Faith and patience

by Maurice Pujol
Published May 8, 2006

After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

(Acts 1:3-5)

Faith and patience go hand in hand.

Quite often, the greatest expression of faith is to be patient – to wait on the Lord. At the same time, being patient strengthens one’s faith, building it ever stronger like a well-developed muscle.

People who receive miraculous healings from God usually experience a period of waiting before the miracle manifests itself in the natural realm. Those who followed Jesus during His earthly ministry regularly witnessed instantaneous miracles. Blind men saw right away, lepers were cleansed, and the lame stood up and walked.

I have no doubt such miracles still occur today, but most of us don’t get to see such spectacular displays. The healing miracles I have seen were manifested over a period of months, long after their promise was received during a time of prayer.

In my own experience, I felt the overwhelming presence of a healing in my body on a specific date about five years ago. I know the day it happened and what I was doing when it happened, much like we can remember what we were doing on the occasion of dramatic historical events. I was so convinced of my healing, though, that I didn’t bother to get the test that confirmed it until nearly four months later.

Of course, the test did confirm it, and I never doubted the outcome during my weeks and weeks of waiting. What appeared to be a problem area during the test literally disappeared during the procedure, which made the confirmation of my healing even more dramatic.

Most of the time, though, miracles manifest themselves gradually. Seemingly incurable tumors shrink, rather than disappear overnight. Unsaved loved ones go to the altar after years, not days, of being prayed for. Prayers are most often answered over a period of time, rather than in one dazzling display of God’s power.

Patience is the key to receiving these miracles. God may not act as quickly as we would prefer, but He is on time, in time, every time.

This is the point where many believers lose track of their faith and wander off the path Jesus has laid out for them. Impatience is a destructive emotion, for it leads to all sorts of other bad emotions – anger, despair, bitterness and even, in its extreme, hatred. These negative feelings, however, are all tools of the devil designed to knock people down.

Jesus never wanted to knock anyone down. He wants to lift us up, to raise our vision beyond what we can normally see, hear or feel. He has a plan for each one of us, to lift us to a higher level, to bring us ever closer to him and, in the process, to increase our spiritual power.

But we have to learn to wait on the Lord, trusting that His timing is the right timing, even though it doesn’t suit our schedules.

The early believers at Jerusalem needed a lot of patience. There they were, witnessing the seemingly impossible, a risen Jesus walking and talking, eating and still teaching. Then, He said He would leave them once again, urging them to wait at Jerusalem for a special gift from God, baptism in the Holy Spirit.

What does this mean? Believers have been discussing this in the centuries since Jesus’ departure, coming to varying conclusions. But one thing is certain, something really big happened to the 120 faithful who “stuck it out” and waited patiently for God to act. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is clearly described in the second chapter of Acts. It is a life-changing, direction-altering result of believing Jesus, waiting and praying.

Think about it. Of all those who followed Jesus around during His ministry, only 120 had enough faith to wait for the most important gift anyone could receive. Paul mentions in one of his letters that at least 500 people had seen the risen Jesus, yet witnessing this miracle was still not enough for them to stick around for Pentecost.

Like many people today, they probably thought they had better things to do with their time. At least several hundred people who experienced firsthand the greatest miracle in history considered their personal duties and desires more important than waiting in that upper room and praying – as Jesus had instructed.

Those special 120 people had great faith, but they also had patience. Because they obeyed, a magnificent empowerment was given to them. The impetuous Peter, a fisherman by trade, was transformed instantly into a great preacher.

Far from denying Jesus ever again, Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin, the same group of religious leaders who had engineered Jesus’ death just weeks earlier – and they wouldn’t back down. Peter prayed for a lame man’s healing, and the man, who had been born that way 40 years earlier, stood up and walked.

More dramatic than anything else, however, Peter preached to the crowds gathered at Jerusalem for the Feast of Weeks, and thousands of devout Jews became new believers in Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The church, which would later be called Christian, was born.

Because a handful of the faithful waited and prayed, the entire history of mankind was altered, and millions of people over the centuries would come to faith in Christ.

If you’ve been waiting on a blessing in your life for a long time, do not give up hope. Your answer was sent from God’s throne of grace the first time you prayed, and it’s on its way. The blessing will arrive exactly when it’s supposed to be there.

To your faith, all you have to add is patience.

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