interesting».

It’s the uppermost floor in a sense, all right, upper room. And the Lord said to me, «Then he will show you a large upper room furnished». And I never saw that upper room, the incident of Jesus, the upper room where he celebrated the Lord’s Supper with his disciples. The upper room was first told to me by the Lord while believing God for this place to be furnished. But he says to me, «He will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared». It’s done deal. So before I saw the seats and all that, I really saw it furnished and prepared.

So, now he’s telling us to live in the upper room. So I began to study, and a lot of things that I discovered, I’m sure that you have experienced this this past week if you look in the upper room, there are so many things to talk about in the upper room, amen. And there are things that I’ve just learned from the Lord. I know those passages, I know those stories, but I never saw the nuggets, the truths in those stories, amen? And what I saw is something that will steady you, establish you, strengthen you, prosper you in these days that we are going to walk in this year, amen, the truths that we have. Again, the truths are eternal, but we must be established in these truths this year. That’s the heart of God for us, amen? So sit back, watch this.

«The Year of Living in the Upper Room,» amen, praise the Lord. You already are, but you’re going to be established in it, amen. First of all, I’m going to share with you right now how to sit in the upper room. Actually, you sit because you are seated. Living in the upper room is actually living where you are already established, amen, where God has established you. What you need to do is to establish yourself in your heart, your mind, your consciousness, your emotions, amen. So, let’s look at this verse and see if the Holy Spirit can give you that revelation, okay?

Follow me here in Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2 says, «But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace, you have been saved)». So, we were all dead. Remember that. We were all dead in our sins. It is not just a matter of like, «Oh, I didn’t sin so bad. You know, I wasn’t that kind of like that sister over there. You know, she got a very bad background,» all right? No, listen, listen, listen. We are all dead in our sins. All of us, but God rich in mercy. I never find the Bible saying, «God rich in wrath». God has anger. But you never find, «God rich in wrath». God rich in mercy. And then you find this, «For his great love wherewith he loved us». His great love wherewith he loved us. «Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace, you have been saved),» amen. He made you alive together with Christ.

When did that happen? When Christ rose from the dead. And the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 1, «God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time passed unto the fathers, by the prophets as in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down». You see, the reason why Jesus sat down and why you see him sitting down today at the Father’s right hand is that he dealt with your sins once and for all, hallelujah. Or else, he will never sit down. Sitting down means your work is finished. He will never sit down if there’s one sin left in your life. And when God forgave you your sins, where were you? Not born yet, so God lives outside time and space.

The cross of Jesus Christ is outside time and space. It’s for all those who ever lived before he came and all those who would live in the future, so all our sins are put there at the cross. When God says, «I forgive you of all your sins,» it is not, «I forgive you today, but tomorrow, fresh sins need fresh forgiveness. Fresh sins need fresh forgiveness». No, God doesn’t look at events that pass by like this. God takes the helicopter view. If there’s a parade, you know, you have seen parade, right? At Disney and all that, they have a parade. God takes the helicopter view. He can see the beginning of the parade and the end of the parade. God saw your entire life of sins when he put all your sins on Jesus Christ. Nothing takes God by surprise.

So when the Bible says, «Having purged our sins, Jesus sat down,» that means it’s complete. There will never be a sin that rises up and Jesus has to stand up and says, «I forgot to take that away». It’s done. So whenever you see Jesus seated up there, amen, and you see in the Spirit, just know that he’s not sitting down because he’s God, although he is. He’s not seated down because he’s the Son of God, although he is. He’s not seated down because the Father honors him, although that is true. He’s seated having purged our sins. Isn’t that tranquilizing for our souls, for our conscience? It gives us peace, amen? But best of all, this far above, raising Christ far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion every name that is named, is not only true for Jesus.

God made his identity, his whole history start, our history start, with Christ at the cross. We are crucified with Christ. God raised us a new man in Christ, amen. When God raised Christ, just like the pen in the Bible, God raised Christ. God raised us in him. And when God says, «Sit on my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool,» we all sat down with Christ. That’s where you are right now. And my friend, that is seated in the upper room. That is seated in the heavenly places. In fact, if you look at your Bible carefully, the word «places» is actually in italics. That means the translators don’t have it in the original. They added it in to help. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it deters actually, but don’t worry about the italics, italics is not in the original.

But the original says «heavenlies,» «raised us up together, and made us sit together». He «made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus». The word «heavenly» is the word «epouranios,» which is actually «epi» is «upper». The «ouranios» is actually «heavens». It’s the «upper heavens». The Lord wants us to live constantly in the upper room, so where are you now? Present tense, seated together with Christ, all right? Seated together in the heavenly places in Christ. Can you see that? Can you see that? So, have you been raised? Past tense. Were you crucified? Yes, past tense. Were you quickened from the dead? Yes, happened already, right, past tense, Yes. Were you raised up, raised up all the way, heaven? Happened already? Yes.

So, where are you now seated, where? In the upper heavenlies, the third heaven where God dwells. His throne is brilliance beyond the excellence, shining, and radiance of the sun. Beyond all that. Brighter than the sun, amen? We are seated with Christ in heavenly places. So when you are seated with Christ, alright, you must have this posture, okay? Can I sit down? It’s a very scriptural position in the Bible. The Bible says that before Jesus preached to someone on the mount, Jesus sat down. And there were multitudes there. It’s not that you sit down because there are a row of 12 people in front of you, right? It’s easy, right? But there’s a multitude. But the Bible says first thing he did, sit down. You are in the heavenlies. And when you disassociate yourself, you can have a right perspective of that problem. You won’t be crushed.

