The Key to Kingdom Promotion
We spend a lot of our lives playing the waiting game.
We go to the store and have to wait in line to check out. We drive to work and have to wait ten minutes for the train to pass before we can continue our commute. We call customer service about our purchase and wait on hold for the next available representative. We teach our kids the virtue of patience. We all have to wait.
The waiting room at the hospital can be one of the most challenging, frustrating, and stressful places to exercise patience—especially when you’re in the emergency room. When you arrive, the receptionist tells you to have a seat and promises that they will call you when they are ready for you. Sometimes you have no idea how long you’ll have to wait to be seen. That’s the most stressful part.
Every person pursuing purpose has to endure the waiting room. Every gift has to be able to withstand a dry season, a season of waiting and feeling forgotten. The waiting room can be tough, because it can make you second guess yourself and over-analyze what you may have done wrong to get stuck there. But the fact is, doing everything right is what may have brought you into the waiting room.
We see this principle at work in the life of Jesus. Jesus was about thirty years old when He began His ministry (see Luke 3:23). Jesus didn’t start right out of high school or college. He had to wait. The Son of God had to endure the waiting room just like we do. He had to wait until God’s divine timing released Him.
In the Bible, Joseph went to prison before he ascended to power over Egypt. He was falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit and ended up in prison for two years (see Genesis 41:1). The prison was Joseph’s waiting room. He appealed to a fellow inmate to put in a good word for him when he was released, but that man forgot about Joseph as soon as he made it out. (I share more about Joseph in my book, Authentic: The Confidence to Be Yourself, The Courage to Release Your Greatness.)
Many of us can relate to feeling forgotten. The job referral, the new contract, the business opportunity, the speaking invitation or music gig, the special favor to help get you a promotion, the promise of resources, the help you were pledged—all forgotten. No matter who has disappointed you, know that God has not forgotten you. He has kept detailed and accurate records of everything that has happened in your life. Take comfort in knowing that God can never mismanage your life. Don’t lose hope. Don’t drop your faith. Don’t get mad at people. The Bible reminds us that promotion does not come from people, but ultimately it comes from the Lord (see Psalm 75:6–7). People are not in control of your promotion. God is your promoter.
My Waiting Room
I know something about the waiting room from personal experience. In 2009, when I first started in full-time ministry, I was excited and zealous to start my new journey. I didn’t know much of what I was doing, but I was ready to put everything I had into it. People soon found out that I was in ministry like my dad, and they started inviting me to speak at their churches and events. I thought these were great opportunities, but God had me pump the brakes.
One morning as I was praying, I heard God say loud and clear, “Build My house, not your kingdom.” I knew what that meant. God was telling me that it was not time for that part of my purpose to be executed. He told me to wait. So for the next seven years I didn’t accept any traveling speaking engagements. I declined almost every invitation I received in obedience to the Holy Spirit. I would graciously respond telling them that the Lord had not released me to go into that season of ministry yet. He wanted me to focus on building the local church and youth ministry. So that’s what I did, and as a result, I entered the waiting room.
In that season, I continued to do ministry. The Greek word translated as ministry means “service.” I wasn’t sitting around doing nothing while I waited. I served. The scripture encourages us to wait on the Lord and be of good courage (see Ps. 27:14). This word wait reminds me of the term we use for servers at a restaurant, waiters. When you eat at a restaurant, you usually don’t see the waiters wandering around aimlessly (or at least you shouldn’t). If they are good waiters, they will serve their customers by taking their orders and bringing food and drinks to their tables promptly. Then they will check on the customers regularly to make sure they are pleased with what was served. One of the keys to winning in the waiting room is to continue to serve God and others around you in excellence. Learn to be faithful right where you are at. Look for ways that you can be a blessing and help someone else on their journey of purpose. Don’t stop serving. Serving always makes you a candidate for promotion. And when you are faithful in the little, as a byproduct you will develop the habits necessary to take care of something bigger.
While I was waiting and serving, I still had to trust that God knew best. I had confidence that those opportunities, especially the notable ones, would come back around when it was time. And now I can say that the invitations have come back in multiplied fashion. My part was to wait on God’s timing.
Faith and Patience
Sometimes, when we have to wait for a long time, we can start to boil over with frustration. We feel this way because we can’t logically understand why it should be taking this long. When you’re waiting with God you will have some seasons when you know why you are waiting and some seasons when you don’t. Don’t allow yourself to get frustrated. Don’t try to leave the waiting room prematurely and bust down the door of destiny. Wait until God calls you to move. You will know because He will open the door for you, just like a good gentleman. One of my favorite scriptures is found is the book of Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5–6).
The waiting room is a place of faith. Faith is continuing to walk with God even when you can’t see where the path is headed. Faith doesn’t require full understanding. It just requires full obedience. Faith breeds confidence, but trust breeds commitment. While you are waiting, exercise patience. Patience is being consistently consistent with your believing. We have to expect the best from God and then be fully committed to His way of doing things. That’s what it means to trust in the Lord.
Your promotion in life has a lot to do with how you respond to your waiting room. You may see others all around you in their season of elevation, and this could tempt you to follow their lead. Comparing your waiting room season to the current season of others can tempt you to disobey God or leave the waiting room early. This is a trap. Remember what I said earlier: You can’t fulfill your purpose pretending to be someone else. I like what DeVon Franklin says:
It’s our differences, our uniqueness, that gets us to where we are supposed to be in life—our God-given destiny. It’s not about trying to transform yourself into a vision of who other people want you to be or who your employer wants you to be. Understand what’s required for your job but do it in a way that is authentically you.
Instead of imitating what another person is doing, keep doing what you’ve been doing as your authentic self. If something needs to change while you wait, God will make it clear to you. Just listen and obey.
The late Kobe Bryant, legendary Los Angeles Lakers basketball player, once said, “I don’t want to be the next Michael Jordan. I only want to be Kobe Bryant.” That attitude pushed him to be the best he could be, and his hard work paid off. Kobe ended his career in 2016 with 33,643 total points, which put him third on the all-time scoring list—just ahead of Michael Jordan.
If you want to continue to rise, then you have to forget about the plateau. Forget about feeling that you will only get so far in life—that you’ve hit the ceiling. Keep serving God and hold on to your declaration of faith. Remain committed to God’s timeline, and you will find your way to the top. The more faithful you are, the better you position yourself to allow your greatness to emerge.
Exercise: Your Future is Now
For thirty days, make a decision to step into the future. Modify your daily routine to include an activity that aligns with your future. Being disciplined in the waiting room will always benefit you in any season of your life. Choose from one of the suggestions below or come up with something unique for you.
Read a leadership book. (The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, by Kouzes and Posner, is a good one.)
Exercise for thirty minutes a day, four days per week.
Make a healthy dietary change (i.e. only eat sweets one day per week or eliminate soda).
Adjust your spending habits to save an additional 5–10 percent of your income.
Eliminate a specific bad habit.
Be ten minutes early to everything.
Or create your own challenge.
