In the past I have written about the virtues of waiting on God, and here are some examples from the scriptures:
Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Psa 52:9  I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.
Lam 3:25  The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Lam 3:26  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
    However, “waiting on the Lord” does not mean idly and passively sitting by twiddling your thumbs while waiting for Him to do something.  Some people think waiting is all they have to do, and someday in the sweet by-and-by, God will show up and all their problems will be solved.  But rather, could it be we have a part in the process?  Is it enough to just have an earnest expectation of His promises being fulfilled someday, without any action on our part?
 After all, it is written in Numbers 23:19: God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?  That is one of the most wonderful statements in the whole Bible.  Mankind makes promises both to other people, and to God, only to break those promises or covenants when they are no longer beneficial or convenient to them.  Just look at all the broken marriages around, and you will readily see what I mean.  Covenants seem of little value to men these days, but yet God faithfully and absolutely honors the conditions of His covenants.  That should really excite us, especially after we’ve been told so many times that God always keeps His word. 
   But sometimes in our excitement about the promises, we overlook one small detail, and that is the part about taking possession of what we have been promised.  Don’t feel bad, the Israelites made the same mistake.  God told them to go possess the Promised Land, but apparently they thought God was just going to go uproot the Promised Land, shake out the people who already lived there, and plop it down in front of them with nothing being done on their part.  I would liken it to a “drive-through” mentality, where you can go to a restaurant’s drive-through, order a meal, and they will cook it all up for you and bring it out to you, with no exertion being made by you whatsoever, other than having to pay for it.  No shopping for the food, no preparation of it, or cooking, or cleaning up afterwards, no dishes to wash, just pay and eat and go on your merry way.
   That’s kind of what we’ve grown to expect from God.  We find something in the Bible that we like, and say, Well, God promised it, I see it right there in black and white, and if God cannot lie, then it’s mine, so bring it on, Lord.  And if we don’t see it happen right away, then we go into the “waiting on the Lord” mode, because it’s not OUR responsibility to make it happen, but God’s, right?  We go so far as to say we have earnest expectation that God will fulfill His promises, and leave it as such and go on with life….waiting (patiently).  Ah, yes, SOMEDAY I’ll see the fulfillment.  And the devil will surely agree with you:  “SOMEDAY God will heal you, or save you, or bless you financially, He will help you get out of debt, or whatever….SOMEDAY…, just be patient and don’t get in a big hurry….”

   I’ve figured it out through not only my own experience, but through what others have told me, that the devil is good at putting people off, getting them to accept SOMEDAY instead of THIS DAY.  Tell me, what does your calendar say?  Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, SOMEDAY?  Nope!  “SOMEDAY” isn’t on any of my calendars, and I can safely say it isn’t on any of yours, either.
   There are some things the Lord would have us wait for patiently, but that does NOT apply to everything, and we have need for discernment to know the difference.  Some are for right then and there, such as when the Lord Jesus spoke to Zacchaeus in Luk 19:9  And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.   When?? THIS DAY, not SOMEDAY.
 We have time-sensitive promises that Jesus spoke of, and I’ll use Mark 11:22-26 as an example:
Mar 11:22  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Mar 11:23  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mar 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Mar 11:25  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Mar 11:26  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
    When will God meet the conditions set forth?  Jesus said when the person doing the saying does not doubt in their heart.  Will He fulfill the promise before the doubt leaves? No.  When will you receive them? when you believe, and not a moment before.  However, with this particular promise, there is another condition attached :” And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any…”  What happens if you don’t obey that part?  Being the sentence starts with “AND”, it is a continuation of the thought carried forth in verses 23 and 24, and that means you won’t see the fulfillment of verses 23 and 24 unless YOU perform verses 25 and 26.  This is an important thing to note, because verses 25 and 26 apparently affect everything we pray for that we desire, for all the Word of God stands in agreement with itself.  Does it mean that God will not answer your prayers if you don’t forgive?  The Scripture does not specifically tell us one way or the other, BUT, you will not be forgiven your sins if YOU do not forgive, and Jesus was very clear about that.  Why risk missing out on salvation over grudges?
    On the other side of the coin, I want you to take note that Jesus NEVER put any conditions on people asking to be healed, other than “Believe only, fear not”.  Jesus never asked, “Did you pay your tithe?” or “Have you forgiven others their sins against you?” or “Have you repented of your sins?”.  Nor did He ever put anyone off till SOMEDAY or LATER.  Though God’s promises are often conditional upon forgivness,and believing and obedience, we need to closely observe how Jesus operated in His ministry, as well as how He responded to those asking of Him, and what happened to them and most of all, WHEN IT HAPPENED to them.  After all, it is written, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.  If Jesus told them “wait” under the circumstances they were in, then He would tell you “wait” today if you are in the same one.  But if He didn’t make THEM wait, then what are YOU waiting for?