Patience for Promises
“While He was together with them, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise.” Acts 1:4
Reflect
One of the most beautiful aspects of living in Kansas City surely must be the witness of seasons—life to death and death to life—particularly during the movement from winter to spring. The promise of new and vibrant life waited patiently for months beneath dense, frozen soil, emerging suddenly and effortlessly outside of our control and careful attention. Overnight, it seems, life just is.
Look again at the verse above:
“He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise.”
Can you imagine what it must have felt like to watch as the Messiah Jesus left the earth? What profound loss, and wildly burgeoning hope!
Like we see when all life seems to shrink into secrecy in preparation for the days and nights of winter—and the planted promise of inexorable life takes root—the disciples stood with hearts broken, yet filled with the unbridled hope of unrevealed power.
Sure as springtime, the Father’s promise breathed new life into His waiting friends.
Now, draw your attention to the circumstances and people immediately around you.
In the KC Underground, we rest in and lay hold of the promise of Jesus to fill Kansas City with His beauty, justice, and Good News—and you might be asking for specific areas in your life for that promise to be realized.
Do you find yourself waiting for the moment to initiate a DBS with coworkers? Can you feel the season culminating in the birth of a new microchurch? Has the excruciating wait for a long personal winter given way to the dull throb of hopelessness?
Has this season been marked by physical, mental, or emotional ailments? Are you trapped in a desperate echoing cry for Kansas City to overflow with miracles, signs, and wonders?
Let us turn to the joyful Creator of all life today and ask—as His children—for wild breakthrough life and the emergence of green-growing Gospel multiplication.
Pray
Lord of all creation, it is my joy to bless You with all my heart for Your wonderful works.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, my Good Shepherd, I ask that You would cause Your Word to go forth into the entirety of Kansas City. Would You create conversations and inroads to spring up and produce new DBS groups across our city?
Christ, have mercy.
Holy Spirit, You are my guide—the One who makes a way for me wherever I go. Stir up spiritual curiosity in my friends and hunger in me alongside a conviction to serve our community to Your glory!
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, Your word never returns to You incomplete. Give me the faith to trust that what You say is true, even in times of deep spiritual and emotional turmoil. Jesus, You alone are the author and finisher of my faith.
Christ, have mercy.
Father, You are Rapha, the Healer, and I ask for healing in my body, mind, and spirit today, trusting that You are able!
Lord, have mercy.
Holy Spirit, I ask today for a desperation and expectation to see You move in power—that You would do the miraculous in Kansas City so that many would come to call You Lord. Renew us, God!
Christ, have mercy.