Midweek Praise: May 13

Midweek Praise
Wednesday May 13
Patience

Prayer
Patient and loving Lord God, give us the patience you gave to Jesus Christ our Lord as we come to worship in a different way. Let this be a time of blessing for all who see this and give them some comfort. Amen

Reading
Galatians 6: 22-24
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Reflection
We all live at times on a short fuse. We might be stressed by work, our families, health or living situations. We should all be more long -suffering and accept our position with more grace, and if we must feel angry, we should be angry through love for others, not in defence of our own needs.
We find it difficult if we need to wait for things. We are used to wanting everything now: cash, food, entertainment, information and even relationships. We need to have more patience, especially when these things are no longer instant.
We also need to have patience with people who are slower and older than we are, and perhaps we could stop with them, and try and help them out rather than rush past. We find it difficult to have patience with our neighbours, when we should be pulling together rather than tearing apart.
But the Lord will always have patience with us and will be ready to show us where we are going wrong and point out a better way for us. We just need to ask and listen for the reply.
The scriptures are full of people waiting. People who are waiting in stillness, in hope, in longing, all waiting for God’s promises to become a reality, waiting for His kingdom to come.
Jesus displayed his patience throughout his earthly life towards many different people - the old and the young, at whatever stage in life they were at. He also showed patience with all his disciples, who on their faith journeys from time to time showed doubt and fear, and when they misunderstood him or bickered amongst themselves.
We need to use our waiting time as an opportunity to learn and grow in faith.

Prayer
Lord we pray to you to help us to have the same patience as your son, our saviour Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Lord for your endless patience with us, when we doubt, when we are unfaithful, when we fail to put our trust in you.
Please help us to show patience and tolerance towards our neighbours, friends and family. We also ask you to help us to be patient during this time of waiting, during difficult times, difficult circumstances and situations.
We ask this in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, who stayed patient with us even to death.
Amen

For children viewing here is a video especially for them, all about patience. From the Music Machine Agapeland album and Wesley’s Wuppets animation through YouTube.

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