Patience — Devotional and Prayer — Bible Study

Today you will need patience. Not just tomorrow, but today; because it is not a decoration for a few, but a necessity for everyone. The testing of your faith is the tool that produces it, so count it joy when the trial comes, and let patience finish its perfect work — do not cut the work short by giving up. You have done the will of God; now wait for the promise, because there is a gap between the doing and the receiving, and patience carries you across it. Run your race with patience, and set aside the weight. Wait on the LORD, and he will renew your strength; rest in him, and do not fret over the man who prospers in his way. The farmer waits for the precious fruit, and has long patience for it, until the rain comes; so you wait too. The one who is coming will come, and will not delay, and your crown is a crown of life. Search it out.

Lord, you are the God of patience, and you grant it to those who ask. I need patience today; work it in me through the testing of my faith, and let it finish its perfect work, so that I may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Teach me to run my race with patience, and to set aside every weight; teach me to wait on you, and to renew my strength; to rest in you, and not fret over the man who prospers in his way. When the promise is delayed, hold me back from giving up, because the farmer waits for the precious fruit until the rain comes. And because the love of many people will grow cold, give me patience to hold on to the end and not become lukewarm — so that I do not draw back, but believe and so save my soul, and be found faithful when you come. So direct my heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ; and when I am tested, let me receive the crown of life which you have promised to those who love you. Amen.