Faith and Patience
March/29/2010 11:18 AM
It doesn't matter what you are believing God for right now. No matter what it is, there is a promise in God's word that you can stand on. Now if you can't find a scripture that applies to your case, then you might want to check up on what you are asking God to do! If anything goes against His word, your believing will be fruitless. But if it lines up with His word, then you can take God at His word and we know that the answer already belongs to you.
This faith, as described above in Hebrews 11:1, is believing we have received it with our heart of faith before it ever manifests in sight! But what about the time in between you believe it's yours and the time you actually see it happen? What are we to do during this waiting period? It is Patience my friend, patience.
Hebrews 6:12-15 “We do not want you to become lazy, but emulate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
Where God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, "I will surely bless you and give you many descendants." And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.”
This verse is saying, to receive all the promises, we need to follow faithful Abraham, as an example of faith and patience. There are many awesome times when we receive an answer from heaven right away. I can tell you of testimony after testimony of fevers cooling instantly or pain leaving a body. There are so many wonderful times when there is a need for wisdom or financial help and God is right there to provide. God always responds to faith, not need. He always responds to the faith of His sons and daughters!
But what happens if you are believing for something that hasn't happened yet? We must stay in a state of expectancy while we wait patiently!
Abraham, who we are to emulate, had to do just that: wait. God had promised him a son out of whom would come an immeasurable amount of descendants, and because of him all nations would be blessed. Wow, that was quite a promise!
Gen. 26:4 "I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My requirements, My commands, My decrees and My laws."
Gen. 32:12 "I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted."
Yes, Abraham pleased God with his faith, but only after waiting patiently did he receive the answer; that precious son of promise.
Abraham and Sarah were already way past child bearing age. It would have been a miracle in itself had they conceived a child right away. Sarah didn't give birth to a son until years later.
Through all the years of waiting, Abraham had many opportunities to doubt God was going to come through on His promise. But he did not waiver in believing that God would keep His word. Did you ever think about how it is possible that Abraham could have started out believing wholeheartedly, but in the next five or ten years give in to doubt? Isn't it possible, as he was just as human as we, that he had thoughts like, "It's not happening, I knew this sounded far fetched and too good to be true" or "What's taking God so long, maybe He's changed His mind and Sarah's right - I'm just a crazy old man!" It's possible, but Abraham never let go. He patiently waited until the promise came. He patiently persevered year after year. He never stopped expecting while He was waiting. Abraham was full of expectancy that God would do what He said He would do.
Do we give up too easily? I wonder how many promises conceived by faith were aborted before their birth? What can abort the promise before it's born? We must never let ourselves entertain doubt and unbelief. We must watch our confession! Never speak out anything that doesn't agree with the promise. Never stop thanking God and praising Him with our mouth!
Faith may become sight immediately, or it may be weeks, months or even years. If we will grab our promise by faith and live in expectancy with patience, we will obtain it!
Romans 8:25 "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."
Faith is being active while we wait. What did our first verse say? "We don't want you to become lazy..." Waiting doesn't mean we sit down and do nothing. We must keep praising God in the meantime. We must continue to labor diligently in the assignment He has given us at the moment. When we are faithful in the small things, He will make us ruler over much. We must choose not to whine, groan, complain, be negative, or mumble. Oh boy, I think that's one of the most difficult things for us fleshly creatures. We can't be lead by what we see around us or listen to the storm raging. We can't agree with the doubters.
Faith is stepping out of the boat just like Peter. Patient expectancy would have gotten him all the way to Jesus! I do believe that!
As soon as you receive something by faith and say such-n-such is mine, congratulations - you have stepped out of the boat! Your answer already belongs to you. As you hold on to your faith and take steps forward there may be wind and waves trying to get you to let go of the promise. There are people who are still in the boat trying to tell you that you're crazy and that this is impossible. Even your own mind will try to betray you with thoughts of fear and doubt, but keep your eyes on the promise. Keep your eyes on Jesus!
Keep waiting patiently in the quiet times as well. Maybe there's not a raging tempest at the moment. Maybe the slow tick-tock of the clock makes the wait seem forever. Sometimes, the day to day faithfulness is the hardest at times. Still, never stop believing. Patiently expect. Through faith and patience we inherit what has been promised!
Hebrews 10:36-38 “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what He has promised. For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. But My righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back I will not be pleased with him."
kimconnor@whwc.org
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