ARTICLES
The Inseparable Partner Of Faith -- Patience
by Jeanniene Lee
Patience!!! What is patience?

What is the Bible's definition of patience? Do you have any idea what true Bible patience is from God's perspective? Do you have patience? Are you exercising the God-kind-of-patience in your life today?

Very few Christians really know what the word "patience" means from a biblical perspective. The Bible has much to say about the subject of patience, so God must have felt it was rather important to have it recorded in scripture since "all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for DOCTRINE [teaching], for reproof, for correction, for INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (II Timothy 3:16-17).

It is my prayer that as you read this article concerning PATIENCE that the eye of your spiritual understanding will be enlightened in such a way that you will come to know and fully understand the biblical meaning of "PATIENCE" so that through your patience coupled with faith and love you will take possession of ALL that you have been praying and believing God for!

Hebrews 6:12
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through FAITH AND PATIENCE inherit the promises.

Galatians 5:6
6 ... FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE.

The Bible boldly declares that it takes faith and patience to inherit -- to actually take possession of - the promises of God, and that faith which is exercised along with patience can only be activated through the fruit of love. All three elements - faith, patience and love - MUST BE PRESENT AND WORKING in order for you to actually take possession of God's vast supply of benefits which belong to you as a Christian.

Although every promise outlined in God's Word - the Bible - belongs to you, there ARE CONDITIONS you must adhere to in order to actually receive the manifestation of those promises. To take possession of the promises of God, we must adhere to the guidelines that are set forth in the Bible. Three very vital guidelines we must adhere to are:

1) We must live by FAITH continuously because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 10:38; 11:6).
2) We must walk in LOVE and release the fruit of love in the affairs of our everyday life because our faith will not work at all without love (Galatians 5:6).
3) The Bible-kind-of-PATIENCE must be a visible trait in our Christian character II Peter 1:6; James 1:4; Hebrews 6:12, 10:36).

I Timothy 6:11
11. . . . follow after righteousness. godliness, FAITH. LOVE. PATIENCE, meekness.

In January's issue we discussed the topic of faith and the importance of our faith being tried -- enduring the testing process. In February's issue we continued with faith and studied faith's inseparable partner -- love. In this month's publication, we will study faith's other inseparable partner -- PATIENCE.

We have learned from previously that God supplies us with "a measure of faith" at the beginning of our Christian walk (Ephesians 2:8; 1 John 1:12; Romans 12:3). After receiving that measure of faith, it is our responsibility to make it grow by hearing God's Word (Romans 10:17) and by putting it to work on situations and circumstances we are confronted with in life (Luke 17:5-6; James 2:2).

Further, we learned last month that God also supplied us with the love that is necessary to make our faith work. This was accomplished by God depositing the fruit of love within our spirit at the beginning of our new life as a Christian; for, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost"' (Romans 5:5).

NOW CONCERNING PATIENCE.

Where do we get patience from? What is the Bible definition of the word patience? Can patience be increased or developed like we discovered faith and love can? If so, how do we develop or increase in patience? Since the Bible is the Christian's handbook, we must go into God's Word to answer these questions concerning patience.

WHERE DO WE GET PATIENCE FROM?

Galatians 5:22 and 23 declare that "the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, joy, peace, LONGSUFFERING, gentleness, goodness, FAITH, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Notice that one of the attributes of the Holy Spirit's character is LOVE, another is FAITH, and notice another is a word called "LONGSUFFERING."

It bears mentioning that all these fruits of the Spirit are deposited within your Spirit the moment you are born again because you are born of the Spirit when the Holy Spirit comes to live within you (John 3:5-6). He can not come to live within you and not bring these attributes with Him, they are a part of the Spirit and can not be separated just like you can not separate wet from water.

Now concerning the word "longsuffering" in Galatians 5:22. Longsuffering is from the Greek word "makrothumia" which means fortitude, patience. When I saw the word "patience" as a part of the definition of the word "longsuffering," a light went off on the inside of me. Thus, beloved, longsuffering is synonymous with patience and since longsuffering is a fruit of the Spirit, so patience is also a fruit of the Spirit.

Glory to God!!! Isn't God awesome? Everything that He requires of us and asks us to do, He supplies us with the ingredients that are necessary to do it. All that is required of us is to JUST DO IT!!!

He gives to every one of us a measure of faith, all He requires of us is to activate it and in turn to live by faith (Hebrews 10:38). He also equips us with the fruit of love (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22), all He requires of us is to activate it and in turn to walk in love. He also gives us an allotment of patience, all He requires of us is that we activate that allotment of patience and through patience possess our souls (Luke 21:19) and with that same patience working with faith take possession of His promises (Hebrews 6:12). DO YOU SEE IT?

WHAT IS PATIENCE?

Luke 21:19
19 In your PATIENCE possess ye your souls.

