Growing in Patience and Self-Control

Let’s begin ABIDE by lifting up prayers of praise and thanksgiving to Jesus for how our lives are forever changed because of Him.

Prayers of Praise

Let them all praise the name of the LORD. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! (Psalm 148:13)

Prayer: God, you are mighty. All that you are overwhelms me when I think of how you love me, care for me, protect me. God, you are ________________ (name an attribute of God), and I praise your name!

Prayers of Thanksgiving

Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:20)

Our God and Father is patient with us. His desire for us is to return to Him day after day, even after we make a mistake, and to grow in His love and patience for us.

Prayer: Father, I am thankful for your unconditional love and the patience you have with me. You are patient with me in my ______________________ (name places in your life where the Lord is patient with you). Where I am weak, you are strong.

Your patience for me reveals the depth of patience I am to carry in my life as your son/daughter, the kind of patience I can call upon by your Spirit who lives in me.

Prayers for Surrender

And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

In the heat of a moment, after a long day, or in the middle of a difficult season, patience is often hard to give to ourselves and those around us. However, we can miss out on seeing a loved one’s need or an opportunity to care for others well when our lack of self-control prevents us from loving through our patience. Self-control and patience come when we call upon the Lord to fill us with His Spirit.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, I give you control over my emotions, specifically the emotion of _____________________ (name an emotion that prevents you from being patient).

Devotional Prayer:

Lord, I release to you my tendency to impulsively respond out of feeling or emotion. I ask that you help me to pause in self-control as I call upon your Spirit to guide me as I consciously make the decision to give patience to those around me as you so generously give patience to me. In Jesus’ Name.

Prayer for Others

Patience is better than power, and controlling one’s emotions, than capturing a city. (Proverbs 16:32)

Prayer: God, will you reveal to those we love areas of their life where they are missing the opportunity to serve and love well? Grow within them your spirit which offers patient love, patient response, patient care.

Closing Prayer:

Father God, may I always remain firmly rooted next to your stream of Life that grows the fruits of your Spirit from within me, extending outward to all those around me. I am thankful for your desire to show your heart of patience and character of self-control through me, your son/daughter, who without your abundance would fall short of such loving expressions. Grow in me the fruits of your Spirit.