“When you retreat to the secret place, you are standing in the Spirit together with all the saints on the sea of glass and gazing upon the One who is seated on the throne (Revelation 15:2). Even though your eyes are veiled so you can’t see Him with the natural eye, you are still standing directly before the throne! The highest privilege of all creation is to stand before the living fire of God’s presence and burn with holy affections for your Father and King. Standing here is your eternal destiny, and you can taste a bit of heaven on earth by shutting your door and standing before your God in the beauty of holiness. 

“…stand, despite the warfare; to stand, despite the resistance; to stand, despite the hassles; to stand, despite the weariness; to stand, despite the distresses; to stand, despite the temptations; to stand, despite personal failure and collapse…To stand, because of the cross; to stand, because of the Lamb; to stand, because of His affections; to stand, because of His acceptance; to stand, because of His mighty power within; to stand, because of fountains of living water flowing up from the innermost being; to stand, because of His surpassing beauty and greatness; to stand, because of His eternal purpose; to stand, because of His everlasting mercies; to stand, because of love; just to stand! 

“At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister to Him and to bless in His name, to this day” (Deuteronomy 10:8). One of our prime responsibilities (and privileges!) is to stand before the Lord to minister to Him. In the secret place we simply stand. No great agenda, no mighty ambitions, no rush to move on to the next thing. We just stand before Him and love Him. 

“There are seasons when God calls us to simply stand. We might prefer the adrenalin of chasing down a great cause, but sometimes God calls us to stop all activity and just stand. Sometimes He gives us no choice. 

“Occasionally, circumstances will constrain us beyond our ability to steer a different course, and we become prisoners to the chains that bind us to God’s will. Incapable of extricating ourselves and moving on to the next thing, all we can do is stand and burn in holy love for our King. 

“He inverted that common saying and gave it to me this way, ‘Don’t just do something, stand there!’ It came like this: ‘When you don’t know what to do, don’t just do something! Wait on Me, stand before Me, minister to Me, until. Until I speak. When I speak to you, then you can move out in response. But until I speak, just stand there.’

“I’ve discovered that sometimes God is wasteful. He watches while you cultivate your gifts and talents and ministry abilities, until you become a finely tuned piece of ministry potential. You’re ready to do exploits! And then He takes the well-oiled ministry machine that you’ve become and places you on the shelf—and He says, ‘Just stand there.’ 

“The Scriptures show us that God has mighty angels who stand in His presence, in some cases for hundreds of years, and wait for His bidding. With all their strength and might, God just has them standing around the throne and waiting on Him! If it were a matter of strength, God has all the strength in heaven He needs! And then the Holy Spirit whispered to me, ‘I don’t need your strength.’ It wasn’t the strength of the eternal Son that bought our redemption; it was the fact that He was crucified in weakness that brought us salvation. God doesn’t need our strength; He needs our availability. He’s just looking for us to stand in His presence, gaze upon Him, love Him, and fulfill His word when He speaks.”—Bob Sorge

My Prayer

“Lord, I know I tend to want to do something all the time and when I seem idle, I become restless. I want to serve You. I want to do ministry. I want to be active. I want to make spiritual warfare. I want to preach. But I am awed again today to be reminded that You really don’t need my activity to accomplish any purpose in Your heart. You have all the strength You need to do what needs to be done. I am glad to know again that I am primarily called to stand before You—in reverence, in worship, in waiting—until You speak something to me. I rejoice in the privilege to wait before Your Holy presence. I rejoice that I can join the millions of heavenly beings who simply stand before You, wait on You and gaze on You. I rejoice that You don’t really need my strength to accomplish Your programs for this earth. Lord, may my heart learn again to be still and to stand and wait on You—rather than create the things I feel need to be done. Lord, may I not seek to gather my own sparks and create my own fires when what You really want me to do is to sit at Your feet for You to create Your own sparks and fires, and peradventure—You may invite me in. I submit to Your wisdom. My life and my times are not wasting when I focus them on You. I agree to wait, Lord. This is an honor that I can be invited into the heavenlies to join others who stand in Your presence and wait on You; gazing upon You. What are privilege; a privilege I must never waste. So, still my restless heart again, and teach me the discipline of waiting. Amen.”

The Challenge

Don’t multiply activities. Enjoy the times when God expects you to do nothing but to stand and wait on Him.