Persistent in Patience

Have you ever heard someone say that “ you should never pray for patience”? I have and over the years as I became older I soon realized that you better pray for patience because life will bring you situations that will require you to be very patient. The Bible states many time about being patient and how we need to be slow to anger and turn the other cheek. Our flesh doesn’t always want to do this so that is why we must be vigilant in prayer and fasting to keep our spirit right and our flesh under subjection to the spirit.

Romans 12: 12 says, “ Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” In life, we will face trials. However, as believers, we can find hope in knowing that we have a loving God who is in control of our lives.

You may be asking the question “ How can we be patient when it proves so difficult?” Impatience is part of our sin nature, but God has given us a new nature. Think how quickly a baby can switch from quiet to screaming when he becomes hungry. We’re not born with the ability to be patient, but when we accept Jesus’ forgiveness, we are given that ability.

Life can give us circumstances that are not of our control and we must learn to depend on God for whatever we need to help us overcome. Ephesians 4: 2 teaches us to, “ Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Sometimes it proves hard to be patient with others, especially when their struggle is something we don’t deal with ourselves. Sometimes we have trouble being patient with ourselves because we don’t live up to our own expectations.

God models patience in the way He deals with us. God could bring the world to an end at any moment, but He waits so that all may come to repentance. God’s relentless pursuit of us sending us opportunity after opportunity to see Him for who He is perhaps the clearest picture of His patience. In 1 Timothy 1: 16, Paul says, “ I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”

God gives us the ability to be patient and shows us what patience looks like so that we might share that gift with others. As we practice being patient, this gift will grow in us and influence the lives of those we lead.

Please visit The Family Church at 9456 Hwy 146 N Liberty, TX ( Hardin, TX) or facebook live @ tfchardin.