When Ken and I first began to walk by faith, we were in a terrible financial condition. It would have been very easy at the time to give up and quit. But as the laws of prosperity became a reality to us, the light at the end of the tunnel became brighter and brighter. Our debts were not taken care of immediately—it took some time for us to pay all of our bills. During this period, we had to put the force of patience to work and refuse to give up. And as a result, in less than one year, we were free from debt and headed on a path to victory.
Perhaps you are questioning what patience has to do with gaining results in your life.
Well patience is what undergirds and sustains your faith until the result is manifest. When you learn to release the power of patience, you can receive anything from God that agrees with His Word. Patience is the difference between trying and doing. It’s the difference between fishing and catching fish. It’s the difference between attempting to walk by faith and succeeding. Patience makes all the difference as we see in the following scripture:
Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised…. But the just shall live by faith…and if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him. But our way is not that of those who draw back to eternal misery (perdition) and are utterly destroyed, but we are of those who believe…and by faith preserve the soul. Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses] (Hebrews 10:35-39, 11:1, The Amplified Bible).
Your fearless confidence carries a great and glorious compensation of reward! And patience encourages fearless confidence in God’s Word despite contrary evidence in the seen world. If Ken and I had continued to operate based on what we saw, we would still be in debt today. But we had confidence that God’s Word would not fail and it produced great results.
So when Satan brings a test or trial against you, do not fling away your confidence in God’s Word. This refusal to cast away your confidence in His Word is the power of patience at work.
Hold Yourself Calm
I like what Psalm 94:12-13 tells us about patience: “Blessed…is the man whom You discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law, That You may give him power to hold himself calm in the days of adversity,” (The Amplified Bible).
Patience is the power to hold yourself calm during adversity. Isn’t that good?
According to this scripture, holding yourself calm is the result of being instructed by God’s Word. It is being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only (James 1:22). When you act on what God’s Word says about your situation the power of patience is released.
You need to stay calm and focused on the Word in the face of adversity when it looks like doom is inevitable—when Satan puts strong pressure on you to faint and give up. At that moment, you may be tempted to succumb to the pressure and let go of God’s Word. Don’t do it! You cannot succumb to Satan’s pressure without flinging away your confidence in God’s Word.
There is no middle ground.
When it comes to standing on the Word you are either on or off.
Patience has the courage to refuse to believe what Satan tries to prove true in the natural world. When situations appear contrary to what the Word promises, you must take a firm stand in faith and say, “I will not succumb to pressure. I am moved by nothing except the Word of God.”
When Satan’s pressure says that God’s Word is not working—patience rejects it as a lie.
Patience has no fear because it knows that God’s Word has never failed. Patience knows that when faith is exercised to receive a promise from the Word, success is inevitable.
Pleasing God
We read in Hebrews 10:38, “the just shall live by faith.” If you are to please God you must operate in faith. And faith not only believes that God exists but faith also believes that God rewards those that diligently seek Him. And then we read that “if he draws back and shrinks in fear, My soul has no delight or pleasure in him.”
So why is it that God takes no pleasure in you if you draw back in fear?
Because the instant you draw back in fear, you quit operating in faith. And faith is the assurance (the title deed) to the things you are believing for. God desires to bless you. He takes pleasure in the prosperity of His people. But He takes no pleasure in—and cannot bless—fear.
Jesus tells us: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
Faith, undergirded by patience, will defend and protect your soul from Satan’s attacks—from fear. Faith in God’s Word is your proof that you have received, even though you cannot yet see it with your natural eye. That kind of faith comes only through God’s grace and the “power of patience.”
So remain steadfast. Don’t give up. Continue to put the Word first place in every situation. It is God’s good pleasure to prosper and bless you in every area of your life.
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