OK, I need more Patience… but with people?

Patience is the ability to respond to people’s incompetence or unique differences in a good-natured way. It will protect me  from offense and bitterness, and will allow God to work in my life. I certainly need patience in my life

What causes me to be impatient?


I fear this person is taking advantage of me. I’m in a hurry and my time is valuable. My pride and ego get in the way. I’m more important. Look how bad they are. I’m better. I know best. I lack knowledge or understanding of their situations, circumstances or culture. Look how many reasons I use for justifying my anxious, impulsive, aggressive, and self-centered attitudes and actions.

As we deal with people, we need patience that results in correct responses. Galatians mentions patience as one of the fruits of the Spirit and different translations use words like longsuffering, even tempered and forbearing to help us understand this spirit-led characteristic. Synonyms include tolerance, forgiving and merciful.

How can we be patient without being forbearing, tolerant, merciful and forgiving? We can’t. We must combine these ideas of forbearance, tolerance, mercy and forgiveness with the essence of Christianity, love. Then we will see the overt manifestation of patience in our relationships. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient and kind.

And how does patience manifest itself?

Patience is not envious or boastful; it isn’t arrogant or rude. Patience doesn’t insist on it’s own way; it isn’t irritable or resentful.

Patience bears and endures all things; believes all things and places confidence in others; it joyfully waits with confident, expectation and hope; and it calmly, suffers unfair treatment. Patience exercised with Faith, hope and love is never powerless or without effect. [Based on ESV translation of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8]


Sounds like love. And that’s why patience never fails.


Remember continue your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God our Father.  1 Thessalonians 1:3

What provokes impatience towards other in your life? What do you do to respond patiently to these people? Leave your comments.


Read about patience when things seem out of control here: Patience in Life's Circumstances

Patience, Again?

How often have you heard the following statements?

I prayed, “LORD, give me patience,” and He sent me tribulation.

“You know the Bible says ‘tribulation works patience.’ I guess if you don’t want problems and trials you just better not pray for patience.”

“Patience is a virtue, brother. You’ve got to wait. You know, God’s doing something in your life.”

Although parts of these thoughts may not be 100% off base, I do think they represent a common misapplication of the ideas in Romans and James. This way of thinking creates fear in us; a fear that God will cause us to have many trials, tribulations and difficulties so we will learn to be patient.

I believe the opposite is true. Instead of being afraid to ask God for help, we must believe He strengthens us as we wait patiently. We must trust Him in the difficult times to change our attitude and our response to these moments when answers seem to be evasive or when it seems as though God does not answer.
Our attitude always affects the outcome. Patience is a good-natured response to delays and incompetence*. Let us consider four possible characteristics of metals and their relationship to our attitudes during the trials of life.

• Malleable is the capability of being shaped by pressure; adaptable*
  
• Ductile is the characteristic of being stretched thin or undergoing change of form without breaking *
  
• Flexible is the potential of bending without breaking*
  
• Resilient is the ability of springing back or returning to the original form of position after being bent *

When we impatiently demand our own way, we be easily offended, hard and brittle and therefore easily damaged.
If we patiently endure with hope and faith, we’ll be malleable, ductile, flexible and resilient. We will be moldable and God will use the situation to our advantage. We will “spring back” from trials even stronger than before.


Lord, I need to respond to life’s delays and people’s incompetence in a good-natured way. Help me deal with restlessness and annoyance in my life. Holy Spirit, give me patience.

As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring [patient, unwavering] hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:3  NLT

Check out the next blog on patience: OK, I need more patience... but with people?

*The definitions used are paraphrases of the meanings given in Dictionary! and Dictionary.com applications for the iPhone and iTouch.

The Glory

This morning they fumigated our house for mosquitoes with an awesome fog machine.  Thirty minutes later the fog was still there.

Holy Spirit, fumigate my life with the fog of the glory and presence of God, and may the fog linger for a long, long time.

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34-35 English Standard Version

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD. 1 Kings 8:10-11  English Standard Version

The Rock that Is Higher

When there is no lightning and thunder, great signs and wonders; when the earth doesn’t shake and all seems deathly silent, where do you go? What do you do?

