The Waiting Phase: Standing Strong Between Prayer and Manifestation | Dr. Mark Van Gundy
Based on Joshua 1:8 - "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success."
The Gap Between Believing and Receiving
You know what it's like when you're in an airport and your flight gets delayed... and delayed... and delayed again. I have a friend who was flying from Wales to London, then to the States, and it took them 24 hours to get there because of delay after delay. Frustrating doesn't even begin to cover it.
That's exactly what we're talking about today - the gap between when you pray and when you see the answer. Mark 11:24 tells us to believe we receive when we pray, and then we shall have it. But what about that space in between? That's what I call the waiting phase, and we all go through it.
Some people get instant healings and miracles. We've seen incredible testimonies - a lady online receiving a completely new heart, not through hands being laid on her, but the Holy Spirit doing it supernaturally. Then there are others like me, still believing to be totally free from asthma. It's a gradual process, but the Lord said we'll get it little by little.
Here's what the statistics tell us: about 10% of people in a healing meeting get healed instantly or receive their miracle right away. But that leaves 90% who don't see immediate results. My ministry is really for that 90% - helping people receive their healing during the waiting phase.
The Power of Meditating on God's Word
Joshua 1:8 has been my life verse, carrying me through every challenge. "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success."
We're talking about Bible meditation here - not transcendental meditation that empties your mind, but filling it with the Word of God. I encourage you to spend time in God's Word, go over the services. If you miss one, go back and watch it online. My daughter and granddaughter are watching today because my wife Mary broke her ankle last night, and she's at the hospital.
Here's the thing - we believe and receive, but it may come differently than we expected. It might be through surgery, medicine, or a cast. I believe in all these things, but we need to bring the Lord into it all. When I go to the doctor, I pray for wisdom for them and for me.
I've been to the doctor more in the last three years than ever before in my life. When I hit 65, everything seemed to change. Things started dropping off, and I'd wake up, wash, shave, and be ready for bed. What was going on? But the good thing is Psalm 103:5 says He renews our youth like the eagles.
The Prescription for Healing
About 30 years ago, the Lord gave me what I call a prescription for healing from Proverbs 4: "Attend to my words, incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh."
Here's the prescription:
Attend to His Word - put it first place
Incline your ear to His sayings - listen to it
Let it not depart from your eyes - read the Word daily
Keep it in the midst of your heart - meditate, picture it
There's been people who've followed this faithfully. A lady I prayed for had a lump in her breast - she diligently did this three times a day, and the lump disappeared. Another lady had a lump in her lungs, did it three times a day, and it disappeared.
I can't dictate the end result or how it's going to happen. I pray for people and they either get healed or go to heaven - but going to heaven isn't a bad thing. God knows the timing.
Never Too Late to Serve God
My family got messed up when I was growing up because my parents got out of church. They stopped having daily devotions, quit praying together as a family. As we got further from the Lord, some of us got into drugs and things we shouldn't have.
But thank God, when my mother came back to the Lord, she was healed in a healing service. It was a tent crusade, and my Baptist mother was seeing things she'd never seen before in this Assembly of God meeting - Holy Ghost fire!
The evangelist said he wasn't going to pray for the sick that night, and my mother's heart sank because she'd prayed earlier: "Lord, the doctors can't find what's wrong with me, but heal my heart that misses a beat and my lungs so I can breathe better."
Right in the middle of his message, the Holy Spirit zoomed in on my mother. He said, "Little lady in the olive dress, come up here." He prayed for her and said there was a cloud over her lungs that God was healing, and that her heart missed beats. God knows better than doctors!
When he told her to take a deep breath, she was thinking with her Baptist mind, "If I take a deep breath, I'm going to cough in his face." But she took that deep breath, and something hot hit her and went out through her arms - the anointing of God healed her.
My dad came back to the Lord too, and there was a complete turnaround in my family. My mother became an evangelist everywhere she went, making up for lost time. Now all my family is back in the Lord. My brother is 75 and working on his fourth church plant.
It's never too late to serve God. It's never too late to obey God, whatever He's called you to do.
The Waiting That Transforms
Isaiah 40:31 ties it all together: "Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
This word "wait" doesn't mean sitting around twiddling our thumbs. In Hebrew, it means to bind together by twisting, like plaiting a rope. You see those massive ropes on cruise ships - they're made of different strands twisted together for incredible strength.
That's what happens when you wait on the Lord. You're putting His Word in you, spending time in His presence, declaring: "Lord, You are my healer. Your Word is healing and life to me. It adds joy and peace and long life and grace and shalom - healing and wholeness to my spirit, soul, body, and finances so I can fulfill my destiny."
I meditate and picture myself not going under, but going over. I see myself healed, blessed, seeing our children fulfill their destiny. I see my grandkids growing up. My goal is to be at my grandson Asher's wedding - he'll be three next week, so hopefully in about 30 years when he gets married. I also want to be at my granddaughter Esther's wedding, and she's only a few months old.
I don't know if I'll get there, but that's what I'm aiming for.
Eagles Don't Struggle - They Soar
We were in Switzerland a couple of years ago, way up in the mountains on this incredible road. On our last day, I saw nine eagles flying around, and they weren't struggling - they were soaring. They love to go to high places and catch the wind currents, just soaring effortlessly.
You're going to soar in 2025. You're not going down, you're going up - with strength, with healing, and God's increase and blessing.
Eagles don't struggle, and neither do you when you're waiting on the Lord. He gives power to the weak and increases strength to those who have no might. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.
Practical Steps for the Waiting Phase
Here's what I do during my waiting phase:
Morning: I go over healing scriptures during my devotional time. If I miss them in the morning, I do them in the afternoon. Usually when I go to bed, I do them in the evening - continually.
Prayer: I pray for other people's healing. James says if you pray one for another, you'll be healed. I have a list of people I've prayed for in services, and I pray for them regularly. I pray for my family, the church, the leadership.
Worship: Worship is such a big part of healing. It's not worship to get something - it's worship to give. Lord, we just love You.
Act on the Word: God will show you something you can do. If you're suffering from arthritis and people are being healed of arthritis, I'll have you move, do something you couldn't do before. Maybe someone in a wheelchair just moves a little finger or toe - just do something in faith.
Your Breakthrough Is Coming
I was in Germany a couple of months ago with a bad knee. I couldn't jump, run, or do anything. During a healing service, an evangelist called out a word of knowledge: "God's healing your knee." The person was only about three feet from me, and I said, "Lord, I thank You, I receive healing in my knee."
Here's a key: when a word of knowledge is given for somebody else, you can receive it too. Just say, "I receive it too!"
At first, it didn't feel that great. It was a little better the next day, still hurt some, but I kept saying, "Thank You, Lord, my knee is healed." And now... Hallelujah! Jesus is a healer.
Don't give up. Keep declaring, "I'm blessed. I'm going to do this. I'm going to keep going."
Remember, waiting on the Lord isn't passive - it's active faith, binding yourself together with His Word, His presence, and His promises. Your strength is being renewed. Your breakthrough is coming.