PATIENCE – THE PATIENCE OF GOD

SERIES: THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

TEXT: GALATIANS 5:22; 2 PETER 3:8-9

Patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. God is patient with each one of us. The motivation for patience is the redemption of man. We bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit patience when we do three things:-

1. Trust  Gods timing
2. See the big picture
3. When we use our wait wisely

Please look at (2 Peter 3:8-9)

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friend with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promises, As some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Look also at the parable of Jesus Christ, Matthew 18:21-33 (The unmerciful servant). God is patient, God is patient with us. 

God is described as “slow to anger” many times in the Old Testament, the motivation for His patience is the redemption of man.

• Jesus Christ demonstrated exceptional patience.
• For a man who is righteous and all wise, it is quite amazing to find Jesus, surrounded by people who were spiritually ignorant and slow in understanding slow to believe self-centered and foolish. Yet Jesus bears with their short comings and imperfections.
• Why was Jesus so patient?

1. Jesus did not see time as an essence (why the hurry).
2. Jesus knows that the father’s purpose was to still intact. Everything was moving along well, God’s plan was still on track.

• The disciples need room to grow, they needed time to comprehend some things cannot be rushed.
• You hardly see Jesus in a hurry, even though He had only three years to train up His disciples.
• In one occasions He delayed His trip on purpose when He heard of Lazarus death.
• The motivation for patience is the purpose of God.
• Today we want to go for fast food, quick fix, express way, prompt service.
• If possible we want a short cut to spiritual growth, we want to massive produce disciples.
• Jesus Christ speaks of the spiritual life in agricultural terms He speaks of the vine and branches, tree and its fruits, the seed and its crops.
• It cannot be rushed and there is no short cut to it. There is nothing a farmer can do to speed growth and the harvest.
• Discipling a life, mentioning a life, parenting a life takes time.
• There is no magical sprouting of children we need to give it or give them time.

• Let us learn from Jesus Christ at least  three ways of demonstrating godly patience :-

TRUST GOD’S TIMING

• Jesus Christ has a view of time that is different from ours.

• Jesus Christ knew when “my time has not yet come”-(John 2:4).

• Jesus Christ knows when “The time has come”-(John 17:1).

• Time works for Him, not against Him. We tend to view time as working against us.

• “We don’t have enough time, we are running out of the time, time is not on our side.”

• To God “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day”-(2 Peter 3:8)

• God exists in “One eternal day” called eternity or everlasting.

• The New Testament uses Greek words for time –CHRONOS (length) and KAIROS (right time or moment).

• Both chronos and kairos are in God’s hands.

• We can be patient because time is on God’s side and God makes everything beautiful in His time.

• Just look at Israel’s experience in the wilderness journey-(Numbers 9:15-23).

• What an amazing experience that was to be able to see and move at God’s pace.

SEE THE BIG PICTURE (That is God’s purpose)

• We are impatient because we are afraid things will be messed up.
• That is according to our way of thinking and plan things are going to be messed up.
• We are impatient because we expect God to act according to our agenda.
• “Why are you late?” Martha asked Jesus. “If you are earlier, Lazarus might not have died”.
• Martha had a plan in mind, but so did Jesus their plans were very different.
• 2nd Peter3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
• If you understand His purpose, if you can just see the big picture, then you will not be so impatient with God.
• In our limited vision God seems slow, but in reality, He is keeping perfect timing.
• There is a purpose for apparent “delay” and it is good.
• Martha and Mary got to see it first hand, when Lazarus walked out of the tomb.
• God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials, He does things differently!!
• At times we feel that we are the ones waiting for God, but-2nd Peter3:9 says God is waiting for “everyone to come to repentance”.
• 1st Peter 3:20-Says “God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the Ark was being built” so that men will repent and be saved.
• There is always a high purpose the wait is always for our good.

USE YOUR WAIT WISELY:

• Maintain a positive altitude of trust.
• Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good altitude while waiting.
• The wait is not a waste of time.
• God works even in our waiting rooms of our lives.
• We see this principle of patiently waiting in the lives of Joseph, Moses, David and Daniel. All of them spirit time in seclusion unnoticed before God called them to greatness. Those were preparation times.
• Joseph was in prison for a long time (after the butler release, 2 years) doing prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
• It looked as if God    had forgotten him but He was in actual fact working behind the scene to accomplish His eternal purposes.
• Moses spent 40 years in seclusion, tending to sleep before he had the burning bush experience.
• When David fights Goliath, he already had an intimate knowledge of His God.
• David’s faith did not come to him overnight, it came through the years of tending to his father’s sheep.
• He fought a beer and a lion and killed them, He killed them in the power of God that is why David dared Goliath.
• What we want to be wasted time is actually preparation time, the waiting rooms of God are our classrooms.
• So, let us focus on our walk with God, let us focus on our relationship with God, rather than the result that God can give.

CONCLUSION

• In life there are two voices competing inside us.

• One encourages us to succeed and achieve the other call us to simply rest in the comfort that “we are the beloved of God.”

• God wants us to listen to the second voice “Be patient” God is working in you, in your family, in your relationship, in your children and in our Ministries.