Patience Requirements

 

    Patience is the ability to accept or tolerate hinderance, annoyances, problems, and discomfort without getting angry or agitated.  There are some requirements set by God to be able to get to this point.  It takes self-control, endurance, and practice.

    War is something that will develop patience quickly.  Without patience in the battlefield, you are setting yourself up to be killed or really hurt.  The things is war between nations is not the only war.  There is the war for your soul, keeping a holy spirit, and sometimes even in the home, work, or church.  

    The easier way to gain patience is to keep your focus on God.  If you can avoid all the traps of the distractions, then it becomes more natural to lay impatience to the side.  It comes down to living your life by faith while trusting God in your waiting on what will come.

    Patience is a sign of an obedient spirit.  It indicates a mature Christian because they know how to use discernment.  Discernment is knowing God's timing or what to do in situations.  Anxiety is the opposite of patience.  The more you feed anxiety, the more you steal from your peace that comes with patience.  Trust in God's promises.  They will happen in His timing.  Some promises have happened and you can find comfort and stability in that.

    Wisdom is to know and understand the will of God.  It is utilized in your prayer life.  To have patience with wisdom you have to have prayer as a foundation of your life.  It enables you to love God and other people better by removing the doubt that Satan tries to sneak into your mind.

    Patience is a strength.  It has to be worked out like a muscle or it will atrophy.  It takes strength to be still when you want to move.  It takes strength to keep your mouth shut.  Waiting is never easy.  It is what you do while you wait that matters.

    It takes courage to be patient.  Patience is resisting pressures around you.  It takes courage not to give in to people around you, especially when there is a sense of urgency.  It is courageous to be determined to resist the world and know when to make your move.

    It takes other people to learn patience.  There are many different personality traits.  You will not get along with all of them and not everyone is going to like you.  That is a good thing.  It is iron meeting iron.  It makes your stronger.  You will never be the person God designed you to be if you are isolated or indecisive.  God gave you a mind to use.  Make a prayerful decision and stick to it to be in obedience to God.

    Patience is essential to a life of obedience to God.  It builds relationships that are good for you and other people.  It teaches you time management and the value of timing.  It helps you make clear and decisive decisions in life with the confidence to follow through.  It is a part of the fruit of the spirit.  That means that the Holy Spirit can give you supernatural patience at times.  

    The year is coming to a close.  It is time to focus on Jesus' birthday and start prayerfully assessing how you would like next year to look like.  That requires planning, writing out idea, and coming up with a strategy for change.  Give your calendar over to God.  Allow Him to make some of those changes and direct you in the changes that would be best for you and expect that some of it will require patience building.  

Psalm 40:1-3, Proverbs 14:29-33, Romans 12:9-13, Galatians 6:7-10, & James 5:7-9