#2. Wait Your Turn

Show me your ways O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God, my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. - Psalm 25:4-5 1984 NIV

Ok, lets get real here for a moment.  Just because you have turned and are talking to God now, doesn't mean you are going to automatically get out of prison.  You did not get put in prison over night, that happened in stages.  You will not get out over night either.  That will happen in stages too.

While God could let you out over night, you would not be ready for it, chances are you would end right back up in prison.  God has to change you on the inside and He has to change people, places and things on the outside.

This is where surrender and trust comes in.  The best thing you can do is get out of Gods way and let HIM have His way.  Spend your time in there learning about God.  Keep talking to Him about everything, pick up a bible and start reading it.  Not only read it, but DO what it says.  Start in the New Testament.  Read it, study it, devour it, learn about Jesus and learn about your flesh.  Learn what God expects out of you.  Let the Word of God transform you, make you into a new person.  Let it change your thinking and your actions.  Prepare yourself for when you do get out.

You have HOPE now.  Hope that one day you will be free.  You need to be ready for it.

It took YEARS before God set me FREE.  In fact, there were no shortcuts.  I served the MAXIMUM sentence.  Every day of it. However, I did not whine and complain about it.  Instead, I prayed all the time, I read the bible from cover to cover, over and over and over again.  I memorized bible verses.  I learned about Jesus and what HE wanted me to do in this life. I fully immersed myself into God. I prepared myself.  And I kept hope.  I knew prison had an end.

By the time I got out, I was a changed person inside.  I was equipped and ready to walk the rest of this life with God.  The time passed by quickly too.  From the time I accepted Jesus into my life till the time I got out, the years seemed to pass like days sometimes.

I kept focused.  I took my eyes off this world and prison and kept them on God.  God was preparing me to spend the rest of my life FREE in society.  It wasn't going to be easy and I knew it, but it was so much better than wasting away in a prison.  In fact, my worse day out here has been 10 times better than the best day I ever had in a prison.

Everything I thought I wanted, I was wrong about.  God knew what I wanted, what I needed, and He took care of me every step of the way.  I am happier today than I have ever been in my whole life. God literally restored back to me the years that the cankerworm hath eaten - Joel 2:25 and He is still restoring things back to me today!

However, I was ready.  I was fully surrendered to God and His Will for me.  I knew my God intimately, I was and still am ready to follow HIM blindly for the rest of my life.

So, don't get impatient.  Wait your turn.  It will come.

I will leave you with a promise from Isaiah 61:7 "Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion, and instead of their disgrace they will rejoice in their inheritance; and so they will inherit a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs."

Imagine getting out of prison and getting back double what you lost.  Double !  Double the friends, double the wealth, double the peace, double the joy!  That my friends, is worth waiting and hoping for.  And to think it all started with turning to a God that you never thought existed.  And that's just the beginning. There is so much more.  So much more!