Early in the morning I started my quiet time with God by reading the research my sister, Marilyn had sent me about the Hebrew meaning for words that pertain to patience. She had also included a long list of Bible Scriptures about patience. She concluded our Heavenly Father and Christ were the God of Patience. There were 7 pages, and I had just finished prayerfully reading the first two pages. I had a lot to think about after reading Page 2, but I was too tired and sleepy to concentrate. I decided to take a nap and finish my quiet time with God later when I was more alert.
Stuff Happens to Frustrate Us
I dreamed that I was standing in someone’s beautiful picturesque living room. They had just started the perfect fire in their fireplace. Suddenly a man hidden in a dark corner of the room with a two-way radio said, “Hold it. They just started a fire in the fireplace. I repeat, Hold it.”. Suddenly, I could see what was happening on the roof top. There were a number of men standing on the roof. One with a two-way radio yells out, “Stop, they started a fire in the fireplace.” An old fat man dressed in a Santa Suit angrily throws down his bag of toys and said, “That’s it I quit! People are too stupid.”.
I woke up from a two hour nap and had to laugh a little. I felt like God our Father had given me a dream that had demonstrated people will quit on us, even Santa, However, true to the Scriptures my sister had sent me, God has patience with us and will not quit.
God’s Attribute of Patience
Marilyn had made the point that God models for us the attributes of His patience and long-suffering in the Scriptures. She concluded that if we walk with God through our life events then the God that is patient and long-suffering will be there with us patiently. God even helps us to be patient and compassionate with ourselves as we walk with God. She made the point to not pray for patience but instead, walk with God and allow God to model His Patience in our circumstances. Marilyn challenged us to walk with God during the week as He modeled His patience in our lives. God had already started teaching me to seek Him first and learn about His attributes as I learn to walk with Him because; He is the Good Father that teaches us through His example.
We Need Patience
We need patience in our relationships. A person that allows their anger to build up within them to the point of an erupting volcano damages all of their relationships around them. (Proverbs 14:29) “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” In all healthy relationships there is a balance of give and take as we learn to control our tempers and forgive each other. (Proverbs 19:11). “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.”
God Makes Patience Possible
We all fall short of God’s Holiness and perfection. God has made it possible for us to grow in our relationship with God and others. We have the gift of repentance and restoration through Christ. (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,”
A Relationship in Prayer
The gift of honest prayers in the Spirit of love helps us live in healthy relationships with people and God. Even the Disciples had their moments of disagreements. They learned to pray together and come together in Christ under the watchful eye of a loving Father. Prayer with God can be a conversation based on love and honestly spoken from our hearts. We are blessed when we reach out to our Heavenly Father in prayer because He loves us unconditionally. (Romans 15:5) “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:”
Even Little Things Matter
When we are suffering through some type of circumstance the little things can pile up and can break our Spirit just as much as the big losses in our life. Knowing who we are in Christ is what gets us through the tough times. Knowing the Father loves us gives us hope. A personal relationship with God is essential to help us endure our circumstances patiently without loosing hope and giving up. (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.”
We Are Strengthened Through Relationships
Sometimes we mistakenly think we have to endure the hard times on our own. We don’t see we are acting out of a false sense of pride. God gives us other people as His ears and as willing prayer partners. Due to medical problems I have found the joy in praying with someone over the phone and online. As our Spirit heals and grows in strength our patience is rewarded for not giving up. (Ecclesiastes 7:8) “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”
Expected Endings
Eventually our personal circumstances come to an expected end. In Christ we can be assured our expected end is a blessing for us. (Jeremiah 29:11) “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Even the whole world has an expected end with a promise of deliverance. (Revelations 3:10) “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.”
Request to Walk with God
Lord God Almighty, sanctify me in Your Holiness through Christ Jesus and the perfect love of our Father. Jesus, please help me walk with You through all of my circumstances and help me be a light of our Father’s love. I see in Your Holy Scriptures that God is patient and long-suffering with all of us. I even lack patience with my own self at times. Open my eyes and give me a humble and teachable Spirit that understands that God is Love as You model patience in my life. Thank You for Your abundant loving kindness for me and others. Lord God Almighty, help me walk in confidence with You, understanding how much You look forward to blessing me with Your favor because of Your great love for me. Be glorified in and through the holy name of Christ Jesus as You move upon this prayer. Amen.