Sunday Devotional ~ Patience with Endurance

For you have need of endurance, 

so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

“For yet a little while,

And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith;

But if anyone draws back,

My soul has no pleasure in him.”

(Hebrews 10:36-38)

We are like a bow in God's hands. He pulls on us and sets His eyes on a target we cannot see. Our job is to remain strong while He stretches us and strains us. He pulls us taut, farther than we believe we can go, and our job is to trust Him, allow ourselves to be stretched to the point He sees fit. If we refuse to bend, He will not reach the target. If we break in His hands by giving up, we are as useless as a broken bow, suitable for the trash.

Endurance is what makes the difference.

Can we endure it when God is stretching us and making us into an instrument He can use to attain His goals?

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. (Job 13:5)

We can only endure if we trust God. We need to remember He only has our best interest at heart. We must remember we were created for His glory and not protect ourselves or any possession or relationship we have over what He has prepared for us.

It is our endurance which makes it possible for God to use us to hit targets He has prepared us for. Even when the stretching and straining hurt, we have to remember the pain is temporary. Growing pains are temporary. And that is what He is having us do if we endure and trust Him: GROW.

Sunday Devotional ~ Waiting with Patience

By your patient endurance, you will gain your souls. (Luke 21:19)

Sometimes we can mistake patience with indifference. While we wait, we do our best not to think about what we are waiting for. We do other things and allow distractions to help us get by while we wait, but God wants a different kind of patience.

Imagine a rock being buffeted by the waves. It withstands everything that is thrown against it. Our patience is supposed to be something more similar to this image. While we wait, Satan throws doubts up against us. 

Do you really believe God's coming?

Did He really promise you the thing?

Are you sure you shouldn't do something yourself?

Maybe you're wasting your time?

But our goal is to withstand it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;

But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

Because it will surely come,

It will not tarry. (Habakkuk 2:3)

God wants to remember His salvation is coming. He is coming. Though it feels to us like He tarries, He is coming at just the right time. It is only through our patient endurance, sitting like a rock buffeted by the onslaught of doubts and the desire to save ourselves, that we can overcome. It's only by perseverance we can receive His salvation at the right time.

Whatever we're waiting for today, let us stand like rocks against the things which make us doubt or want to help God along. The only "help" God needs is for us to wait, with patience, endurance, perseverance, and steadfastness. It is my prayer today that we wait. 

Sunday Devotional ~ It's Okay to ask God to Hurry

And let us not grow weary while doing good, 

for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  

(Galatians 6:9)

God has His own timing, called "due season." In this day and age, we're always in a hurry, but God never is. However there's a major benefit in asking God to hurry, even while we wait. Asking God to hurry keeps our prayers honest. 

It may seem like it takes greater faith to say, "God, take your time," but the psalmists often asked God to hurry:

But I am poor and needy; Make haste to me, O God! 

You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.

(Psalm 70:5)

Be pleased, O Lᴏʀᴅ, to deliver me! O Lᴏʀᴅ, make haste to help me! 

(Psalm 40:13)

O Lᴏʀᴅ, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you! 

(Psalm 141:1)

God wants our prayers to be fervent. Fervent means passionate, heartfelt, and honest. He doesn't want us to pretend to not be in a hurry when we are. Asking God to hurry means that we understand who is in control of all timing. He is. It gets our minds straight so we expect God to answer, know He's going to answer, and ask Him to please not delay.

If we're honest in our prayers, we'll feel the longing in our hearts and we'll be stirred to pray even more persistently. When we believe God will answer quickly if we ask Him to, He will honor it.

 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 

(Luke 11:8)

Asking God to hurry makes our prayers persistent, expectant, fervent, and honest. This is exactly the kind of prayer God tells us He wants from us. If you've been waiting a long time for something, maybe it's time to start asking God to hurry?

Sunday Devotional: Waiting Instead of Chasing

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:32-33)

Are you tired?

Have you been chasing your dream, your want, your need so hard and for so long, that you can hardly remember not chasing it?

God wants us to wait for Him to give us what we need. If we're striving too hard to grasp for what we want or know we should have, we'll often make it our first focus. Instead of seeking God's kingdom first, we are working hard at getting what it is that we think we want. But God wants to provide for our every need, and He wants us to stop chasing after it for ourselves.

Trying harder doesn't work.

Worrying more doesn't work.

I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 

(Phil 4:12-13)

When we are striving and trying harder, we are not content. Instead we are working too hard on our own for things we believe will make our life better. But God wants us to rely upon Him in every situation and to be content. The only way that this can happen is when we realize that we can only achieve our dream by leaning on God and waiting for Him to act. Seeking His kingdom--seeking Him--is what we are called to do.

Whatever you are trying to succeed at today, my prayer is that you will remind yourself to wait upon God and ask Him for the strength that you need to be content while you wait.

Sunday Devotional - Expecting the Lord

I waited patiently for the Lord;

    he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,

    out of the mud and mire;

he set my feet on a rock

    and gave me a firm place to stand.

(Psalm 40:1-2)

In this verse of Psalm 40, the translation "wait patiently" is actually the Hebrew word, qwh. In other passages of the Bible (like Isaiah 64:3) it's translated as "expect."

This can bring in a whole new meaning for us. We're expecting Him. Expecting is very different in my mind from waiting patiently. Waiting patiently conjures up images of sitting in a waiting room. Not doing anything while we wait for the Lord. Twiddling thumbs. Playing games on our phones. Definitely not doing anything productive while we wait in case we miss it when our name gets called.

Expecting is a whole different thing.

If we're expecting God to come, we don't just think God might be coming. We KNOW He's coming. When we know that someone is coming, we wait for them differently. Some of us will watch the clock or look out the window, knowing our guest will be arriving at any time. This is so very different than sitting around, not knowing when our name might get called...or if it will be called at all.

When we're expecting company, we prepare for the arrival. If we're waiting on God, should we not prepare for His arrival, too? Reading His word prepares us, heart and soul, for receiving God's will when it comes to us. The better prepared we are, the less likely we are to miss it when God calls our name, too.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,

    and in his word I put my hope.

I wait for the Lord

    more than watchmen wait for the morning,

    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

(Psalm 130:5-6)

When children are waiting for Christmas (or their birthday) they count down the days. As the day draws near, hardly a minute goes by without them thinking about it, talking about it, and getting excited about it. It's so close they can almost feel it! Their whole being waits expectantly. Likewise, when a mother's due date draws near, she is more and more ready for the birth of her little one in much the same way.

If you've received a word from God and are waiting for its fulfillment, take a look at how you're handling the wait today. Are you expectant? Today my hope is that each of us will truly take God at His word, know that He is coming, and prepare for His arrival!