But if you are a normal person with all the rest on the same ground, earthward, sensual, earthbound, logical, you cannot have that wisdom that comes from above. So, we live life earthwards, from heaven, earthwards. Don’t live life from earth, heavenward, which a lot of Christians are doing. You think about it when you pray, right? How do you pray? You say, «Father in heaven». That’s taught in the Lord’s Prayer at that time. It’s true. He wanted them, you can see them, Israel, as disciples. They were disciples, but they are not saved. He has not yet died. That’s why in the Sermon on the Mount, there’s not one word about salvation. It was a perfect sermon for the kingdom, which that sermon will be fully implemented when Jesus comes again in the kingdom, and we’ll come with him.

So, you think about it. When you are in this position with Christ, what is your posture? What do you look forward to? One time, I was praying and I said, like God is so far away, I look up, «Father in heaven»? Then he says, «Why do you see me so far away»? He rebuked me. He corrected me in his love. I said, «How do I do it»? Your prayers don’t get answered because you start off from the wrong premise. It’s an unscriptural premise. And the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. He cannot bear witness with this lie that I’m far away. So, «I didn’t mean it to, Lord». And he says, «Pray, from now on, pray, all right, let your words be few, knowing, knowing. More importantly is this, knowing I’m listening. Knowing, and you must know that you’re so close to me even at my right hand».

So, how do you pray to someone who is so near, right? Now, I don’t want to say loud. Sometimes I pray loud, right? Sometimes I pray soft. It’s not the loudness of it. It’s the prayer in your spirit, your conscience. I say, «Father,» you must know he’s listening already. I’m like, «Father, Father, Father, you know»? Not that kind of prayer. «Father,» got it, he’s there again. «Father, I thank you that you have heard me». There’s this personal relationship and the world is looking for that, amen? They’re not looking for formality. «Oh, Father in heaven, thou, that makes all,» then when my son asked me something, right? Abba? Ask for something straight away. When you pray, you pray in the sense of family closeness. In the consciousness, he loves you. His great love by which he loved us, he made us sit together with Christ. We are there. No one can remove our position. Satan cannot remove that position, your position.

So, two attitudes. Number one, and I don’t have time to do all this, to show you all the Scriptures, but listen to me okay? It’s all in there in the Bible. The first one to show in front of you, what can you expect when you’re seated with Christ? There’s a show coming. He’s going to show you the exceeding riches of his grace. And you know what? Listen carefully. It’s not just when you die and go to heaven, he will show you. While you are living here with your spirit seated in Christ, he is going to show you. All the favors he has for you this year, he will show you the exceeding riches of his unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor for you. And let’s not worry about who says what, who says this, or you listen to prophecies that people thought bad things happening this year or prophets say this year.

Listen, the Bible says when you’re seated with Christ, you will only see exceeding riches of his grace. Doesn’t mean there’s no persecution. Doesn’t mean, in fact, in the upper room, there’s a promise of persecution, Jesus says where it happened. He even taught us how to respond to it in the upper room, all right? There’ll be persecution, especially if you are a believer. But your posture in responding to it, difficulty and all that, is that you are seated with Christ. And your family identity is royalty, but not royalty to dominate people. Your power is not to dominate people, but to break their bondage, to destroy their sin, to cast out the demon that’s oppressing them, to heal the sick. That’s the authority you have. And like Jesus, you can be dressed normal, look normal, but there’s something about you that’s radiant, that is heavenly. That, my friend, is the Christian life.

If your version of holiness is such that there’s a morose face, look like baptized in Tom Yum juice, all right, that’s not Christianity. Because the Bible says to Jesus, Hebrews chapter 1, «God has anointed you,» Father telling the Son, «God has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows». Your fellows there is not the angels. God don’t call the angels fellows. Your fellows means together, join as with Christ. Who are the fellows? All of us. And Jesus is the happiest. He’s anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows. We rejoice in all these things that we are learning. But you know something? His joy exceeds ours. He loves to love you more than you love to be loved. You enjoy hearing the truths of the finished work. He enjoys telling you, revealing to you, amen.

And that’s why the Bible, to start off, we will just tell you this, okay? Okay, you saw that? I’ll try again, okay? How fast you get up, okay, is how young you are, amen, amen. So, let me give you another posture and we will close with this. Seated with Christ is also this. The Father says in Hebrews chapter 1, the last two, second last verse, it says, «Sit on my right hand until I make, I make, your enemies your footstool».

So, will that be spoken to us as well? Yes, we are in Christ. What is God saying? «I got a new problem». God says, «You got a new sitting down to do». «No, I must get up and do stuff». «No, you must sit down and sit well. I’m going to handle it». «Aiyah, aiyah, but it looks so big». «Not bigger than me. Sit down». «But Lord, if I don’t handle it». «I don’t need you to handle it. You’ll make a mess of it. Sit down. Sit down because I love you». Will you be positioned and established where God has positioned and established you? Then I’ll tell you this. You will see one thing happen after another. One after another, your enemies will be made your footstool because you are in Christ. And you will see something else. You will see something else in all the days ahead of you, the exceeding riches of his favor his grace. Amen, praise the Lord, hallelujah.