Is your
patience living and vibrant within you, or is it a superficially produced and
manufactured façade?
July’s Awakening, Day 1
Patience is a fruit of the spirit that
grows only under trial. It is useless to pray for patience. Well, actually I
encourage you to pray for patience, but I'll tell you what you'll get TRIALS!
—Joyce Meyer
The Bible says the fruit of the spirit
is longsuffering. I'll tell you one thing about fruit: you will never see a
fruit factory. Isn't that right? You see a shirt factory, but you see a fruit
orchard. You see, there is no fruit without life. You cannot manufacture
patience. The fruit of the Spirit is patience.
—Adrian Rogers
Rather,
as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in
troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in
hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and
kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the
power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;
through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded
as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on;
beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making
many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. 2
Corinthians 6:4–10 NIV
Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans
12:12 NIV
Brothers
and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the
prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. James 5:10 NIV
Patience,
and patient endurance to the end, is brandished into our character by undergoing,
persevering, and overcoming gracefully, trials, tests, and trouble in our
lives. Patience cannot be manufactured or taught or simply believed in—it must
be lived out each day either successfully or unsuccessfully. If we respond with
anger or continued frustration to the troubles of life, then we have not
mastered the noble character of patience yet. And yes, we are all works in
progress. Patience is gained and cultivated through experience and managing our
self and our emotions with ever-increasing control. It encompasses keeping our
thoughts and emotions in check, holding our tongues, putting self aside and
others first, and trusting relentlessly in God with unwavering faith despite
all circumstances. It means letting His peace reign in your heart when the
tempest storms rage around you. Patience is living and alive in God’s Spirit,
and with spiritual maturity, it will come to the surface before selfishness
snuffs it out.
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