“Patience is power.
Patience is not an absence of action;
rather it is "timing"
it waits on the right time to act,
for the right principles
and in the right way.”
― Fulton J. Sheen
Faith is the base of our christian walk,it holds together our relationship with God,if there is anything the devil will like to destroy is your faith.That’s why the Bible teaches us to hold on to our faith that is more precious than gold.
Jude tells us to “contend for the faith”.
The fight for the faith is the fight for life,without faith it is impossible to please God,and knowing that the just shall live by his faith,this shows us that the faith is most important,if we must have a successful life that would please God.
We have come to see,its important to grow the measure of faith we have received in salvation,so the Bible teaches us to “make every effort add to our faith virtue and to virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience..” we will be looking the word patience today and how it affects our faith walk.
It is your responsibility to make effort to add these virtues to your faith,waiting for God to add them is a wait of a life time,we must make every effort to add them to our lives,as we study and apply the word of God.
WHAT IS PATIENCE
The word patience according to the free online dictionary is defined as :
Bearing or enduring pain,difficulty,provocation or annoyance with calmness. and Capable of calmly awaiting an outcome or result:not hasty or impulsive.
The greek word translated patience in 2Peter 1:6 is Hypomone - which means steadfastness,constancy and endurance.In the new testament it is the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings.
By these definitions we can see why we need to add patience to our faith,because the virtue of patience in our faith gives us the ability to hold on to what we believe even in the midst of pain and trial till we see the result,it gives us the ability to hold on while waiting for the outcome of our prayers and desires.
HOW IS PATIENCE DEVELOPED
You don’t receive patience by the laying on of hands,you make effort in developing patience.Knowing the following;
- Patience is one of the fruit of the Holy spirit: Galatians 5:22 – In the book of Galatians 5:22,the bible says “but the fruit of the Spirit” here it is talking about the regenerated spirit,the born again spirit – when you accept Jesus as your lord and saviour,the holy spirit does the work of recreation in you by the word of God that you received,then you become born again,a new man.
That’s why the bible says “any man in christ is a new creature,the old things are passed away and everything becomes new”,you are reborn,recreated.
To be recreated means to be reborn,to be born of God,scriptures says we have been born of God,not of the flesh but of the spirit,so the minute you accept Christ as your personal saviour your spirit is recreated,reborn,then you become another man entirely different from what you were.
Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again,he asked how can a man be born again,does he have to go back into his mothers womb?,that’s practically impossible.Jesus begins to explain to him what it means to be born again;
“ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus could not understand the idea because it doesn’t make sense physically,so Jesus explains to him that this is a spiritual event not physical.”that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit”,but you must be born of the water and the spirit,water speaks of the word of God and the Spirit there is the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 5:26. Two major agents for salvation,without the hearing of the word,salvation is not possible and the holy spirit uses that word to finish the process of recreation.
But Nicodemus in his curiosity asked Jesus how then can I be born again,Jesus in speaking to him finally said “whosoever believes in the son of man,shall not perish but receive eternal life” John 3:15; that’s the key,whosoever believes; so you become born again when you believe and accept Jesus.
So the fruit of the born again spirit is patience,in other words I have patience as a potential already in my new life,it shouldn’t be a struggle,all I need to do is exercise it and put it to work.
Some born again christians who still struggle in the area of patience are those who are still living in the old self,and not in the new self,that’s why Paul in Colossians say “put on the new man that is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him”Colossians 3:10; In other words your recreated spirit only gets better and not old like your natural self,as you get to know christ,as you walk in the word of God.
Also Ephesians 4:24 explains further by saying “put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and Holiness” the new man is created to be like God,his resemblance in every way,so if God is a God of patience,you also have the ability to walk in patience.So patience is already in you,stop praying and fasting for it,just start walking in it and exercising it.
TO BE CONTINUED..
“The most important factor is persistence – the determination never to allow your energy or enthusiasm to be dampened by the discouragement that must inevitably come” James Whitcomb Riley
A group of frogs were travelling throughout the world and two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all of their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop jumping out and consider themselves as dead. Finally one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as high as he could. Once again the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even higher and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs asked him, ‘didn’t you hear what we were telling you?’ He replied to them that he was deaf and could not hear them. They were all amazed and they continued with their journey.
