Waiting or Warfare?

By Felicia Baxley

Throughout life we can find ourselves waiting for many things. The weekend to come. Our paycheck to hit. In the same way we have to wait in the natural, sometimes we have to wait in the spirit realm. Other times, however, we may find ourselves engaged and active in battle. A battle for stolen property, purpose, or destiny.

Waiting or Warfare takes the reader on a journey to learning the difference in waiting and warring seasons, and what it might look or feel like during them.

Is it time to WAIT on God? Or is it time for WAR?

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Harbor Press
• Release date: Jul 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393220077

Book preview

Waiting_or_Warfare_Large_Front_RGB.jpg

Waiting or Warfare

IS GOD TELLING YOU TO WAIT OR WAR?

Felicia Baxley

New Harbor Press

RAPID CITY, SD

Copyright © 2020 by Felicia Baxley.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Baxley/New Harbor Press

1601 Mt. Rushmore Rd., Ste 3288

Rapid City, SD 57701

www.NewHarborPress.com

Ordering Information:

Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the Special Sales Department at the address above.

Waiting or Warfare / Felicia Baxley—1st ed.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Public Domain).

I dedicate this book to my wonderful bonus dad, Patrick Hall Sr. I watched you go through rough patches, and I saw you come out on top. You never quit, and you never changed who you were. You took on responsibilities that you didn’t have to and I am forever grateful.

Contents

Benefit of Relationship

Preparing for Battle

Wait (And Watch)

Warfare in Waiting

Pursue

Waits, Wars, and Worship

Don’t War Too Early, Don’t Wait Too Long

What Season Are You In?

Previous Works

Upcoming Titles

About The Author

Benefit of Relationship

You are probably wondering why the first chapter you come to in a book about waiting and waging war is about relationship. I mean honestly, what does relationship have to do with waiting or waging war on your enemies right? The simple answer is, EVERYTHING! At the base of every situation that requires waiting, there is a relationship. Every battle that requires fighting has a relationship involved somewhere, somehow. If you look at any branch of the military, check any history book regarding famous wars or battles, you will find a relationship. A commanding officer made an important call, and his subordinates executed the call. Don’t get me wrong, there are surely instances where an important call had to be made quickly by a subordinate. Regardless of the overall rank, it’s usually the person who is most senior at the time that will have to make some tough calls.

The most senior ranking person in our lives is God. (That is, God SHOULD be the most senior ranking person in our lives). A relationship with God is key. It allows us to effectively discern when it is time to choose war over waiting. It also helps us to endure and conquer. Let me pause to say we could make these decisions on our own. But without God’s influence how reliable is our own judgment? This is a relationship that must be established prior to obtaining combat training or learning the skill set necessary to wait patiently. A relationship that not only provides foundational understanding, but it also gives us access to someone we can trust throughout it all. Who is willing to trust an officer that hasn’t proven themselves capable? One proven capable of being entrusted with the lives of others? Not only is the relationship necessary, it comes with benefits. It affords knowledge, wisdom, skills and characteristics that can come in handy throughout the tests of life.

I may be catching you off guard, maybe even boring you, because surely if you’ve picked up this book you have some sort of relationship with God right? Well let’s see, does God only hear from you when you’re in trouble? Do you read your bible only during brief moments for motivation or out of religious obligation? Do you pray prayers only concerning all the things that you want to see made manifest in your life? Do you forget to wait for God’s response in order to see what needs to be removed, cutoff, or dealt with so you can receive the very things you have asked for? Is your prayer life constantly filled with one-way conversations from you to God? Or do you spend time courting God? Do you take the time to sit and listen to what God wants to say to you? Have you immersed yourself in the Word in order to obtain revelation, not just concerning your situation, but with the intent to get to know more about God?

The relationship I am speaking of isn’t just you knowing of God based on religious theology or even through your connection with your mother, grandfather, pastor, or aunt. It’s something that has taken, and continuously takes, time and effort on your end. If you think about it, when you met your spouse or the last person you may have dated, how much work did you put in just courting one another? How much time was spent just getting to know one another? Time spent being in one another’s presence? Most people end up marrying the person they consider to be their best friend, and it takes time to become a person’s best friend. A few kids I know would classify this as a forever friend.

God has already deemed us His forever friends, each one of us. He as already decided that He wants to rock with each and every one of us, forever. It’s up to us to return the favor. It’s up to us to reach out and reap the benefits a relationship with God affords.

The most important benefit of having a relationship with God is communication. If you take a journey through just one book in the Bible, you are sure to find man communicating with God. Even better you find God communicating with man. God is not shy. His conversation is not set aside for bible characters and titled clergy. You have the ability to talk to God, that’s something you may already know. But do you realize He talks back? That means once you are done talking, if you wait a moment and listen, God will begin to say things to you too.

Why is this important? It’s that two-way communication with God that will allow you to build a deeper relationship with Him. It allows you to understand more about His character. It will ultimately help you to understand more about yourself because Genesis 1:26 encourages us that we are made in the image of His likeness. There aren’t many warriors who can say they’ve built such a close relationship with their commanding officer. You, however, have the benefit of being a forever friend with the highest-ranking officer there is.

Typically, the extent of your relationship with a person influences your willingness to trust, endure, and tolerate trials alongside that person. You are more likely to trust a long-time friend over a stranger. More willing to endure with a spouse of many years. The same holds true when you build that relationship with God. The more you get to know God, for yourself, the more willing you are to trust Him with difficult situations and endure diverse trials and temptations.

Before we move into the reason you actually picked up this book, let’s look at a few examples of people whose relationship with God helped them during a period of waiting or at a time of war.

Abraham

Abraham is one whose faith was counted to him as righteous (Galatians 3:6). Just in that fact, we