Alright, Already!

"Patience requires patience."

I AM TYPING THIS SLOWLY at the instruction of the Holy Spirit. Man, that took too long. I can just see Jesus on the earth wishing there was a microwave, and the Spirit saying it’s not time yet. As the source of patience, frankly, He has too much of it. A little less would make life easier to handle, but I just can’t seem to convince Him.

Here’s the thing, folks. Patience takes time. WAY too much of it. Though we want an instant answer (back to the microwave, just pop that sucker in there and watch it explode), usually, He wants us to simmer for a while (and I question if that is simmering as in slow-cook or simmering as in about to boil, but I digress). We want popcorn prayers. Pop. Pop-pop. Pop-ppop-popp-pop. Oh, look, financial success! But, sigh, when we let Him have control, and we commit ourselves to patience, then the gain is much better for us. We are more able to handle what there is way more of.

Think of it like seeds. When the Sower sowed the Word, he did not go back the next day and dig up the seed to see if it sprouted. No, it takes time for the seed to sprout, more time for it to form fruit, and yet more time for the fruit to ripen. Only ripe fruit can be picked, and patience being a fruit, we could say patience requires patience. Patience forms a greater work in us than our impatience allows. Think of it also like a college degree. No one can learn four-years-worth of information in two weeks. Who wants a doctor who sped through His PhD? Anyone? Anyone? No, first, comes book work, reading and studying, then years of training. His knowledge is increased through his experience.

The same can be said about what we need from God. Sometimes, what is better for us is experience atop our knowledge. Notice, I said knowledge is needed. We must read the Word of God and know its principles. We must commit to putting them into action, walking in the Spirit, being led of the Spirit, which means pushing through some of the things that are coming against us. There are times when the devil is trying to send us backward. God is always on our side. His desire for us is victory and success, but in order for Him to take what the devil meant to harm us and turn it to our good, we must give the fruit time to ripen.

Minister Bill Johnson always says there are things on this earth that happen to us which, though they are tough emotionally, provide the only opportunity to worship God as a living sacrifice. In heaven, we will praise Him, but never in the hour of stress like we can on the earth. How much this moves me. That in our times of suffering, we would lean on God 100% and give Him praise, knowing the end result in our lives will always be His goodness and grace. I have been there where I couldn’t see two inches in front of me, not even the next step, much less the entire future. Yet I knew what the Word said, and I knew my Abba would protect me and heal me and send me forward with joy and peace in believing. My patience brought healing in a greater form than my impatience would have given me. I was stronger for waiting and closer to God than I’ve ever been.

And here is the greatest benefit. Patience gives us time to linger. We spend our time with God, in the secret place, and there, in His presence, we grow in revelation and understanding of who we are in Christ, of who He is in us, and most of all, of how great His love is for us. It is one thing to read John 3:16, and another to know that we know He loves us because He has told us Himself. I can never doubt Him now. He has become everything to me, and patience gave me that. This is not to say I don’t still run out of it sometimes. But then, I remember how long it took the Father to send Jesus to earth. He is longsuffering with us, merciful and kind.

When I was young, I used to chase my older brother everywhere on my bicycle. I could never keep up, which I’m sure was how he wanted it. Little sisters are annoying. One day, I was extra upset over my lack of speed and voiced my complaint. It just wasn’t fair. Though I don’t remember my mother’s exact words, I remember she told me I would see far more around me by slowing down. The same is true of our spiritual lives, of who we are as children of God, of what God wants to make of us and do through us. When we slow down and give Him time to work in us, who we are is stronger and wiser than the speed-demon our flesh wants us to be. Our emotions can lead us astray. What we feel about where we are at can be inaccurate. God gave us emotions to enable us to rejoice, to enable us to rest, to take us to places in His presence that are beyond words. The devil tries to use them to push us into error. Patience teaches us the difference.

Patience comes with endurance. Endurance is the fortitude to last through whatever patience requires. Endurance comes from hope, and hope comes from God. We endure because the hope of the future is within us, because God has promised our faith and our patience, working together, in tandem, will bring us the promise. That’s “will” without question. We refuse to compromise on our endurance because God is for us, He is never against us, and the promise we need is ours from the moment we ask for it. When we become impatient, we have lost sight of these truths and must refocus. Patience is reliance on God for the end result, for what He has promised. We work too hard to do things on our own, often not realizing that’s what we are doing. But Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, so that in these moments, when we need Him, He can be there with us in peace and with power.

Patience is not a time of turmoil. It is peace beyond understanding, although everything coming against you looks otherwise. It’s standing tall with a smile on your face, although the bills aren’t paid and you haven’t the money, but you know that you know, God will provide it. It’s not flinching when the pain comes again because God has said you are healed, so you are healed, and there is no other answer. Patience gives faith room to work and our minds the rest required while the time passes as God has willed it. Because end of the day, He knows more than we do. This is the first step of faith, submitting to Him because He is God, and we are not. With Him as our focus, our faith rises, and our patience flows smoothly.

Life is not soft and easy at all times. We have an enemy. But greater than him is the God who loved us enough to provide the way of escape. Our faith trusts Him to get us there. Our patience assures we will arrive on time and on purpose and take hold of all He has promised in the waiting.

“Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1 AMPC)

“Let us fix our minds on Jesus—the perfect revelation of God—who establishes and fully matures our trust in God. For the joy of healing and restoring God’s creation, Jesus endured the cross, nullifying its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 Remedy)

Image by personalgraphic.com on Unsplash


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com