Tag: patience
Faith | Hope | Love
Faith, hope and love all have a mutual friend, her name is patience. The trial of your faith produces patience, so where there is genuine faith there is authentic patience. Love is patient. In other words, an expression of love is patience. Hope actually means cheerful or hopeful endurance. So there is no real love, faith or hope without patience. Patience brings what God is doing in us to a place of maturity. There is no real spiritual or emotional maturity without patience. Jesus said, in patience you possess your soul. You can not have rule over your mind, will and emotions without patience. Often faith, hope and love are most commonly expressed through patience. Lord Jesus be our patience and by your grace give us the ability to cheerfully endure anything and everything that may come at us in this life.
Patience
When your faith is put on trial and is found guilty as charged for believing God to do what he said he would do, then patience is produced. Remember that it is “the trial of your faith that produces patience.” (James 1:3) Patience is worth waiting for. There are somethings in life that only come by working, there are other things in this life that can only be received by waiting. It is our job to discern if we are to wait or work or work while we are waiting. Patience brings God’s work in us and through us to a place of maturity. Things that are valuable and things that last take longer to make. For example a cheap digital battery operated watch takes minutes to make while a Rolex takes about a year to make. While it is true that God can accelerate time and make something priceless happen in a moment, often costly things happen very slowly. What God is doing in you and what God will do through you is worth waiting for. Give yourself to the slow process of growth. Be more concerned about growth than promotion. If you are patient with yourself and if you keep growing you will actually out grow your circumstances. The process that caused us to learn patience is actually the process that allows us to become the person God called us to be. Jesus said, “in patience you possess your soul.” (Luke 21:19) If you don’t have patience you don’t have self control, if you don’t have self control you will be ruled by someone or something else. Your future depends on you having patience. Your legacy is determined by you having long suffering. Long suffering is when patience starts to hurt. Have patience with yourself and others and be sure to enjoy the process. Don’t let impatience cause you to be impetuous. Keep waiting with joyful anticipation that God will do what he said he would do.
The power of persistence
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Most people aren’t persistent long enough to see what they have actually labored for. Usually we come to a breaking point before we actually break through. Often the thing that we think is going to break us down is actually the thing that is really building us up. Often the very thing we run from is what we need most. We often want our circumstances to change but in all reality it is us who need to change. Abner Suarez said, “It’s not our circumstances that need to change it’s our perspective of our circumstances that needs to change.” When you have the right perspective being persistent seems, feels and is actually easier. I am not saying it’s easy, if it were everyone would be doing it. I am simply saying that the right perspective energizes persistence.
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful individuals with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. – Calvin Coolidge
The most successful people spiritually, physically and financially were the ones who refused to give up. Persistence is a choice, not a feeling. Everyone feels like giving up, but successful people were the ones who decided to consistently live above their feelings. Their passion and purpose caused them to be persistent. As this happened they began to grow through the process. The end result was that they grew enough on the inside that they then became able to steward what they persisted for. Almost anyone who has done anything significant has been through hell and back. The resistance we face tests our persistence. You will not fulfill God’s purpose for your life without persistence. So keep on doing what is right, whether it is costing you or making you a lot of money. Keep on doing what you know to do. Keep on being faithful with what you have been given. Faith pleases God. God rewards faithfulness. Faith is a belief; faithfulness is when you live that belief to the fullest.