Patience and Persistence-Oct 14

Nothing great is ever accomplished without persistence and patience because, in order to be successful, your dreams must translate into work.

The people who succeed in life are the people who are willing to do what they don't feel like doing. They are not mastered by their moods, they are mastered by the Master, and they establish their goals and plans according to God's will.

Eliezer was a great example of patience and persistence. We see his patience in choosing the right woman by making a detailed plan. He didn't make a snap judgment. He wasn't impulsive. The Bible says in Genesis 24:21 (NIV), "Without saying a word, [he] watched her closely to learn whether or not the Lord had made his journey succeed."

If you are going to really reach your goals in life, sometimes you have to delay gratification. You have to do the tough thing instead of the fun thing, the right thing instead of the pleasurable thing.

Any goal that's worth achieving is going to have obstacles in the way. You need to have a long-term view so, when difficulties come, you can persevere knowing that you are going to get past it.

God's timing is perfect and ours is not. When you find yourself in God's waiting room, just be patient and persistent. A God-given vision will always be fulfilled.

this message speaks so me a lot because im so ridiculously lazy. i always get these big ideas and plans for my life and then as soon as something hard comes up, i cave and ditch my plan. kind of like diets; you tell yourself you'll stop eating junk food TOMORROW, but you tell yourself that everyday which basically means you're never going to act on it. i think the key here is godly goals. i know i wont be able to really persevere and push through the hard times in life without God. if my goals are good and for God and not myself, i know i can succeed because God will help me through it

I felt as if this devotion was closely related to obedience. As it stated that we should delay gratification, standing firm in our faith is definitely our foundation. If we sincerely do, we're giving our undivided attention and desire to God, which is what he expects if we choose to do so. Unfortunately, it's incredible how easy it is to say something rather than doing it. However, our vision needs be driven by our passion. But before proceeding, we have to ask ourselves if we're glorifying God. If not, then that isn't a vision that we should pursue. We have to make sure that our walk of faith is always in check, in line with God's expectations and standards. Our hearts need to be in the right place, our minds must always seek for the truth, our hands and feet waiting to experience the pain that Jesus felt, taking the weight of sin onto the cross. We have to be in for God without hesitation, while having our hearts patiently waiting. He always has something in store for everyone.

I think as humans we are naturally impatient. We want the positive things right away and we don't want to have to wait around for it or work hard for it, because it's so much easier if it's given to us directly on a silver plate. But does that really give us fulfillment? How can you feel accomplished at achieving something if all you've done to accomplish it was sit around and do nothing? If we want something that we know is worth having we must be patient, persistent and hardworking. We must persevere during the difficult part of the journey to accomplish a goal and most importantly we must stand firm in our faith with God. Even if we work our hardest, there is only so much that we can do, as humans we're limited. However, it's God who's limitless and can turn anything our work into something greater than we could have ever imagined it to be.
Obstacles that stand in the way of us being able attain a goal can be aggravatingly frustrating. It can be very irritating and might seem like an inconvenience to our goal-achieving. However, despite all this, sometimes it's those obstacles that make us stronger, more experienced and help us learn through this journey. God wouldn't allow these obstacles to come our way if He knew that would not benefit from going through it.
Finally, there will be many times of doubt and uncertainty during the process of accomplishing a goal. We begin to question ourselves: can we achieve this goal, what if I fail miserably? We are met with so much confusion and begin to become reluctant. Those times we have to look towards God. The God who will always be bigger than all our problems combined. Trust in God, trust in His perfect timing, and trust in how masterfully God works in your life.

3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 56:3-4

36 Overhearing what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
Mark 5:36

10 Those who know your name trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10

Humans are really simple. We always want things FAST. we are all impatient to some extent and usually we want things to be done ASAP. For example, who wants winter break and even summer break to come right now? cuz i certainly do. I want school to be over and i just wanna RELAAAAAX ALLLL DAAAAAAY. But obviously i cant do that right now or else i will have no future haha. What i'm saying is that, sometimes we do things that we don't want to do because we know that it will be worth it in the future. We may want to take short cuts but for some things, there are no shortcuts. But for me personally, i don't mind waiting for God because i enjoy the experience that i experience while on the path of Christ.
PRetty tired guys GNITE and do dem devoss

Wow, it really felt like this message was meant for me today.
I act mostly on whims rather than the slow-and-steady progress.

So. Gratification may have to be pushed ahead sometimes, but "patience will achieve more than force". Whereas we want things to happen immediately, we may sometimes have to wait for God, longer than we anticipate. The old-and-widely-known fable "the Hare and the Tortoise" came to mind as i was reading through this devo; the hare sped up and hastily travelled most of the distance and decided to sleep while the tortoise slowly and steadily walked up (and past) the finish line. Lesson: slow-and-steady wins the race, and reaps great rewards, while the hare doesn't get much gratification in the end.

Psalm 37:7
Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act