“That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Hebrews 6:12
What do you do after you’ve prayed and believed God according to His promises in His word? You of course thank Him and praise Him that it is done. Then you keep your vision alive through patience. Patience chooses to endure without weakening. It stays on course until the promise is manifested. Love is the engine that drives faith, but Patience is the fuel that keeps it running. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without patience, it is impossible to consistently walk in faith.
What does patience look like in action? Patience doesn’t complain or murmur about the circumstances. Patience doesn’t act in haste. Patience develops perseverance and perseverance hope and hope does not disappoint. By waiting patiently, we are developing Godly character and allowing those fruits of the spirit to develop more fully in our lives.
When you are waiting patiently you continue to praise and thank God. You do not give up on the vision God gave you. You do not let go of the promise. Pit bulls are known for their ability to latch onto something with their enormous bite pressure and not let go. I had a dog like this. Her name was Sheba. She had such strong bite pressure that she would bite down on her rope toy and then actually enjoyed having me swing her around in the air on the rope. If you tried to do this with other dogs you could hurt them, because they aren’t made for it. Yet Pit Bulls are specially designed to be able to chomp down and not let go no matter what. Patience is like that. You latch onto the promise with your teeth of faith and the patience gives you the bite pressure to hold on and to do it joyfully.
Thankfully, patience is one of the fruits of the spirit that is already on the inside of us. It was a free gift from God, given to us when we were born again. All we have to do is tap into it and begin to exercise it like a muscle, and that patience will grow stronger in you. Let patience have her perfect work so that you lack nothing.
Sometimes, when you are having faith for big things, you need that time to grow into what God has for you, so you can handle the blessing successfully. Patience allows for that growth, as God uses time to develop you.
Therefore be patient and trust God that He is indeed bringing it to pass. Time is not your enemy, it is your friend. God is well able to preserve you by renewing your youth like the eagles, so that when He brings it to pass, you are just as strong and energetic as before. God did this with Joshua and Caleb. They were forty years old when it was time to take the promise land. However, because of the unbelief of the Israelites they were unable to go in. Therefore, God simply preserved their bodies so that after another forty years, when it was time to take the land, it was as though their bodies hadn’t aged. At eighty years of age, they were just as strong and healthy as when they were forty. They went into battle and fought valiantly, Joshua leading the army. God used the time to help develop them in wisdom and patience, to develop their character. That way when they faced the giants in the land they were fully prepared. Time mixed with faith and patience will help build you in strength, in character and in wisdom. That way as you take new territory, you have the wisdom and strength of character not only to successfully take the land, but to keep it!
Luke 21:19
“In your patience possess ye your souls.”
Romans 5:3-5 (MSG)
“There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!”
Hebrews 10:35-36
“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
Romans 5:3-5
“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
James 1: 2-4
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Psalm 103:5
“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Isaiah 40:31
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
Psalm 37:7
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him…”
Psalm 40:1-3
“I WAITED patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.”
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)
“A person’s wisdom yields patience. It is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”
Romans 15:4-5
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
Romans 8:25
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”
James 5:11
“Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. ”
Hebrews 12:1
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…”
Hebrews 10:23
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) ”
Hebrews 10:39
“But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
