Welcome back everyone to day three of our Bible study on Waiting on the Lord.  I hope that you have taken the time to walk through this Bible study intentionally.  If you remember this study branched out of our Sunday Sermon where we talked about the story of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar.  It’s one of those rougher, messier Old Testament stories…but when we read the Bible with the mentality that there is something there for us to learn…we can even take stories about Old Abraham that maybe don’t look the cleanest and find the lessons that we can apply to our lives, even today.  If you remember God promised Abraham a lot…Abraham does everything asked of him, and 10 years later it hasn’t happened so Abraham and Sarah go to work, start pushing, and come up with a plan to make God’s promise happen rather than allowing God to do what He said He would do, in His timing…and we established something about God’s timing…more than likely it is way to slow for us.  But we must wait, stay patient and centered on Him.

If you have your Bible and something to write with, we can jump into our study.  Today we look at the words of Paul found in his letter to the Colossians…

Colossians 1:11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. NLT

Let’s check it out in the Message version…

Colossians 1:11 We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul — not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, 12 thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. MSG 

Now I would like to ask you some questions, so let’s slow down and take the time to reflect intentionally on this verse and these questions.

  1. What can you take from this passage in the moments where you are struggling to stay patient with God?
  2. When you are waiting on God do you do so with grace, gratitude, and patience?  Do you walk through it joyfully knowing God is up to something beyond you…or do you fight it?  Like Peterson says “gritting your teeth and pushing through?”  Think about how you respond? 
  3. Where do we find this glorious power to stick it out over the long haul?  What does that say about where we should be turning as we wait for God to come through?

Before you move on from this moment, take some time and pray, talk to your Heavenly Father about what it looks like to turn to God, and to find strength in Him and hopefully you can keep reflecting on this verse as you go about your day.  Grab the image from social media, put it on your phone and keep centering on it, especially if you are struggling to stay patient with God’s timing in your own life as Paul wrote…

We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul — not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, 12 thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us. MSG