Apostle Paul highlighted the fruit of the Holy Spirit when he wrote that:
“But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
‭‭GALATIANS‬ ‭5:22‬ ‭AMP‬‬
These are the attributes of God which we received, when Jesus Christ became our Lord and Savior. They are the internal effects of His Holy presence in our lives.
The love of God happens to be the first of all these attributes. Love is essential for our spiritual growth as Christians. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit cannot be effective in our lives without the love of God. They all’s got their root in the love of God.
We however need to understand from  our discussion last week, that the love of God is not a gift of the Holy Spirit. It is a manifestation of the fruit the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. We therefore do grow in faith as we grow in love. But faith (which is a gift) and love (which is a manifestation of the fruit), cannot be effective in our lives without patience.
Patience just like love is one of the inner working presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. Contrary to certain understandings of patience among certain Christians; it does not necessarily has anything to do, with our ability to wait before the Lord. But it does has much more to do with our attitude while waiting in God’s presence.
Patience is the godly virtue in us, which enables us to be tolerant in the midst of trials, difficulties or troubles. Patience must always complete its works in us, so that we may be the perfect vessels, that had been prepared for the Master’s use. That is why we wait, not for the Lord to be able to do something for us; but we do wait before Him, because we just love to be in His presence, more than being consumed with the trials of our faith. We don’t focus on the attacks of the enemy against us. No, we’ll rather focus on being in His presence.
But to be able to tarry in His presence, we need patience to strengthen our faith in Him and in His promises to us. Patience helps us in developing our faith muscles, while we stand in God’s presence. We wait before the Lord until we are transformed into being the vessels, that are prepared and made ready by Him to be used for His glory. That is why we need to practice being in His presence more and more.
We are therefore empowered to walk in the purposes of God for our lives with patience, while we stand before Him, as we declare and proclaim His glory and splendor.
God is waiting on us to start releasing our faith, into what we are expecting Him to do for us. He is always ready to do anything for us, if only we will begin to let our faith and love work through patience to bring us the blessing. When faith and love works through patience, the grace of God is made readily available to us in receiving from God (1 Corinthians 1:7 AMPC).

LET PATIENCE WORK THROUGH YOUR TROUBLED TIMES

Yes, there are difficult times and those times will never end, as long as we are living in this physical body. That’s why we need patience to be able to live a triumphant Christian life.  The scriptures says to us in the midst of difficult times that:
“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Being patient is never an opportunity to fold our hands, and do nothing about the promises of God to us. No, there is no room in God’s Kingdom for laziness. We must walk the work of faith, while we patiently wait for the manifestation of His glory. The work of patience is not only crucial in helping us, to put up passively with the difficulties of life. No, patience actually helps us to change the situations around those difficulties, so that we may be able to do exploits in the midst of them. Patience is actually what turns our trials into testimonies.
Again the scripture says:
“Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭ASV‬‬
Jesus is our perfect example of running the Christian race with patience. He endured many things while being patient for the glory to be manifested through His resurrection. His faith in the Father became perfect, as He willingly gave up His life on the cross for us. In patience He waited for the works of evil to become perfected on Him, through His eternal sacrifice on the cross for us. He endured the suffering of sin with patience, even though He never committed any sin.
Patience is therefore the tenacity inside of us, that enables us to maintain the Christ-like attitude, without necessarily loosing focus in the midst of difficult situations. It is the godly virtue inside of us, which establishes our faith and love in the blessings of God. Patience is the anchor on which our faith and love hangs, as we grow up into the image of Christ Jesus that is on the inside of us.

