Patience is a definite requirement for faith to function
As sure as faith without works is dead (James 2:14) so is faith without patience guaranteed to fail. It takes both faith and patience to receive what God has promised as we read in Hebrews 6:12: “So that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12). To be patient is not to be lazy. On the contrary, we become sluggish and lazy when our faith is not mixed with patience (cf. Hebrews 6:12). The period of patience is not a period of being idle and whiling away time. Rather, “ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise (Hebrews 10:36). The time of waiting is a time of action; a time of doing. It is a time for doing God’s will in order to receive His promises. And what is His will? His Word is His will (See Isaiah 55:11; Psalm 89:34).
It is the will of God that you be patient: that is to not quit in the face of opposition. That is to stay on course and keep believing and confessing the Word of God even when it seems like nothing is happening. That is to endure and persevere. Whenever you are faced with a situation where patience is required, rejoice because God Himself has taken interest in you to test your faith. It is the testing of your faith that produces patience (James 1:3), i.e. when your faith is being tested it results in situations that will require you to learn and have patience. And the reason for God’s test is one: that you will pass and be proven worthy to receive what has been promised. When the need to be patient shows up, it is proof that you have been set on a course to mature and be made complete so that you will lack nothing – including what you are believing for. Therefore let patience have its perfect work in you, because your patience will deliver unto you the very thing you have believed God for (cf. Romans 1:3-4; Romans 5:3-5).
It is also the will of God that “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). It is the fruit of your lips, giving thanks to God that constitute your sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 12:15). Therefore let your period of patient endurance be filled with thanksgiving and praise to God. And after ye have done the will of God, in your time of patience, you will receive the promise (cf. Hebrews 10:36).
To be continued…
Kwadwo Omari, PhD
May 1, 2017.