All tagged patience

Waiting on the Answer to Prayer

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional, Waiting on Prayer

This morning as I read my daily devotion, I was struck by what E.M. Bounds wrote regarding waiting on God to answer our prayers. Bounds referred to this as a test, but I couldn't agree with his conclusion that God would use waiting for an answer to prayer to test us. No, I believe it allows us to see, and realize, the strength in our own maturing faith. When we are made to wait it shows us how much we have increased in our ability to demonstrate patience, trust, hope, and confidence in God. For some of us we see progress in our faith right away, but for others it takes a great deal of time to fully develop these traits.

Waiting, Patience, Faith, and the virtues of a country life

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Patience and Waiting

Modern day people who live in small towns and villages often leave them to make new homes in the larger cities; they find the allure of high paying jobs, the vibrance of city life, and all the activities that are immediately available to them there to be exciting and enticing, but the greatest draw is in the fact that they can have all these things “right now”. People of faith are often drawn to the worldly life for all the same reasons… we have become a “right now” society, and waiting on anything, even God, has become unacceptable to modern man. Waiting on God is like watching paint dry to many in today’s world, and yet waiting is certain, peaceful, and can calm us if we will trust in the Lord.

How do we go about waiting on God?

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Waiting on God

As He prepared to ascend, Jesus told the apostles to stay in Jerusalem and wait on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. He reminded them that God had promised this, so they stayed, and waited. We are told to wait quite often in our lives as Christians, but we are an eager bunch, and waiting is not one of our strong features. Too often we begin to move before the waiting has concluded, and when we do so then the results that were intended by God don’t come to fruition, and we complain about how God didn’t keep His promise, or didn’t keep it fully. We might not make this accusation aloud, but it is evident in our demeanor. So how can we avoid making God look bad, or at very least, inadequate in such situations?

Patience and Endurance in the Hour of Trial

Richard Forbes
Christian , Daily Devotional , Patience and Perseverance

Are we capable of waiting on God without it harming our faith? Is our patience short lived, and our perseverance nearly nonexistent? In this modern era of instant gratification in which everything is about ourselves, and what we want, patience and perseverance are very rare commodities it seems. There is no place that this is any more evident, nor damaging, than in our spirituality, and faith. Yet despite this, God continues to ask us to be patient as we wait on Him, and to persevere in our belief by loving, remaining faithful, and trusting in Him. But are we so conditioned to expect everything we want right now that our faith fades when we go through periods of quiet? Are we able to love, and worship our God, when what we ask of Him is a long time in coming?