There are many secretes to success in life but I believe that persistence is main,because no matter how much you know or have you will go through some tough time but not every one holds on to the end,from the story above one of the frogs gave up and died but the other kept deaf ears to the discouragements of others and he survived because he kept on going. In order to succeed we need to pay a deaf ear to the negative and discouraging statements from others and pursue after our dreams until we get it.
Those who stay till the end will eat the fruit of the land,if you fall and give up you will certainly not eat the good of the land.Give the pursuit of your dreams all of your best,don’t give up before you try,keep trying till you hit at your target,don’t take no for an answer. Tough times don’t last but tough people do,people who give up easily will never fulfill their dreams.
THE PERSISTENT FRIEND – LUKE 11:1-13 Jesus while teaching on prayer,in the book of Luke 11:1-13,he used the story of two friends to illustrate it.
“Suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight and says ‘friend lend me three loaves of bread,because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him”
Then the one the inside answered “don’t bother me,the door is now already shut’ and my children are in bed with me,I cant get up and give you anything”
I am sure,some of us will be angry that someone came to your house at that time to ask for anything,the guy wasn’t complaining that he doesn’t have bread but that the door was shut and they were sleeping,so he couldn’t open the door to attend to him.
But Jesus said “I tell you,though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend (take note of that), yet because of the mans persistence,he will get up and give him as much as he needs”
Persistence will get you the answers to your needs,someone once said, “life does not give us what we deserve but what we demand”.Some of the wealthiest people today are not necessarily the smartest but because they never gave up on their dreams,they are the success they are today.
He didn’t attend to the man because he is his friend,but the guy refused to stop knocking at the door,till he was attended to. Jesus in conclusion said in regards to prayer,”Ask and it will be given to you,seek and you will find,knock and the door will be opened to you,for everyone who asks receives,he who seeks finds and to he who knocks the door will be opened”
sometimes we ask and we don’t receive not because God didnt hear us ,or he was sleeping but because we gave up too soon,other versions say keep asking,keep seeking,keep knocking,don’t stop,for anyone who keeps asking will receive and the one who keeps seeking will find and the one who keeps knocking the door will be opened unto him,so the bottom line is continue at what you are pursuing and you will certainly have it.
THE PERSISTENT WIDOW – LUKE 18:1-5 Another story showing how persistence produces result; A widow who needed justice over a case went before a judge who neither feared God or man,for sometime he refused to give the widow justice,but the bibble says she kept bothering him till she wore him out with her plea,that he gave her justice not because she was a lady that was helpless no,but because she bothered him continuously.Trouble is no respecter of sex.
Don’t allow your energy and strength to be dampened by the discouraging words from others,keep your eyes on the mark and press on till you get there.You can make it,you will survive,you have the energy on the inside of you,people will tell you give up,just like Jobs wife asked Job in his troubled times to cause God and die,but he refused and made up his made I will wait until my change comes,don’t give up now your change is coming,you have come too far to turn back,you are closer than you can ever imagine to the fulfillment of your dreams.
In been persisten you have to stretch yourself beyond limits,practice more to be better,cut on the fatty foods to loose weight,keep doing it till you get your goal.Sometimes people will discourage you and tell you,that you can’t,that you are a failure,because of one mistake,they write you off totally,they tell you that you will never succeed,you will never be a good singer,you will never be good at anything,the minute you listen to those things you actually begin to fail,pay deaf ears to those words and keep saying to yourself yes I can make it,yes I can be the billionaire and be the best against all odds,yes you can
They told Bishop T.d. Jakes that he would never be a singer because of his cracked voice,that he could never be an author because his writeup sounded too poetice,but against all odds,he refused to accept their conclusion of him he instead believed Gods word of him and today he is a bestselling author and a musician,he became a success at all they said he wouldn’t do.
Refuse to believe other peoples conclusion about you,you are who God says you are,change your perception about yourself,work hard at your dreams and you will get it. Its not over until you win,don’t give up,fight,fight,fight,fight,till you win.
