Patience

Has anyone ever been waiting on God for something? Anything at all? I know I have been waiting on GOD for several things, some for a very long time, and some for just a short time. 

 

God says to come to him with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, to let our requests be made known to Him (Phil 4:6).

 

We are supposed to pray and ask God for our request, and then we are to thank Him that it is done, and if our request lines up with the word of God, He says it’s His good pleasure to give us our request. 

 

So, why do we find this so hard? I’ll tell you why – because we are a society of instant gratification! Yes, it’s true!! We want it all right now!!

I feel like God should answer my prayers as soon as they leave my lips!

Do we ever stop to think or pray about if our request is what God wants for us? I know I am guilty of not asking him.  I feel like God should answer my prayers as soon as they leave my lips! Anyone else feel that way? Please, please tell me I am not the only one here!

 

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Rom 12:12  

 

But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Rom 8:25 

 

Do you hear that? We are to ask Him, then thank Him, and then wait patiently for God to answer our prayers.

 

 Patience: the ability to accept and endure difficult circumstances or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset.

 

The New Bible Dictionary defines patience as “God-given restraint in the face of opposition or oppression.” This is why seeking patience is, in many senses, a battle. The promise we can lean on is that patience is a God-given restraint, not something we are to produce in our own strength. 

 

The Lord is the one who provides us with spiritual armor to go into battle. Our only responsibility is to trust that God will provide the strength to hold on, and then act according to our faith. It is by faith that we receive strength.

 As Christians, we know that the ultimate source of patience, Christ, lives within us by the Holy Spirit. We are to trust the Holy Spirit is giving us the strength to persevere in whatever situation we find ourselves in. We claim this by faith. 

 

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Rom 5:1-5 

 

Patience is listed in Galatians 5 as long-suffering or long temper attitude towards God, others, and ourselves. This is called grace—- grace that compels us to trust God, grace extended to others when they hurt us, and grace to forgive ourselves when we stumble and fall. 

 

Romans 8:28 assures us that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

 

It is not in our abilities to know the time or way in which God will work things out. Our role is to trust the promise of Philp 1:6  and wait with hope as God brings about to completion the good work he began in each of our lives. 

 

Waiting on God forces us to look to him.

Waiting on God forces us to look to him.

Christ is the source of our faith and the assurance of our salvation. It reminds us that Christ’s death and resurrection are the reason we can be filled with and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

James 1:2-4 tells us, it is through trials that our faith grows maturity. Ephs 6 commands: put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then.

 

So, we are going to pray and ask God, thank Him for it, then we are going to trust God and be patient while waiting on His timing.

Give yourself grace when you begin to doubt or fear that God has forgotten or He is ignoring you, that just is not the way God does things. So let’s all encourage one another in our walk in patience, i.e. LONG-SUFFERING!! We all could use a little love from our sisters, I know I could! Peace be still…

 

Ecclesiastes 7:8 Better is the end than it’s beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

 

Hebrews 6:15 And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. GLORY TO GOD!!

 

Written by Lisa Anderson Turner