DAILY BIBLE VERSES AND PRAYER THOUGHTS:

MONDAY - VERSES: James 1:3-4; Exodus 34:6; 2 Peter 3:9,15; 1 Peter 3:20 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for being patient with you and your failings.

TUESDAY - VERSES: Galatians 4:1-5; 1 John 4:9-10; Gen 3:14-15; Gen 49:10 PRAYER THOUGHT: Praise God for His patience in working all things together to bring Christ into the world.

WEDNESDAY - VERSES: Matthew 18:22-35; Romans 2:3-11 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to forgive you of the times that you have had a double standard wanting others to be patient with you while you are unwilling to be patient with them.

THURSDAY - VERSES: James 5:10-11; Revelation 2:2-3 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to help you not try other people's patience.

FRIDAY - VERSES: 2 Timothy 2:24-26; 4:2; Romans 15:4-6; 2 Corinthians 12:12 PRAYER THOUGHT: Thank God for those who have patiently taught you through the years.

SATURDAY - VERSES: Ecclesiastes 7:8; James 5:7-8; Romans 5:1-5 PRAYER THOUGHT: Ask God to help you be longsuffering and show the patience that He has commanded you to show to others.

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Patience is letting your motor idle when you feel like stripping the gears.

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Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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Our patience will achieve more than our force. - Edmund Burke

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ASSIGNMENTS

1. Daily read over this material and read or sing the song.

2. Place the scripture where you will see it each day.

3. Think of times when you have been most patient in your life.

4. Write down the ways you practiced patience.

5. Plan to tell the class how you have been patient in a difficult situation in the past, or tell how you have struggled with trying to be more patient and weren't .

SPIRITUAL HEALTH REGIMEN - WEEK 33

PATIENCE - 3-3-13 TO 3-9-13

SCRIPTURE - 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

COMMENT – As Christians we need to be patient with those who are weak in the faith or those not living as we know they should. We should keep encouraging them and even warning them of the outcome of their continued actions but patiently wait for them to repent.

SONG – MORE HOLINESS GIVE ME

1. More holiness give me, More strivings within, More patience in suffering, More sorrow for sin, More faith in my Savior, More sense of His care, More joy in His service, More purpose in prayer.

2. More gratitude give me, More trust in the Lord, More pride in His glory, More hope in His Word, More tears for His sorrows, More pain at His grief, More meekness in trial, More praise for relief.

3. More purity give me, More strength to overcome, More freedom from earth stains, More longings for home; More fit for the kingdom, More useful I'd be, More blessed and holy, More, Savior, like Thee.

THOUGHTS

We all need to learn the story of the Chinese bamboo tree. The Chinese plant the seed; they water and fertilize it, but the first year nothing happens. The second year they water and fertilize it, and still nothing happens. The third and fourth year they water and fertilize it, and sometime during the course of the fifth year, in a period of approximately six weeks the Chinese bamboo tree grows roughly ninety feet. The question is, "Did it grow ninety feet in six weeks or did it grow ninety feet in five years?" The answer is that it grew ninety feet in five years, because had they not applied the water and fertilizer each year there would have been no Chinese bamboo tree.

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One cold February day a snail started climbing an apple tree. As he inched slowly upward, a worm stuck its head from a crevice in the tree to offer some advice. "You're wasting your energy. There isn't a single apple up there." The snail kept up his slow climb. "There will be when I get there," he said.

A pearl is a garment of patience which enclosed an annoyance.

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The secret of patience is doing something else in the meanwhile.

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Faith is a little boy who ties a rope swing onto a tiny sapling's branch. Then, noticing that the seat of the swing rests on the ground, he goes to get the garden hose and begins to water the sapling.

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Hanging on a nail in the den of my father's house in Alabama is a dried, dipper gourd. It gleams with shellac. It is very old. That common gourd has one unusual feature: its stem is tied in a single, permanent, overhand knot. In boyhood I asked my dad, "How did the knot get there?" He smiled and explained, "Your grandfather, Papa Fleming, was a farmer. He taught me about patience, and he didn't even know I was learning. You see, Papa tied that knot." "How did he do it without breaking off the gourd?" I wanted to know. "While the tiny gourd was green and growing, I watched him go out in the heat of the day and bend the young stem a bit," Dad said. "Each day he would carefully secure it with a piece of cloth to keep it in place. Papa never missed a single day. He bent it just a little more every afternoon. Days passed into weeks, and finally that knot tied itself -- all because he was patient enough to wait!" Papa's dead now, but we keep his knotted gourd. It serves as a tangible reminder of the unusual results that can come from daily patience and perseverance.

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According to a traditional Hebrew story, Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man's feet and gave him food and drink. The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, "Don't you worship God?" The old traveler replied, "I worship fire only and reverence no other god." When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out of his tent into the cold night air. When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, "I forced him out because he did not worship you." God answered, "I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?" -Thomas Lindberg. Leadership-Vol. 8, #2.

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Don't be discouraged. It took Noah six months to find a parking place.

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We were driving to visit Grandma and Grandpa for the Christmas holidays. Since they live in Illinois and we live in Minnesota, the drive down can become quite long, especially if you are only five years old. We had been in the car for several hours, when Rachel, then five, asked the inevitable question, "Are we almost there?" I said, "No, we are still 150 miles away." hoping the sound of distance would have more meaning for her than time. She asked, "Well, how long is that?" "Well Rachel, it's about three more hours." She didn't say anything for a few moments as she thought about what three hours must be. She leaned forward from the backseat to the front, making sure she could see my wife's face and said, "Mommy, is that as long as one of Daddy's sermons?" We almost had to pull over and stop driving for a few minutes.

