This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. Revelation 13:10

Here and in the next chapter (14:12) we find the expression, “patient endurance.” It also appears earlier (1:9) when John tells us that “patient endurance” is ours in Jesus. It’s not something we have to create but rather something we receive from Jesus.

I was listening to a speaker who made the comment that if we’d known her as a child we would realise that where she is today is a miracle. Today she is a well-known speaker addressing hundreds of people but her childhood was traumatic. Over the years God healed her of many emotional wounds, which in time brought about changes to her circumstances. This wasn’t an instant miracle but rather a slow difficult journey with many highs and lows. A journey that called for “patient endurance.”

The people who John wrote to in the book of Revelation were facing physical persecution and possibly death. They desperately needed endurance. Jesus wants to give us that kind of staying power whatever we are facing on our spiritual journey. It’s a quality that we will need if we are going to be the people he wants us to be and it will produce miracles. Not instantaneous changes in our health or life but slow gradual growth so we reach the potential God has planted in us.

When we looked back on our lives, we will see that through receiving his endurance our lives are miracles because we couldn’t have become the person we are now in our own strength. Receiving God’s patient endurance requires us to trust God and to open our hearts to receive.