When the storms are raging, waters are rising; when it seems that all is going wrong, nothing is working right, where do you go? What do you do?

I go to the rock, the rock that is higher than I. That rock is Christ Jesus; the rock is the truth of the Word of God. The immovable, always solid, unchanging revelation that I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. This is the good news of the gospel of which I am not ashamed. – The Rock is always faithful, always true.

Verses to read: 1 Kings 19:1-13; Matthew 7:24-25; Psalm 61:1-3; Matthew 16:16-19; Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Romans 5:1-11

Walking, Waiting and Knowing

As we walk with God, in the direction he is going, doing what he is doing and feeling what he is feeling; we begin to see as he sees and know as he knows. Jesus said, “follow me and I will make you one who attracts others to my kingdom”. Following Jesus in the days of the disciples was to walk with, eat with and live with Jesus. It was to listen to him, trust him and work with him. The life-style of Jesus became the lifestyle of his disciples. We need to walk with Jesus.

As we spend time with friends, we wait on them. Sometimes wait means sitting while they prepare, work or rest. Sometimes wait means to serve them in their needs. Wait always means grow in patience and trust one with another. Wait should always include expectation, hope, and love. It is not dreary and sad; it is joyfully anticipation of what is to come and happen in our lives. Certainly as we walk with Jesus we will have to wait on him and for him and this process will create a closer relationship of love and service.

Walking with and waiting on friends will help us know them better. As you walk together you talk and share likes and dislikes, dreams and purposes, emotions and feelings. You begin to know the person better. As you wait on a friend through service and unity you develop a bond with them that cannot be broken. Knowing friends through walking together and through serving and waiting on them, braids a three strand cord of faith, hope and love that cannot easily be broken.

Let us become one with Christ in lifestyle, walking with him. Let us become one with Christ in service and patient anticipation as we serve him. Let us know him as he is in the brightness of his glory.

Hope

Economic crisis, political elections, world-wide wars, sickness and death; all provoke profound and preoccupying thoughts. For this reason we must have a strong hope and a rock in which to anchor our faith.

Jesus said we would have tribulations and difficulties; therefore don’t be surprised by challenging tests and problems. He also gave us hope when he proclaimed, “ I am the Truth, my Words are the truth and the Holy Spirit will always be with you.”

Jeremiah tells us that God’s plans for our future are better than we can dream, always while Christ, the Hope of Glory, is in us. The faith we have in Him and his words will give substance to the hope he offers.

Meditate in the following confession based on Romans 15:13 and fill receive His hope for a blessed day and a better tomorrow.

The God of hope fills me with all hope and peace so there abounds in me hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peace, blessings and abundant hope in Christ Jesus.

Anticipation with Preoccupation

Birth, first steps, the first school day, starting college, finding your first job, getting married and your first grandchild are all part of our progressive growth and maturity. They bring a mix of excitement with concern and joy with fear.

The growth of a church is similar. New believers, the birth of a church, the process of discipleship, and the recognition of leaders is the process which leads to a growing, mature and reproductive church that is able to stand and walk towards its destiny. Yes, it brings a mix of anticipation with preoccupation and joy with fear, but the leap is necessary because growth comes only when we take risks.

We moved to Matagalpa with the vision to plant five churches in North Nicaragua that are birthed with new believers and grow into self-governing, self-sustaining and self-reproducing Christian communities. This month La Fuente will continue in her development while Bev and I visit the United States. It has been 15 years since we arrived in Nicaragua, 13 years since we have visited the United States as a family and 10 years since we moved to Matagalpa. The trip is important for us. But more than being significant for us, it is vital for you, La Fuente. You must take the risk.

As we expand to other cities, La Fuente must continue walking and growing as a family. Our trip provides you a two month experience of living and learning without Mom and Dad at your side. It is a continuation of taking your first steps and going to the first day of class at school and finding your first job after graduation.

You are prepared. You are able.

Rise and shine. Be strong and courageous.

Christ is in you; He is your hope and future.

So be it.