Bible Patience

Oct 20, 2023 | by Anthony Wade

Have you ever been at a place in your life where you were confused about why things didn’t seem to be happening quite like you thought? You love Jesus with all your heart. You have been born from above and have the life of God in you. You have been in the Word and understand the promises of God. In fact, you know how faith operates and how important it is to declare the Word of God in your life. Yet, despite all this, it seems like it just isn’t working for you. What do you do then?

Well, I believe that when you get to a point like this in your life, you don’t have a faith issue. Faith certainly isn’t your problem. And I will go one step farther to state the obvious: God isn’t your problem, either! He is always the solution. So, what is it? I believe it is safe to say that you have a patience issue.

You see, when you speak to something in your life, faith goes to work. You find a promise in God’s Word about your health, finances, relationships, or some other area, and you speak to that “mountain.” You say, “I believe that I receive this answer in my life.” But that isn’t the end of the process. Let me show you two verses of scripture that will help you through these moments in your life.

Hebrews 6:12 says that we cannot be slothful or lazy in these times. Instead, we are to be “followers of them who through FAITH AND PATIENCE inherit the promises” (emphasis mine). We can see here that faith is not enough. I know that many of you who have been hearing about faith for a long time may think that this is bad news, but it isn’t. Why? Because as humans, we can have a tendency to get anxious. We think that things need to get done when we want them to get done. Instead, we must have enough spiritual maturity to understand that God never misses the mark and maintain the confidence in Him to know that we can cast those cares on Him and trust Him for the right thing at the right time.

Another verse I want to share with you is Hebrews 10:36. It says, “for ye have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Notice here that patience never precedes faith… it FOLLOWS faith. After you have done the will of God, you need patience. What is the will of God? Living by faith! Finding what He says about it. After all, His WORD is His WILL. Then, the just live by faith. In other words, the believer must then put corresponding action to their faith. I like to say that they need to “put their walkie with their talkie.” This is doing the will of God. Saying what He desires for you to say and living like He desires for you to live.

But then, after all of that, you simply need to have patience. Now, Bible patience isn’t just sitting back, twiddling your thumbs, and doing nothing. No, Bible patience is not passive. It is very active. It is being steadily consistent in knowing God’s Word is true and He will do His part, even if it may not be exactly in your predetermined time frame. This is how you inherit, or receive, the promises.

Don’t draw back and feel sorry for yourself. And certainly, don’t ever allow the enemy to distract you or convince you that God hasn’t done or isn’t doing His part.

If you are in Christ, everything you need has been provided through the new birth. Believe it and keep standing on the truth… no matter how long it takes!

Pastor Anthony