by David Chadwick

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12

Hope is a powerful weapon. It provides the motivation to keep persevering, keep moving forward, and keep believing. In fact, hope is so powerful that Proverbs says hope deferred makes the heart sick.

Have you ever hoped for something and had to wait upon the Lord? Have you desired something that took a long time to come to pass? What do you do when God's answer simply doesn't come in the period you have wanted to see it happen? What happens when you wait and wait and wait some more?

Many of us are all too familiar with this reality. So what do you do? Believe. Have faith. Trust that the delay has purpose. Know that delay does not equal God's denial.

Sometimes hope must be cultivated alongside patience and endurance. When a desire takes a long time to be fulfilled, it is important to be long-suffering while contending in hope. God may be doing something in you, in your eternal character, that he couldn't do without the waiting.

Do you know how to be long-suffering? If not, let me share a few tips that will help you cultivate the fruit of patience in your life. First, remain childlike. Jesus said to let the little children come to him because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like them (Matthew 19:14). Children have pure hearts and believe that anything is possible.

Secondly, memorize verses like Isaiah 40:31, which says that our strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord. Don't allow waiting to deter your faith and hope, but rather use the "wait room" much like a physical "weight room" to build your spiritual muscles of faith and hope.

Third, pray and fast. The Bible is clear that some breakthroughs only come through prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). There must be a reason Jesus practiced this spiritual discipline himself and encouraged us to do the same.

After all of this, when the final victory comes, you will see how much you learned during your waiting period. You will praise God not just for the prize of the "desire fulfilled," but for all that you learned in the process.