Faith and Patience

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mark 11:24

Christ teaches us to pray in faith. Asking for something in prayer and believing that we receive it right then. He says we shall have what we pray for when we pray this way, in faith. What He doesn’t say is how long to wait between asking and receiving. What do we do if we don’t receive the answer right away?

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Hebrews 6:12

God gave me this verse when I was going through a trial of my faith. I had lost a car and was standing in faith for God to give me a car without having to go further into debt. It was fall when this happened. I rode my bicycle to work about 2 or 3 miles away from home. All the while I continued to thank God for supplying my need of a car. People in my church and even my dad thought I was crazy. It became winter and was riding my bicycle through the snow to work. Yet I kept standing in faith that God was going to provide. Then one day in January at work a girl I worked with asked to speak with me. She said she had a car for me! She didn’t know that I needed a car but the Lord put it on her heart to give it to me. I drove that car reliably for almost 5 years before God supplied another car. It took faith AND patience to reap that car. If I would have given up my faith in the Word, then I would have missed out on a blessing from God.

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 10:36

God has made many promises to all of us throughout His Word, the Bible. We need to live an upright, sin free life in order to qualify for His benefits. It takes faith and patience to receive God’s promises. Faith calls those things that be not as though they already are. God made a promise of a son to Abraham when he was 75. It wasn’t until he was 100 that he got the answer of his son Isaac. 25 long years he had to wait in faith. He got off track when he listened to his wife and had a son by the bondmaid. He may have received Isaac much sooner if he hadn’t listened to a voice other than God’s.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is trusting God to do what He has promised to do. We ask Him once in faith, and then stand in faith by thanking God and praising Him until we see the answer. The just shall live by faith. It doesn’t matter how long we have to wait. God is trying our hearts to make sure we really believe Him. We shall reap, if we faint not. Your faith in the Word of God is equal to having the answer of what you are believing him for! Don’t give up, but praise and thank Him for His faithfulness to His Word. He is faithful that promised.