MUSCLING UP WITH PATIENCE

God is waiting on us to develop our spiritual muscles by faith and love before Him. But patience helps us to keep the right attitude in that process.
God has been waiting on us while we were still unfaithful, as He remains Faithful to us. It is the work of patience through faith, that helps us to be steadfast in keeping ourselves in the love of God, towards difficult people as we stand before the Lord.
Patience is therefore the spiritual force in us, which puts the devil on the run at all times whenever our faith is activated.
This is why patience is vital for the spiritual growth of every believer in Christ. If we want to grow as believers in Christ, then patience must complete its work in our lives. Patience is the key to getting everything, that we need in the midst of the troubles of life.
James said:
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1:2-4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
The spiritual fruit of our faith in trials is patience. We grow in the midst of trials, as our faith helps us to be focused. The storms or troubles of life, are not as big as the plans of God for each one of us. Whenever we get on God’s plan, and we choose to forget about the storms or troubles, then our patience begins to bear fruit.
And it does not really matter how troublous the storm may be like. What we do need is faith and love with patience to see us through. It doesn’t necessarily means that we will have to suffer through the storm. But it does means that we are actually repositioning our spiritual strength, in the midst of the storm to focus on the things that matters most in God’s Kingdom. Our repositioning may not necessarily be connected with what we are going through, but it serves the eternal purpose of God for us in the midst of the trials. That’s why it is important to always know the purpose of God, for every situation in life which confronts us. We are repositioning as our spiritual strength is being renewed, until patience completes its work in us.
This also means that we don’t have to be wasting our spiritual strength, on things that do not matter. As an example, Paul faced a storm on the way to Rome (Acts 27); which resulted into a shipwreck together with all the people traveling with him. But in the midst of the trouble, Paul remained calm and even was encouraging others to be strong, because Paul knew the purpose of God. Paul was being repositioned into the new phase of his ministry. He knew that it was God’s will to save everyone on the boat with him (Acts 27:23-24). Secondly, he knew that the shipwreck was meant to get them all to the Island of Malta; where God wanted Paul to minister to the needs of the Islanders (Acts 27:26). It is only when we are allowing patience to finish its works in our difficult moments, that we will begin to understand why God allowed certain incidences to occur in our lives.
The Prophet Isaiah explained how the fruit of patience works through our hearts, with faith and love when he said:
“But those who wait for the LORD [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] Will gain new strength and renew their power; They will lift up their wings [and rise up close to God] like eagles [rising toward the sun]; They will run and not become weary, They will walk and not grow tired.”
‭‭ISAIAH‬ ‭40:31‬ ‭AMP‬‬
If your faith in God is expectant and unwavering before Him while you wait patiently, then you are actually renewing your spiritual strength. The manner in which a believer in Christ waits before the Lord is with patience.
King Solomon advised us about this:
“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭5:2‬ ‭NIV‬‬
Patience is never hasty or quick to speak in God’s presence. Job was a man of patience, as his friends and wife were putting pressures on him before God to be hasty. He responded with patience and few words before God. At the end of it all God justified Job. His end was better than the beginning of the trials which he went through.
We however need to understand how patience works. It is never passive, but it is an active spiritual force. We can’t just fold our hands without doing anything as we wait before God. Not being hasty or quick does not means, that we must just be frozen up in our attitude before the Lord.
That’s why our ability to pray or speak in tongues is very great. We are speaking mysteries before God by the spirit and not in our human understanding. This is the only way we can’t ever make a mistake in the presence of God, as we are patiently waiting before Him. Our patience is strengthened whenever we pray in tongues.
As the Prophet Isaiah said, the purpose of waiting patiently before the Lord, is to renew our spiritual strength with and in His presence. And praying in the spirit helps us to do this effectively. There is no practical way of doing this by being passive.
We also do need faith and love with patience to wait before the Lord in doing this. Faith is always speaking by confessing what is believed in God’s presence. And faith is always based on what the Lord has revealed to us from His written word. We can’t make a mistake by confessing and reminding God, about what He says in the Bible.
A man of faith is a man, who sees the Bible scriptures as his final authority always. If we can’t be trusted with our own words or promises to people, how do we expect God to trust us with His own Word. We are what our words says. Our integrity is measured based on our words to people. Just as God’s integrity is based on His written word – He cannot and will never lie. God see our faithfulness to Him from that perspective also.
We can’t tarry or wait in God’s presence, if we don’t have His love in our hearts. Patience is what teaches us when to be silent in His presence. Our faith confesses what we believe, but patience shows us when and how to be still and quiet in His presence.
There are people who do have the kind of faith that waits and does nothing. They are praying and daily confessing the promises of God; but their patience is doing nothing for them, that matches up with what they are believing God for. Some of them will often say that, they are waiting patiently for the Holy Spirit to move ahead of them, before doing something with their faith.
Well, it may be the time now for them to wake up, because the Holy Spirit will not show up where our faith is not active before God. That kind of faith will have to wait for ever, and nothing will happen.
It’s just like a man who is praying and patiently waiting for a new job. But he does nothing to seek for any job opening, because he believes that the Holy Spirit will bring the perfect job offer to him. That kind of faith is dead, because it lacks corresponding action. That’s the faith that will receive nothing from the Lord.
But the faith that patiently waits on the promises of God to manifest, is the kind of faith that is doing something actively with regards to what is believed. As this kind of faith is activated with corresponding action, the spiritual muscles of the believer are then being enlarged. His spiritual eyes of understanding are opened to begin seeing into the depth, the height, the width and the length of what the promise of God says to him. Such a believer grows up faster and quicker, than the believer who has the inactive patiently waiting faith.
The reason why we are patiently waiting, is not and should never be for the Lord. Patience is for us to renew our spiritual strength into the promised blessing. It helps us to get new spiritual strength. The way we gain new spiritual strength is by being patient, for faith and love to start bearing fruit. Patience is what keeps our faith and love active, as we wait before the Lord.

