When we talk about the prayer of forbearance, we are talking about prayer that is characterized by patience, endurance, and long-suffering (or another way to think about it is would be “suffering long”). In your community groups this past week, you talked about some of the reasons why God does not answer prayer as quickly as what we might want Him to do. This is often a very difficult subject for us to consider. We want to believe that God will answer our prayers, but when the answer is slow to come or when that answer is no, we struggle to know what to think. So, as we approach the subject of prayer—specifically the ways in which God does or does not answer those prayers—we are not able to understand the ways in which He answers from a logical, human-centric point of view. We must seek to view prayer from God’s perspective—realizing that there will be things that we will never be able to understand… and that’s okay. When those times come, our prayers should be forbearing, or long-suffering and patient, waiting on the Lord to answer according to His will in His time.