Patience
Scripture Reading - Hebrews 10:35-37
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Often when we think of having the attributes of God we tend to think of love, joy, peace, goodness, meekness, longsuffering, righteousness and others. However, one very powerful characteristic of God that is often overlooked is “patience”. “Patience” is godly power harnessed to reach a specific goal (positive outcome). This means that “patience” is never fully developed because developing “patience” is like exercising the body. This analogy is used because to exercise the natural body is work and the work of exercising builds endurance into the body and/or strength. No one can say, “I am in perfect shape for the rest of year today.” because “patience” like faith is a now proposition. Just like it is said, “You are only as physically fit as the time of your last workout.” Therefore it is not reasonable to think that I can work out for one day a week and be in great shape for the remainder (following 6 days) of the week. “Patience” is similar to physical exercise in the fact that it takes a trial and/or tribulation to develop your “patience” which means you must expend spiritual energy to develop “patience” in your life and in the natural it is not fun. Know, dear faith friend, that we (ihlcc) do firmly believe “the fruit of patience is at least two fold” and we do say fruit because it is not a gift that automatically works for all believers. The first fold being “patience of heart” which highlights the spirit and soul of man possessing the “patience” of God when waiting for something to manifest. This spiritual “patience” gives you the ability wait in peace and joy while others worry and complain. The second fold is “patience of mind”. This “patience of mind” is when your thought patterns and understanding are trained to think of “patience” in a good light instead of something negative. Yes, “patience of mind” can only be achieved through the renewing of the mind with the Word of God. This means you have a biblical understanding of “patience” according to the holy scriptures and that understand/knowledge compels you to wait “patiently” until the full manifestation of God’s Blessing because you know taking a short cut is not pleasing to God and a shortcut will not develop the “fruit of God’s patience” within you. Many people try to take shortcuts to get around “patience” but they never work because “patience” develops maturity and there is no substitute for growth and character of heart in each believer. For us (ihlcc) “patience” came more and more common over the long spans of our life. This means as we overcame each battle of life we grew a little and one day we looked back to see we have grown quite a bit over the many (or at least several) years. Notice, we did not say days or hours to mature in Christ Jesus but rather years of consistently walking with God to develop both our faith and patience in Christ Jesus. What we mean is as we go through challenging experiences in our life we started needing “patience” and as we were waiting on God’s complete deliverance “patience” was growing inside of us. Now we can honestly tell you, we have not arrived yet because more “patience” is going to be required of us in the future as we grow older in life and seek to go deeper in Christ. The good news right now is that we both fully understand that “patience” is a virtue of God. Therefore we purpose to confess, “I am patience and I am growing in patience.” because that keeps us focus that anything we face in this life might take some time to obtain the complete victory in Christ but we have the “patience of God” to deal with it and overcome it. This means “patience” is needed for items you are believing God for, “patience” is needed for dealing with people because you know not everyone is perfect and “patience” is needed to develop your own growth in life and your own maturity in God. Seldom do we hear a prayer request for someone to develop in “patience”. However commonly we do hear from a believer, “Pray with me that God will do a certain thing for me right now.” It is easy to believe that most people want things yesterday when it comes to making their life easier by helping them out of a difficult situation but it seems like only a few truly understand that walks with God are “walks of patience”. Sometimes you may not understand why certain things take so long to manifest but if you can exercise both faith and patience long enough you will reap the promise you are waiting for. Remember Hebrews 6:12 states, “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and “patience” inherit the promises.” This basically means those who operate in both faith and “patience” will receive more from God than those who lack both or those who lack either one. “Patience” gives the possessor the peace of mind to know help is on the way, whereas those who don’t understand “patience” are not hopeful towards the future, so they endure their problems with dread. The saint operating in “patience” is more confident in life because they know God is their personal power and overall security but the non-patience person knows only that they are hurting from what is happening against them. It is said in Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.” Therefore, be wise dear faith friend, and operate in “patience” both spiritually and mentally because if you do that faithfully and prayerfully you will victoriously overcome all the battles of this life. Remember, God loves you and Jesus is with you when you call upon His Name. So let your praise unto God be a testimony of your “patience” because the joy of the Lord is still your strength. Some say you can measure a man’s maturity in God by their “patience” while others say without “patience” you’re not going very far with God. We (ihlcc) say either way “patience” is necessary (yes crucial) for a successful life upon this earth and it is a way of life in Heaven because eternity can only be comprehended through patience in God as a member of the Kingdom of God. Amen!