PATIENCE

PATIENCE - An active endurance of opposition, not a passive resignation. Patience has been defined as learning to accept difficult situations as from God without giving Him a deadline to remove them.

We know we need it, but we shun the process by which we learn it.

It is called for in every area of life and is often the quality that opens doors and makes our way prosperous.

"He that can have patience can have what he will." - Ben Franklin

"Patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet." - French Proverb

WE WANT IT NOW!!!

We cannot wait for God's direction; we move ahead on our own schedules.

• HEALING
• SEX
• MONEY

Having it "now" is a costly and disappointing approach to life.

Real gain often requires sacrifice now, while sin offers pleasures now.

GOD IS PATIENT AND GIVES PATIENCE.

Rom 2:4, Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

God is slow to anger in relation to Man.

Man is frequently rebellious, but God patiently deals with them.

God's patience with sinners allows time for them to repent.

2 Pet 3:9-10, The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

The psalmist learned to be patient.

Psa 27:14, Wait for the LORD; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the LORD.

Psa 37:9, For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

In the NT parable of the sower, we read:

Luke 8:15, "And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.

Christians should face adversity patiently.

Rom 5:3, And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Patience is a fruit of the Spirit

Gal 5:22, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Christian love is patient.

1 Cor 13:4, Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Jesus is the great example of endurance.

Heb 12:1, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

WHY DO WE HAVE TO WAIT?

• What we want is right for us, but we are not ready for it.
• Our motivation for having it is not consistent with God's will.
• The delay may be God's way of trying to get our attention about sin in our lives that we have refused to face.

We learn discipline through waiting.

• Sometimes the reason is the effect it will have on someone else.
• God wants to teach us to depend on Him, not on ourselves or others.
• God may simply want to teach us to trust His ways and timing, and learn they are best.

Perseverance is part of maturity.

How do we learn it?

Through trials and tribulations.

We are to count it all joy when we face those trying times in life.

Why? Not because it is pleasant, but because it is profitable.

James 1:2, Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 5:10, As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Christian patience is a gift from God.

Rom 15:5, Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; 6 that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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