Bible League: Living His Word Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.— Psalms 27:14 NIV Patience is the ability to wait for something. Patience involves trust and hope, and it is a quality that Christians must have and practice. The Bible has many stories of characters who displayed patience even in difficult circumstances. Abraham and Sarah had to wait for 25 years to conceive Isaac; David had to spend years running away from Saul before he became King; Joseph had to go through years of slavery and imprisonment before he became the second-in-command in Egypt, just to mention a few. To understand patience, we see that it is related to the adjective "patient," which means able to accept or tolerate delays without becoming annoyed or anxious. Patience becomes the ability to wait for something and anticipate something great will come at the end. This process of waiting grows our faith in God. Psalms 27:14 says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Here the Bible urges us to be patient, there is a repetition of the phrase "wait for the Lord" because the Lord knows waiting is not going to be easy, but we should continue to wait for Him anyway. Therefore, Christians must continue waiting and hoping for the best, because in due time God will fulfill all His promises. The story of Abraham and Sarah is a significant example of people who had patience in the Bible. They had to wait for 25 years after God's promise that Sarah will give birth. Isaac's birth meant the reward of patience. This is contrary to the story of Zachariah. He could not speak after his disbelief in Luke 1:5-25, when the angel Gabriel was sent to deliver God's Word that he and his wife were going to conceive. This is a great example of someone impatient and lacking trust in God's word. Zachariah lacked trust in God's Word which made him skeptical, because he thought Elizabeth couldn't give birth. Patience, therefore, requires obedience, believing and trusting in the Lord. Above all, patience produces character. Zachariah's lack of trust was corrected when the Lord wanted him to exercise patience with His Word. Being patient is a vital part of being a Christian. God is more concerned with our character because this is who we are. He corrects us so that we can be like him. When God wants to build our patience, He gives us promises, sends us trials, and tells us to trust Him. In conclusion, patience is fully trusting that God will, in his own time and in his way, fulfill every promise that He has made to us. Being patient means that we entirely depend on God and that we seek no other option except to wait for Him to fulfill His Word. By Bishop Onismo Goronga, Bible League International partner, Zimbabwe Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingPsalm 1, 2, 3 Psalm 1 -- BOOK 1: Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 2 -- Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Psalm 3 -- O Lord, how my adversaries have increased! NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Acts 16:1-15 Acts 16 -- Timothy Joins Paul and Silas; Paul's Vision of a Macedonian; Lydia; Conversion of the Philippian Jailer NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion “So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”Insight Applying God's Word helps us grow. This is a principle of growth in physical, mental, and spiritual life. For example, a muscle, when exercised, will grow stronger; but an unused muscle will grow weak and flabby. Challenge If you are not growing stronger, you are growing weaker; it is impossible for you to stand still. How are you using what God has taught you? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Genesis 1:5 And the evening and the morning were the first day.The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and yet the two together are called by the name that is given to the light alone! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a most comforting thought to those who are mourning their infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light, though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening comes first. Naturally we are darkness first in order of time, and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension, driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan, "That which is last, lasts forever." That which is first, yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with God, forever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred, high, eternal noon. Daily Light on the Daily Path Proverbs 23:26 Give me your heart, my son, And let your eyes delight in my ways.Deuteronomy 5:29 'Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Acts 8:21 "You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Romans 8:7,8 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, • and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 2 Corinthians 8:5 and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. 2 Chronicles 31:21 Every work which he began in the service of the house of God in law and in commandment, seeking his God, he did with all his heart and prospered. Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life. Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, Ephesians 6:6,7 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. • With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, Psalm 119:32 I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. He. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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