Hebrews 10:35-36
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
36 For ye have need of PATIENCE, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

The Bible definition of the word "patience," as used in Luke 21:19 and Hebrews 10:36, is from the Greek word "hupomone" which is from the word "hupomeno" which means cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, enduring, patience, patient continuance, patient waiting. Further, it implies to remain, to undergo, to bear trials, to have fortitude, to persevere, to abide, to endure, to take patiently.

Therefore, dear reader, Bible patience is to remain constant in your stand of faith while you are waiting for the visible answer to your prayer and to do so with an unwavering, unaffected cheerful attitude from the time you pray and ask God in prayer until the time you receive the visible manifestation to not be moved off of your stand of faith under any circumstances!

As I meditated upon Luke 21:19, I noticed that Jesus stated that in our patience we are to possess our souls. What did He mean by that? Beloved, remember you are a tripartite being, meaning that you exist in three parts. You are a spirit, you have a soul and you live in a physical body (I Thessalonians 5:23). Our soul is the seat of our mind, will and emotions.

What Jesus meant by "in your patience possess ye your souls" was this as we remain constant and unmoved on our stand of faith during the waiting process, this will bring order to our mind (our thoughts and thinking), our will (our decision maker because we will not change on our stand of faith), and our emotions (feelings).

By bringing discipline to your soul, through exercising patience, this will influence every other area of your life. Beloved, it is in your soul where you make every decision concerning your life. Not some, but every decision. Patience is vital in your Christian walk!

By remaining constant (patient) no matter how you feel in your soul and no matter what your emotions and thoughts may be trying to dictate, you keep your faith ignited and actively at work because it's through faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God.

Further, by remaining constant (patient), you begin to bring discipline to your thinking (thoughts) which is in your mind, and the mind is a part of the soul.

Beloved, where most Christians fail when it comes to living a life of faith is in the area of imaginations (thoughts in the mind) as stated in II Corinthians 10:3-5 and in the area of our emotions that are influenced by what we see and what is visible to our senses (II Corinthians 4:17-18; 5:7). Now do you understand why Jesus boldly stated that "in your patience possess ye your souls" (Luke 21:19)?

It's easy to stand your ground for five minutes after you've prayed; but, it takes PATIENCE (cheerful, hopeful endurance, fortitude and constancy) to stand your ground for months or even years until you see the visible promise that God spoke to you. Constancy means to remain constant (unchanged). To remain the same way you were one second after you finished praying no matter how long you have to wait.

Remember Abraham and the promise that God gave him when He changed his name from Abram to Abraham that he would be a father of many nations and that he would be exceeding fruitful (Genesis 17:5-7)? Further, God promised Abraham that Sarah his wife would bare him a son (Genesis 17:15-19; 18:10).

How could Abraham stand firm until Sarah his wife bore him Isaac when she was ninety years old and he one hundred? Patience, dear reader, Abraham exercised patience!!!

Romans 4:18-21 tells us the secret to Abraham actually receiving the manifestation of Isaac. Verses 20 and 21 state that "he STAGGERED NOT at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." To stagger means to waver, to doubt or to withdraw on your stand; thus, to stagger is the opposite of patience which means constant endurance.

Hebrews 6:12
12 That ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and PATIENCE inherit the promises of God.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, LONGSUFFERING. gentleness, goodness, faith.

The word "patience" in Hebrews 6:12 is from the same Greek word "makro-thumia" that "longsuffering" is from in ' Galatians 5:22. As aforementioned, mak-rothumia implies to possess forbearance, fortitude: - longsuffering, patience.

Well dear reader, God has already supplied you with all the patience you need to activate your faith and to inherit his promises. So what will it be? Will you exercise your patience today or will you yield to the temptation to waver and stagger at the promise God has given to you? Not exercising patience is a sure way to hinder the fulfillment of your prayer?

Hebrews 10:36
36 FOR YE HAVE NEED OF PATIENCE, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
CAN YOUR PATIENCE BE INCREASED?

Since we have discovered that patience is a fruit of the Spirit that is deposited within our spirit, patience has the potential to be developed and to increase. Developing and increasing our patience is our responsibility just like developing our faith is.

Patience (longsuffering) is a fruit of the Spirit : just like faith and love are. All fruit has the potential to grow when it is planted. We plant our fruit of patience into the "soil of TIME" from the moment we pray to God concerning a specific desire of our heart until the time the desire is fulfilled in actual visible manifested form.

The more you exercise your "patience muscle" the stronger and more consistent you will be where patience is concerned. When patience is constantly released and allowed to produce more fruit in your character, the quicker you will see the answers to your prayers manifested. Why, because time and waiting will no longer be a challenge to you, you will have mastered the life-supplying partner to faith and love-PATIENCE!!!

Follow Abraham's example and stagger not; for, God exhorts us to be not slothful, but followers of them who THROUGH FAITH AND PATIENCE INHERIT THE PROMISES.



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