Dear Precious Friends,
On this TGIF Friday ( Thank God I'm Forgiven Friday ) we celebrate this day as the day the Lord has made, we are rejoicing and glad in it...The things of this earth are fleeting and temporary. Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords of our lives... As we face a new day, a gift, we are reminded we are here for such a time as this and God has us here for a purpose and it's not about us...Time is His gift to us and we never know when He will call us home, so our job is to be ready and live life fulfilling His job description to us. He left clear instructions.
We are in this group because we love the Lord with all our heart, soul and mind and strive to share Him and His truth with all we come in contact with. We know why we are here and we agree we don't need a Gospel that fits our lives. We crave one that transforms it. Our power comes from the Lord, His word and we commit to starting our day with Him, in His word, prayer & worship. We are prayer warriors who turn pain into God's mighty power. We are committed to stay disciplined and never underestimate the power and consistency of mighty prayer and the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
We are going through each fruit of the spirit to do a spot check and pray for those areas God is still pruning in us... We are all Works In Progress.. (WIP'S).
The "fruit of the Spirit" is what happens when the Holy Spirit indwells a believer. The "fruit" is the product of the Holy Spirit’s cultivation of character in a heart. Galatians 5:22-23 describes what that fruit looks like; we have already studied love, joy, peace and now we are focusing on patience... If you are like me... I need a lot of work on this one.
So let's delve into PATIENCE and see what God's word says about it.
In what way is patience a fruit of the Holy Spirit?
The Greek word for "patience" used in Galatians 5:22 is makrothumia, which means "forbearance" or "longsuffering." The Greek word is a compound of two words meaning "long" and "temper." Makrothumia is the equivalent of our English idiom "having a long fuse"; a patient person can take a lot of provocation before reacting. Patience is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit. As the phrase "fruit of the Spirit" implies, we can only have patience when the Holy Spirit works through us.
Job is often put forward as the personification of patience, and rightly so. He endured the loss of his possessions, his children, his health, and his wife's support, but he took it patiently. Job knew God had control over his situation and his suffering. He had the patience to wait for the unfolding of God's plan, going so far as to say, "Though he slay me, I will hope in him" (Job 13:15).
Jeremiah is another great example of patience. He prophesied to the nation of Judah for forty years, and no one listened. Instead of giving up, he wept over the foolish people who refused to turn from their sin. God forbade Jeremiah to marry (Jeremiah 16:2), Jeremiah's friends abandoned him, and his message so riled the people that they threw him into a cistern (Jeremiah 38:1-13).
Then there's Moses. He had the job of gathering a few million slaves, teaching them a new religion, and forming them into a great nation. At every turn, the Israelites did their best to frustrate Moses, complaining about the food, threatening to return to Egypt, and challenging Moses' authority. (Exodus 32:11-12). Talk about patience! Moses had it. Moses had his lapses, of course (Exodus 32:19; Numbers 20:8-11), but for forty years he led an obstinate people and delivered them safely to the border of the Promised Land. And he did it all for no earthly reward.
The greatest example of patience, however, is God Himself.
God's patience leads us to repentance: "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4).
God's patience saves us from judgment: "What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?" (Romans 9:22).
God's patience completely changes lives: "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life" (1 Timothy 1:15-16).
God's patience gives us salvation: "And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him" (2 Peter 3:15).
Without God's patience, none of us would live long enough to come to a saving relationship with Jesus. His patience has a purpose; it is to delay judgment so that we can seek Him and escape judgment. The prophets reflected this patience, and we should, too. Judgment is coming, but even now "The Lord is . . . patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Through the Spirit's power, we can display the same patience to others. As the Spirit produces patience in us, He is making us more Christlike.
I am so grateful that God is patient, and His Spirit produces the fruit of patience in us. When we are patient, we leave room for God to work in our hearts and in our relationships. We lay down our schedule and trust in God’s. We thank the Lord for what and whom He’s brought into our lives. We let God be God.
AMEN!!!
