“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 greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
― Stephen Hawking
We taught that faith is acting on what you believe and virtue to mean standing for what you believe,especially for what is right and just.
But the Bible also says “add to virtue knowledge”; lets just rest and define knowledge according to 2Peter 1:5.
WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE
Firstly lets define knowledge according to Dictionary.com “Knowledge is acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation; general erudition”
Simply put knowledge is the acquisition of facts,the gathering of information,and knowledge in us is power in its potent form.
A person full of knowledge is potentially a powerful individual,and can be distinguished from his peers,sometimes the difference between two people is in what they know.
Knowledge must be acquired first before its put to use,if you don’t have knowledge how can you apply it? so its important that we acquire knowledge and it can be acquired through study and research.
In the processing of data,the first step is to gather information,then the information gathered is processed to data,then its useful.But first, information must be gathered.
The word knowledge in 2Peter 1:5 is the greek gnosis meaning general intelligence,understanding,knowledge of the christian religion,deep and perfect knowledge of this religion.It is gotten from the root word ginosko meaning to learn to know,come to know,perceive,feel,to have knowledge of.
I have met christians who claim to be christians without the basic knowledge of salvation.Knowledge is vital for success in the christian work and here I am talking about general knowledge about the christian faith,not revelation knowledge.When you become saved at first,you need the knowledge about your faith,to be able to stay in the faith.
In the book of Hebrews paul in his writing shows us some very basic foundational information that every child of God should have in their walk with God.The very elementary principles of the christian faith,things every new christian should know,I would state them below as paul listed them,Hebrews 6:1-2;
- Foundation of repentance from dead works
- Faith towards God
- Doctrine of baptism
- Doctrine of laying on of hands
- Resurrection of the dead
- Eternal Judgment
These are the elementary knowledge every believer should know,they are basic and it’s the foundational knowledge of every child of God.Some of us have been saved for many years without any solid foundational information on all that is stated in Hebrews 6:1-2.
The understanding of repentance from dead works,understanding our faith and some of the doctrinal issues that is the dividing issue between different denomination today.No information is useless,you cannot be a mature christian without the knowledge of the issues above,issues about the rapture and the ressurection of the dead,and eternal judgement.
The reason is that so that we can grow unto maturity and no longer be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine,by the trickery of men,in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,this is why we have the five fold to teach us,so that we will become solid in our knowledge of God.Ephesins 4:14.
There are all kinds of doctrines out there that teaches us something entirely different from the truth,if we lack knowledge how can we speak the truth in boldness.Ephesians 4:15
In the last days many will be deceived from the truth,even the elect the bible says will be deceived from the truth.The bible speaks of false teachers who will show up in the last days teaching deceptions and drawing many away from the truth,we see that even in our days many are deceived and drawn away from the faith.
The knowledge of the faith is very vital if you will stay and stand strong,the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge;assuming you know when in reality you don’t know.There are so much knowledge I grew to accept without checking it for example we are taught in school that there were three wise men that visited christ but in actual fact the bible never mentioned three wise men but the bible said “wise men from the east” Matthew 2:1.
So many issues that are controversial today even about the rapture and the judgement,and so on.Its important we study to show ourselves approved of God,everyday we meet people who lack the knowledge if we take time to study and gain knowledge we will be able to help those who are actually ignorant.
So add to virtue knowledge,develop an inquisitive mindset,learn to ask questions ,the more you study the more you know.
Assumed knowledge of a thing leads to foolishness and there is no excuse for that,grab every opportunity to learn and better your knowledge of God.
Many false teachers are out there but the greatest tool you have as a defense is your personal knowledge of God,that you have checked and discovered.
Faith needs knowledge so we don’t work in foolishness.
ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE
Paul spoke to the Roman church that they had Zeal without knowledge,Romans 10:1-3; and proverbs 19:2 says “its not good to have zeal without knowledge,nor to be hasty and miss the way.” Zeal is good but should be according to knowledge,so many people have taken certain steps and made terrible mistakes because of lack of knowledge.
Knowledge is very important in the walk of faith,don’t be hasty and miss the way,we make decisions based on zeal without knowledge,add knowledge,stop assuming you know when you don’t,give time to study and research,find out all you need to know about God and the faith.You are Gods workman but you must show yourself approved of God,to remove shame.
If we must experience the very full blessing of Faith we must add knowledge to our faith work,study and study and study.
