Why You Should Cultivate a Lifestyle of Patience

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There are many people who don’t have the word ‘Patience’ in their own dictionary, they are always in a hurry to get what they want, forgetting the fact that every prize has a price.

One of the prices you must pay for greatness, success and excellent result in life and business is to have patience.

One character that is common among successful and influential people is patience.

Life will test your patience, including time. Until you have passed the test of patience, you are not ready to begin your walk with God and destiny.

I know many people who have gone to the land of silence because of impatience. They wanted to blow by all means and didn’t want to wait for their time. And they ended up in the grave too early for their age.

Many years ago, one of my friends, a young evangelist wanted to make it quick, I cautioned him on the need to have patience and wait for God’s time but he didn’t listen. He went and joined one cult in Lagos where they promised him quick money and fame. What they didn’t tell him was the tragedy his impatience was going to cost him. It didn’t take long, he became mad and they brought him back to his mother. Few weeks later, the young man died. He was the only son of his mother. He died not more than twenty years old. What a pity! Impatience sent him to his early grave.

I know a dear sister in town, her husband was not really making all the money at that time due to some circumstances surrounding his business, but the man was working very hard and making sure food and other essential things were not lacking in the house. But unfortunately, this sister was not content with what God was providing for her home through the husband. She wanted to become rich so quickly. Every advice given to her to be patient with God and with her husband fell on deaf ears. Before you know it, she started going out to sleep with the so called rich men in town who could afford a car. To cut the long story short, the woman lost her marriage to impatience. After some time, God visited the ex-husband and the man became very rich and had enough cars, money and good houses. Impatience made her to lose her beautiful marriage that has a future.

King Saul lost his kingdom and throne to impatience (1 Samuel 10:8, 13:8-14).

There are many people who have served faithfully in a company, organization, business or ministry for a very long time and have labored and waited for several years for their promotion but just few days for the promotion to come, they resigned and lost everything to impatience. You will not lose your throne to impatience.

This is not a conventional teaching. I will be unveiling to you some strange truth from the scriptures that will inspire you to imbibe the culture of patience. Read this article carefully to the end, you will see some strong reasons why you need to cultivate a lifestyle of patience.

What is Patience?
The Oxford Learners dictionary defines Patience as the ability to stay calm and accept a delay or something annoying without complaining.  It is also the ability to spend a lot of time doing something difficult that needs a lot of attention and effort.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.  Galatians 5:22

Patience means long-suffering. It is the ability to endure suffering, endure difficult things and endure difficult people for a long time. Another name for patience is endurance.

I like to call patience stickability!
Patience or endurance is an essential character required in everyone who wants to succeed and be great in life.

 You can’t be a good leader if you don’t have patience. You need patience to become a good wife and mother to your family. You can’t be an amazing father and husband if you don’t have patience as a character.
Without patience you cannot succeed in life.

The story of Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba is one that teaches patience. It took him patience not to give up on his dreams when he was rejected by so many people.

How often we give up on our dreams so quickly after going through some challenges in the pursuit of our dreams.

 It’s so disappointing how we so quickly conclude and write off some people who are not meeting up with our expectation because of impatience.

Dr Myles Munroe of blessed memory spoke of how he was written off and called a fish brain by his teacher because he was not performing well at that time in the school. But the same Myles who was concluded a dummy by his teacher became one of the most intelligent and wisest men on the surface of the earth and shook the world with his books and teaching ministry so much that presidents of nations, senators and other top government officials and businessmen sought him daily to learn from his wisdom.

Impatience can blind a man’s eyes from seeing the future in others. Impatience can make you condemn the one God has blessed.

Impatience can make you judge people by their present situation without consorting their future.

Nothing is as bad as being in a haste to write off a man whose life and destiny is undergoing a process.

You need patience to believe in the people. You need patience to accept the people. You need patience to look beyond people’s weaknesses and see their strength. You need patience to get along with people.

 If you lack patience, you may end up as a patient in the hospital.

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus. Rom 15:5

God is a God of patience and He won’t change because of you. It doesn’t matter how urgent your needs and situation may seem to appear, there are certain things God will never do or give you until the right time comes.

You need to know this truth. God doesn’t want you to be an indomie Christian, who wants everything to happen sharp-sharp. He wants you to become like Him in character, exercising patience in everything.

If the almighty God is a patient God, who are you to say you can’t wait?

 Those who can’t wait end up becoming a waste. It’s better to wait than to waste.

There is no hurry in life. The authentic proof that you are a child of God is your patience.

“In your patience possess ye your souls” Luke 21:19

Patience puts you in possession of your soul. An impatient man does not have possession of his soul.

You need to cultivate a lifestyle of patience so that you can take full charge of your life and the circumstances around you. You need patience to take control of your mind.

People who don’t have patience can’t control their mind.

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Heb 6:12

The promises of God are not wait and take, they come to pass at their appointed time and follow their due process.

 It takes patience to inherit the promises of God. If you want to see any promise of God fulfilled in your life, you need to have patience.

Look at Abraham, our father of faith. He was not only a man of faith, he was also a patient man. He was 75 years old when God promised him a son through his wife Sarah. But he had to patiently wait for 25 years before that promise was fulfilled.

David was just a little boy probably between the ages of 9 and 15 when he was anointed by Samuel the Prophet to be the king of Israel. But David had to wait patiently for many years before his destiny could manifest. David began to reign as king in Israel when he was thirty years old (2 Samuel 5:4).

That’s why you should cultivate a lifestyle of patience. God’s promises are not gimmicks. They don’t have short-cut. The road to their fulfillment is patience.

What has God promised you? God cannot lie. His promises are sure. You only need to be patient and wait for their appointed time.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.  Hab 2:3

Every vision has its own appointed time. If the time has not reached, bro go and rest. Your muscle won’t get the vision done until the appointed time has come. It is wisdom to be patient and wait for the appointed time. God makes everything beautiful in His time. The vision will only speak at the end, not before.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Gal 6:9

Be patient with God. Refuse to get tired of doing good. If you don’t faint, your due season is sure.

 Failures are those who never knew how close they were to success before they gave up.

The patient dog eats the fattest bone. The reward of patience is eternal. When the cloud is full of rain, it will empty itself upon the earth.

Very soon your patience will be rewarded. Don’t give up on God, don’t give in to the pressure. Hold on to your faith and hold on to your dreams of greatness. Just a little while, he that shall come shall come, He will not tarry. Receive grace to be patient in Jesus name.

Damian