PATIENTLY PRAYING THROUGH

The most important moment in our faith walk, in receiving answers to what we’ve prayed for, is the moment when we are exercising patience before God. Most believers miss out of their blessings during this moment, because they can’t exercise patience. They are expecting an instant or “microwaved” result in prayer. Whereas God is working on developing their spiritual muscles in getting them ready, to carry the weight of what is about to be deposited into their lives.
If our spiritual muscles are being instantly developed, without any Christian character to bring forth the fruit of the Holy Spirit; we will be crushed and do more spiritual damage to ourselves.
A man who is not prepared yet in his Christian character to handle a million dollars, through faith and love working with patience in his life; will end up destroying himself with the money. He is not spiritually matured and prepared to handle it.
That’s why we don’t give a sharp knife to a toddler, because we know that a child can’t handle it. It will do a lot of harm than good to that child. That’s exactly the way God deals with us also. He will never give us something that He knows will do us more harm than good.
Some had tried through their own humanistic or fleshy efforts, and it had destroyed them. There are people who had died before their prime time, because they were handling things that they were not well prepared to handle.
The moment when a Christian begins to go back and forth in faith; as he moves in between doubting and believing the promises of God to him, this is the moment when patience is lacking in his life. He is definitely not allowing patience to complete its work in him. He is therefore unstable and not steadfast in faith before God, so he will receive nothing from the Lord.
But patience is so much needed at such a moment, after we had finished praying. We need patience to hold out in our attitude before the Lord. And the way we develop patience in such moment, is by developing our faith. We develop and grow our faith by exercising it on what we are believing God for. Faith will grow and enlarge our hearts before God into the blessing. Patience helps us to be spiritually stable, while we are under intense pressure for our faith to perform by bearing fruit.
There are moments however when the Holy Spirit may give the gift of faith for specific purpose. This may be in order for us to get specific results in glorifying God. Such faith comes as a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit. He endows us with such power in such moments, to act supernaturally by faith, in getting the desired results.
But the faith that works together with the spiritual fruit of patience, works with corresponding action in giving us the victory.
From the moment when we say “Amen” in prayer, patience takes over in helping us to maintain the right attitude of faith, until we receive what we’d prayed about. Patience causes us to persevere in such moments. It gives us the inner power during difficulties, enabling us not to rush into judgments; but helping us to keep an attitude of faith with joy and peace as we remain expectant.
The scriptures says about waiting patiently:
“Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬
And again:
“But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us.”
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬
As well as:
“Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance, so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God, and thus receive and carry away [and enjoy to the full] what is promised.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭10:35-36‬ ‭AMPC‬‬
Our attitude is very important after we had said “Amen” in prayer. We can’t be worried or allow the enemy to deceive us into being depressed; like certain people often are, due to the lack of the fruit of faith and patience in their hearts. We are indeed supposed to be exercising faith in the promises of God with patience.
It is the lack of patience that often hinders the ability of a believer to be strong in faith, so as to receive the promises of God. The Bible says we must be steadfast in our faith confession (1 Peter 5:8-9). But without patience no one can ever be steadfast in faith confessions.
The more we yield to be patient within our hearts, the stronger we will become in faith and love. That’s why we need to yield always to being patient, instead of yielding to doubting and unbelief.
Patience will take us to a place in God where we are lacking in nothing, as it becomes anchored onto faith and love in God’s promises to us.
But to be able to keep yielding to patience, our faith must be strong in the word of God to perform in our lives. We need God’s word for patience to develop our spirit man. That’s why we need to keep digging into God’s word, as we develop and enlarge our spiritual muscles. We need to keep on yielding to patience, for it to fully complete its work in us. And before we know it, we will be fully ready and prepared to do whatever the Lord tells us to do always.

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