PERFECTING PATIENCE
BREAD
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)
34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way. He will exalt you to inherit the land; when the wicked are cut off, you will see it. 35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, 36 but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found. 37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.
Psalms 37:34-37 (NIV)
13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Psalms 27:13-14 (NIV)
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12 (NIV)
7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 7:7 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Augustine
“Waiting is just a gift of time in disguise — a time to pray wrapped up in a ribbon of patience — because is the Lord ever late?” Ann Voskamp
“Wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keeps you tarrying even until midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not linger.” Charles H. Spurgeon
“Christian patience is based upon the absolute, unshakeable belief that God is sovereign and that He is at work in the lives of His children. Christian patience stems from the knowledge that you will not be forgotten nor forsaken by the God to whom you have committed your soul regardless of what is happening around you.” Michael Youssef
“On every level of life…..hurry and impatience are sure marks of an amateur.” Evelyn Underhill
“I am waiting on Thee, Lord, to open the way.” J. Hudson Taylor
“Simply wait upon Him. So doing, we shall be directed, supplied, protected, corrected, and rewarded.” Vance Havner
“Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of spiritual life.” Simone Weil
“Keep bringing your prayers to God. If you think your request is legitimate, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. God wants to teach us through persistent praying to wait on Him and to watch. While we’re praying and waiting for God to answer our prayers, do you know what He’s doing? He’s working on us, conforming us more and more to the image of Christ. And when we’re ready, the answer will surely come.” David Jeremiah
“I will wait, if You keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon You alone, O God, and my spirit waits for You in the full conviction that You will yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.” Charles H. Spurgeon
HEART SAVOR
• God desires for me to have peace in patience as I wait on Him to act on my behalf. I am not to be inactive in the waiting – patience is not paralysis – rather I am to do the next thing – constantly keeping a focus on the One Who gently and sweetly holds my life in His all-powerful, all-sufficient hands. 11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. 12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you. Psalms 84:11-12 (NIV)
• My patience is to be laden with hope.
• My patience is to be accompanied by persistent prayer.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 