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PATIENCE

INTRODUCTION - 1 THESSALONIANS 5:11-15

I. GOD IS PATIENT - 2 PETER 3:3-9; PSALM 86:15; 1 TIM. 1:16

II. GOD COMMANDS OUR PATIENCE - JAMES 5:7-11; ROMANS 2:5-7; EPHESIANS 4:1-3; COLOSSIANS 3:12-13

III. THE SOURCE OF PATIENCE - ROMANS 15:5-7; COLOSSIANS 1:9-11; ROMANS 5:3-4; JAMES 1:2-4

IV. BENEFITS OF PATIENCE - PSALM 40:1-3; JAMES 1:4; 2 PETER 1:5-8

PATIENCE

INTRODUCTION

A. (1 Th 5:11-15) Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. {12} And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, {13} and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves. {14} Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. {15} See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

B. A woman's car died at a stop sign and wouldn't start. The driver behind her, honked his horn incessantly. She helped him regain some patience by walking back to his car and saying, "I can't seem to get my car started. Would you please see if you can start it while I sit here and honk your horn for you.

C. (Eccl 7:8-9) The end of a thing is better than its beginning; The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. {9} Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools.

I. GOD IS PATIENT

A. (2 Pet 3:3-9) knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, {4} and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." {5} For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, {6} by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. {7} But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. {8} But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. {9} The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

B. (Psa 86:15) But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.

C. (1 Tim 1:16) However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

D. One day a man asked, "Jehovah, how long is a thousand years to you?" The Eternal One answered with a blink, "Just a second." "Lord," the man said next, "How much is a million dollars to you?" "Just a penny." With an idea in mind, a gleam in his eyes, and a smile crawling across his face, the man asked one more question, "Lord, can I have... just a penny?" To which the Omniscient One replied, "Maybe... in just a second."

II. GOD COMMANDS OUR PATIENCE

A. (James 5:7-11) Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. {8} You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. {9} Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door! {10} My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. {11} Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord; that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.

B. (Rom 2:5-7) But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, {6} who "will render to each one according to his deeds": {7} eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;

C. (Eph 4:1-3) I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, {2} with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, {3} endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

D. (Col 3:12-13) Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; {13} bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

III. THE SOURCE OF PATIENCE

A. WE HAVE A GOD OF PATIENCE - (Rom 15:5-7) Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, {6} that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. {7} Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.

B. CHRIST GIVES US STRENGTH FOR PATIENCE - (Col 1:9-11) For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; {10} that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; {11} strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

C. PATIENCE COME FROM SUFFERING - (Rom 5:3-4) And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; {4} and perseverance, character; and character, hope.

D. FAITH TESTING PRODUCES PATIENCE - (James 1:2-4) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, {3} knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. {4} But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

IV. BENEFITS OF PATIENCE

A. GOD RESPONDS - (Psa 40:1-3) I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. {2} He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. {3} He has put a new song in my mouth; Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.

B. BRINGS MATURITY AND COMPLETENESS - (James 1:4) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

C. WITH OTHER VIRTUES, KEEPS US FROM BEING INEFFECTIVE AND UNPRODUCTIVE - (2 Pet 1:5-8) But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, {6} to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, {7} to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. {8} For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

D. My wife and I decided to eat out one night, but failed to make reservations. When we arrived at our favorite restaurant, we learned that several people had signed up for a table ahead of us. I left our name with the hostess and we sat in the reception area. Soon thereafter, a disgruntled couple left the restaurant, complaining that the wait was too long. Within minutes, the hostess called, "Walker?" No one responded. She called again but to no avail. Quickly, I convinced my wife that if we told the hostess we were the Walkers, we'd get seated faster. As we approached her, she said, "Walker?" I nodded. "We've been expecting you," she informed us. "Your family is waiting in the dining room.

CONCLUSION - Her car was stalled at the intersection, the hood was up, and she flagged me down to help. "I can't get it started," she said. "But if you jiggle the wire on the battery, I think it will work." I grabbed the wire on the positive battery cable and it came off in my hand. Definitely too loose. "The terminal needs to be tightened up," I told her. "I can fix it if you have some tools." "My husband says to just jiggle the wire," she replied. "It always works. Why don't you just try that?" I paused for a moment, wondering why her husband didn't ride around town with her so he would be available when the wire needed jiggling. finally I said, "Ma'am, if I jiggle the wire, you're going to need someone else to do it everytime you shut the engine off. If you'll give me two minutes and a wrench, we can solve the problem and you can forget about it." Reluctantly, she fumbled under the front seat and then extended a crescent wrench through the window of the old car. As I tightened the battery terminal, it occured to me how many times I try to get the "quick fix" from God. "I have this problem, Lord, and if You'll just jiggle the wire, things will be okay. I'm in a hurry, so let's just get me going again the quickest way possible." But God doesn't want to "jiggle the wire". He wants to take the time necessary to deal with my real problem and fix it. To get the long-term solution to the pressing needs in my life requires a complete surrender to God and a willingness to proceed on His terms. I must cooperate with Him in whatever it takes for as long as it takes. That dear lady in the car could have waved me off, kept her crescent wrench hidden, and looked for someone else to provide the quick fix. Instead, she was willing to wait. As she drove away with her tightened terminal, I asked the Lord to say "No!" the next time I wanted Him to jiggle a wire for me

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
1 Thessalonians 5:14

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.