Patience is a much needed fruit of the Spirit. We human beings don’t like waiting, we live in an instant world that we have formed apart from God. We are impatient in small things – we like instant coffee, we get cross if our phones or computers are too slow. We dislike waiting at a queue at the supermarket. We moan and need to get on to the next thing. So many things are designed to stop us waiting.
Neither do we have patience with the larger things, medical results, exam results. We are impatient for the babies to be born and the winter to pass and spring to come. As a gardener I’m anxious for the last frost to pass so I can sow my seeds. God is in control of time, life needs to happen at His speed. Our growth as a Christian will need to be slow, steady and sure. It will take years of living to become mature Christians. Although reading the Bible in a year can be helpful, it can be just reading on the surface. The Bible needs years and years of study with each reading teaching us something new.
The art of praying also takes a long time. Arrow prayers can be sent straight after conversion, but regular deep prayer also needs to be worked on. To become a prayer warrior takes much kneeling and submitting.
‘Those that WAIT on the Lord will renew their strength. Isaiah 40:31