Gloria Copeland - Well worth the wait

Well Worth the Wait

The pressure is on.

You have prayed the prayer of faith. You believe you have received the answer. You are confessing the Word. You are standing on God's promise. You are expecting a miracle.

But instead of getting betterthings seem to get worse. Symptoms and circumstances pile up around you. Every time you turn around, some demon is whining in your ear: Why don't you just give up? This faith stuff doesn't work. God doesn't even care about you.

Soon all you can think about is how tired you are, how fed up you are with waiting for your answer to come. You have had it with this situation and unless something changes, you're about to say the two words that cost more believers their victory than anything else in the world: I quit!

Sound familiar?

Sure it does. Everyone who ever walked by faith has gone through times like that. Tough times. Times when you feel like you can't take any more.

Maybe those times have tripped you up in the past. Maybe the devil has used them to pressure you into letting go of your faith. But I want you to know something today. That never has to happen again because you're about to learn how to release a force so powerful it can carry you through those hard times in triumph.

It is a force so dynamic the devil cannot stop it. It is a force that comes from the heart and character of God Himself and it will take you from here to victory...every time.

What is this magnificent force? The force of patience.

Standard Equipment

Most Christians have no idea how powerful patience actually is. They think it's just a nice quality. But, the fact is, patience is the overcoming force that keeps us going in situations that otherwise would stop us cold.

It's patience, for example, that will see you through from the time you pray and release your faith for your healing...to the time when that healing is a manifested reality in your body. It's patience that will take you from the moment you believe and confess by faith that your bills are paid...to the time when the money is finally in your account and you're writing the checks.

Contrary to popular belief, however, patience isn't simply putting up with a situation. It isn't hanging on by your fingernails until the bitter end. No, biblical patience is much greater than that.

Patience is the force that keeps you from fainting under pressure. It is the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. Patience girds up your faith when it's under pressure. It refuses despondency even when conditions are dark, and holds to hope instead.

Patience suffers long and remains steadfast when distress and trouble come. It endures ill treatment without anger or thought of revenge. Patience keeps your faith from folding up when the going gets tough.

No matter what, patience just won't quit.

"That sounds great, Gloria," you may say. "But I don't have that kind of patience!"

If you've made Jesus the Lord of your life you do! It's a fruit of the Spirit and God equipped you with it the moment you were born again. He placed it into your recreated human spirit right along with the other fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23).

God didn't just give you any old type of patience, either. He imparted to you His very own patience, and The Amplified Bible says He is extraordinarily patient. God has what it takes to get through hard times. He has the power to persevere until circumstances line up with His Word. And because you're born of His Spirit, you have that power too!

You may be thinking, Where is all this wonderful patience I'm supposed to have? I certainly haven't seen much evidence of it in my life!

It's waiting inside you for you to yield to it.

You see, just as water won't flow from a faucet unless you open the valve and let it through, the reservoir of patience God has put within you won't flow unless you release it by an act of your will.

As James 1:4 says you must "let patience have her perfect work." In other words, the force of patience won't go to work until you let it!

Count It All What?

It's only fair to warn you that's not always as easy as it may sound because patience is developed during tests and trials. You need it most when you want it least.

Let's look again at what James has to say about it: "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2-4).

Usually, when you're in the midst of a trial, the last thing you feel like doing is counting it all joy. Naturally speaking, you're not in the mood to jump and sing and rejoice over this opportunity to develop patience.

But the truth is , you should.

Why? Because if you'll let patience have her perfect work, you'll be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. Think about what that means! It means that if you're battling illness and you let patience have her perfect work, you'll end up in perfect health. If you're in financial trouble, you'll end up with all your needs perfectly met.

It means you'll end up with whatever the Word of God has promised you!

Hebrews 10 confirms that. Addressing a group of people who had been through an extremely fiery trial, it says:

Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; Partly , whilst ye were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise (verses 32-36).

Read that last verse again: "Ye have need of patience, that...ye might receive the promise."

You might as well know right now that if you want to enjoy the health, deliverance and prosperity God has promised you, you'll have to let patience work. You'll have to believe God when it's hard to do. You'll have to keep walking in faith when your flesh just wants to quit.

That may sound negative, but it's not. It's just the truth. And if you know that truth, you can prepare yourself in advance for those hard times by deciding that when they come, you won't give up. You can train yourself for victory by starting right now to develop the force of patience you'll need to make it through when the going gets tough.

Growing in the Grocery Store

You see, you don't have to wait for a major trial to hit before you let patience have her perfect work. You can practice patience in those small but irritating situations you encounter every day.

I ran into one such situation just the other day in the grocery store. I was in a hurry when I went to check out so I chose the express line. There were only a couple of people in it and they just had a few items to buy so I didn't think it would take long.

But that clerk was so slow! As my frustration mounted I thought, They ought to put a sign here that says Slow Motion Line!

What was that? An opportunity to exercise patience.

Such opportunities are important because when you exercise patience, it grows. If you'll use it in small things, it will be strong enough to handle the bigger things when they come along. Every fruit of the Spirit increases in you as you exercise it.

Remember that the next time some little aggravation is about to make you lose your temper. Instead of saying, "I've had it," say, "No, in Jesus' Name, I choose to yield to the force of patience God has put within me. I believe I'll just count this slow grocery store line to be a joy and use it as an opportunity to grow!"