Have you ever really looked at a coin? Whether it’s a penny, nickel, dime or quarter, they all have two sides. If you picked up a coin that only had one side imprinted, you would know it was worthless. It has to have two distinctive sides to be worth anything. 

Many of us have promises that we have been waiting and believing for. But just like a coin, the promise will only be realized if there is two distinctive sides — faith and patience.

Hebrews 10:35-36 (AMPC) says, “Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence [FAITH], for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast PATIENCE and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.”

We have been taught much about faith. “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses.” (Hebrews 11:1 AMPC). And “without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him.” (Hebrews 11:6). We must speak out our faith (Mark 11:23) and put action to our faith because “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). 

How do we get faith? “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 NKJV). We get faith by reading the Scripture and listening to teaching and preaching on the word of God.  And we grow and strengthen our faith by praying in our Spirit Language (Jude 20). 

Faith is only one side of the promise coin – and we know that a one-sided coin cannot redeem anything. To obtain the promise, we also require patience. Oh no!! The “P” word! How often do we say we are not going to pray for patience? But we have to have patience to receive our promise.

James 1:2-4 exhorts, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”  

Patience is also translated as endurance, constancy, steadfastness. The best definition I have heard is “staying the same no matter what comes.” It is getting off the roller coaster of emotions and maintaining your joy and confidence whether circumstances are good or bad, whether what you expected shows up or not, or whether the promise is taking longer than planned or it turns out differently than what you have hoped for.

The key word in James 1:4 is “let.” We have to allow patience to work in us. The Amplified Bible says “let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work.” We can’t fight it or give into our emotions. We have to intentionally press into patience and partner with it to receive our promises.

The writer of Hebrews tells us not to fling away our confidence. Why in the world would we throw away our faith? Because our faith is being tested and impatience, anger, frustration, despair, or disappointment will all cause us to give up. We must allow patience to perform its work.

The Word builds our faith and trials builds our patience, but we have to have both sides of this coin to receive our promises.