Prayer For Endurance And Patience
Righteous God, I know that I must trust in You with all my heart and I know that I must not lean on my own understanding because the path that I choose will lead me down a road of destruction. It is foolish to let my heart guide my paths, so I place my life in Your hands. I pray that I never doubt in You and Your wisdom, instead I will acknowledge You in all my ways so that You can grant me patience and direct my paths in line with your word. Amen.
Lord, I miss the way we used to be. It's my fault, I know. I haven't had the patience to rest at your feet and meditate on your Word. I've been too impatient to wait on your will. I've gotten used to making things happen right now instead of waiting on you to guide my steps.
Lord, some of Your people are hard to love. They can be moody, mean, difficult, and impossible to understand. They blame me for things I didn't do and have expectations I can't meet. Sometimes I wish You hadn't put them in my life.
Lord, I don't feel humble, gentle, or patient today when it comes to my spouse. It's not just the big thingsalthough they never seem to go awayit's also the little things that pile up and chisel at my smile. Sometimes it's hard to remember the days when the relationship was easy and fun.
Lord, today is rough. And I haven't even climbed out of bed. There's too much clouding my mind, too much to face, and I can already feel the meltdown brewing inside. I don't have enough patiencewith myself or anyone elseto make it through the morning, let alone the day.
Dear Lord, please help me.
I lay before you my tiredness and ask for new energy.
I lay before you my frustration and ask for more patience.
I lay before you my resentment and ask for peace.
I lay before you my judgement and ask for inspired understanding.
I lay before you my anger and long to be forgiving.
Please help me, dear Lord.
Father,
We praise You for the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and Your alive and active Word, continually sewing our heart together to mirror Your Son, Jesus. Patience isn't easy, but it also isn't ours to create in ourselves. Thank You for working in us what we do not have the ability to otherwise. When injustice smacks into our reality, it's hard to let You make the first move. When the people in our lives press our aggravation, it's difficult to submit to the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We want to take control and strive for solutions. Forgive us for allowing our temperaments to speak first.
Father, You love us perfectly, and promise to defend us. You hear us and are concerned about us. Help us to trust You with our daily skirmishes, and waging wars. Daily, remind us to sit with You and soak in the powerful wisdom available to us in Your Word. Help us to remember Psalm 56 when we are afraid. Periods of waiting often lead us to fear, and fear can chip away at our trust and faith. Yet, what can mere mortals do to us? We can go through nothing that You do not have the ability to pull us through!
Help us to understand the gravity and weight of the words, When I am afraid, I will trust in You. (Psalm 56:3) May the Holy Spirit move through us and remove our fear in testing moments of trial, and usher in a renewed faith and trust, just as the reminder of Your Word. For, In God, whose Word I praise I will not be afraid. Your Word has power when faithfully proclaimed over our situations and fears.
Bless our hearts to be established in Christ, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. (James 5:8) May we ever be reminded of His sacrifice for us, and the love for us that drove Him there. That same love promises never to leave us, and to provide the patient endurance we need to stand up under trials of patience. None of them will last forever, but eternity with our Savior will.
Praise You, Father!
In Jesus' Name,
Amen.
Rejoice in hope, endure in affliction, persevere in prayer (Romans 12:12). These three virtues: hope, patient endurance, and perseverance in prayer are essential to our Christian faith lives. They are the basis of our ability to love God and one another. This verse comes in the 12th chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans, which is a perfect mini-catechism, teaching us the things that are necessary for us to really live out our Christian faith in our daily lives.
Among those necessary virtues are those listed in our verse for today. Hope is the proper response to God's promises. This can be seen in Abraham, who even though he was old had the confidence to believe that God would fulfill his promises. Against all hope, Abraham in hope, believed (Romans 4:18). Generally speaking, the Scriptures are a means of engendering our hope. The Holy Spirit is the source of our hope and his power causes hope to abound (Romans 15:13). Hope is ultimately a gift from God through grace (2 Thessalonians 2:16). It is hope that leads to joy (Romans 12:12) and to faith and love (Colossians 1:4-5).
We can endure the spiritual and social trials that come our way, because of our hope in God. The virtue of patient endurance gives us the ability to wait. It is a virtue that is associated with both moral and spiritual maturity. It is this virtue that give us the strength to delay gratification in the things of the world, and the moral courage to endure even great suffering for the sake of the higher goods that God calls us to in this life. It is a virtue that gives our love for others stamina. With it we can be patient with the weaknesses and failings of others, more importantly, with our own weaknesses and failures.
But it is perseverance in prayer that keeps us close to God. It is in prayer that we deepen our relationship with the One who is the source of all that is good, true, and beautiful. It is prayer that opens our hearts to his love for us. Prayer helps us to see the wisdom of bending our wills to his alone. Prayer strengthens us in trials. Prayer binds us to God, opens us up to his graces. We need to practice this virtue of perseverance in prayer by praying for one another. It is also our finest means for praising God, and for giving him thanks for all he has done on our behalf.
Lord, increase our hope and our joy in you. Help us to learn the virtue of patient endurance in all things, and give us prayerful hearts, so that we may always draw near to you throughout our days. We pray these things in your name, Jesus. Amen!